Motor Sport Canadian Grand Prix: In the murky waters of the Formula One paddock, the minnows of Minardi are this weekend squaring up to the sharks of the sport in a desperate bid for survival, a stand-off that has dragged Eddie Jordan into the turbulence.
Yesterday in Montreal Minardi boss Paul Stoddart withdrew his support from technical changes planned for this and next year unless the "fighting fund" - a pool of money to be divided between Jordan and Minardi to keep the cash-starved teams afloat - be paid "immediately and without condition".
On January 15th, Formula One team bosses and the sport's major manufacturers agreed to set up a fund for the two strugglers, made up, in part, from television rights money from the collapsed Arrows team as well as contributions from companies such as Mercedes, BMW, Ford, Honda and Renault. It is believed Jordan and Minardi were to receive $8 million each. Seven races into the season and the fund has not been made available to either team.
"Through a combination of arrogance, ignorance and self-righteousness on the part of certain individuals in this paddock, we are being forced to this position," said Stoddart yesterday, referring to the blockage of the fund payment, a blockage which may cause the demise of the perennial back-marker team. "I spent a lot of time trying to build the squad I love, but unfortunately the old guard is intent on tearing it apart. We're a very small fish in a big shark tank - we just can't deal with politics of bigger teams.
"I don't think there's any secret that both Eddie and I are rather disillusioned with the team owners for not going through with the commitments they made on January 15th. We've given them half a season. Eddie's won a race, I've competed professionally in every race. They've steadfastly not honoured their commitments to Jordan and Minardi and the time has come to be accountable for actions one way or another."
Although Stoddart insisted he would make it to the end of the season without the money, he gave no guarantees as to how Minardi would get there.
"The position for us is that we will be able to limp on until the end of the season if this money is not paid. But it may mean I will have to say to the guys, 'okay, but you can only race for five laps'.
"In this paddock the budgets for the 10 teams come to $2.81 billion," he said. "What the fighting fund was established to do was, in hard economic times, to give a hand to smaller teams who have to pay large amounts for their engines. It was agreed by all team principals in January and it was an agreement Eddie and I took to the bank.
"This is the halfway race and we've got nothing. The amount of money is $8 million each, that represents 0.27 per cent of the entire budget, that $2.81 billion."
Stoddart is also calling for movement from the teams on a decision taken earlier this year between the FIA and the motor manufacturer teams regarding traction control and engine supplies. Before the start of the season the FIA instituted a rule change which called for traction control to be abandoned from the British Grand Prix (July 20th). The teams, fearful of the cost of removing a system integral to the design of their 2003 cars and concerned over the FIA's ability to police the issue, balked.
A compromise was reached, allowing the manufacturers to keep traction control as long as they agreed to provide supplies of engines for a flat fee of $10 million from the start of the 2004 season, another bid to reduce the cost burden on the smaller teams.
Many of the constructors have since backed away from the plan, with BMW insisting it cannot make engines for so small a figure and Mercedes saying it would have to review its position. Stoddart's reaction to the non-payment of the fund and the uncertainty of the engine supply is to turn his back on the ratification of technical regulations. That includes a raft of chassis and bodywork changes for 2004 designed to provide more sponsorship space on cars. According to Stoddart his protest will not, however, affect the allowance of traction control at Silverstone, a technical change wrought through the compromise on engine supply.
Jordan's position in the brewing row appears to be nominally supportive. Publicly Jordan admits to needing the "fighting fund" having factored the $8 million into his team's 2003 budget, but privately the Jordan boss is believed to be less than convinced of the merit of Stoddart's course of action.
"Jordan's position is Jordan's position. Anyone else's is theirs," he said yesterday. "The fighting fund was Ron (Dennis's) idea and full marks to him for doing it. It was agreed. Naturally I'm disappointed (about the delay in payment) because there were certain monies that were to go towards the (Cosworth) engine bill that are not going there at the moment. It was the cost of the engines that was the reason for the fighting fund."
Beyond that Jordan is unwilling to weigh in behind Stoddart. While the team is short on cash, it is not yet in the precarious situation facing Minardi.
There appears to be no immediate solution to the row. Final ratification of the rules for 2004 is not due until October 31st this year and unless Stoddart can curry the support of the FIA, particularly on the issues of engine supply and the retention of traction control, it seems unlikely the major teams will relent in their objection to payment of the fund.
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