Montezemolo unflustered by new Mosley threat

MILAN (Reuters) - Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has avoided entering into a new public row with Max Mosley by largely ignoring the FIA president's fresh threats about the future of the Formula One.

Montezemolo, as head of the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA), came to an agreement with the governing FIA on Wednesday to scrap Mosley's planned budget cap and avert a breakaway series. Mosley also said he would stand down in October.

However, Mosley has since suggested that the deal could collapse unless Montezemolo apologised for comments about him.

In a forum with fans on the Ferrari website (www.ferrari.com), Montezemolo did not apologise and continued to praise the virtues of Wednesday's deal.

"I think that in a frame of stable rules it is very important to do everything possible to increase Formula One's level of spectacle, maintaining the principles of sport and technological competition," he said.

"What I can guarantee you is that Ferrari and FOTA are busy keeping the spirit and the essence of F1 alive, constantly listening to our fans."

An empowered FOTA has said it wants to make Formula One more exciting but Montezemolo again refused to go into specific details when asked if grand prix qualification may change.

"Inside FOTA the teams are checking several options to make the days before the races more interesting. There are several proposals right now on the table," he said.

Mosley said on Friday the threat of FOTA setting up a breakaway championship had not gone away despite the peace deal but Montezemolo was already thinking about F1 for next season.