Dennis: F1 Future to be Unveiled Soon

Speaking at his team's routine news briefing on the eve of Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix, Dennis also criticised Ferrari's attitude in the ongoing row over unrestricted testing.

Dennis also rejected reported claims that both McLaren and Williams had been paid 20 million dollars by Formula One's commercial ring-master Bernie Ecclestone, claims that suggested they were open to being persuaded to abandon their positions among the nine teams working against Ferrari in the political fight that currently clouds the sport.

"That claim is not true, I can say that categorically," he said. "We have not received any money at all from Bernie Ecclestone."

Asked about the future of the Grand Prix World Championship (GPWC), he said that the current group of nine teams and five manufacturers were aware of the "time scale of events" and would be making an announcement concerning the future in the next month.

"It will have a headline, a title, that people will be able to use to refer to," he said, making clear that this would be a new development and a new structure that would enable observers to see the teams' blueprint for the future.

Talking about the future shape of the sport, he said "at some stage, there will be a new commercial agreement of some kind or other" and that it was most likely it would come from an organisation that currently "does not exist."

Mercedes-Benz chief Norbert Haug, who has worked closely with the group that is preparing for a possible breakaway series after 2007, said that he believed the initiative was an impressive one.

"It is a continuing process and it will be full of very good proposals," he said. Haug said that "it was our plan to try and cut costs by half. That will be tough, tough, but possible, and the place to start is with the engines."

Dennis also condemned Ferrari's attitude to the failure to reach any compromise agreement on reduced testing and their attitude to the so-called 'Suzuka' agreement's demise as showing "total disregard" for everyone else.

He also conceded that it was possible that those teams working to a self-imposed agreement to restrict their testing may reach a time when they felt a need to step up their testing again to become competitive.

"But," he said. "Before anyone does that, it will be preceded by a meeting with the other teams."