Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone has played down the possibility that motor racing's premier series could break away from the control of the sport's governing body.

'I don't know anything about a breakaway championship to be honest with you. Nobody's ever talked about one,' the Briton told The Associated Press on Wednesday, following a World Motor Sport Council meeting.

His latest comments appeared to contradict his earlier remarks.

Ecclestone, president and chief executive of Formula One Management, had told The Times of London earlier this month that Formula One might split from the International Automobile Federation (FIA) and set up a breakaway championship.

He was quoted as saying: 'At the moment, what we are trying to do, to keep the sponsors happy, is say we can't break away, but it could well be that that will happen.'

He has been frustrated by embattled FIA president Max Mosley's attempts to increase the FIA's influence and his determination to remain in office in the wake of a sex scandal.