Silverstone, Britain - The world governing motorsport body FIA will take legal action against Ferrari and the other seven teams organized in the FOTA umbrella organization over their plan to form a breakaway series.

"The actions of FOTA as a whole, and Ferrari in particular, amount to serious violations of law including wilful interference with contractual relations, direct breaches of Ferrari's legal obligations and a grave violation of competition law," FIA said in a statement on Friday.

"The FIA will be issuing legal proceedings without delay."

The FIA also said that it will delay its final grid for the 2010 season it originally planned to issue on Saturday.

"Preparations for the 2010 Formula One world championship continue but publication of the final 2010 entry list will be put on hold while the FIA asserts its legal rights," said the FIA.

The FIA and FOTA are at odds over a budget cap of a round 60 million dollars the FIA wants to introduce next season. The teams insist they want a saying on the issue and a gradual reduction.

As a result, the FOTA teams - Ferrari, Red Bull, Toro Rosso, BMW-Sauber, McLaren-Mercedes, Toyota, Renault and Brawn GP - announced early on Friday that they will form a breakaway league.

Ferrari are tied to F1 racing by contract until 2012 but according to them this is non-binding because they were not consulted by FIA over the rule changes.(dpa)