The Grand Prix team principals emerged in buoyant mood after their three hour meeting at the A1-Ring this afternoon.

"It was great and very positive," said Tom Walkinshaw who was giving little away of the actual details of the meeting, which they had agreed not to discuss with the press.

But BAR's David Richards said that there had been general discussion on a range of issues, including how they could move forward. Information had revealed that TV figures were reassuring and a negative press had been to blame for inaccurate stories.

"We're going to talk things up, it's not all doom and gloom," said the rally boss. But he denied that discussions centred on cost cutting per se. "We are looking at constructive ideas but we agreed not to speak about specifics. But we all had similar viewpoints."

Asked what would happen next, he said that the team principals would probably meet in the next fortnight. There had, he said, been sympathy for Paul Stoddart who has already sworn to leave the sport if nothing is done. "We all go through periods when not everything goes well and we get depressed," admitted Richards. "It's not easy, it's hard work at the back of the grid.

"But we've decided to work on how the sport could be better value for people, how we can make it work better for sponsors and manufacturers. But you can never really cut costs, only redistribute resources. We should all be talking the sport up not thinking doom and gloom. "There are one or two people in the paddock who are looking at their own circumstances, but it is not just about cost cutting. "It is very easy to portray something as a negative," he added. "When only a very slight shift makes it become a positive. It is not like the situation in football at the moment, who would want to be in that?"