Two of the biggest teams in Formula One fired broadsides across the bows of the FIA yesterday, giving warning that they may quit the sport if the governing body continues to press ahead with its plan for standard engines.

Ferrari and Toyota indicated that they may have to reconsider their participation in Formula One if the FIA imposes radical cost-cutting proposals that the teams regard as taking away their core interest as engine and car manufacturers.

The FIA is pursuing a plan to introduce engines with many more standard parts in a bid to cut costs for the teams by tens of millions of pounds per season.

Ferrari said that while they were committed to cutting costs, there was a limit to how far they could go. “The Ferrari board of directors expressed strong concerns regarding plans to standardise engines as it felt that such a move would detract from the entire raison d’être of a sport, a raison d’être based principally on competition and technological development,” the company said in a statement.

“The board of directors expressed the opinion that should these key elements be diminished, it would have to re-evaluate, with its partners, the viability of continuing its presence in the sport.”

Ferrari’s warning came hours after similar sentiments from John Howett, the Toyota team principal, who said that the Japanese car giant may reconsider whether to continue if standard engines are forced on the teams. “Generally, we are assuming we are at least until 2012,” he said. “The issue is we don’t want a standard engine. If it is forced through, then quitting is not a decision we will take here; it will be taken by the board in Japan. They want a degree of differentiation between the teams.”