Ah, Formula One where the back-room brawls and whispering innuendo are a lot more interesting than the racing. The latest in a series of verbal boxing matches involves Max Mosley, president of the sports' governing body FIA, and Frank Williams, the owner of the BMW-associated Williams team.

Mosley tossed the first hand grenade in the most recent battle. Interviewed by BBC about Ferrari's dominance of the Formula One series, Mosley told the other teams to quit whining and do a better job.

"Ferrari aren't killing the sport," he said, using the British vernacular. "I'd say Williams, McLaren and to a lesser extent Renault and BAR are because they're doing a rubbish job. It's not up to Ferrari to lose, it's up to the others to win."

Ferrari has taken the last six constructors' titles, and the team's Michael Schumacher has become the most dominant F1 driver of this or any other era.

Williams didn't take the swipe lying down. As one of the movers-and-shakers in a gambit to create a rival racing series in 2008, the team owner laid much of the rationale for creating a new series at Mosley's door. He called the current situation "uncomfortable and almost dysfunctional," and implied that Mosley might eventually find the situation so uncomfortable that he would quit.

Of course, Williams seems to be doing all he can to turn up the heat under Mosley's derriere. Citing chaotic rules-making that many teams suggest helps Ferrari, Williams has been among the ring-leaders in the Grand Prix World Championship organization, the league of F1 teams that has floated the idea of a new series. The five auto manufacturers involved in the GPWC include DaimlerChrysler, Renault, Honda, Toyota and BMW, which supplies engines to Williams. Honda and Toyota are the latest to join up and Sauber is rumored to be on the edge of siding with the breakaway group. Meanwhile, Ferrari, which had previously been a GPWC member, inked a deal with the FIA that extends beyond the 2008 season.

Because of the Ferrari deal and other factors, Mosley thinks the threat of a new series is a hollow one.

"The difference between Bernie (Ecclestone, F1's owner/godfather) and the GPWC is that Bernie has contracts with promoters, with television companies and with Ferrari which go beyond 2008," Mosley told BBC.

So there, Frank Williams! And the beat goes on.

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Jack Nerad for Driving Today