Formula 1’s leading drivers have re-iterated their earnest concerns for the future of the sport as the ongoing FIA-FOTA budget cap war rumbles on in Istanbul this weekend – with double world champion Fernando Alonso claiming it would be a ‘big mistake’ to allow just ‘anyone’ to join the starting grid, and revealing his hopes in the enduring climate that a breakaway series does materialise.

FIA President Max Mosley has laid down the gauntlet to teams by telling them that ‘if they want to formulate their own rules, then they can organise their own championship’. Confessing his own fears that F1 would be diluted should some of the potential newcomers – from British F3 tail-enders Litespeed to former World Touring Car Championship outfit N.Technology, which went into liquidation earlier this year, as well as two Spanish hopefuls – be granted entries, Alonso suggests that might just be the best thing that could happen.

“With this revolution it seems like almost anyone can have a Formula 1 team,” the Renault star told Spanish media ahead of this weekend’s Turkish Grand Prix, “and I think that’s a big mistake for the sport.

“Hopefully [a breakaway series] happens. It would be a dream if there was a Spanish team, but not if at the same time Formula 1 becomes a sort of ‘big GP2′.”

The 21-time grand prix-winner’s thoughts were echoed in the paddock by BMW-Sauber rival Nick Heidfeld and Red Bull Racing ace Sebastian Vettel, with the former hinting that there may be few drivers willing to hang around should some of the present teams – Ferrari, Toyota, Renault and Red Bull chief amongst them – follow through with their threats to walk away if Mosley stands firm on the controversial and unpopular £40 million cap.

“If it’s going to be something like Formula 3, it would not necessarily be a place you would want to stay,” contended Heidfeld, speaking to German news agency SID. “The current situation is that it is impossible to predict what is going to happen. You follow the news more attentively than usual, [and] naturally you have concerns.

“It’s a strange situation. I want to do my best job here and fully concentrate on the driving, but the politics in the last couple of races have been extreme, especially regarding the future of the sport. I just hope that a solution can be found to keep Formula 1 as it is with the best teams, the best drivers. I’d like to stay here, [but] we are all here because it is the best series in the world, not because it is called Formula 1.”

“Perhaps it’s best to wait,” added Vettel, in an interview with The Associated Press, “and with regards to all these new teams, we don’t know who is behind them, if they are really true or not. As soon as these new teams have to put some money on the table to prove [their position], it could change the whole thing.

“Some people want to go this way and some people want to go that way. In the end, we will see where we will go. We all want it to continue.”

Williams’ Nico Rosberg, by contrast – the man who maintained his record as F1’s 2009 practice pace-setter in leading the way in FP1 on Friday morning around the challenging Istanbul Park Circuit – reckoned that peace would ultimately prevail.

“It is very difficult to understand for next year what is the best team to go to and things like that,” confessed the inaugural GP2 Series Champion, whilst reasoning: “F1 has always had some big political things going on and has always come through the other side; Formula 1 has always continued.”

The warring Formula One Teams’ Association (FOTA) and FIA have made ‘a small amount of progress’ in the dispute over the controversial £40 million budget cap that Max Mosley intends introducing into the top flight next year – but still no agreement.

Following the reunion between all FOTA members aboard Flavio Briatore’s yacht earlier in the day ahead of this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix , the sport’s ten competitors headed into their second crisis meeting with Mosley confident that they now held ‘a common view’ on how best F1 should look to the future in terms of cost-reduction and a universal position from which to re-initiate negotiations.

The FIA President’s argument is that without a significant reduction in spending in what is by some margin the world’s most expensive sport, F1 will not survive, fearing more car makers will follow Honda’s lead in withdrawing should costs not be brought dramatically down in an age of global recession. The Englishman similarly contends that new teams will only be willing to make the graduation in the knowledge that they will be able to race at a competitive level without having to spend hundreds of millions of pounds in order to do so. Campos Meta 1 and Team USF1 have both already lodged applications for the three slots currently available on next year’s starting grid.

Claiming that the change in regulations would by contrast engender a ‘two-tier’ championship of haves and have-nots, with those choosing to adhere to the cap benefitting from greater technical freedoms than their rivals, the sport’s present incumbents have also pointed out that many of the larger operations would simply be unable to sufficiently reduce their expenditure – in some cases as high as £200 million per year – in time to comply for next season.

Ferrari, Renault, Toyota and Red Bull have all categorically vowed to quit if Mosley refuses to back down, and despite there still being no resolution to the stand-off – one that threatens to tear F1 in two – FOTA has revealed that ‘a small amount of progress’ was made by way of a ‘constructive’ meeting, as both parties prepare to continue discussions in the Principality on Saturday in the aim of finding a satisfactory compromise.

“We had a very long, productive meeting,” reported FOTA chairman Luca di Montezemelo. “FOTA will have another meeting tomorrow (Saturday), to discuss, and then we will meet Mosley again.”

“We had a good, constructive meeting and there are ongoing discussions,” echoed the FIA President, speaking to BBC Sport. “We spent three hours in there. Everybody knows what the issues are, [and] I’m always confident there will be an agreement.”

