MAX Mosley’s 16 years as president of the FIA are poised to draw to a close after one of the most dramatic uturns seen in Formula One.

Since announcing at the end of April a voluntary £40m budget cap would come into force from next year, Mosley has belligerently stood his ground for the last two months.

It was to the point where, during the course of the British Grand Prix weekend, the sport faced the serious threat of fracturing in two as the Formula One Teams’ Association (FOTA) announced their intention to set up a rival series.

Arguably surprised by the defiance of the eight members of FOTA, Mosley has been forced into a climbdown to such an extent he will not now stand for re-election for a fifth term in office.

The concessions are sweeping as FOTA have the change in governance they demanded, there will be no cap for 2010 as the rules for this season will remain for next, and a new Concorde Agreement – the commercial document that governs the sport – will come into effect.

From Mosley’s perspective, he has the three new teams he wanted on the grid next year, with the trio to be given technical assistance from the current teams to aid their induction into F1, and there will also be a reduction in spending to the levels last seen in the early 1990s.

The war is over, peace has broken out, and it is fair to assume it is the teams who will privately claim victory, most notably with regard to Mosley’s departure, a man viewed as authoritarian and dictatorial.

‘‘There will be no split.

There will be one championship in 2010, which is something we’d all hoped for,’’ said Mosley, even though his initial budget cap plans would have resulted in a two-tier championship ‘‘We’ve reached agreement on a number of items, in particular we’ve reached agreement on reduction of costs.

‘‘We’ve had significant help from the FOTA teams, and the objective is to get back to early 1990s levels within two years.

‘‘It’s a different way of doing the same thing. I always thought there wasn’t much between us. Now we’ve agreed there isn’t.’’