Briatore plays down ‘breakaway’ likelihood

(GMM) Flavio Briatore on Thursday played down speculation that leading formula one teams are shaping up to split with formula one to set up a rival 'breakaway' championship.

The Italian runs the Renault team, and Ferrari, Toyota, BMW and Red Bull have similarly threatened to quit the sport at the end of the 2009 over the budget cap spat with the FIA.

But Briatore told Gazzetta dello Sport that the objective of the dispute is not to dispense with F1's governing body FIA.

"I must be clear that we, Ferrari and the others have no intention of breaking with FIA. It (a breakaway) is a remote hypothesis that everyone wants to avoid.

"We want to be there, to participate, to preserve the future," said the 59-year-old.

Briatore explained that it is "logical" that teams want its governing body to be "simply the referee" rather than the dictator of new rules.

"We should write the rules, not have them imposed by (FIA president) Max (Mosley) without speaking to anyone," he said.