Paul Stoddart Q&A

"We've just been through four months of hell. In Monaco Bernie admitted there were two teams in trouble, and at least we admitted it was us. Everybody knew the other team was Arrows. Tom's just going to have to sort his own problems out. The high court ruling doesn't sound good, but we'll have to wait and see."



"It's coming in stages, but we're up to date now, and the next payment is due soon. So Minardi will survive."



"Yes, so now I can concentrate on staying out of the politics, including Arrows politics to be honest. The last four months have been dominated by lawyers and politics, and really all I want to do is run a racing team."



"Thankfully for the team the fact that we performed so well given the circumstances shows that it hasn't distracted the team too much. But we've lost some good people, we've had to let people go and shut down our entire R&D department. You don't restart that sort of thing overnight. My own total focus has been on being with lawyers and accountants since February 16th until now. In simple, real terms it's been a massive distraction for me personally."



"I can't hide the fact that we've been wounded quite badly by this. Overnight, just because the money turns up, there's no magical cure. We've done a lot of damage to our own reputation, we've had to fight, we've had to delay payments. It's not been an easy time, and it's going to take us a month or two to get back to total normality. I'm trying to focus on next year now, I'm trying to find a way forward for the team. Whether that means doing some kind of a deal with a manufacturer, an alignment with somebody, whatever it takes to get the team secured for next year."



"You have to ask Asiatech that. I've heard a lot of things and I'm sure everyone has. They've supplied us a free engine for this year, for which we're incredibly thankful. Both companies have not yet negotiated on whether it's going to go beyond this year."



"They could, but there's been no such discussion. We need a manufacturer, and you if call Asiatech a manufacturer, we need the kind of access to budgets that our competitors have got. Simply put you cannot compete with budgets tenfold of what you've got. Eventually it hurts. There are things like the 107 percent rule and lack of testing where you pay the price."



"What we're talking about is forming an alliance. You cannot make any of the manufacturers do something against their wishes, but you can create an environment where it is financially and politically appetising for them to form an alliance with a second team. There will be benefits for that manufacturer in the light of the rule changes for 2004, such as the testing bans and restrictions that are being mooted. All the ducks are getting in a row ready for people to do something like this. So I'm quite optimistic that I can now go out and try to lift Minardi up."



"It's a home race, but also it's a tough one. Alex has had no real time here at Silverstone, and what I don't want is changing conditions. If it's wet then it needs to be wet in all the sessions, and if it's dry it needs to stay dry. He needs as much time on the track as possible to stay within the 107 percent."