A Russian billionaire could buy Williams.

The once-great British team is in a desperate performance crisis, but multiple authoritative outlets are now reporting that Dmitry Mazepin is interested in buying it.

Earlier, we reported that Mazepin's 19-year-old son Nikita, who races in Formula 2, will conduct a series of F1 tests in a two-year-old Mercedes car this year.

Last year, Mazepin snr's company Uralkali tried to take over Force India, but that team ultimately did a deal with another billionaire, Lawrence Stroll.

Now, Russia's biggest news agency Tass reports: "The main shareholder of the company Uralkali, Dmitry Mazepin, is negotiating the purchase of the formula one team Williams."

Reportedly, the first talks took place in Shanghai last weekend.

The same news was reported by Ria Novisti, the state-owned Russian news agency.

Williams, the only team yet to score a point in 2019 so far, has been contacted for comment.