Wednesday 16 December at 16:31 : Dec.16 (GMM) A study into the financial habits of formula one teams has shown that suppliers of Cologne based Toyota were most likely to receive owed payments on time.

The Japanese carmaker has now pulled out of the sport, but a study into the creditworthiness of teams that competed in 2009 found that Toyota paid its bills on average five days before they were due.

On the other end of the scale, the independent study conducted by business intelligence group Dun and Bradstreet showed that Force India pays its bills about 66 days late.

The Silverstone based team's final result was, however, a nine day improvement on the start of the season, according to the study's results which were revealed by Germany's Auto Motor und Sport.

Even McLaren was found to pay bills on average 26 days late, while suppliers of the title winning Brawn (now Mercedes) team had to wait usually two weeks to be paid.