More discussions for team bosses

The F1 team bosses will meet in London tomorrow to discuss cost-cutting measures, and once again Ferrari will be absent. Ferrari principal Jean Todt recently said the team was not invited to the previous meeting in Brazil when the nine other bosses proposed to cut in-season testing. The team has since refused to sign the agreement.

It was thought Ferrari would be present at Tuesday's meeting but it seems not: "We will not be there," a team spokesman said, according to Reuters. "This date was not available due to previous commitments."

The proposals are to drastically reduce, if not eliminate, tyre testing and to limit in-season testing to ten days. The team bosses told Bernie Ecclestone that if he agreed to this, they would accept 19 races on next season's calendar, including Britain and France.

However, the proposals need the unanimous agreement of all the teams and Ferrari is still balking. The team tests extensively at its own tracks and enjoys a supportive partnership with tyre manufacturer Bridgestone.

Minardi principal Paul Stoddart, who was a driving force behind the testing cut, claimed the other teams would go ahead with the agreement anyway. "We're very hopeful we can move on from where we left off in Brazil," he said.

"The next stage is Ferrari signing up or the rest of us agree to do it without them. We can't do anything about tyres but we can just decide we're not going to test more than 10 days."