Only just seen this on the AOL sport pages:

Minardi team boss Paul Stoddart claims Formula One teams will boycott this weekend's season-opening Australian Grand Prix unless Ferrari back down over their refusal to allow his team to use last season's car.

Financial constraints mean Minardi have not been able to make the necessary re-design to comply with new regulations on aerodynamics and they approached fellow competitors to seek approval to use last season's model. Only Ferrari have refused to consent and Stoddart will make one last plea to try to ensure Minardi's participation in their home grand prix.

However, he said if his bid was unsuccessful there was a threat to Sunday's race in Melbourne, commenting: "Put it this way, if Minardi's wheels do not turn this weekend they will not be the only ones."

"The Group of Nine (made up of all F1 teams bar Ferrari) is pretty strong and there is an agreement between everyone except Ferrari.

"I would hope Jean Todt sees sense but who knows? Ferrari have acted unilaterally outside of all the other teams in recent weeks.

"As a last resort, and I mean last resort, there is always the option of the High Court to challenge the legality of the regulations.

"But on this, the 10th anniversary of the Melbourne Grand Prix, I would not want to be the one to spoil the party," he added.

 

the divide between ferrari and the rest is getting even bigger. their domination at the top wont last forever and wouldnt like to be them when it all goes wrong. think they have to learn to win and lose gratefully!!

twocers!

 

Typical Jean Todt.....the guy is *SO* full of himself

I hope he is around when Ferrari are no longer at the top of the heap....just so he can reap what he sows

 

Yeah too right. They remind me a lot of the United States and how they treat the rest of the world in regard to superiority etc.

 

Ferrari

Good on the other teams backing minardi up

 

I'm not sure how a "boycott" will work

OK, if all the other teams refuse to race on Sunday, then Ferrari only have to get their two cars on to the grid, complete the race distance and get maximum points......The result would have to stand ??? As Ferrari would not have broken any rules/regs........

 

Yes but Doug, imagine the reaction of the spectators etc, wont be pretty i dont think lol.

Doubt a boycott will happen, but could be wrong.

 

I think there is something in F1 rules saying there has to be a minumum number of teams competing I think. This was the big problem when Jag and Jordan was getting dropped.

 

they could just park their cars blocking the track and pitlane!

Ferrari would be a bit fooked then!

Hope the race goes ahead, its not like minardi are a top running team anyway.
so why should it bother Ferrari so much.

 

f1's crap anyway - what's all the fuss about? :yawn:

 

Doug Stirling wrote "I'm not sure how a "boycott" will work "

well the only way i see it working is they all get on the grid and don't move therefore stoping the race

 

BTTT.....anybody got an update on this storey?

AOL is showing the same page as yesterday

 

Yep update from here. Just on the news Paul Stoddart and Jean Todt or however you spell it are in an eleventh hour meeting at the moment I believe so the news said.

 

saff_cossie, please keep us updated if possible

 

Will try, think news bulletins are on the half hour but all the internet news is so old they are just mentioning the rains ending at the end of the 40 days and 40 nights on Noahs Ark!

 

Just had a news update and it said the 11th hour meeting still. Next bulletin isnt until 11.15pm our time so 12.15pm yours.

 

Jean Todt is complete arse

TO be honest i wish they wouldnt keep changing the rules in F1. becuase of this i am losing interest!!! and now im not bothered if i dont see any races. imo let F1 progress by its self and Ferrari will soon be nock of the top

 

I'm hoping to have Sky Plus by the time the next season to record it, is on so I can watch most of it in FF and only watch it for the interesting parts... ie when shumi crashes... pause, repeat A, repeat B and watch over and over again

I so wish they would just intorduce sucsess balast to the cars. I think that would even it up a bit.

 

that would be crap imagine you woon just because the fellow whose the quickest had 20kg of lead on his car

 

won*

 

Red Bull are also protesting against Minardi so it looks as though Minardi are fooked. they can either make the last minute aerodynamic alterations, which would at least allow them to make the grid or to withdraw untill the new car is built.

 

I sympathise with minardi BUT rules are rules... no one would let ferrari race if they said 'sorry the alterations we need to make dont fall within our budget, but can we race anyway'

 

I agree entirely. Whilst i have the utmost respect for Minardi and Paul Stoddart, the sad truth is that they are out of their league. They simply don't have the budget to compete in F1. We listen to Minardi's sob-stories every season.

It's now got to the point where rule changes are being introduced that limit the amount of money the big teams can spend (tyres/engine) to try and make F1 more accessible to the likes of Minardi... this is just going to hold back the development of the cars.

If the big teams are prepared to spend huge sums of money to advance technology then surely they should be encouraged to do so - not held back.

I say remove all the 'spend-less' rules and let Ferrari and the other big teams continue to spend their huge budgets. Let them go back to using turbos too... then we'll be able to gain from the advancements...

 

nah - just get rid of all the electronics......Shuey'd soon be struggling......

 

Seems people just want to see him crash or Ferrari in general to fail.

Do you remember 10 years ago how bad Ferrari were? They rarely finished a race!!

Mclaren had their day in the 80’s, do you forget that as well!!

I love watching f1 and motor sport in general and love watching Schumacher and have huge respect for how he can drive and the brilliant team he drives for!!

