Concerns over 'customer' F1

Speaking in Monte Carlo, McLaren technical chief Adrian Newey said: "Personally, I think that allowing teams to sell their designs or even parts to other teams is a very dangerous route because what will happen is that the midfield teams will end up being either forced out of existence or into buying other people's cars or designs. Very quickly you'll get into a position where you've got three or four teams able to design their own cars, with the rest buying.

"There will probably be a shortfall so the grids could go down and you'll end up with an IndyCar-type scenario which would be very sad for F1."

Williams technical director Patrick Head added: "I'm not desperately excited about F1 being taken back to F3000, because that's really what is being talked about. Yes, it should be a drivers' formula, but I think at the moment there's quite a lot of interest, certainly by the manufacturers, in the technology side as well, so I hope that some sort of middle line is eventually what comes out of it."

Mosley himself has scheduled a Friday press conference in Monte Carlo at which the new rules will doubtless be a major topic.