Teams urged not to miss meeting

Mosley's address to the teams has come as an official response to a letter written to him by nine team bosses and F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone on Tuesday asking for the meeting to be delayed. The teams felt it would be better to conduct research and analyse the impact of new rules introduced this year than plan future rules now.

But after autosport.com revealed on Tuesday night that the meeting was still going ahead, Mosley has now added further pressure on the teams not to miss the meeting.

Mosley has made it clear that he would prefer for the teams to be consulted and have input into the regulations rather than proceed with his own vision for the future.

"The FIA is itself fully capable of arriving at solutions to these problems, but would much prefer to do so in close consultation with those of the teams who wish to participate," wrote Mosley in his fax. "We remain bound to announce all the 2008 technical regulations at the very latest by the end of 2005.

"The 2008 regulations will be attached in the usual way to the 2008 Concorde Agreement as appendices. Friday's meeting will give you an opportunity to participate in their development. I hope you will join us."

Mosley's decision to press ahead with the meeting is because he is adamant that changes need to be agreed sooner rather than later - because there is a genuine fear that rising costs could lead to the sport losing its independent teams.

In the letter Mosley added: "In my view there is nothing to be gained by delay. At most, a very limited number of topics are likely to be affected by any research commissioned by the commercial rights holder, while a discussion on the precise nature and scope of such research might itself be useful.

"An objective and rational discussion of regulations is only possible if held so far in advance of implementation that no current competitor is affected. As far as I know there has never been such a discussion in Formula 1. I think it will be a pity if you forgo this opportunity to engage in a dialogue with the FIA and other teams which might lead to real progress, albeit some time in the future.

"There is also the possibility that such discussions might result in consensus to introduce certain changes before 2008. Self-evidently, the sooner discussions start, the greater the likelihood of this."