Ferrari stays silent on FIA's legal threat

By Jonathan Noble

Friday, June 19th 2009, 16:12 GMT

Ferrari declined to comment about the FIA's decision to launch legal action against the eight members of the Formula One Teams' Association (FOTA) on Friday - but it reiterated that it had already gone to the courts to prove that the governing body had breached agreements that it had in place.

The FIA has vowed to take action against what it sees as 'serious' breaches of the law regarding contractual interference, breach of obligations and violations of competition law by all teams, but it singled out Ferrari for special attention.

Ferrari responded with a short statement stating that it was not going to get drawn into a public slanging match, but it did offer a reminder about the injunction it took out against the FIA's 2010 regulations because of a technical veto right it had in place.

"Ferrari does not intend to comment on the press release put out this afternoon by the FIA," said the Ferrari statement.

"However, Ferrari wishes to make it clear that on 15th June last, it already instigated arbitration against the FIA to protect its contractual rights in its dealings with this Federation, including those relative to the respecting of procedures as regards the adoption of regulations and the right to veto."