FOTA discusses response to Mosley

With Mosley determined to make radical cost cuts, the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) organised a get together after qualifying on Saturday for team principals to discuss their response to his plans.

The need to come up with a considered response has had some urgency added it by the shock announcement made by the FIA on Friday that it plans to introduce standard engines from 2010.

Team principals gathered in the Renault team office in the Shanghai paddock shortly after 3pm for a meeting that was only expected to last for a maximum of two hours.

The aim of the meeting was to come up with a unified approach to Mosley on Tuesday - with the hope that it will be enough to counter the proposal of the standard engine rule that would almost certainly drive manufacturers away from the sport.

And though no details were made available from today's eventual four-hour meeting among the team bosses, autosport.com understands that a range of proposals were agreed in principle.

It is hoped these can be ratified in Sunday morning's meeting - prior to them being presented on Tuesday to Mosley.

One team principal told autosport.com: "We are optimistic that the teams will agree a unified planned approach tomorrow for Mosley's meeting"

However, it has emerged that all team principals are unlikely to attend the Mosley meeting - amid fears of divide-and-conquer tactics being used to weaken the teams' position.

Senior sources have suggested there is a fear within FOTA that Mosley is using the threat of a standard engine, plus recent suggestions of engine equalization rules and the return of customer cars, as a way to break what has appeared to be rare unity in team ranks following the formation of FOTA.

Suspicions of a bid to destabilize FOTA increased in China when high-level sources suggested that the organisation had been asked to change its name because Formula One Management owned the trademark to 'Formula One.'

Most teams and manufacturers have maintained their silence so far on the FIA's bid to introduce a standard engine in F1, or reveal details about what their plans for Tuesday's meeting are.

However, Williams co-owner Patrick Head said on Saturday that he was not surprised Mosley had opted for a shock tactic like the introduction of standard engines to prompt teams into action.

"I think Max is quite serious about it, but I suppose after many years of dealing with F1 teams and representatives of manufacturers in F1 he has rather developed the view that any mechanism of change not only has to be painful but is going to be painful," explained Head.

"If you say to the teams how are you going to reduce costs or how are you going to make change, then none of them want to make change. That is the problem.

"Max is in quite regular contact with people at senior levels of manufacturers, just as he is in regular contact with people in senior positions at teams like Williams or Red Bull. All those people say that current costs in F1 are not sustainable. So his view is that if it is left as it is, there will be a number of departures."