Ecclestone did not want to talk openly about suing a team that he has said repeatedly are synonymous with Formula One and whose future participation he believes is vital to its health and prestige. But he made it clear that Di Montezemolo could not walk away without paying a hefty price.
“We would always respect our contracts,” Ecclestone said during a lull between practice sessions for Sunday’s grand prix. “And all the teams that have signed contracts with us would expect us to respect them, and we would expect the same from Ferrari. They are saying they are going to walk, we are saying we hope they respect their contract.”
In addition, Ecclestone is believed to have written to Di Montezemolo pointing out that some of the hundreds of millions of pounds paid to Ferrari from television rights income over the past few years may have to be returned if the team decide to break their contractual obligations.
The crisis over Mosley’s plans for a cost cap continued to overshadow the build-up to Sunday’s showpiece, with Ecclestone admitting that he believes it possible that none of the present ten teams will sign up for next year’s championship by the deadline of a week today. “We will have to wait and see,” Ecclestone said. “Probably the majority won’t put an entry in.”
The manoeuvring coincided with increasing suggestions that the row is not so much about the new rules as about Mosley’s imperial style of governing the sport. Some influential voices in the paddock fear that the FIA president may have overplayed his hand and that he could be causing more damage with his uncompromising approach.
One team principal said that the issue of governance and Mosley’s style had always been the prime concern of the teams, implying that only when Mosley goes — which looks unlikely in the near future given that he is expected to stand for re-election in October — will the sport settle down.
The FIA president was due in Monaco last night and will meet the teams today to try to map out a way ahead, but his spokesman was refusing to contemplate a change in Mosley’s approach. “He’s always done that,” Richard Woods said when it was put to him that Mosley was using an iron fist. “He’s never blinked. The teams have got a strong leader of a strong governing body and he is playing hard ball, as he always has. What’s hard for them to accept is that Max is right on this issue.”
Not everyone was looking at the impasse in such stark terms. Mario Theissen, the team principal of BMW Sauber, appealed for a constructive approach from all parties. “We need to be positive, we need to be confident and we need to push to get an agreement because it doesn’t make sense for any of the stakeholders to damage the platform we have,” Theissen said.
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