Future of indie teams secured

The agreement, which was reached before Christmas, should provide enough of a financial boost to guarantee that teams such as Jordan and Minardi will survive. AUTOSPORT understands that the new deal could add another £12million in revenue to each of the 10 teams that currently complete.

Minardi boss Paul Stoddart told AUTOSPORT: "The only way to improve the overall performance of the smaller teams is to make sure they have a bigger slice of the revenue - as is done in so many other sports. We hope there is something on the horizon that will happen in early 2004. Clearly we are safe for '04, no ifs or buts."

Eddie Jordan added: "If the financials are what we estimated and hoped for, this will be a great help to privateers as well as manufacturers. It is good news for F1."

Peter Sauber said: "On the financial side I hope we can improve on this part, because all the teams, not only the small ones, need additional money. At the moment, F1 is a very expensive sport."

In an exclusive interview in this week's AUTOSPORT, FIA president Max Mosley says he will not step in and sort out the problem of rising costs in F1. He says it is up to the team bosses to agree on the best way to save money.