Struggling F1 racing team Arrows, based in Leafield, near Witney, has said it met the November 15 deadline to submit its application to take part in next year's championship.

A spokesman said: "The application went in."

However she would not comment on whether the team, run by Tom Walkinshaw, had stumped up the £200,000 entry fee.

The FIA, the sport's governing body, declined to confirm that the entry had been received.

An FIA spokesman in Geneva said: "We cannot comment. We shall publish our list of entries on December 2. Until then, according to our regulations, we cannot say anything."

The FIA could still deny Arrows a place on the starting grid in Australia at the start of the new season in March, if it believed that the cash-strapped team was likely to repeat its dismal performance of the 2002 season, when it failed to turn up for five of the last six races.

An FIA rule states that teams must compete in all races of a season or lose their right to compete in the following year.

Under the regulations, the FIA could treat Arrows as a new entrant and demand a £30.3m deposit.

And even if the FIA gran- ted Arrows a place in 2003, the F1 Commission could still dash the Oxfordshire team's hopes by excluding it.

The outfit's 250 employees at Leafield have not been paid since August. Many have since left the company.