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Ferrari's decision to sign up conditionally for next year's Formula One championship does not imply any eventual acceptance of a budget cap, team boss Stefano Domenicali said on Saturday.

"Absolutely not," he told the Ferrari website (www.ferrari.com).

"The request to make the 2009 regulations the starting point, means there will be no budget cap."

The Formula One Teams Association (FOTA), which numbers nine teams following the suspension of Williams, submitted a joint entry on Friday dependent on certain conditions being met by June 12.

One was that all parties sign an updated version of the confidential Concorde Agreement governing the sport and another that the regulations for 2010 be those currently in use with some modifications rather than ones published by the governing FIA last month.

Champions Ferrari had threatened to quit Formula One after 60 unbroken years of competition if the International Automobile Federation (FIA) did not rewrite 2010 rules that included an optional 40 million pound ($64.14 million) budget cap.

Their decision to enter, even if conditional, was seen as greatly reducing the likelihood of their departure although not yet concluding hostilities.

Asked what would happen if the conditions were not met, Domenicali replied: "The answer is simple: The entries from the nine teams will be invalid."

MORE TALKING

Domenicali said signing the Concorde Agreement would mean future rules had to be agreed by the FIA's Formula One Commission, a 13-man body which includes representatives from six teams including Ferrari who have a technical veto.

It would also contractually bind the teams to stay at least until 2012.

The FIA, which also received applications from several potential new teams, is due to publish the official entry list on June 12 and the conditional nature of the FOTA entry means there will be plenty more talking between the sparring sides over the next two weeks.

In a separate interview with the Autosport website, Toyota motorsport president John Howett said a budget cap was not on FOTA's agenda.

In a warning to the FIA, he added that "a number of us feel that unless the actual conditions are satisfied then we have to consider seriously alternatives."

Howett did not see talks with Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone, who represents commercial rights holders CVC, over the Concorde Agreement posing any particular problem.

"We have been working for more than six months on the agreement with the commercial rights holder so it's not as if the document isn't at a really mature stage with a large number of the gaps totally reduced," he said.

(Source: Reuters)