Formula One cars thundered around the streets of Monaco on Thursday, but even their deafening noise could not drown out the sound of widespread concerns about the future of the sport.

As Rubens Barrichello and then Nico Rosberg topped the timesheets, for Brawn GP and then Williams, it was ironic to see the established manufacturer-backed outfits struggling to keep pace.

Ferrari showed an improvement, but did little else to ease the fears of the sport's commercial ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone that they are serious in their threat to quit if the ruling body, the International Automobile Federation (FIA), introduce their £40-million budget-capping plan in 2010.

"I am very concerned," said Ecclestone. "I don't want them to leave. It is not want we want or anybody wants at all is it?"

Pull-out threats

In the wake of Wednesday's decision by a French court to reject Ferrari's application for an injunction against the FIA, the Italian team confirmed it would quit if the planned budget-capping regulations are introduced unchanged.

The teams, who must lodge their entries for next year by 29 May — after which vacancies may be filled by new teams bidding to enter the sport — will discuss the problems at a meeting of the Formula One Teams Association (AFOTA) in Monaco on Friday.

Important to keep Ferrari

Ecclestone said he was not optimistic that a solution would be found before the deadline.

"We will have to wait and see," he said. "Probably, the majority won't put an entry in."

He repeated his belief that it was important to keep Ferrari, the only team that has competed in every season of the world championship since 1950, racing in F1 next year.

"We've had more than 70 teams in and out since F1 started. The only people who have been consistent are Ferrari, because they have been there from day one. So, we don't want to lose Ferrari."

Be positive - Theissen

While Ecclestone fretted over the future, BMW boss Mario Theissen urged his fellow team chiefs to be bold and positive and work hard to solve the problems they face.

"I would say 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," he said.

"At the moment there is nothing on the table that all parties agree on. We will do what we can to get there, but it needs to make sense for a team or manufacturer to be in F1."

The FIA president Max Mosley said last week that they would consider any proposals put forward, but added that he believed his plan for budget caps was the only sensible way of moving forward amid the global economic downturn.

A Ferrari source said that the Italian team's main objection was not to the principle of cutting costs, but the manner in which this was done and the fact the FIA introduced its plan without proper consultation.

AFP

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