Analysis: F1 Tempers Rise after Minardi Cash Call

Minardi boss Paul Stoddart was told to take the heat or get out of Formula One on Friday after he asked the sport's wealthy elite to pay up and keep his struggling team on the road.

"There have been huge brands come and go in Formula One, Brabham, Lotus and many more," McLaren boss Ron Dennis told an extraordinary and emotionally-charged Canadian Grand Prix news conference.

"It's an inevitable ebbing and flowing...but no-one gave me a handout and I climbed from a humble background to being responsible for a competitive team. This is a tough competitive sport and if you cannot take the heat, get out of the bloody kitchen.

"I understand Paul's position but he is damaging Formula One by his actions and I love Formula One...We do not have a soup kitchen in Formula One."

The news conference followed a meeting of team principals from which the Minardi boss was excluded following his decision to block proposed changes to next season's technical regulations. Holding a heavy file of documents, Stoddart began the conference before the rest arrived under the impression that they would not be turning up.

They did however and with Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone looking on as a bystander, the sport's deep divisions were then laid bare and financial grievances picked over in public.

First Salvo

Stoddart had fired the first salvo in the morning with a statement criticising the manufacturer-backed teams for failing to establish a 'fighting fund' for the likes of Minardi as had been discussed before the start of the season.

He said he had withdrawn his team's consent to changes to the 2004 technical regulations, effectively blocking them, but might reconsider the position if money was forthcoming to help Minardi and Jordan. Stoddart also wanted the manufacturers to honour a commitment to affordable engine supplies for 2004 and beyond.

"Nothing's been done, talk is cheap," said Stoddart of the fighting fund. "I am totally disillusioned with several of the people sitting around me. I'm not prepared to drag this down any lower than it's gone, but my God I could.

"I don't believe there is a view to support Minardi, we saw Prost go and we saw Arrows go. You will see at some point in time if things don't change Minardi go. Who's next? Jordan? You won't need to worry about GPWC soon because in the not too distant future that may be all you have got left," added Stoddart.

The five major European carmakers in Formula One - DaimlerChrysler, BMW, Ferrari, Ford and Renault - want a far greater share of the sport's revenues than at present and are threatening their own GPWC series from 2008. The carmakers own or are partners to seven of the 10 teams.

Stoddart said Minardi had the resources to survive the season but painted an uncertain future.

Confusingly, he also appeared to suggest that there might not be 10 teams by the end of the season, a move that would oblige some other teams to run three cars.