Junior teams way out for F1 minnows?

Stoddart has expressed annoyance that the Minardi TV money issues are diverting attention from some of FIA president Max Mosley's other suggestions, including one that would permit the big teams to sell chassis and/or engines to other teams. A short step from there, he says, would be junior teams competing at a strong level, something he thinks would be good for the sport.

"We should be looking at the worthwhile proposals that Max also tabled about cost-saving in F1 because that's the only way that teams like us are going to be here in 2003," Stoddart said at Nurburgring. "You've got to either attract bigger sponsorship which is not easy in this market, or turn around and have a fairer distribution of wealth in Formula 1, which is just not going to happen. Or, the third way is to reduce costs.

"I passionately believe that if we want to see all teams secure for the future then we need to see a few alliances done in this paddock. You can't compete against people with 10 times your budget, but if we had a better-funded whatever chassis with a whatever engine, rest assured that with a driver like Mark Webber we could probably achieve a podium. And how good would that be? It would be good for the sport, not just good for Minardi.

"You can't force a manufacturer to do anything and neither should you be able to, but if you create an environment [such as an engine manufacturer's championship - ed] where it's to their advantage to do it, then that can't be bad. The smaller teams need to team up with somebody and alliances with manufacturers is one way to make them more competitive."

Stoddart added that rather than being mere wishful thinking, such alliances would suit manufacturers, many of who could benefit from dual branding.