Ferrari case against FIA to be heard on Tuesday

May 16, 2009, 9:58 GMT

London - The ongoing row between Formula One teams and the sports' controlling body FIA is to be heard in court on Tuesday, international media reported on Saturday.

Ferrari is seeking an injunction against a controversial budget cap imposed by FIA from a Paris court, claiming that they have a right to veto any proposed Formula One rule change.

The London Times quotes a Ferrari spokesman as saying: 'There is a contractual agreement between the FIA and Ferrari once this agreement is broken, we need to protect ourselves.'

FIA President Max Mosley has already indicated that his organization will appeal should they lose the court case.

Ferrari has the support of some of the other teams as Toyota's John Howett said that he can understand their position. 'From Toyota's point of view, we understand their position and we support them,' he told the autosport.com website.

The latest developments followed a meeting on Friday between FIA and the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) at a hotel in London's Heathrow airport.

The meeting ended without resolving the issue.

The controversy erupted when Mosley said that a 45 million euro (61 million dollars) budget cap would be introduced for the new Formula One season.

The cap is not mandatory, but teams which keep to it will have all technical freedom in areas such as engines and aerodynamics. Teams which spend more money face restrictions.

The teams have until May 29 to decide if they want to apply to race next season and several teams have already indicated that they are not willing to compete if the rule is not scrapped.

Apart from Ferrari, Toyota, Renault, BMW-Sauber and Red Bull have said they would withdraw from Formula One if the rule is not scrapped.

According to the Daily Mail, Ferrari is pulling out all the stops though to ensure that they will race next season.

'We can't go into detail about the veto. But for us, F1 is everything, it is our life. We want to fight in order to make sure we are in F1 in the right way,' team principal Stefano Domenicali said.

Mosley has given the teams seven days in which they should prepare a counter-proposal. The teams had earlier asked for two weeks, but as FIA want to present the 2010 teams in June, time is running out.