Insulted: Max Mosley is furious about the press coverage that followed Wednesday's peace deal with the rebel teams Photo: AP

Mosley is furious about the press coverage that followed Wednesday's landmark peace deal with eight rebel teams, which saw the 69 year-old promise not to seek re-election for a fifth term as FIA president and the Formula One Teams' Association agree to back down over plans to form a breakaway series.

In a letter to Ferrari and FOTA president Luca di Montezemolo, seen by Telegraph Sport , Mosley accuses FOTA of falsely briefing the press that he had been forced out of office, that FIA Senate president Michel Boeri had taken interim charge of Formula One, and that he had behaved like a "dictator".

This last accusation Mosley described as "grossly insulting to the 26 members of the World Motor Sport Council who have discussed and voted all the rules and procedures of Formula One since the 1980s".

He added in the letter sent before Thursday's FOTA meeting in Bologna: "If you wish the agreement we made to have any chance of survival, you and FOTA must immediately rectify your actions. You yourself must issue a suitable correction and apology at your press conference this afternoon."

Given that no apology was forthcoming - in fact FOTA on Thursday called for a "neutral successor" to Mosley, a presumption which further enraged the FIA - it can be presumed that Mosley will now re-evaluate his position.

"I now consider my options open," Mosley concluded. "At least until October, I am president of the FIA with the full authority of that office. After that it is the FIA member clubs, not you or FOTA, who will decide on the future leadership of the FIA."

Mosley's U-turn is likely to be interpreted as the final desperate act of an angry man, whose ego has been hurt, but it also raises the distinct possibility that FOTA's breakaway series may be back on the table. One thing is for sure, it does nothing for the reputation of the sport.