Williams chief technical officer Pat Symonds believes that Formula 1 will be boosted by the potential return of Manor Marussia to the grid.
Manor have been included on the entry list for the 2015 season and John Booth confirmed that the team are "very close" to racing at the Australian Grand Prix.
Symonds, who was a consultant for Marussia between 2011 and 2013, has claimed that the constructors' return will be a good thing for the sport.
He is quoted by GPUpdate.net as saying: "I'm really pleased to see that they're going to make it to Melbourne, I think we need teams like that.
"[In] 1981, I started in a little team called Toleman. There were 20 of us and we didn't really know much about what we were doing but that team went on to become Benetton, it went on to become Renault and it went on to become Lotus, and if there wasn't the chance for these small teams to compete then it'd be a real shame.
"I worked with those guys and I have a lot of respect for what they're trying to do. They're straightforward old fashioned racers, they want to go racing, [they're] not interested in politics, they just want to go out and race."
Marussia scored two points last season, thanks to Jules Bianchi's ninth-placed finish at Monaco.
Chris O'Keefe
