Sadly the headline does not relate to the on-track activity but rather the ongoing spat between the FIA and Minardi boss Paul Stoddart which is doing F1 no good and in the long run can only damage (further) the sport's reputation.

Stoddart is now not only claiming that the FIA threatened to cancel this weekend's event, he is calling of the sport's governing body to resign.

In the first of a number of statements issued in the wake of his decision to withdraw an injunction and instead prepare his cars to 2005 specs, thereby making them - in the eyes of his rivals and the FIA - street legal, Stoddart claims that Mr Mosley threatened to cancel this weekend's race unless the injunction was withdrawn.

"Otherwise Max (Mosley) is threatening to cancel the Australian Grand Prix," it read. "I stated at the time my total disgust at such threats."

Now, Stoddart has called on Mosley to step down.

"It really is seriously pathetic, but it's typical of the very reason that we're having all the problems," he told AAP, referring to the statement issued by the FIA in which it warned that the 'intervention' of the Victoria Supreme Court sets a precedent which could affect the future of FIA sanctioned motorsport in Australia.

"If there ever were chances of bringing the sport into disrepute they want to start looking at the author of this letter," he continued. He retired once in July and he needs to do it again.

"It was the FIA and their lawyers that requested, at about midnight last night, that I withdraw this action, stating that, 'otherwise Max is threatening to cancel the Australian Grand Prix'," he continued.

"I stated at the time my total disgust at such threats and, in the presence of most of the senior members of the FIA, CAMS, AGPC and their legal representatives, I agreed in the interests of the Australian Grand Prix to comply with their request to withdraw. It is blatantly untrue to suggest otherwise."

As the battle rages on, F1 is the loser.