Max Mosley, the long-standing head of Formula One’s governing body, the FIA, has given the first clear indication he may look to stay in office after his current term expires in October 2009.

Mosley confirmed he intends to see through a series of reforms of the sport, which include capping the teams’ budgets at what could be a much lower level than had previously been anticipated, and using the mechanical expertise within the sport to develop “green” technologies with applications beyond F1.

Talks with the teams on the introduction of a budget cap for 2009 began last week, but while Mosley acknowledges it will be necessary to start “on the high side” and bring the cap down year by year, he has not previously mentioned any figures, other than to say he wants it to be possible for a “medium-sized team to be run at a profit”.

“One of the big manufacturers said if we can get the budgets down, so they are not having to spend €200m, but €50m or less, they’d be in the sport for ever,” said Mosley. “But if they keep on having to spend big, they have to be winning, and clearly they can’t all win.”

Reductions on that sort of scale would be regarded with alarm within the sport. Ferrari are believed to have spent around £215m last season. Toyota, considered to be the top spenders, had a budget of closer to £250m.

“It’s absurd that teams spend vast amounts scratching around for tiny gains,” said Mosley. “Running wind-tunnels night and day, using huge amounts of power, to find a tenth of a second can’t be justified. That’s what’s so sad about F1 at the moment.

“But thinking of something really clever which doesn’t cost a lot of money is one of the skills of engineering. The attraction for me of the cap is that it gives you the maximum freedom without giving you the maximum budget.”

Mosley also made clear he will not go before “hugely exciting” new technologies have been successfully, and irreversibly, introduced into the sport. “[Before retiring] I absolutely want to see KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) working, and to see a clear path to coming up with an ultra-modern high-tech engine for 2013,” Mosley said.

Put at its simplest, KERS improves an engine’s efficiency by storing energy lost by the car during deceleration, and releasing it when the car accelerates again. Last December, the FIA put a 10-year freeze on F1 engine development, subsequently reduced to five years, while requiring them to include an energy recovery element from next season.

“Technologies such as this will make it easier for the F1-friendly people in the big manufacturers to justify their continued involvement in the sport, because if it accelerates the introduction into road cars, then obviously it’s good for society, and very, very good for the manufacturers,” said Mosley.

He also warned that tyres may be the next area for reform. “Teams are supposed to reduce downforce on their cars by 50% for 2009, which should make overtaking much easier. All that complex bodywork works very well in still air, but once in another car’s slipstream, it doesn’t work. But I’ve seen it all before, and I’m deeply suspicious the 50% won’t be 50% when the time comes. But because we control the tyres, we can just reduce the grip. I can say to Bridgestone, ‘Make them harder’. If we went far enough with that, the cars would start sliding around again.”

A presidential term lasts four years, so if Mosley, who is 67, is reelected in 2009 – and assuming he stands, he would probably be returned unopposed – he would serve until 2013. He first became president in 1993, and there had been speculation he would leave before the end of his current term but he is in a strong position.

Last year the FIA, and Mosley in particular, were the focus of sustained criticism after fining McLaren Mercedes £50m and removing their constructors’ points when secret Ferrari data was found not just to have been in the possession of the Woking-based team, but to have been widely disseminated among its engineers.

Much of the criticism focused on the fact that the FIA did not subsequently punish Renault when the French team admitted coming into possession of McLaren data, but McLaren’s subsequent formal apology, and evidence suggesting the Renault offence was relatively minor, have increased Mosley’s authority.

“Provided I remain relatively sane I won’t quit before October 2009; beyond that I have to think very, very carefully,” said Mosley. “There is a tendency to stay a little bit too long, especially when things seem to be going relatively well. But this is a sport which you almost certainly have to conclude works best with one person capable of taking a decision. A disinterested person, capable of understanding the issues, with very good advisors and prepared to listen to everybody, with absolute separation from the judiciary.

“I don’t mind flak – I come from a family where we have had flak all our lives – but I realise some people do. I love reading the blogs when they are being furious about me, it’s very entertaining, and there is the odd one which defends me. But F1 simply cannot divorce itself from the zeitgeist.”