Australian Grand Prix boss Ron Walker, a close friend of Bernie Ecclestone, has warned that if Ferrari is not on the F1 grid next season he may be forced to abandon the event.

"If the disunity continues Melbourne will seriously consider its position on continuing with formula one," said Walker, according to the Brisbane Times. "Without Ferrari racing in Melbourne it will lose much of its glamour and therefore the Government investment will come into question."

Walker, who has met up with his good mate Ecclestone in London this week, is under no illusion as to who's to blame for the sport's current crisis, FIA President Max Mosley.

"In my view Mr Mosley should walk away from the sport with dignity rather than slowly strangle to death the great brand of formula One," he said. "The sport needs fresh and dynamic leadership more than ever before to lead F1 into a new era of motor racing.

"Bernie Ecclestone is absolutely trying to be a peacemaker," he added, "but if the most successful automotive companies in the world will not agree to the rules laid down by the FIA then that will be the end of it."

While Mosley is neither "fresh" or "dynamic", neither is Ecclestone, or Walker himself for that matter. Still, this is F1, the same as it's ever been, an elite club run by the few for the benefit of the few.

Same old, same old.