Spyker press ahead with arbitration action

The Silverstone-based team have questioned whether or not rivals Scuderia Toro Rosso and Super Aguri are eligible for television rights money this year because some believe they are running customer cars.

Although the action has been ongoing for several months, there were some hopes that the legal action would be called off now that Spyker have moved into the top ten of the constructors' championship following McLaren's exclusion.

Only the top ten teams are eligible for television rights and travel money.

But team principal Colin Kolles has told autosport.com that despite the financial boost to his team, he still plans to press ahead with the arbitration.

"It still has to be clarified for the future - what are customer cars and what are non-customer cars?" he said.

"Everybody has agreed on the definition of a constructor. It's just a matter of how to deal with the non-constructors in the future. And there is no question about how to deal with a non-constructor at the moment, from my point of view.

"I was always ready to compromise and take this issue off the table. We are proceeding with our case and I'm ready to compromise - but I'm not changing my mind over what I've said before.

"This thing just needs to be clarified. It cannot be that we have image damage and monetary damage - that's a big problem. It has nothing to do with being tenth in the constructors' championship - because the difference between eighth and tenth is also very big."

Kolles said he expected the arbitration hearings to begin soon.

"The tribunal is constituted so things will move quite quickly from now on," he said. "My information from our lawyers is that things will move quite quickly."