F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone is teaming up with Genii Capital to bid for the motor company, Saab Automobile AB. The partnership was announced Thursday evening and sees Ecclestone join recent Renault F1 investors Genii Capital in going head-to-head against one time F1 team owners, Spyker Cars.

The American company General Motors currently owns the failing Saab brand and are looking to offload the entire operation. Dutch car manufacturer Spyker had expressed an interest and made several offers to GM. Yesterday the company revised their offer and Victor Muller, CEO of Spyker Cars said in a statement:

We have continued a constructive dialogue with GM over the acquisition of Saab. We believe the Saab brand has lots of potential and would be keen to close a deal as quickly as possible.

The Luxembourg-based private investment firm Genii Capital put in a last minute offer on Thursday and stated:

Genii Capital has decided that given an adequate and short timeframe for finalizing its offer, it will aggressively work towards a successful closing of the transaction with all the relevant stakeholders of the company.

In December last year Genii bought a large stake in the Renault F1 team, securing its position for the 2010 championship. Although it came to light yesterday that Genii might be interested in Saab, news that Ecclestone is involved has come as something of a surprise.

As yet it is unclear what involvement Bernie will play in the partnership, or what the long term ramifications on Formula 1 and the Renault team might be.