However, despite getting their entry in on time, there's a very real risk that the teams are risking their franchises by adding conditions to their entries, especially when additional entries from other names such as Prodrive and Lola who have all agreed to the regulations for 2010 and beyond.

On Friday, the FOTA organisation issued the following statement:

"All FOTA Teams have today submitted conditional entries for the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship.

"FOTA confirms all its Members' long-term commitment to be involved in the FIA Formula One World Championship and has unanimously agreed further and significant actions to substantially reduce the costs of competing in the Championship in the next three years, creating a mechanism that will preserve the technological competition and the sporting challenge and, at the same time, facilitate the entry in the F1 Championship for new Teams. These measures are in line with what has been already decided in 2009 within FOTA, achieving important savings on engines and gearboxes.

"All FOTA teams have entered the 2010 championship on the basis that:

"1: The Concorde Agreement is signed by all parties before 12th June 2009, after which all FOTA teams will commit to competing in Formula One until 2012. The renewal of the Concorde Agreement will provide security for the future of the sport by binding all parties in a formal relationship that will ensure stability via sound governance.

"2: The basis of the 2010 regulations will be the current 2009 regulations, amended in accordance with proposals that FOTA has submitted to the FIA.

"All FOTA teams' entries for the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship have been submitted today on the understanding that (a) all FOTA teams will be permitted to compete during the 2010 Formula One Season on an identical regulatory basis and (b) that they may only be accepted as a whole.

"All FOTA teams now look forward with optimism to collaborating proactively and productively with the FIA, with a view to establishing a solid foundation on which the future of a healthy and successful Formula One can be built, providing lasting stability and sound governance."

In demanding such changes to the regulations, we believe that the FOTA teams have effectively invalidated their entries. Williams entered outside of FOTA, agreeing to the new sporting regulations, while Ferrari, despite all their rhetoric, have a contract to enter through to 2012. These two teams could well be the only existing teams listed in the FIA's entry list to be published on 12 June.

The decision now lies with the FIA and, though the options are quite simple, the fallout could be significant. The FIA must decide between a) accepting the conditions demanded from the FOTA teams invalid entries, and thereby breaking the contracts with all the new entrants that expect to race with a budget cap of £40m (€45.8m/$64.8m), or b) reject the invalid entries from the FOTA teams and reveal to the public a Formula One world championship without McLaren, BMW Sauber, Toyota, Red Bull, Toro Ross, Renault, Force India and, of course, Brawn GP. It is likely that, even though they would be confirmed as an entrant, Ferrari would withdraw in such a situation.

Whichever way it goes, Formula One politics are to get a lot more exciting in the near future but, as is usually the case, not for the good of the sport.

Thus far, the FIA and president Max Mosley have remained silent on the issue. Come 12 June, they have to tell the world what they're doing.