Briatore: Formula One Needs Mosley

Tensions between the teams and Mosley have been growing since the United States Grand Prix tyre fiasco, and there have been suggestions that the teams are planning to put forward their own candidate to stand against Mosley in this October's presidential elections.

But in a major interview with German newspaper Welt Am Sonntag, Briatore has claimed that friction between the teams and Mosley is not as great as many believe - and that ultimately the teams will work together with him to end the threat of a manufacturer breakaway.

"Max Mosley has done a good job in the last few years," said Briatore. "He is an intelligent, capable man with good ideas. This does not mean that everything he proposes is perfect. But I agree in general with his most important demands.

"We have to make Formula One safer, more exciting and cheaper. For this we need a strong FIA president like Mosley to regulate things. But also Ferrari because of the attractiveness and unity of the series."

Ferrari are the only team that have committed to Formula One beyond the end of 2007 and Briatore's belief that the sport needs them and Mosley points towards the teams preferring to remain in F1 rather than join a breakaway series.

"There has not been and will never be a Formula One war," added Briatore. "We all know what Formula One needs. We need unity, a strong FIA who is watching everything, but also more money than before for the teams and manufacturers.

"The manufacturers will develop a system together with the FIA and Ecclestone in which everybody is a part, Ferrari too. This would mean that from 2008 onwards the train would move in the same direction."

The manufacturers planning their breakaway series met in Munich in the week before the British Grand Prix to discuss the progress of plans for their Championship. Although the regulations for the series are due to be published in August, Briatore claims that just as much work is being put into attempts to keep the teams in F1.

"We are trying to find a compromise with the FIA and Ecclestone," he said. "We accept both positions. We neither have a problem with Bernie nor with Max or the FIA. Everything just needs to be re-adjusted in everybody's sense."

When asked whether he believed the manufacturers would run their own series, Briatore said: "That is not the problem. The question is whether this will help all parties concerned in the end. This is the only thing that counts."

The issue that Briatore believes needs to be overcome to allow the talks to resolve F1's future is for those involved in the discussions to put aside their personal interests.

"We are all in the same boat. None of us can shoot a hole in the boat. We all need to get closer and leave our personality problems at home. That is the real problem."