Briatore defends his visit to Maranello

Briatore visited the Italian team on the Friday after the Malaysian Grand Prix, for a meeting that also included representatives of Cosworth, where the sides discussed plans for a five-year engine development freeze in F1.

That meeting, which took place without the knowledge of the other GPMA members - BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Honda and Toyota - prompted suggestions that Renault were now operating completely independently of the other manufacturers.

But speaking to autosport.com, Briatore has made it clear that Renault remain a part of the GPMA even if he believes that each of the car makers may have to adopt separate policies in certain areas.

"Everybody is still together," he said. "On the technical side, though, I think everyone has a different agenda.

"Some of them (the manufacturers) say you need to win with less budget, and some others will say, 'win, win, win, whatever the money cost.' This is what I think the situation is."

The five-year engine freeze idea was widely expected to meet strong resistance from the other manufacturers in F1, but sources close to the GPMA have suggested that they believe common ground can be met on the future engine proposals.

Representatives of BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Honda and Toyota met on the Saturday morning of the Australian Grand Prix to discuss their next step in the discussions to frame the 2008 regulations.

One GPMA source said: "Some people believe that the manufacturers will automatically reject the engine freeze idea, but I think we have already seen a softening of the plans.

"It was originally a three-year freeze with no changes, but now it is a five-year freeze with changes every year. I think we can find agreement."

Briatore told autosport.com earlier this week that he felt Renault had done nothing wrong in attending the meeting at Maranello without the knowledge of their fellow GPMA members.

"It's not a secret that in the last two or three years I've been working very hard to make sure that F1 is more efficient," he explained.

"We have a lot at stake to make this happen. The meeting in Maranello... Ferrari are part of the championship, a very big player in the championship. It was quite normal to have a meeting to understand the position of Ferrari regarding the costs. And Cosworth as well.

"It was not a meeting to split the manufacturers. It was only a meeting for more information to present to the manufacturers. Ferrari preferred to have a meeting with me, and not with somebody else, as simple as that."