Red Bull's Mark Webber has said that he doesn't really care whether the current infighting results in a breakaway series being formed, as the Aussie reckons the manufacturer series would remain the pinnacle of motor racing.
In his latest ghost-written tome for the BBC, Webber expressed disappointment that another grand prix will be overshadowed by the political rumblings going on behind the scenes of the sport, but he reaffirmed his backing of the FOTA stance 100%.
"It's disappointing that it has ended up this way, with the teams in a stand-off with the FIA, the governing body, over its plans to change the rules next year and introduce a £40m budget cap," Webber mourned down the phone to whoever types his BBC column up, "Collectively everyone has played a role in trying to help and protect the sport and you just see all that effort down the years being devalued or diluted through some pretty radical ideas."
He went on to point out that: "It's good to have some stability, to be able to predict what's going to happen, not have different things going on every six months."
Earlier this month, the drivers currently umbilically tied to the wallets of the big FOTA teams came out as one and said that they would stand by their salaries teams for 2010 no matter what happened, and Webber confirmed that his financial situation fundamental beliefs had not changed since then.
"All the drivers share the same view. We want to drive for the best teams and race against the best drivers. If it's not the FIA Formula 1 world championship, so be it. It'll still be the most prestigious championship," the Australian said, claiming that: "Ferrari are crucial. Everyone wants to beat them and McLaren. They're awesome teams and big set-ups who've taken years to get into that situation, they are respected and we want to beat these guys."
The FOTA teams have until Friday to decide whether to withdraw their conditions attached to their 2010 entries and join the 2010 F1 grid, or retain their belief that they will only sign up should the rules and governance of the sport change to their liking, leaving them with the possibility of being dropped from the sport.
Fellow driver Felipe Massa backed Webber up on his opinions, with the Ferrari man saying in a not-at-all choreographed interview with the official Ferrari website that the time was right for the FOTA teams to break from F1 and start their own series.
"The situation looks bad at the moment, but if agreement can be reached then it can have a healthy future," Massa preambled his comments, before saying: "If not, then we need to look seriously at what is the best option: as the teams appear to be united, then maybe it is time to look at doing something different that could be better for the sport."
Massa also said that the ongoing spat is concerning the drivers, saying that: "We are all very concerned about the situation and I follow the developments closely, as it affects my professional life, even if I can have no real influence over how the situation evolves: that's down to the people who govern the sport and those in charge of the teams.
"We need our sport to be in better shape, because over the past few months there have been some very stupid fights. Everyone needs to work hard to make the sport what it should be for the fans, the teams, the sponsors and the drivers. We don't need this fighting."
On the issue of which aspect of having two competing series doing battle for motorsport's top tier would stop the "stupid fights", Massa was less forthcoming.
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