Four teams have reportedly paid the necessary deposit to reserve a supply of Cosworth's customer formula one engine for 2010.

Accompanying the sport's lower-cost future, the independent British company is set to return to F1 next year at the initiative of the FIA, guaranteeing a low-cost engine amid quit threats of engine makers that are currently involved.

Peter Windsor, the British journalist behind the USGPE (formerly USF1) team, confirmed at Monaco that accompanying a team's official 2010 entry must be an arrangement for an engine supplier.

He said USF1 has indeed done a deal with Cosworth, and Germany's Auto Motor und Sport claims that the arrangement must have involved the transfer of €2.5 million.

The publication said three other potential 2010 entrants have also paid the Cosworth deposit: including probably Campos Racing and Joan Villadelprat's Epsilon Euskadi.

"It is true that we are trying (to set up a F1 team)," Villadelprat confirmed to the Spanish newspaper El Pais. "At the moment I would say the chances of the project coming to fruition is 50 per cent."

Before Cosworth left F1 in 2006, it had been part of the league for 43 years. Its return is already anticipated by fans and foes alike, as primary manufacturers prepare to do battle with private teams on a level not seen in recent years.