Mosley: Rule changes won't stop Ferrari.

FIA president Max Mosley has hit back at criticism of the regulation changes that will take effect in Formula One from next season by saying that they will not affect one team more than any other.

Reacting to belated comments made about the restructured points allocation and revised qualifying procedures, Mosley said the moves would spice up the spectacle of Formula One - which had taken a bit of a battering in 2002 - but would not provoke a shake-up in the current hierarchy. The decision to change the points structure to take into account the top eight finishers and reduce the gap between first and second place to just two points was slammed by Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo, who claimed that he had made a grave mistake in allowing the change to be voted through last month.

"Everyone is free of to think what they want," Mosley, in Rome to promote the latest NCAP safety tests, told la Gazetta dello Sport, "But, for Ferrari, it will change nothing. We could introduce any rule, but it will still be the strongest team, and will be always in front. It is a large team, has the best pilots and better cars."

Turning his attention to the new one-by-one qualifying procedure, the president admitted that there was the possibility of unusual grids should conditions dictate, but said that he expected to see the status quo largely unaffected.

"In the new system, everyone will have the chance, in turn, to try to gain the pole, and this will give back more spectacular sessions," he pointed out, "but I cannot see that the faster cars will place themselves anywhere but in the first few positions.

"However, seeing as how it is increasingly difficult to pass at some circuits, the qualifying sessions should be more hard-fought [to give drivers the chance to start closer to the front of the grid]."

The team bosses meet early next month to discuss other changes to the regulations, primarily technical, to further spice up the sport.