ATLANTA, Georgia – As it turned out, it was no idle threat. They had warned it was on the cards and now the stark reality of a Formula One breakaway faction has arrived.

Eight of the sport’s major teams (Formula One Teams Association or FOTA) have potentially thrown the glamorous world of F1 into chaos by making good on their intention to set up a rival championship for 2010.

It follows months of talks and frustrations after they failed to resolve their dispute with motor sport's governing body over financial constraints. Quite simply, the Formula One Teams' Association announced they would not compromise on the quality of the series by signing up unconditionally for the 2010 F1 season following the release of the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile’s (FIA) radical new plans for cost-cutting.

All of this follows FIA president Max Mosley’s insistence on introducing a voluntary $60 million budget cap for teams to curtail what has been called a "financial arms race" in the sport.

The teams in question are championship leader Brawn GP, Ferrari, McLaren, Renault, Toyota, BMW Sauber, Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso. With the two remaining outfits, Force India and Williams, staying put as it were.

The crux appears to have been a four-hour meeting on Thursday ahead of this weekend's British Grand Prix at Silverstone. The timing of this is certainly significant, but the big question is to what extent is it all really surprising?

This whole chain of events has had a degree of inevitability about it for a number of weeks now and in my mind, there was little doubt those who wanted to go it alone would do just that.

The FIA now has a huge choice to make. Does it back down or does it maintain its stance? This story is just really getting going and there are sure to be many more twists and turns along the way … but as it stands right now there is a very really possibility that next season could start with not one, but two, Formula One competitions running side by side.