Head: Formula One Reputation at Risk

Formula One's reputation would suffer serious damage if Ferrari try to win the Championship in the courtroom, Williams technical director Patrick Head warned today.

Ferrari's Ross Brawn has suggested that the Italian team, who have accused rivals of using illegal tyres, could question the results of races won by their rivals this year.

The governing FIA issued a clarification of the tyre rules after the last race in Hungary where Williams overtook Ferrari in the Championship. Michelin, who provide Williams and McLaren, have designed new tyres for Sunday's Italian Grand Prix.

"I really think it would be an extremely sad thing for Formula One to be arguing about whether an interpretation that was clarified after Hungary should be applied retrospectively," said Head.

"I think the patience of the general viewing public about Formula One would be totally exhausted if Formula One went through a casino of retrospective interpretation.

"I think the biggest thing we have got to do is get the public to be interested in Formula One. And I don't mean interested because it's a casino and a charade. I mean interested because it's a great competitive event. And we've got to work to get the public interested."

The 2003 season has offered some remarkable races so far and, with three rounds to go, is the closest in years. Ferrari's Michael Schumacher leads Williams' Juan Pablo Montoya by one point and McLaren's Kimi Raikkonen by two.