FORMULA One Teams’ Association vice-chairman John Howett insists the organisation are not holding the sport to ransom.

Despite weeks of talks between FOTA and FIA president Max Mosley, no resolution has been found to the budget-cap row.

The FOTA teams are demanding ‘‘balanced and transparent’’ governance be in place before they commit themselves to the sport, as well as a more confidential system to oversee any cost control.

Despite that, three of FOTA’s eight member teams – Ferrari, Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso – have been given a place on the grid for next season, even though they initially submitted conditional entries.

The trio have all firmly aligned themselves with FOTA, while the remaining five teams – McLaren, Toyota, Renault, BMW Sauber and Brawn GP – have a further seven days to submit an unconditional entry.

Howett, who is also president of Toyota Motorsport, said: ‘‘We’re all very sad we’re not focusing on the racing and what’s exciting about Formula One.

‘‘But I really believe FOTA’s ambition is to improve the sport for the long term.

‘‘What we primarily want is a sensible basis of governance so that the regulations aren’t changed willy nilly, so there is involvement of the teams in a proper process and that process is not deviated from.

‘‘Secondly, we feel there is a risk in involving financial forensic control in the sporting regulations in deciding a championship.

‘‘It’s not about power or FOTA running the sport.

What we’re saying is we want a proper and balanced governance process.”