(Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images)
Even Mosley's job is not safe: Up for election in October, if the President wishes to continue in his role as head of the federation he will need to assert his authority over world motorsport, and quelling a few noisy, blustering F1 teams is a perfect way to do this. No credible opponent to Mosley has yet emerged, but some within and outside Paris believe it is only a matter of time.
Both sides desperately need to be seen to "win" in order to satisfy their own motives; FOTA want security in their sport and a vision for the future that more completely corresponds to the aspirations of their paymasters, for the most part large car companies. The FIA, quite simply, wants to retain their authority as the arbiters of global motorsport.
For neither side to suffer a massive hit requires compromise, and it is for this reason that compromise is the most likely outcome of this week's meetings, and what will be announced on Friday will be a position far removed from the disparate pontifications of both Mosley and the teams.
But neither side will want to be seen to be backing down, either, which is why these concessions will be hammered out behind closed doors, and it is only on Friday that we will begin to see how this crisis has been resolved. Nobody here can afford to lose; nobody can go it alone; cooperation will be the way forward, and the astute businessmen and legendary negotiators of both the FIA and FOTA are surely smart enough to realise this.
So June 12 will not bring forth a storm, but more of a gentle breeze, the winds of change not blowing strong enough to upturn any well-established structures or upset any of the saga's key players.
Only time will tell what direction Formula One will take in the future, but it is not unduly optimistic to suggest that all parties are going to see sense in the end.
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