The FIA took the first step in Max Mosley’s masterplan to wrest control of Formula One and its revenues from Bernie Ecclestone yesterday by announcing that it is to conduct a full review of the way the sport is governed. After a meeting of its World Motor Sport Council in Paris, chaired by Mosley, its president, the world governing body said that it will enter into “a wide-ranging consultation with the Formula One teams to examine plans for improved efficiency, including new technical regulations for the championship”. It added that the review will include a rethink of the “governance of Formula One”.

The statement went on to announce the entry deadline for next year’s championship, which has been brought forward, without warning, to the end of next month. This was being seen by Mosley’s critics as his way of heading off the threat of a breakaway series outside the auspices of the FIA by teams who no longer want to work with him in the wake of the scandal over his private life.

In another surprise, widely viewed as designed to hurt Ecclestone, the Formula One commercial rights-holder, and CVC Capital, his business partner, the FIA also announced the setting up of a new Formula Two championship. This will be styled as a feeder series for Formula One at the expense of the GP2 Series, which is owned by Ecclestone and CVC.

The FIA’s statement was bland, but the spin in the background from the organisation’s spokesmen made it clear that it marks the first salvo in what some view as a battle between Mosley and Ecclestone over the future of the sport and the hundreds of millions of pounds it generates.

Mosley is aiming to enlarge the FIA’s role in deciding how much of the sport’s revenues go to the teams and is said to be aiming to increase annual payments to them by up to 25 per cent. Ecclestone is determined that the FIA should not interfere with the commercial side of the sport and believes that the European Commission would intervene if Mosley presses ahead. However, in recent days it has emerged that the FIA has taken soundings from the Commission about its role and claims it has received what amounts to a green light to proceed along the lines advocated by Mosley.