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A friend of mine, who is well-connected in F1 circles, recently remarked that he won't play poker with Max Mosley if the stakes are high. "He is good at calling the bluff," the friend told me last week when the FIA-FOTA war was its peak with neither side ready to blink. However, as both the parties reached an agreement on Wednesday, it has become quite clear that it was Mosley who not only blinked first but has had to endorse almost everything that FOTA has been demanding.

That the World Motor Sports Council meeting forced Mosley to accept FOTA's demands suggests that the 69-year-old embattled FIA president had made the conflict with FOTA a personal affair. But did Mosley have to stretch this issue so far in order to keep his ego intact?

With just a day to go for the entries deadline, it is becoming clear that the FIA-FOTA battle is more of a clash of personalities than principles. Here are some examples:

1. In a last ditch effort FOTA made some proposal to FIA boss Max Mosley so as to avoid the spectacle of them pulling out of 2010 championship. However Mosley responded to FOTA within few hours and dismissed almost every single objection raised by FOTA.

2. Ferrari boss and FOTA president Luca di Montezemelo gave the green flag to the Le Mans 24 hours race on Saturday. Is there any ulterior motive behind this gesture? It is well known that FIA doesn't organise LeMans and di Montezemelo is no fan of Max Mosley. You can put 2 and 2 together.

It was a lazy Sunday afternoon. Worse, it was not a Formula One weekend. Frankly speaking, compared to Formula One, Moto GP isn't that spectacular or intriguing or dramatic. I am not talking about the action on the race track. It's just that the F1 event is better packaged than Moto GP. There are famous teams, personalities... in fact many F1 drivers are household names. Also, the politics in F1 is so gripping that even during a non-race weekend, there is plenty to write about.

And yet, I can't help but write about Moto GP. The Grand Prix of Catalunya on Sunday was perhaps the best race I have ever seen till date. Yes, there have been close races in Formula One and Moto GP but as far as I can remember, never has a race scaled the heights of daredevilry, audacity, brilliance, speed and till the very last moment... uncertainty.

Ferrari:

Ferrari's threat to pull out of Formula One over disagreement with the sports world governing body has plunged the sport into fresh crisis. Ferrari has been vehemently opposing FIA's decision of introducing budget caps from 2010, a stand that has been endorsed by the company's board. However, this is not the first time that the Italian team has threatened to quit the sport. In 1986, Ferrari had issued a similar threat because of FIA's decision to introduce new engine regulations.

For the full article check out this link:

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1257294