The bulging crowd of anticipant journalists waiting outside the Concorde Suite at London Heathrow's Hilton Hotel were hoping to be handed a new recipe for Grand Prix racing from Formula One chiefs Max Mosley and Bernie Ecclestone - but it soon appeared such a gastronomic feast was not on the menu.

Formula One supremo Ecclestone, celebrating his 72nd birthday and carrying a glittering shopping bag alongside his briefcase as he exited the meeting hall where history should have been made, looked like he had seen the candles on his cake blown out by his pals as the Grand Prix revolution spun out over the last few hours had been stopped cold.

What was hailed as the "biggest Formula One meeting in 20 years" ended with a few significant but hardly revolutionary changes to qualifying and the points system as the most dramatic ideas, such as the introduction of ballast and the astonishing driver-swapping ideas, were brushed over and discarded. It was hardly surprising.

After several meetings during the previous week, one on the Thursday between the five British teams forming the Grand Prix Teams (GPT) and one on the Friday with all eleven team bosses joined by Ecclestone and Mosley, the scene was set for a rapid conclusion to the discussions as the build-up grew with cries from all areas warning against a knee-jerk reaction.

The British press, as usual, enjoyed the hype of the moment - just as Ecclestone, Mosley et al had planned - and people from all ages and professions just couldn't resist throwing their opinion into the overflowing pot. From 1996 World Champion Damon Hill to snooker player Stephen Hendry, everyone had their say...

The Headlines

BERNIE - FANS SHOULD COME BEFORE FERRARI - Express, October 10

Bernie Ecclestone: "Think of me in front of the television - I don't want to bet only on whether Schumacher will win all the Grands Prix of 2003. I am proposing the ballast be applied...and I think very quickly people would forget about it, as in horse racing, and just enjoy the race."

SURELY NEXT SEASON CAN'T BE AS BORING AS THIS - Guardian, October 12

David Coulthard, McLaren driver: "The knee-jerk reaction of putting in ballast and trying to improve the show by handicapping those who have done a better job I don't think is right."

Flavio Briatore, Renault team boss: "The first thing we need to do is reorganise qualifying so it's a better show. At the moment we have a ridiculous situation. Doing nothing is clearly not an option."

Stephen Hendry, Snooker player: "To try and introduce a handicap into any sport is crazy. It's up to the others to catch up."

TOO MUCH TRACTION...TOO LITTLE ACTION - Express, October 13

Martin Brundle, ITV commentator and former F1 driver: "The great element of unpredictability which makes the sport the delight it can be has been engineered out. We must find a balance otherwise we could have three teams with all the money, three just hanging on and four going out of business. And fewer still watching."

SEASON OF TORTURE SPARKS SILLY SPECULATION - Observer, October 13

Ian Phillips, Jordan Commercial Director: "Improving the show is not the point. The danger is we will have even less than 20 cars in the future. Cutting costs is the immediate priority. If we don't cut costs there won't be any show to argue about."

Niki Lauda, Jaguar Racing boss: "We have got to decide whether or not we change the whole principle of the sport that has been a showcase for technical excellence for more than 50 years. If you decide this then you can do anything."

RACE AGAINST TIME - The Sunday Times, October 13

Eddie Jordan, Formula One team boss: "Six cars don't make a race and once you lose genuine racing people lose interest. My own mother is threatening to find something better to do on Sundays."

THE PITS...EVEN SNOOKER OUT-RANKS F1 - Daily Mirror, October 15

Max Mosley, FIA President: "This season hasn't really had the edge where you really look forward to a race and want to sit down and watch it. There have been moments of excitement but not as many as we had hoped for."

HANDICAP A NON-STARTER SAY FERRARI - Daily Telegraph, October 15

Luca di Montezemolo: "I find the proposals slightly insane. They raise the question, if these proposals go through - and I don't think they will - would it make sense for us to keep investing in a modified formula?"

WILL CRISIS TALKS STOP EMPIRE CRASHING? - Mail on Sunday, October 27

Damon Hill, 1996 World Champion: "You can fiddle with the regulations until the cows come home but until there is a fundamental attitude change it shows all the signs of going the way of the Miss World contest."

David Richards, BAR team boss: "The good news is nobody is sitting on the fence any more. We have to welcome a new dawn - there is no option."

SURVIVAL FORMULA - Daily Sport, October 28

Martin Whitmarsh, McLaren Managing Director: "Nobody wants to beat Ferrari because they are carrying additional weight. It's up to us to catch them."

