When Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley took part in a joint interview in October, the first in living memory, the stage was set.
Whilst Mosley's successor as FIA president, Jean Todt, appears to concentrate on all matters other than F1, the Briton's appearance side-by-side with his former 'partner-in-crime' will have sent shockwaves through the F1 paddock.
Though he has spent the last few years focussing on the cause celebre that is his battle with the media, he has kept a close eye on the sport which, along with Ecclestone, he helped shape.
During that joint interview it was clear that Mosley not only has a certain amount of unfinished business concerning F1, he has spent time considering how the job might best be done.
While his safety crusade was, for the most part, seen through, as any number of drivers will gladly testify, his battle to control costs and balance the never-ending power struggle within the sport are widely seen as failures.
However, he hasn't given up, and since that interview has been an ever present, only too eager to share his thoughts on various aspects of the sport.
Warning that spending must be addressed, the Briton also fears that the manufacturers have too much control in F1, and Ecclestone, clearly emboldened by his colleague's presence, is ramping up for the battle ahead.
Talking to BBC Sport, the F1 supremo lays the blame for the sport's ills at the door of Mercedes and Ferrari, claiming that they will destroy F1.
"We're helping a manufacturer, because it doesn't make a lot of difference to Ferrari with the sort of engines they make. It helps Mercedes,” he said, referring to the plan to bring an independent manufacturer to the F1 table.
"So we are going to destroy Formula One, if you like, because of a manufacturer, who would leave like the others have left when it suits them... BMW, Toyota, they leave when it suits them.
"We're trying to save the sport and these people are trying to save it for their own good," he insisted.
Given a mandate, along with Todt, "to make recommendations and decisions regarding a number of pressing issues in Formula One such as governance, power units and cost reduction", by 31 January, 2016, the heat is on.
"There is all sorts of things we know we can do and should do to make F1 back on the road where it should be, because we are in show business," he said. "We are there to entertain the public. We are not there to put on a show for Mercedes to demonstrate and sell their cars. Or Ferrari."
Referring to Ferrari's power of veto, which the Italian manufacturer successfully used to kill-off plans to cap the amount that customers can be charged for engines - a move labelled by Mosley as "small minded" - Ecclestone questioned the Maranello company's legal right to such power.
Revealing that Ferrari has written to the FIA saying it does not have the right to grant Ecclestone and Todt said mandate, the Italian manufacturer claiming that this contravenes the team's contracts with F1, the Briton warned of a potential legal battle.. a situation that would have Mosely salivating.
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"The only thing we could do is to ignore what Ferrari have said and carry on with it and say: 'You've got a choice, you can leave or go to arbitration and see what the arbitrators think'.
"I think if we went to arbitration, we'd win easy," he added.
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