Media hits back after Ferrari's 'withering attack'

A column posted on Ferrari's official website on Tuesday caused more than a few raised eyebrows within the international media.

A response in Germany's Auto Motor und Sport was headlined 'Red card for Ferrari', after the Italian team slammed Formula One's new and hopeful teams and blamed former FIA president Max Mosley for the loss of carmakers.

"I have rarely read such nonsense," wrote the magazine's columnist Michael Schmidt, slamming the attack as a "far-fetched conspiracy theory".

Schmidt's article said the withdrawal and restructuring of F1's carmakers had nothing to do with Mosley, who was accused by Ferrari of having waged a 'Holy War'.

Schmidt acknowledged that there might have been "better candidates" than the struggling USF1 and Campos, but argued that F1 needed new teams even though Lotus and Virgin "cannot be expected to be fast right away".

Britain's Daily Telegraph called Ferrari's rant a "withering attack", the French news agency AFP said the Maranello outfit had "savaged" the FIA, and even Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport said the column was "bitter".

France's Auto Hebdo said Ferrari "attacks the new kids", and London's Times newspaper said the Prancing Horse is blaming "Mosley for (the new teams') teething problems".