F1 crisis will be solved - Mosley

The political state of Formula One looks dire, but Max Mosley on Friday insisted his standoff with major rebel teams will ultimately be settled.

On Friday, the FOTA alliance threatened to set up a breakaway championship and the FIA hit back by vowing legal action, but on a visit to Silverstone Mosley dismissed the conflict as mere "posturing and posing".

The FIA president predicts an eventual compromise, but acknowledged that it may not be found until early in 2010.

"They (FOTA) can't afford not to run in the championship and we would be very reluctant to have a championship without them," Mosley told the BBC.

The 69-year-old suspects some of the manufacturer-backed teams can afford to take such a hard line because "some of them will disappear" whether there is a solution or not.

"I think we'll probably lose one or two, maybe even three manufacturer teams," said Mosley. "As for the great traditional teams, and I would include Ferrari, they need to be there and they will be there. It will get sorted out," he added.

The FIA will no longer publish a definitive 2010 entry list on Friday, and Mosley confirmed that the door is being left "a little bit open" in the hope of a compromise.

He believes some figures are hoping to gain control of the governance and income of the sport but that ultimately the plans for an alternate series are not serious.

"Eventually they will recognise that it can't happen and it will all come back together," said Mosley.

"Everybody can take a tremendously strong position; I could say that I'm going to win some great sporting event in 2010, but until you actually get there, you can boast all you like.

"In the end people do what it is in their interests to do, and it's in the interests of teams to be in the championship and there is actually no fundamental or even important issue that is stopping them taking part.

"It's all personalities and posturing and 'who can snatch what from who', but when it actually comes to the first race (of 2010), they'll be there," he added.

Mosley said the situation is making it less likely that he will step down from his role in October. "What you can't do is walk away from an organisation in the middle of a crisis," he insisted.