At a special press briefing at Silverstone, FIA President, Max Mosley, once again dismissed the threat of a 'breakaway' series, in addition he made it clear that it is not within the team' remit to have him ousted.

"Once they have all calmed down over Indianapolis, they will realise what is sensible," said the Englishman, according to The Times.

"It is only when they make a complete mess, like at Indy, that they phone me up," he continued. "We must compromise. How we achieve that, we are open to discussion. There is nothing in our proposals that is a religion and we are prepared to discuss how to meet our objectives. When the teams confront the reality of a breakaway, they will realise they cannot do it. It is essentially posturing.

"I think the thing will repair itself," he added, according to The Independent. "We have done a proper survey, and that told us things we didn't know, such as that the public are more attached to the technology than I am personally. The teams are, to be blunt, not serious. They have no survey, no rules, just a few discussion points after six months.

"Now they can have a look at the set of rules we are proposing, and they can make some constructive comments. If they do that's good, we'll incorporate them. If they don't, we will go ahead and finalise these rules by the middle of September and vote them through before the end of the year and those will then be the rules for the 2008 world championship. In the course of this process, the teams will come to see that this is probably not just the most sensible way of going forward, but the only way.

"Of the six manufacturers in Formula One, if we have a breakaway I should think certainly two, maybe three, would stop," he added. "They'd just say this isn't what we came into Formula One for. So when it actually comes to it, the teams won't do it. It's wrong of me to say that because it sort of winds them up and makes them even more puffed up, but the fact is that these big companies will not do that because it's financially viable at the moment with a single championship.

"We want the racing to be closer, more overtaking, safety to improve, drivers to have more opportunities to show their skills. How we achieve that is open to discussion. If they have other suggestions, let's hear them."

Referring to a recent 'spat' with the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, Mosley said: "The drivers showed some naivety, having been manipulated by some of the teams, but I am inviting them to a meeting to take up their issues and reassure them."

While of the 'threat' to have him ousted as President, Mosley said that it is not up to the teams but to the FIA.

"They are only involved in F1," he said, "while I'm responsible for all the other forms of motorsport. They are just a tiny part of one part of a huge sporting programme.

"The best thing a lot of these F1 team principals could do, and they would be much more successful, is if they stepped back and let the team managers run the teams."