Mosley pressing ahead with entry window

Although the sport appears to be heading towards a deal that will head off the threat of a manufacturers' breakaway following meetings at the Bahrain Grand Prix, the FIA president has written to Formula One's teams insisting there is no change in the FIA's entry window procedure.

There were suggestions in the Bahrain paddock that plans to open entries for 2008 on March 24 and close them on March 31 could be made more flexible in light of an imminent deal with the Grand Prix Manufacturers' Association, but this speculation appears to be wide of the mark.

In a letter that Mosley sent to the teams on Wednesday, a copy of which has been obtained by autosport.com, the FIA president confirmed that he was pressing ahead with the one-week entry window.

He insists that it is necessary if the FIA are to frame the sport's 2008 regulations in co-operation with the teams - and he makes it clear that no team or manufacturer will be given special dispensation if they miss the entry window.

Those teams who fail to submit an entry in time will be frozen out of talks on the future rules, even if their entry for 2008 is accepted at a later date.

"A Formula One team which does not enter before 31 March would nevertheless be able to submit an entry at a later date and such an entry might be accepted by the FIA subject to the relevant sporting regulations and provided the number of teams did not exceed twelve, including the late entry," wrote Mosley.

"However, unless the FIA and the Competing Teams are persuaded that extenuating circumstances apply, even where such a late entry is accepted by the FIA prior to 30 June, late entering teams will not be invited to join in any discussions regarding the finalisation of the Sporting Regulations and entry will only be possible on the basis that the team accepts the Sporting Regulations as finally adopted and published prior to 30 June."

Mosley is hoping that the FIA World Council will approve his window of opportunity plan at their next meeting on March 22.

If they do, then once the entries are closed the FIA plans to begin a series of meetings with the teams to finalise the future F1 regulations. The technical regulations need to be sorted before June 30 this year to give teams enough time to design their 2008 cars.

McLaren boss Ron Dennis, who has been central to the discussions between the GPMA, the FIA and Bernie Ecclestone, said in Bahrain last weekend that he was hopeful the manufacturers situation would be resolved before the entry deadline closed but said there was no fixed position from them about entries.

When asked about the GPMA's position towards the deadline, he said: "This is an almost day-by-day process now and I don't think anyone can present a situation where there is no signed-off MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) by that point.

"I don't want to be at all predictive but I expect there will be several meetings before that day and one of those meetings will be to decide what the position will be if we find ourselves in that situation. But there is no dialogue on that yet."

Speaking about the FIA's position with regards to the entry window, an FIA spokesman said: "The FIA's position with regards to the entry of the 2008 championship has been very clearly communicated to the current teams."