A deal to help safeguard the future of Formula 1’s smaller operations could be struck before this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix, according to Lotus boss Gerard Lopez.

Tensions came close to boiling point at the United States Grand Prix in Austin with Force india, Lotus and Sauber discussing plans to boycott the event, following a dispute over the unequitable distribution of the sport’s profits.

The angst amongst the three teams has arisen after the demise of both Caterham and Marussia, who were placed into administration last month and were subsequently missing from the grid at Austin.

However, it appears the threat of a boycott in America has forced F1 to rethink the way it distributes funds with Lotus boss Gerard Lopez revealing a new arrangement to benefit smaller teams is in the offing.

The deal is believed to be in the form of a new base payment, which could be brokered with Bernie Ecclestone and F1’s controlling shareholders CVC Capital, before the Brazilian Grand Prix.

“I know CVC and Bernie have been looking at this, but it’s going to be a base payment given to the smaller teams, the racers, which is essentially going to make it possible for a normal budget to be pretty much closed here,” said Lopez.

“To be honest, it’s really not a complicated thing to do.

“It just requires a bit of good will. The overall amount we’re discussing, we’re not talking about a half of that, a third of that, or anything like that.

“Once you start dividing it by the number of teams, it suddenly does not become that massive. There is a way to build a proposal in the next couple of days.

“I really think there is a way to solve this in the coming days, probably even to get to a proposal before Brazil, in which case I don’t see the point in doing anything drastic that would damage the sport.

“We’re struggling for performance, but we finished ahead of a McLaren and a Ferrari so it proves the system doesn’t have to spend 300-400million euros.”

Grievances over the distribution of funds, which is heavily weighted in favour of the sport’s powerhouse teams, forced F1 boss Ecclestone to hold a media briefing at the weekend, where he admitted fault for the current financial crisis among smaller teams.

The owner of F1’s commercial rights suggested that the creation of a new fund which would be contributed to by the sports’ larger outfits.

The proposal predictably has so far failed to gather support from the paddock.

“Every team has negotiated his deal with the commercial rights holder and I think it is an issue that needs to be asked of him about the distribution of money,” said Red Bull boss Christian Horner.

“We have signed agreements, and I am not convinced that even if you double the money to Caterham and Marussia it would have solved their issues.

“Their issues are more fundamental on what are the cost-drivers rather than what is the income.”

Meanwhile, Ferrari boss Marco Mattiacci believes F1 should address the problem by attracting more income which can then be redistributed.

“Ferrari is very focused to make the cake bigger and not to change the different ways of how to slice the cake,” he said.

“We don’t have to overreact.

“We need to first look at how to increase revenues, that is priority number one.

“The second is to make sure that who comes in F1 is very aware of the challenge of F1.

“This sport is innovation, innovation costs money, a lot of investment, and long-term investment. So we keep investing in F1: that’s our focus.”