Meeting Wednesday in Paris are, from left, Bernie Ecclestone, who owns F1’s commercial rights, FIA President Max Mosley, and Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo.

AP / GARETH WATKINS

BOLOGNA, Italy — Eight leading Formula One teams promised Thursday to slash costs by up to 25 percent in the next two years as part of their accord with the sport’s ruling body to prevent a breakaway series.

A split was averted Wednesday when FIA president Max Mosley capitulated and scrapped a planned voluntary $65-million budget cap and instead issued an unenforceable edict to reduce costs to levels of the early 1990s.

With Mosley also forced out after 16 years when his term ends in October, the Formula One Teams Association hopes the upcoming election will produce a successor who is less divisive, letting teams return to providing drama on the track and not off it.

“We will continue to work as teams and manufacturers to reduce costs, as we have with engines and gear boxes,” said Ferrari principal Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, who led the discussions with FIA.

“Our goal is in two years to have costs as we did in the early 1990s. We are aiming to save a further 15 to 25 percent by 2011. For big and small teams, it is important to think about the balance between costs and revenue.”

FOTA, which also includes McLaren, BMW Sauber, Renault, Toyota, Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Brawn GP, had already implemented a series of cost-cuts this season amid the global economic downturn. They included restricting on-track testing and the use of wind tunnels for aerodynamic testing, while savings on engines and gearboxes are in the pipeline.

McLaren counterpart Martin Whitmarsh hoped the teams’ united front would endure to help F1 develop. “In all the years I have been involved in Formula One, I have never witnessed an agreement between the teams,” he said. “I don’t think there has been enough governance of our sport or management of our sport.

“It is a positive way of going forward as a sport. There is a clear commitment on working on the entertainment, on the show and making it a great sport.”

While FOTA will play no part in electing Mosley’s successor, its vice president John Howett called on the World Motorsport Council to choose a neutral candidate.