Ferrari hit out at Mosley

Ferrari have launched a new attack on former FIA president Max Mosley ahead of the Formula One season.

The team have criticised motor sport’s world governing body, and in particular Mosley, as two of the new teams for 2010 struggle to make the opening grand prix in Bahrain next month.

The Maranello marque claim the problems faced by USF1 and Campos Meta are a result of what it describes as a “holy war” it says Mosley waged against the manufacturers last year, culminating in the departures of Toyota, BMW, and with Renault operating almost in name only this year.

In a column on the team’s official website called ’The Horse Whisperer’, Ferrari lament the fact only 11 of the 13 teams scheduled to enter this season’s championship have so far tested.

It adds: “As for the 12th team, Campos Meta, its shareholder and management structure has been transformed...with a sudden cash injection from a munificent white knight [referring to supremo Bernie Ecclestone], well used to this sort of last-minute rescue deal.

“However, the beneficiaries of this generosity might find the knight in question expects them to fulfil the role of loyal vassal.

“All this means, it is hard to imagine the Dallara-designed car showing its face at the Catalunya Circuit [in Barcelona this week for testing], with Sakhir a more likely venue to witness the return of the Senna name [driver Bruno] to a Formula One session.

“The 13th team, USF1, appears to have gone into hiding in Charlotte, North Carolina, to the dismay of those like the Argentinian [driver Jose Maria] Lopez, who thought he had found his way into the Formula One paddock and now has to start all over again.

“Amazingly, they still have the impudence to claim that everything is hunky-dory under the starry, stripy sky.”

The Ferrari column points the finger of blame for the latest mess to engulf the sport at Mosley.

“This is the legacy of the holy war waged by the former FIA president.

“The cause in question was to allow smaller teams to get into Formula One,” it said.

“This is the outcome: two teams will limp into the start of the championship, a third is being pushed into the ring by an invisible hand, and as for the fourth, well, you would do better to call on Missing Persons to locate it.

“In the meantime, we have lost two constructors along the way, in the shape of BMW and Toyota, while at Renault, there’s not much left other than the name. Was it all worth it?”

Mosley and the FIA were unavailable for comment.