Yoong Demands Overdue Wages from Minardi

Driver Alex Yoong demanded $200,000 in outstanding wages from Minardi owner Paul Stoddart following his season with the Formula One team.

"It is only fair and honourable for Minardi to pay me the balance of my pay amounting to $200,000 immediately," Malaysian Yoong said in a statement.

Yoong said the money was "an amount which they have never denied through our many written reminders and monthly statements sent to Minardi and which has been outstanding for nearly half a year now".

Australian Stoddart told Reuters on Saturday that he had taken legal action against three Malaysian companies for more than $1.5 million sponsorship which he alleges has not been paid.

Stoddart said in the interview that Yoong was content to wait until these had been settled to generate the required funds for the cash-strapped team. But the driver said in his statement that this was not the case.

"The driving fees are not linked to the Malaysian sponsors in any way," said Yoong.

Yoong, who lost his drive after a disappointing 2002 season, said he had only limited contact with backers of the team from his own country.

"Alex is owed money under his driver's contract from last year, we're owed a rather larger amount of money under a sponsorship from last year," Stoddart said.

"His driver's contract was directly linked to sponsorship and I've actually said to his father that if he can help us collect the outstanding sponsorship that I'll go 50-50 on what we get.

"What he's asked us to do is to assign some of the rights for the collections to him and we're looking at it now. We may well do that."