Is this the beginning of the end for Formula One?

SAVOUR this weekend’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone because the grid for next year’s race – wherever it takes place – could look very different.

If commonsense does not prevail, the major teams will desert the championship and their places on the grid will be taken by a ramshackle collection of new entrants.

Forget Ferrari, McLaren and Brawn GP, next year’s F1 Championship could be fought out between Team America, Epsilon Euskadi, Litespeed, Formtech, Superfund, Prodrive and N Technology. Of the old guard, only Force India and Williams will remain.

And on that showing I’d place a hefty wager on Nico Rosberg becoming the 2010 F1 World Champion, because the Williams will be the class of the field.

Only Prodrive, the Britishbased outfit which used to run the Subaru World Rally effort, look to be capable of building an instantly competitive car.

So what has led to this current state-of-affairs and where will it end?

Q Why have the teams fallen out with the sport’s governing body?

A Formula One is built on money, so it’s no surprise that this schism has been caused by a spat over cash.

The governing body, the FIA and its president Max Mosley, want to slash budgets by introducing a cap on spending. Initially, this was £30m but, after protests from the teams, the figure was raised to £40m.

Yesterday, as it became clear the teams were prepared to walk away, Mosley said the cap could be set at £80m but even that wasn’t enough to assuage angry team owners.

Q Forty million sounds like a lot for two cars?

Why are the teams so angry?

A Spending in F1 has spiraled to incredible heights. A steering wheel costs more than £20,000.

Ferrari’s budget is a secret, but pundits reckon it is around £250m – a long way from £40m. Even a more modestly funded team will burn its way through £100m or more in a season.

The teams say budget cuts will mean job cuts. That complicates things for German teams like BMW as state laws make it impossible to give workers 90-days’ notice of redundancy.

Q What is Max Mosley’s stance?

A On hearing of the teams dissent, he told journalists: “We now have a conflict and we will see who succeeds. I say to them – if you want to draw up your own rules, then you can organise your own championship. But we have the F1 championship.”

Which is precisely what they have done.

Q If a rebel series goes ahead, where will the races be held?

A Silverstone hosted the first F1 race back in the 1950s and now it could host the inaugural breakaway race, too. The circuit, which has lost the right to host F1, immediately said it would be interested in running a race.

Expect other traditional circuits like Kyalami, in South Africa, and Paul Ricard, in France, to join the queue. There are even rumours that the organisers of the Monaco GP may join the rebels.

Q Is this an unprecedented situation?

A No. In the early 1980s, the teams and the governors fell out over who ran F1.

Ironically, back then Bernie Ecclestone was a team owner and Max Mosley was his legal advisor. The teams even went so far as to launch a World Federation of Motorsport series and ran one race under the WFMS banner in South Africa. However, lack of media coverage and a poor turnout meant the race was a financial disaster forcing the teams back to the negotiating table.

Q So will the same happen again?

A The teams are in a far stronger position in 2009. This time they include Ferrari and all the major manufacturers.

F1 without 80 per cent of the current grid just won’t be F1, no matter what the FIA claims.

Q Will a rebel series really go ahead?

A This dispute is less about what happens to the rebels than what happens to Max Mosley. As motorsport’s top dog he has pinned his future on winning this war. If he is removed as president at next week’s FIA World Council meeting then it’s crisis over. If not then Jenson Button will probably be the last true F1 world champion of the modern era when the flag drops on the last race of 2009.