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Cosworth general manager of F1 Mark Gallagher has hit back at reports that Formula One’s four new teams are struggling to be ready for the new season.

Cosworth is supplying the four newcomers – Campos Meta, Lotus, Manor Grand Prix and US F1 – with engines next year and Gallagher insists all four will line up for pre-season testing in February.

He told Autosport: “We are probably better placed than anyone to make a judgement on how the teams are doing. We are in regular dialogue with all of them and have seen how much progress they have made in recent months.

“There has been a lot of rubbish talked about the new teams recently, but nothing we have seen has given us any cause to have any doubts. We’re very pleased to be involved with teams that have a very good chance of causing a surprise or two over the course of next year.”

Gallagher says Cosworth has been impressed with the progress of the teams in such a short space of time.

He added: “They are doing everything that we would expect of a team at this stage and we have no reason to have any doubts that they will be ready.

“They have all worked hard to fulfil their commitments to Cosworth and on the technical front are behaving in exactly the way you would expect them to. They are asking the right questions and doing a good job of liaising with us on the technical side.

“There are very well-respected people involved in all four teams and they are going about their preparations for next season in the right way.

“All four are professional set-ups that have impressed us a lot with their approach and you only need to look at what they have achieved in the past few months to realise that these are very serious teams.”