No compromise over F1 budget insists Mosley

(GETTY IMAGES)

Formula One teams and the sports administrators failed to resolve the dispute over a proposed budget cap today, with Ferrari taking legal action in a French court to stop the measure.

Team owners met FIA president Max Mosley and F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone at a London Heathrow hotel but emerged without a deal.

Mosley called the meeting friendly but said the teams had gone away to come up with a counter proposal.

"We are prepared to listen to what they have to say," he said.

Mosley also said Ferrari has filed an injunction in a French court to block the proposed budget cap, which he interpreted as a sign that the Italian team does not want to go through with its threat of leaving F1.

"I'd be very surprised in the end if they do (leave)," Mosley said, but added that "when people start bringing proceedings it becomes very difficult to negotiate with them."

Several teams, including Ferrari, Renault and Toyota, have threatened to withdraw from next year's championship if the budget cap is introduced.

Convinced that F1 cannot survive more years of overspending, Mosley has proposed a budget cap that helps out the poorer teams and effectively penalises the richer ones.

Teams that sign up to a voluntary £40m cap will be given more technical freedom than those who don't — essentially creating two categories of teams.

Renault boss Flavio Briatore claims Mosley and the FIA, the sport's world governing body, forced through changes without consulting the teams.

"The teams are F1, and the international federation should simply be the referee," he said. "The rules should be written by us. They can't be imposed by Max without him speaking to anyone. That's an unacceptable way to work. The FIA throws at us a new thing every week."

Briatore said Renault had no plans to break with the FIA but wanted to negotiate a solution that both the teams and the governing body would accept.

"We want to be there, to participate, and to preserve the future," he said. "We are living in a difficult moment and we must find a solution at all costs. I hope Mosley and his men will mend their ways in order to start over in full harmony."