Stoddart Welcomes Radical Change

Minardi team boss Paul Stoddart praised the firm approach of the sport's governing body, the FIA, after the ten current Formula One teams collaborated to agree sweeping cost-cutting changes to the sport.

The banning of telemetry, radio communication and spare cars were three key items on a long list of changes laid down at a meeting between team bosses, FIA president Max Mosley and Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone at Heathrow.

"I am very impressed by the other teams, the FIA and Bernie and we decided the minimum number of teams will stay and we all want to support that," said Stoddart. "The spectacle will be improved and costs cut.

"For the smaller teams it's good news. There's a solidarity in there that wants to see 10 teams survive and compete and complete the season...in overall terms it's a good package of measures for Formula One and it's also going to spice up the racing."

Mosley criticised the teams for failing to agree on similar changes during several meetings in London at the end of last year but Stoddart insisted most of the new regulations were on the team bosses' suggestion list.

"I think we probably would have agreed with a lot and we had suggested some of them," he said. "None of them are really that much of a secret. Except for a couple they had all been around and discussed before.