Superlicence Fears End after Fax Vote

Fears that some of Formula One's drivers could be forced to travel to next weekend's Australian Grand Prix not knowing whether they have been granted a mandatory Superlicence have been alleviated, despite Minardi and Toyota not supporting the move.

The granting of Superlicences to several of the sport's leading stars had been subject to a vote of the decision-making Formula One Commission because of concerns about how best to decide which drivers qualified for them under an 'exceptional circumstances' clause. This was despite recent criticisms of the fax vote decision-making process by Minardi boss Paul Stoddart.

While most of the grid automatically qualified for Superlicences because of recent achievements, including Minardi rookie Patrick Friesacher, there were 12 drivers whose applications could not be given an instant positive response

These drivers were Christijan Albers (Minardi), Narain Karthikeyan (Jordan) and Tiago Monteiro (Jordan), plus test drivers Luca Badoer, Anthony Davidson, Pedro de la Rosa, Marc Gene, Franck Montagny, Antonio Pizzonia, Alexander Wurz and Ricardo Zonta.

Dane Nicolas Kiesa was also granted a Superlicence; presumably because he had been due to take the second seat at Minardi prior to Friesacher grabbing it.

Amid the uncertainty, FIA president Max Mosley believed it best to hold a fax vote of the Commission because of the short timeframe before the Melbourne race and the fact there is no documented way of deciding what 'exceptional circumstances' are deemed to be.

In a letter to Bernie Ecclestone earlier this month, which Autosport.com has seen, Mosley said: "The exceptional circumstances clause was put in place for drivers who clearly deserve Superlicences but do not technically qualify.

"An obvious example would be if Mika Hakkinen were to have made a comeback in Formula One this year. The clause was never intended to let in drivers who, quite simply, have not got a good enough record. It might be said that this is the case for some (but not all) of the twelve non-qualified drivers who have applied for Superlicences for 2005."

According to a fax sent to members of the F1 Commission on Wednesday, which Autosport.com has also seen, the drivers have been given the green light to be granted their Superlicences â€" although most interestingly the vote was not unanimous.

Despite Minardi's number one driver Albers and Toyota's reserve driver Zonta being two of the men needing a Superlicence, their two teams did not actually vote in favour of the Superlicence decision.

And although their official positions were merely that they had 'not replied' to the vote, under the rules of the F1 Commission this effectively means a vote against the decision â€" as Mosley outlined in this week's fax.

"Only positive votes are counted in fax votes of the Formula One Commission," wrote Mosley. "This is because the Concorde Agreement requires at least 18 votes in favour for a motion to be passed. It follows that an abstention has the same effect as a vote against."

With the fax vote effectively taking place blind, even if Minardi and Toyota claim that it was an oversight on their part not to have voted for the granting of Superlicences, it could have proved costly if other parties, such as sponsors and circuit promoters, had also not voted in favour.

Canadian Grand Prix promoter Normand Legault was the only other member of the Commission to not vote â€" meaning that there were just 21 votes in favour, three above the necessary number for the licences to be granted.