DON'T MESS ABOUT WITH THE F1 RULES - Daily Mail, October 28, 2002

Stirling Moss, Former Formula One driver: "I don't see how they can mess too much with the rules. Formula One is supposed to be the top racing in the world in the most advanced cars. Introduce the ideas that have been mooted and it simply wouldn't be Formula One any more."

FORMULA ONE RUNNING ON EMPTY - Daily Telegraph, October 28, 2002

Damon Hill, 1996 World Champion: "I could save Formula One. All I need is a fire hose and access to the Terminal Four Heathrow Hilton conference room where the whole power-crazy bunch will be working out how to stuff each other yet still come out looking like responsible custodians of one of the world's biggest sports."

The reports, of which there were, of course, many more, offered mixed feelings but a strong insistence that radical change was the wrong way to go. The opinion will have reduced the pressure to introduce the high-profile changes - if they were ever a serious proposition - but the discussion certainly kept Formula One in the news as the season came to a close.

The mouth-watering anticipation of imminent change climaxed at the London Heathrow Hilton, an event that played out with all the drama of a soap opera - but lacked the usual ending designed to draw in the viewers for the next enthralling episode.

It began in the early morning with the arrival of two pin stripe-suited men, like mafia bosses in a Hollywood movie, preparing to do business. All that was missing, in fact, was the hazy smoke, the thumping soundtrack and the seedy club atmosphere as Flavio Briatore and Eddie Jordan made their way through the narrow corridors to meet the big bosses.

Others followed, dropping down a curving staircase, through the business centre meeting area and through a card-locked plain wooden door. Few were there to witness their arrival, as Ecclestone and Mosley got the meeting underway, but it was a different story when, around four hours later, the 12:30 deadline for the end of the meeting arrived.

By then, the previously empty meeting area was teeming with journalists, some wearing suit and tie to reflect the high-brow importance of the event in progress - but others milling around the hotel seemed to typify the whole reason why everyone was there.

"What's going on here, anything exciting?" asked one of the hotel's workers when he came into the quiet business centre to escape the commotion. "Formula One," came the reply from the blonde girl on the entrance desk. "No, then," was his chilling response. It showed the opinion that has shattered Ecclestone's filtered ideal that Formula One will ALWAYS be popular.

A long delay followed, with FIA spokespeople coming out of the meeting room on occasion to explain that something would be happening in the next 30 minutes. Right on time, something did happen - the waiting time reduced to 10 minutes, but there was still no show of the top bosses. Eventually, the pack of starving journalists were more hungry for food than they were for hard news. Perhaps it was a good job.

Eventually, to the sound of camera clicks and the spark of flash guns, the diminutive grey-haired super leader Ecclestone broke through the crowd and headed for the podium where he would make the announcement.

FIA chief Mosley followed, but took the lead on stage, as he outlined the new blueprint for Formula One that had finally been hammered out. The mutterings were, however, not of surprise but instead a mixture of relief that the dramatic changes had not been made...and disappointment that the dramatic changes had not been made.

They were, you see, in a no-win situation. Any introduction of radical change - which many believe is needed to bring the sport into the 21st century - would have caused outrage from the traditionalists, while the decision to make the fine-tuning changes eventually chosen were greeted with claims that the Formula One Commission had gone soft.

The FIA release, as usual, was efficiently produced even before Mosley had finished his speech outlining the changes, and news rapidly filtered across the globe while he and Ecclestone, seated on a pedestal in front of the FIA emblem, took questions from the seated media in the long and wide meeting room.

The team bosses, meanwhile, were blessed with two exits to the meeting room, giving them the preferred option of a quick exit without having to wade through the waiting media. Some, however, chose to air their views, and after Niki Lauda made a sharp exit, the first man to brave the crowd was Ferrari sporting director Jean Todt.

Walking out of the room into a face-full of television cameras, complete with glaring lights and large furry microphones, as well as a dozen Dictaphones ready to record his every word, Todt was asked:

Q: Was it something that irritated you the way things have been changed now?

Todt: "Erm...I do not have any special comment, er...the meeting...er...we are looking for next season."

Q: What do you think of the changes to team orders?

Todt: "Erm...Interesting"

After a few more words in French as the growing flock of journalists ensured a bulging huddle impeded his way, the Italian team's leading man, brown briefcase in hand, sauntered up the stairs and back to Maranello. Happy or sad? He wasn't giving anything away. Committed to team orders? Definitely - according to BAR boss David Richards, the next man to face the media.

