Max Mosley

London: Formula One teams and carmakers planning their own series from 2008 will decide on Thursday whether or not to return to the negotiating table with the sport?s governing body.

The nine teams, all except champions Ferrari, and five manufacturers meet in London to add more flesh to the bones of their plans.

?It will be all about moving further forward with the four working groups, taking the 2008 regulations to the next stage and laying down a proper road map of times and dates and objectives,? Minardi boss Paul Stoddart said of that meeting.

International Automobile Federation (FIA) president Max Mosley has invited all teams to Paris on April 15 to discuss the technical regulations for 2008 in accordance with an existing commercial agreement that expires in 2007.

So far only Ferrari, isolated over their refusal to join the others in reduced testing, have agreed to extend that ?Concorde Agreement? until 2012.

The last time the FIA called a meeting to discuss the regulations, only Ferrari turned up. ?The meeting... with Mosley I suspect won?t be attended,? Stoddart said. ?It will be tea and biscuits with (Ferrari boss Jean) Todt again I expect. I might be wrong.?

Other team bosses have an open mind, however.

?The nine teams and five manufacturers with (BMW board member Burkhard) Goeschel in the chair will decide what to do,? said BAR?s Nick Fry.

McLaren?s Ron Dennis added: ?If the decision was not to attend, that?s not out of disrespect for the FIA or a lack of desire to find a way forward.

?It?s more likely to be linked to the fact that we?d like to have a clear understanding of what we want and we?re not there yet. People should remember that we?re talking about the post-2007 position. There?s a bit of time yet. We don?t want to be stampeded.?

The manufacturers alliance of BMW, Renault, Daimler-Chrysler, Honda and Toyota, want most of the revenues, a level playing field and far greater transparency.

At the moment most of the money goes to Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone?s holding company SLEC, now controlled by three banks.

(Reuters)