Ferrari has failed in its endeavour to get an injunction granted against the FIA’s unpopular £40 million budget cap for Formula 1, with a French high court today (Wednesday) dismissing the Scuderia’s appeal.

Late last week, Ferrari took the ongoing dispute between teams and the FIA to a new level in seeking assistance from the Tribunal de Grande Instance in Paris, in a dramatic attempt to prevent the sport’s governing body from pushing ahead with its contentious new initiative.

The legendary Italian manufacturer’s case was argued by three lawyers on Tuesday, but when the ruling was subsequently handed down, magistrate Jacques Gondran de Robert deemed that ‘there is no risk of any imminent damage which should be prevented or obviously illegal trouble which should be stopped’.

The Maranello-based outfit – in company with F1 rivals Renault, Toyota and Red Bull – threatened to sensationally quit the top flight following more than half a century of uninterrupted competition stretching all the way back to the official inception of the world championship in 1950, after locking horns with FIA President Max Mosley over the controversial cost cap.

Competitors fear it will engender an unfair ‘two-tier’ championship of haves and have-nots, with – according to the published regulations as they stand – teams choosing to adhere to the cap due to benefit from greater technical freedoms than their unlimited-budget rivals.

Further crisis talks are set to be held between the FIA, commercial rights-holder Bernie Ecclestone and the Formula One Teams’ Association (FOTA) in Monte Carlo ahead of this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix. Whilst Mosley has been forced to abandon the ‘optional’ nature of the cap, he is adamant that the limit itself will remain – and will apply to all.

The Englishman has acknowledged the possibility of a number of existing entrants walking away, but insists he is unperturbed as he claims there are just as many if not more interested parties ready to take their places, with a David Richards-led Prodrive/Aston Martin/UAE-branded bid, iconic British marque Lola and American operation US GPE understood to be the most serious contenders. In a statement on its website, however, Ferrari has poured scorn upon the calibre of the potential F1 newcomers.

‘Wirth Research, Lola, US GPE, Epsilon Euskadi, RML, Formtech, Campos, iSport – these are the names of the teams which would compete in the two-tier Formula 1 wanted by Mosley,’ the statement reads.

‘Can a world championship with teams like them – with due respect – have the same value as today’s Formula 1, where Ferrari, the big car manufacturers and teams who created the history of this sport compete? Wouldn’t it be more appropriate to call it Formula GP3?’

The stipulated deadline for all 2010 entries to be made is 29 May.

Following a meeting of its board at Maranello, Ferrari has announced that it won’t lodge an entry into the 2010 Formula One World Championship unless plans for an optional £40 million budget cap are changed.

A statement issued by the Scuderia following the meeting revealed its objection to the plans put forward by FIA president Max Mosley, and stated that it will join Toyota and Red Bull in withdrawing from the sport if the budget cap is pushed through.

All three teams have expressed concern over the possibility of F1 becoming a two-tier championship if the budget cap is enforced, with teams adhering to the cap being given greater technical freedom compared to those that elect to spend an unrestricted amount.

“The decisions taken [during the World Motor Sport Council meeting on 29 April] mean that, for the first time ever in Formula 1, the 2010 season will see the introduction of two different sets of regulations based on arbitrary technical rules and economic parameters,” the statement read. “The Board considers that if this is the regulatory framework for Formula 1 in the future, then the reasons underlying Ferrari’s uninterrupted participation in the World Championship over the last 60 years – the only constructor to have taken part ever since its inception in 1950 – would come to a close.

“The same rules for all teams, stability of regulations, the continuity of the FOTA’s endeavours to methodically and progressively reduce costs, and governance of Formula 1 are the priorities for the future. If these indispensable principles are not respected and if the regulations adopted for 2010 will not change, then Ferrari does not intend to enter its cars in the next Formula 1 World Championship.”

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo, who also leads FOTA, has openly criticised the proposed plans, with FIA chief Mosley responding by stating that Formula One would go on without Ferrari – although it would be ’sad’ to lose the team from the sport.

The statement from Ferrari further criticised Mosley and the FIA for the way in which the budget cap proposal has been handled, arguing that there should have been greater consultation with the teams.

“The Board also expressed its disappointment about the methods adopted by the FIA in taking decisions of such a serious nature and its refusal to effectively reach an understanding with constructors and teams,” it read. “The rules of governance that have contributed to the development of Formula 1 over the last 25 years have been disregarded, as have the binding contractual obligations between Ferrari and the FIA itself regarding the stability of the regulations.”

Di Montezemelo has now been instructed to look at alternative options for Ferrari’s racing activities if quitting Formula One becomes a reality.

“Ferrari trusts that its many fans worldwide will understand that this difficult decision is coherent with the Scuderia’s approach to motor sport and to Formula 1 in particular, always seeking to promote its sporting and technical values,” the statement concluded. “The Chairman of the Board of Directors was mandated to evaluate the most suitable ways and methods to protect the company’s interests.”