While the teams appeared to be united in opposing Mosley after meetings in the build-up to today’s Monaco Grand Prix, the reality is that Williams exist to build Formula One cars and believe they cannot permit politics to interfere with their business operation.
Staying on board: Sir Frank Williams prepares to get onto Flavio Briatore's boat in Monte Carlo
Similarly, Ross Brawn, who has rebuilt the defunct Honda team to take Jenson Button to the top of the world championship standings, and Vijay Mallya, owner of Force India,cannot afford to cast themselves out of the Formula One paddock.
While Ferrari president Luca Di Montezemolo continues on a publicly-orchestrated collision course with the sport’s hierarchy, the future involvement of other manufacturers, Toyota, Renault and BMW, is a cause for greater alarm.
The car industry remains crippled by recession and there is growing disquiet in boardrooms at Toyota, Renault and BMW at the hundreds of millions being spent on F1 without a scent of victory between them.
All 10 teams participating in the current world championship are contracted to compete until 2012, and last night two new teams had placed entries for next year — Spain’s Campos Meta 1 and American outfit, US F1.
Most within the business fully expect Ferrari to race next season, even if there is further posturing to come from Di Montezemolo, who has tired of the autocratic governance of Mosley.
The same certainty cannot be applied to the futures of Toyota, Renault and BMW. Toyota are dealing with a catastrophic downturn in sales, Renault are losing their title sponsor — Dutch bank ING — at the end of this season, while BMW’s fortuneshave nose-dived since Robert Kubica supplied them with their first victory last summer.
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