Stefano Domenicali (top) said last night that Scuderia Ferrari's entry into next year's F1 World Championship remains conditional. Bottom: Felipe Massa at the wheel of the F60 on his way to sixth place in last Sunday's Turkish Grand Prix.

With the final hours ticking down before the entry list for next year's F1 World Championship is revealed tomorrow, Ferrari Team Principal Stefano Domenicali has strongly denied reports that the Scuderia will be automatically included due to a contact that it has with the FIA. The 2010 F1 entry list is set to include Williams, Force India and three hopeful new teams, however it is rumoured that the list will also name existing teams Ferrari, Red Bull and Toro Rosso, all of which have previously entered into some form of contract with the FIA.

Sources have claimed that Ferrari has a contract with the FIA to enter the championship including next year which saw it getting extra cash payments as well as a veto over technical rule changes. Ferrari acknowledged the existence of this veto when it unsuccessfully took the FIA to court in Paris over the budget cap proposals. However Domenicali believes that this contract has now been rendered invalid. "We had an agreement with the FIA, but we felt that the obligations inside that agreement were breached, so the agreement is not valid anymore."

At present eight of the FOTA (Formula One Teams Association) member teams which as well as Ferrari includes Renault, BMW, Toyota, Red Bull, Toro Rosso, Brawn and McLaren, are all holding out against FIA President Max Mosley's ambitious plan to introduce a sweeping £40 million 'budget cap' for the 2010 season, and all lodged 'conditional' entries for next year by the May 29 deadline. Two other F1 teams, Williams and Force India, have since broken FOTA ranks and signed up for 2010 unconditionally. This pair have now been suspended from FOTA's ranks.

Following a meeting of the F1 teams that took place in London yesterday Domenicali's reaction to the so-called automatic entry rumours was very clear: "Ferrari’s position has not changed. Back on 29 May, we put in a conditional entry with the other teams that make up FOTA," he said in a statement posted on the Ferrari website last night. "Along with this entry, we put forward to the FIA a package of proposals which included among other elements, [offer] a significant reduction in costs. As always, we will do all we can to find a solution that is acceptable to all parties. If this is not possible, then the FIA will not be able to include Ferrari in the list of teams entered for the 2010 FIA Formula 1 World Championship."

The FIA's proposals would see a two-tier regulatory system in place next year with the teams signing up to the budget cap proposals being allowed greater technical freedoms than those that chose to keep unlimited budgets. The manufacturers, through FOTA, have resisted this proposal strenuously and so far remain united with the entry for 2010 scheduled to be published tomorrow. Ferrari has stated that if the budget cap proposal goes ahead then it will withdraw from F1 at the end of this year after an unbroken run of participation stretching to six decades. The FIA also wants to allow three new teams to enter next year to bolster the grid to twenty six cars and a swage of hopefuls have announced their intention to submit entries if the budget cap goes ahead although the feasibility of most of these teams - which includes Alfa Romeo's former factory-supported multiple touring car championship winning team, N.Technology - remains open to question.