Motor-racing company Williams F1 has taken a share in a company developing a fuel-saving device for cars.

The Oxfordshire motorsport team has acquired a minority shareholding in Automotive Hybrid Power, which makes flywheels to recover energy lost when braking.

Kinetic energy generated while braking is usually dissipated, but AHP's flywheels can store it for later release, leading to improved fuel consumption.

The technology will be allowed in Formula One next year.

AHP has moved with five staff from Norwich to Williams' headquarters at Grove, near Wantage, and has been renamed Williams Hybrid Power. It hopes to transfer its Formula One expertise to other vehicles.

Patrick Head, Williams F1's director of engineering, said: "We fully support the FIA's positive initiative in energy recovery systems, which we hope will allow Formula One to make some contribution to the development of an environmentally beneficial technology that could help to reduce the carbon emissions of vehicles."

Williams Hybrid Power managing director Ian Foley said the move to Williams would speed up the development of the technology and give it a higher profile, bringing it to market more quickly.