"But then Luca couldn't keep quiet. By going and telling the Italian media that they had 'toppled the dictator', [he] has tried to make it sound like I sit here and just decide what's going to happen. It's absolutely not true. I can't do anything unless the WMSC agree and there are 26 members, mostly presidents of important motorsport clubs from all over the world. All these rules that I am supposed to have dictated have been voted on by those people. To say that I run a dictatorship is nonsense. If someone is unhappy with what has been done, they would say so and we'd have a vote. I don't have the power to dictate. I only have the power to execute the decisions that the WMSC have taken.'"

The president's latest riposte suggested that di Montezemolo - a man twice regarded to have helped turn around the Scuderia's F1 fortunes - was little more than a token figurehead, both within F1 and the wider motor industry.

"I don't really expect Luca will apologise or withdraw in the way that he should," the president admitted, "Yet, on the other hand, within the motorsport world nobody takes him seriously. He's seen as what the Italians call a bella figura - he's chairman of Fiat, but the serious individual who runs it is Sergio Marchionne, and I don't suppose he takes much notice of Luca.

"He started life selling cars, and one of his sayings is 'once you've sold the car, stop talking'. What Luca did was worse; not only did he not stop talking, but he talked stupidly. [The problem is that] when di Montezemolo comes out with things that are picked up internationally, they tend to believe it. And when FOTA say all this nonsense about [FIA Senate member Michel] Boeri replacing me, that also tends to be believed.

"Nobody was more upset than Bernie when Luca came out with his stupid comments and someone to do with FOTA put out that very dishonest briefing. All it did was cause trouble and Bernie hates having trouble which doesn't result in a profit. It must be maddening for [him]. He's a serious businessman with a serious business to run. Obviously, from his point of view, if he was given a choice between his business and an old friend, he'd choose his business. But he knew it was my intention to stop in October so, even if they all objected to me, he really didn't have a problem on Wednesday."

Despite his obvious irritation, however, Mosley was prepared to offer a hint of optimism for all those weary of the ongoing saga.

"I think, once we have all that put to bed and the teams come back to the deal we did, then I will be happy sticking with the deal we made," he noted,

di Montezemolo, meanwhile, chose to ignore Mosley's warnings that the breakaway threat remained, preferring instead to discuss FOTA's plans to enliven F1 during a forum session with fans on Ferrari's official website.

"I think that, in a frame of stable rules, it is very important to do everything possible to increase F1's level of spectacle, maintaining the principles of sport and technological competition," he maintained.