Ferrari alone as teams shun F1 meeting

The rift between Ferrari and the rest of Formula One was laid bare on Friday when only the world champions turned up for a meeting to discuss rule changes and the sport's long-term future.

With nine of the 10 teams shunning the talks, Ferrari boss Jean Todt, technical director Ross Brawn and International Auto-mobile Federation (FIA) president Max Mosley spent two hours deliberating alone.

Mosley said it had nonetheless been worthwhile and hoped the rest would attend another meeting scheduled for April 15 in Paris, if they were not still 'sulking'.

"I think there is an element of sulking at the moment," he told reporters. "It's a question of whether they are still sulking after Bahrain."

The nine, angered by Ferrari's refusal to restrict testing and decision to split with the carmaker group planning for a rival series from 2008, had wanted the meeting postponed until after the Bahrain Grand Prix on April 3.

Many also feel that the world body favours Ferrari, the only team to have raced in the championship since the beginning in 1950.

The London meeting was to discuss cost-cutting measures for 2008, and possibly earlier, which have to be set out this year under the terms of the existing 'Concorde Agreement' which expires at the end of 2007.

"We gleaned a great deal of useful information today, probably more than if we'd had the other teams here," said Mosley.

"It's much easier to talk to one team and we were fortunate enough to be able to talk to a team who have demonstrated that they have got a good understanding of Formula One, what it takes to be successful and also what it costs."