But that move led to concern from drivers about safety implications, after they tried out slick rubber without warmers in winter testing.

With a big difference in laptimes between cars on cold tyres and those with warmed up rubber, drivers feared about the increased chance of accidents.

This is good news.

The FFSA has a contract to run the French Grand Prix until 2011, but there was doubt about its future after Bernie Ecclestone made it clear several times that he did not want F1 back at the Magny-Cours circuit.

The French body said on Wednesday, however, that the entry for next year’s race had been confirmed.

Following a meeting of the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council in Paris on Wednesday, a statement was issued confirming that F1 teams were to be consulted on changes to the future direction of F1.

“The FIA will enter into a wide-ranging consultation with the Formula One teams to examine plans for improved efficiency, including new technical regulations for the Championship. This will also involve a review of the governance of Formula One,” said the statement.

The latter sentence is understood to be a reference to the ongoing dispute between FIA president Max Mosley and commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone over future control of the sport.

In a statement following Wednesday’s FIA World Council meeting in Paris, the sport’s governing body has invited tenders for the new low-cost feeder series.

The statement read: “The FIA will invite tenders for a new feeder series for Formula One. This championship, called Formula Two, would be launched in 2009 and used as an inexpensive platform to develop emerging driver talent for Formula One. It is hoped this can be achieved within a budget of around €200,000 a car per season.”

How the FIA hopes to achieve running costs of around €200,000 per car per season remains to be seen. The target figure is significantly lower than it costs to compete in the current traditional ladder series – GP2 Series and F3.

The Australian Grand Prix will kick off proceedings on March 29, followed by Malaysia and Bahrain, before the championship heads to Europe. In a change to the traditional calendar the British Grand Prix will take place before the French race.

In another shift, the Turkish event will revert back to its more traditional August date, following this season’s earlier May slot. The championship will draw to a close in mid November with the inaugural Abu Dhabi race.

2009 FIA Formula One World Championship calendar (provisional)
29 March Australia
5 April Malaysia
19 April Bahrain
10 May Spain
24 May Monaco
7 June Canada
21 June Great Britain
28 June France
12 July Germany
26 July Hungary
9 August Turkey
23 August Europe (Valencia)
6 September Italy
13 September Belgium
27 September Singapore
11 October Japan
18 October China
1 November Brazil
15 November Abu Dhabi

Mosley wrote to the presidents of national automobile clubs last week telling them that the FIA risked losing control of F1 if he was forced out of office at the June 3 General Assembly meeting.

He claimed that he was locked in hard negotiations with F1′s commercial rights holders, Bernie Ecclestone and financial backers CVC Capital Partners, to prevent the FIA losing control of F1′s regulations and a veto to any potential future sale.

It makes explosive reading.

Mosley begins by saying that he has had letters from clubs representing 85 votes at the General Assembly (this is slightly less than half of the votes that will be cast) and says that 13 of them suggested that he should re 62 urged him to stay. He nonetheless accepts that his tenure of the office of FIA President needs to be examined by the General Assembly, but argues that he should be given the chance to finish the job he has started.

Indeed, he argues that it would be “irresponsible, even a breach of duty, to walk away from a number of negotiations currently under way, all of which are of fundamental importance to the FIA”.

Clink on the link above to see the complete report.

A budget cap is set to be introduced in the sport from the start of 2009, and FIA consultant Tony Purnell has written to all Formula One teams with the figures the governing body would like to be set as a starting point for future discussions.

The figures proposed are 175 million Euro for 2009, 140 million by 2010, and 110 million a year later.

The cap would not cover expenditure on engines, KERS systems, marketing costs or driver and team principal salaries.

The figures, however, have received mixed reactions from some team bosses.

This is an approach that will not work in Formula 1, and shouldn’t.

Mosley is under pressure to quit after a newspaper claimed he took part in a “Nazi-style orgy”. He denies his actions had any Nazi connotations.

Stewart told the BBC that the big companies which back F1 want Mosley out on both commercial and moral grounds.

“He’s gone beyond anything they would tolerate,” Stewart told Radio 5 Live.

Stewart, who has clashed with Mosley over many issues in the past, said the sport’s big backers had met at the Spanish Grand Prix to discuss the issue.

He said Mosley’s behaviour would have contravened the companies’ “corporate moral guidelines” and that motor clubs around the world, which also come under the auspices of the FIA, would not approve either.