F1 teams,Ecclestone argue over money

8220;The purpose of the meeting was to discuss payment of money owed by CVC the effective owners of the commercial rights to Formula One to the teams and relates to agreed sums owing from the 2006,2007 and 2008 championship years,8221; it said.

Ecclestone disputed that. A statement posted on the official Formula One website http://www.formula1.com by his Formula One Administration accused FOTA of making 8220;inaccurate and misleading8221; comments.

8220;Neither CVC nor FOA owes any amount to any team,8221; it said.

McLaren chairman Ron Dennis,Renault team boss Flavio Briatore and FOTA vice-chairman John Howett had met Ecclestone on March 18.

Britain8217;s 8216;Times8217; newspaper reported subsequently that Briatore and Dennis had threatened to organise a boycott of Sunday8217;s race unless Ecclestone paid up.

Ecclestone in return reportedly threatened to cancel the charter plane taking the cars to Melbourne.

Martin Whitmarsh,who has taken over from Dennis as McLaren team principal,told Reuters that there had never been any question of his team boycotting the race.

He added that while he had not been at the meeting,he believed Ecclestone8217;s version of events to have been 8220;relatively theatrical8221;.

8220;There is a lot of tension in this climate about lots of teams being owed lots of money,8221; he said. 8220;I think that is a business between the teams and Bernie that needs to be resolved urgently.8221;

Howett sounded a conciliatory note,saying the teams would not be taking any dramatic action.

8220;I don8217;t think anybody wants to take any action that is excessively militant,but in the end we are performing I suppose and therefore we should be compensated for what we do,8221; he told reporters.

8220;We are making constructive and positive progress. So hopefully in the next three to four weeks everything will be completely clear but we have made satisfactory progress for both sides to avoid any conflict this weekend,8221; he added.

The race in Melbourne has already been overshadowed by protests about the legality of the Brawn GP,Toyota and Williams cars while the run-up saw further controversy over plans to award the drivers title to the winner of most races rather than the one who wins most points.

That plan,put forward by Ecclestone,was postponed for a season after resistance from the teams.