Istanbul - Force India has joined Williams in breaking ranks with the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA) and unconditionally signed up to contest the 2010 world championship.

Nine FOTA members have submitted only conditional entries for the 2010 amid a simmering budget cap row.

The teams, including Ferrari and McLaren-Mercedes, are requesting a more gradual and voluntary approach to cutting team costs. They have made entries conditional on a new Concorde Agreement, which regulates the distribution of income, being drawn up by June
12.

Force India has now joined Williams which was the first to lodge an entry with motorsport's ruling body FIA for the 2010 season, it emerged ahead of the Turkish Grand Prix.

As a result of its unconditional entry, Williams was suspended from FOTA.

McLaren, BMW-Sauber, Ferrari, Toyota, Brawn GP, Red Bull, Renault and Toro Rosso continue to refuse to sign up over plans to introduce a 60-million dollar budget cap.

Toyota boss John Howett said teams could not rule out quitting Formula 1.

"We are not looking for confrontation but we need a broad option plan and looking at alternative series has to be one," he said.

On Thursday, BMW motorsport chief Mario Theissen also said the future of Formula One racing in its current form remained in doubt over a budget cap row.

The ruling body FIA and its president Max Mosley plan to name 13 teams, including a number of new teams, for 2010 on June 12.

But in what appeared to be a hardening of positions, Mosley was quoted in Wednesday's issue of Motorsport aktuell as saying; "A Concorde Agreement which one receives so late can't be signed by June 12."

Adding he wouldn't be pushed into a corner, Mosley was quoted as saying: "We now have a conflict and we will see who succeeds in the end.

"I say to them: If you want to draw up your own rules, then you can organize your own championship. But we have the Formula One championship. We draw up the rules for that. We have been doing that for 60 years and we will continue doing so." (dpa)