Q: What are your opinions of the solutions?

Richards: "The most encouraging thing is that at the end of the day although there was a long debate there was not a dissenting voice and it was unanimous from all quarters, all the decisions that came out. I have always firmly believed we are in a cyclical situation, we are not in some death throes of Formula One, this is just we need some change and that is what we have just gone about and done in a sensible and intelligent way."

Q: Do you think it will work?

Richards: "I am sure it will work."

Q: What makes you confident?

Richards: "I come back to the point that some cynics might look at it and think it is not enough but I would also counter the fact that Formula One has been very successful for 20 years; doing too much might have tipped the balance the other way too easily."

Q: The question of ballast and changing drivers around, was given short shrift in there?

Richards: "Well, I would say this is the culmination of a series of meetings at the end of the day. We have had meetings going on over the last few weeks, full day sessions, so everything has been debated at some length and everything has been looked at fairly."

Q: Is it everything that is needed, or do you think there is more to come?

Richards: "Well, I believe, personally, this is everything that is needed, but we will have to wait until the middle of next season to see exactly what effect it has really had. I suggest that next season is probably going to be vintage Formula One again."

Q: What about the testing ban, are you going to be signing up for that one?

Richards: "Ah. I am going to look at it very carefully. It looks quite appealing, the opportunity of testing at the circuits on a Friday as opposed to trudging around to far-away places and without anyone watching us. It would give you more to write about as well."

Q: Could you estimate roughly what cost your team would be saving?

Richards: "I really haven't done the calculations so I would rather not guess at it, but it would be quite substantial."

Q: There's just a 'small' point about team orders in there...do you think that's possible?

Richards: "Yeah, I think it's...each of the teams will be required now, I believe it was discussed that we would even have it within our contracts that drivers don't have them within their contracts."

Q: So it has been erased from contracts...

Richards: "No, no, it hasn't. It was discussed as the next stage of things, but I think the strong message has come out that there will be no team orders from now on, so you won't be seeing any of the things that have gone on this year...(pause)...in such a blatant way."

Richards said it all. Team orders, banned by the FIA, will still be a part of Formula One - they will just be a bit less obvious. The smiling Todt knew as much when he uttered the word "interesting" as he departed. No doubt he has already been on the phone to technical director Ross Brawn to think of subtle ways to work it.

Discussions between journalists over the 'reforms' intermingled with more interviews as Peter Sauber left the room, now filled with sandwiches to make the famished journalists even more envious, Niki Lauda returned and Eddie Jordan made his exit.

Lauda, topped by his red cap as ever, seemed happy, as did they all. A united front? From the outside at least. But there were still concerns that the Formula One finances had not been fully addressed. How much money will the changes save your team, Lauda was asked...

Lauda: "I can't calculate this as quickly as the decision has been taken, but the main changes of the day were not the money issue. The qualifying change or the testing change is a money issue."

Q: At the end of the day you haven't actually taken steps to make the cars pass each other any more...

Lauda: "It was also discussed today that now the technical regulations start, we identified three circuits at which passing is there, which is the Spa race..."

Q: The one that's been cancelled...

Lauda: "Yes...The new Hockenheim race and Indy for example and we asked the FIA to really make sure that in the future new circuits, when they are built, to make sure that we use a Hockenheim-type spec that is able to pass. And we asked them to look at all the other circuits to add or take away corners for 2004 to make sure the circuits improve."

Q: Why should the race circuit owners adapt when surely it is up to the teams to build cars that can overtake?

Lauda: "The only way to make cars overtake is to do both. We have to do the cars, which are going to start on the first of December, there was a discussion to come back in with slicks and reduce the aero package, for example, so there have been ideas floating around. But I think you have to attack it from both sides."

Eddie Jordan was next in line for a grilling. So, did he think the changes will help with costs?

Jordan: "It is a good move forward. The costs were addressed and it is not really for me to say. Bernie and Max have already underlined in great detail where a lot of the main cost structures are going to be taken out of the business for a better show - and that is what we are trying to do today. To make sure that you get a better show, better excitement, but at the same time contain and reduce where appropriate the costs, because that is the significant factor."

Q: What about the testing?

Jordan: "I will look at the testing. It is very interesting, it's a new concept. Of course it is a balance. Is there enough time to test in the pre season to do the amount of things you want to do? And please, as circuits, more and more circuits, we have just seen the announcement of Bahrain and China, and when you couple with that Monaco where you can't test and certain other circuits, and then the first three races, Australia, Malaysia and Brazil, it is beginning to play into the hands at the moment. But it is a fair option to see whether you want to take the full testing or the Friday and at the moment I haven't decided."