I don’t think the other teams are that far behind in terms of technology so maybe if Schumacher drops his level a bit this season then it be a close one!

About these rules, I feel sorry for minardi but as says above rules are rules and im sure the new red bull team had it very hard this year as well but they have managed to get a car out and you never know it may be competitive.

Can’t wait for the season to start.

 

Jaguar had virtually finished the car by the time Red Bull took over

 

all I know is they have been mega busy building the new car, I have no idea on development off the top of my head

but It doesnt change what I said , the rules are changed for everyone

 

Not a chance. MS grew up on cars WITHOUT electronic aids. Hes not about to throw it off if you get rid of it all.

Alonso might though!


As for Minardi. Tough Shit.

Say Arsenal play some amateur team in a football match. Will Arsenal only be allowed 5 players whilst the other team can have 50?

Theres a reason Minardi are rubbish. Lack of sponsorship hence lack of money. They have ALWAYS unperformed. And they've been going donkeys years. (1985 was the teams first F1 race) Longer than Jordan, who, for their sins have won a few races since he started out in F1 in 1991.

I dont care if Minardi go out of business to be honest. (Feel for the workers admittedly) Tell me what they add to the "show" Tell me why they need to be there if they cant afford to be?

This isnt a charity, this is a big business based on being the fastest within the given rules.

 

Going to have to disagree with you here on the Minardi deal....

If you look at performance/money, Minardi are the hands-down winners.

They get 95% of the performance for about 20% of the money compared to the top teams.

I don't really care for the politics in F1 and it has gotten a bit boring with all the stupid rule changes (all the way back to when Max thought it was a brilliant idea to use grooved tires) but this latest round shows how complete an idiot Max is.

All the rule changes/mods are being forced in the name of 'safety' and to 'slow the cars down' but how safe is using one set of tires per DAY on each race weekend.

The guy says SAFETY out of his mouth and then pulls the new rules out of his ASS

 

shame that really coz even tho they have a small budget they keep on racing and every now and then the do get in the points, trust ferrari to bloody object when the rest of the teams see no problem with it

 

I think it just ferrari being a bit childish, apparently minardi have had a few things to say about ferrari over the winter so they are doing it just out of spite. If the other teams (maybe except red bull) can agree to it then ferrari shouldn't object as they are least likely to be challenged by them (jordan obviously have no problem and the minardis could beat them if last year is anything to go by), if anything it could benefit them as they (ferrari) wouldn't have to lap them as many times if their car (minardi) was a little bit quicker

As we seem to be making comparisons to football then think of it this way, chelsea with 10 men would still beat a team in a lower division with 11 men, they could probably do it with 9!!!!

Anyway if we lose another team then we'll be down to nine and 18 cars and we dont want that, i remember the days when they had between 30 and 40 cars trying to get onto a grid of 26 and pre-qualifying had to take place before the proper qualifying could happen.

Anyway looking forward to sunday and MS getting beaten by McLaren and Renault

 

oh dear

 

Now that you gotta respect.

Its unfair to penalise a team because they havent got the money to do it. Its not like they are going to get an advantage over the other teams is it

 

I'd have to agree with Stoddart (like it matters....) on the new rules being implemented unilaterally as being 'illegal' based on the concorde agreement. Therefore, the 2004 spec cars should be deemed legal in 2005.

The FIA claims that the new rules are in the interest of 'safety' yet require only one set of tires PER DAY......the word 'oxymoron' comes to mind here.

Yet again, Max tries to kill his own cash cow......IDIOT

Bring back slicks
Bring back turbos
Bring back active suspension

 

nah - just get rid of all the electronics......Shuey'd soon be struggling......

PMSL at that quote Schuey was around way before electronics took over in f1, if they where to be banned schuey would benefit the most

 

Latest on the breakfast news this morning was Minardi will find out by 11am so 12am your time. Nothing else mentioned.

 

lol get hill back hes the only driver that pissed shuey off

 

I dunno about that....Villeneuve seemed to really chap his ass too

 

Ah ha. But you see the new 05 rules were desgined to reduce aerodynamic efficiency. Raise the front wing 50mm and bring the rear wing foward, this was to cut overall by around 25%. Same as the one set of tyres per race rule. Reduce mechanical grip towards the end of the event.

Now most of the bigger teams have clawed back nearly all of that in their designs for this year. However the mid field teams wont have. As Horner (RBR) said what happens when Minardi out score his team with a car thats not subject to the same rules?

Each point is worth $Xm dollars next year so what happens when Minardi get more money next year than say Midland or RBR. Will those 2 teams be allowed to run 05 cars in 06?

Makes even more of a mockery of the sport because its very obviously unfair.

Im no fan of Stoddart, he seems to have a big book titled "Why my team is shite and always will be" instead of another called "Raising your Game : How to succeed in F1"

 

Minardi has '05 aero parts on hand, but they have not been tested so they're not sure what they have.

The rule changes were forced down the teams throats very late, so it stands to reason with long lead time items that some changes would not be possible to make the schedule for teams with less resources.

I think Todt is scared that they are not going to be dominant this year and is afraid of even Minardi for some reason. I hope McLaren, BAR, and Renault hand them their lunch. I like Rubens, but the rest of the Ferrari gang is a bunch of arrogant pricks.