Stoddart: Traction Control Ban Possible by Imola

Minardi team principal Paul Stoddart says a ban on traction control could be introduced as early as the San Marino Grand Prix.

Last week Stoddart threatened to withdraw his vote in favour of keeping traction control, claiming Formula One's engine manufacturers had not lived up to promises made in return for his vote to keep the electronic aid.

The FIA, Formula One's ruling body, allowed the teams to keep running traction control despite a planned ban to all form of electronic driver aids as of the British Grand Prix last year.

However, the governing body said traction control would be allowed as long as the engine manufacturers supplied the small independent teams with engines that would be priced at $10 million.

Stoddart said that, without his team's vote, a ban on traction control could be in place at the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola, the fourth round of the 2004 season.

"It's a simple business matter," Stoddart told Atlas F1 in Australia. "They agreed to supply affordable engines, and we (Minardi and Jordan) agreed to allow traction control on that basis. Now they have gone back on their word.

"I don't want to speak for Max (Mosley, FIA President), who is more than capable of speaking for himself, but I think he means that it will need resources to police (traction control), and that takes time.

"So, if I withdraw my support, it does not mean that traction control is banned immediately, it will take time. I would say a ban could be in place by Imola."