Q: And the team orders decision?

Jordan: "It is something that we all agreed on and there is no doubt that is a positive move."

Finally, after McLaren boss Ron Dennis and Frank Williams had made their exit through the back door, the last remaining team boss, and the man that needed the changes more than most, Paul Stoddart, of Minardi, made an appearance with a broad smile.

Q: What do you think of the proposals?

Stoddart: "It was a positive meeting. I think the proposals are good for the sport. Certainly we are going to liven up both practices on Friday and more importantly qualifying on Saturday. I think if you change just for the sake of change you may not always get it right. The proposals that have been accepted have been well thought through. They will do what we want to do, which is improve the show, and I think there is a little bit of help in there for the smaller teams like us, particularly with the Friday practice and the points down to eighth. We have compromised as best we can and although there might have been one or two people that don't agree with everything I think it is fair to say that most things went though unanimously for the good of the sport."

Q: How do you see next season mapping out for a team like yours?

Stoddart: "I think you will see us provide a lot of excitement with the test drivers we decide to run on Friday mornings. For a team like us, to give you an example, we would run probably, in a host nation, one of their drivers, if that driver had a sponsor - it is straight commercial business. We need money and that is a good way of earning it, so that is a help for the teams. It is also an enormous help to the host country because it will translate into seat sales on a Saturday and Sunday, it will translate into something for the press to talk about on the Friday and it will give an enormous opportunity for more talent in Formula One to be shown where it really needs to be shown - in front of all the other team bosses at exactly the same time, in like-for-like equipment, as a team's regular drivers."

Q: Do you think this is the start or should there be more?

Stoddart: "I think we have probably done enough and now we have got to run through 2003 and see how these changes pan out. Nobody has a crystal ball, nobody can say, for sure, what we have done today that we have got it right, but by God we have tried, and let's hope it does work out in a favourable way."

Reaching into his pocket to pull out a battered packet of half-smoked cigarettes that would no doubt be finished by the end of the day, he plucked one out with his mouth and continued his praise of the 'new' Formula One - but immediately admitted Minardi is not safe yet.

Q: Does that mean that has solved most of your problems?

Stoddart: "No. I think Minardi and perhaps one or two other teams have still got a few more problems to get over yet, but as I said at the start, everything is a compromise and it needs to be for the good of all teams and the good of the sport."

Q: It seems that there is definitely something to liven up Fridays and Saturdays. Is there enough to liven up Sundays?

Stoddart: "I think so, because I think the result of Friday and Saturday is going to be fantastic. This is sudden death. Let's make no bones about this. This is sudden death qualifying - so when someone goes out and an engine goes pop, they're down the back and the next one that goes pop, they're down the back and so on and so forth. You are not going to get a Minardi on pole, not unless 20 or 18 engines blow up, but nevertheless it could produce some very funny grids throughout the year, which will liven up the races."

Stoddart then departed, leaving the remaining journalists to filter into different rooms and leave a quiet void of reflection in the business centre. But there was one more face to spot, as the day neared a close, when the gentle tones of a Scotsman filtered through the corridor.

Stoddart's old nemesis, Arrows boss Tom Walkinshaw, still remained. Lasting, ironically for a man with a team on the brink of collapse, longer than the rest of the team bosses he had joined in the Heathrow meeting room. He had his own agenda, however. Another meeting, booked in room 5, of the TWR Group.

That meeting, Walkinshaw ensured, remained shrouded in mystery. His team's future, after he refused to comment on whether he would have the chance to experience the new changes he had just voted upon, remains to be seen. But in the decisions made at Heathrow, there seems little to help the cash-strapped outfit's fight for survival.

In many respects Formula One's big event ended up a damp squib as the licking flames that threatened to burn the history books with radical proposals to throw the sport headlong into a new direction were extinguished to leave a smokescreen covering the real issue.

The proposals are sure to create more excitement - sudden-death qualifying runs and more points for the mid-grid teams to fight over are all good for the sport. But what has yet to be tackled is the increasing gulf between the rich and the poor. And in fact it could even get wider.

The "Heathrow Agreement" - the part of the new rules that offers the teams to skip testing and run for an extra two hours on a Friday of a Grand Prix weekend - is not, in fact, an agreement at all. It is a proposal - and if only accepted by the small teams it could further damage Formula One.