FIA gives TWG formal notice

If the TWG fails to reach agreement on these measures by September 6, the FIA intends to offer it three alternative packages of proposals. The teams will then be given another 45 days to choose an alternative or the FIA will impose its own set of regulations.

"If they produce a satisfactory proposal within the next two months, it would be quicker," said FIA president Max Mosley. "But I think the chance of them producing a proposal is remote because there are 10 teams, and all the technical directors of the teams constitute the Technical Working Group. Those 10 people have to agree by a majority of at least eight votes before anything can come in. It has to be an 80 percent majority."

Ferrari's technical director Ross Brawn has said that the Italian team is prepared to make whatever changes are necessary to its 2005 car to fit in with whichever proposed safety regulations are put in place for next year.

"Certainly we can comply and I think the philosophy, the strategy, is that even if they are not quite what you want, people would much rather get on and do something than deliberate until it becomes too late," said Brawn. "Because that is expensive then.

"We want to slow the cars down. We all agree with that and we want to do it in a way which doesn't give an advantage to or disadvantage any specific team. We may turn up on Wednesday [today] and everyone says 'no, we're happy with what's been proposed and lets get on with it'.

"If we turn up and a lot of the teams say 'we are not prepared to accept this', then you're in a judgment call as to whether you think what Max Mosley has said he will accept is going to be the final solution or whether there is an alternative.

"Generally speaking, with a few qualifications, we can go along with the new regulations. Certainly nothing better has been proposed."

Brawn says that Ferrari is already working on its 2005 challenger and that a new set of regulations will create setbacks: "It's a reflection on the fact that quite frankly the teams find it difficult to agree on anything. We have started designing next year's car for quite some time now so the changes will have substantial implications. It's unlikely that the car we've designed is suitable."