Minardi Facing Opposition to Regulation Plan

Minardi boss Paul Stoddart said on Friday that he has faced opposition from several of the teams on the Grand Prix grid over his request to run his team's cars to this year's regulations next season.

Next season the regulations are due to be changed to slow the cars by around three seconds, with the introduction of new aerodynamic regulations and long-life tyres as well as the requirement for engines to last for two races.

With the team's Ford-owned engine supplier Cosworth put up for sale in September Stoddart might have to use the engines the team ran themselves in 2001 and that would make the cars even slower.

Stoddart claims his cars, which are already at the back of the grid due to a lack of funding, are already slow enough for the safety requirements of the sport's governing body the FIA and wants to run to the current regulations.

But Stoddart said: "I have to say that we have had a lot of support there, more than half of the teams have said yes, but there are a few teams who don't seem to be interested in letting it happen.

"As we sit here now we have to face the reality that there is a chance there may not be an engine available or certainly not the engine that we thought we would have. We have taken a gamble on designing a car around an engine that we had a signed contract for for next year but with the news of Cosworth everything was thrown into turmoil.

"That is actually a case of Force Majeur. It is not an issue of money, it's an issue of unavailability, so we've made all we can do, contingent plans to make sure that Minardi is on the grid next year."

Stoddart said his team are still working on their 2005 machine and that the "worst possible case" would be that they are forced to run the 2001 engine, a much larger unit, in the back of the new car.

BAR-Honda boss David Richards, whose team are currently second in the Championship, was positive when asked if he would support Stoddart's plan and said: "Our position at BAR is that this is an FIA situation.

"They have introduced new regulations on the basis that they claim it is a safety issue. If they accept Paul's car is safe to run in those conditions then we wouldn't object."

But Stoddart's fellow privateer Peter Sauber, whose team are currently a strong sixth in the Championship, found it more difficult to back the proposals because it could hurt his own team's competitiveness.

"On one side I would like to help him because I absolutely understand the situation," said Sauber. "On the other hand we have to be careful when we go in this direction.

"The problem is there are other teams, maybe between Minardi and Ferrari, Sauber for example, and what would be our compensation to go closer to Ferrari? That's an example."