Customer Car Dispute Going Down to the Wire

[davewilson]

The dispute among Formula 1 teams regarding the issue of “customer cars” appears set to overshadow the start of the new season in Melbourne next weekend, with the respective parties saying they do not expect a last-minute compromise deal.

Although there had been hopes that a settlement could be found before the start of the season to alleviate some teams’ concerns about Super Aguri and Toro Rosso running development versions of the Honda and red Bull teams’ cars, there appears to be no solution on the horizon that will sort the matter before the first race of the year. And with Super Aguri not planning to unveil its new SA07 until the Wednesday before the Albert Park race, the next move for those teams unhappy about what is going on will have to wait until then.

Spyker team principal Colin Kolles, who has been one of the key figures along with Frank Williams in leading the push not to allow customer cars to score championship points this year, said he was uncertain about what is going to happen in Melbourne.

“There is nothing more to say than has been said before,” he Autosport.com about the latest situation with the customer cars. “We have to see first of all the Super Aguri car. We don’t know what kind of car will appear in Melbourne. We’ve seen the Toro Rosso car, and my point of view it is the same car as the Red Bull car.”

Both Spyker and Williams have not ruled out taking legal action to sort the situation, with an official protest against the legality of the Super Aguri and Toro Rosso’s cars unlikely because the “customer car” rules are dealt with by the Concorde Agreement and not the FIA technical rules. Kolles said he was unsure what the next step for him and Williams would be, although he indicated he had something in mind he was not prepared to share.

“I cannot tell you what will happen for the moment, because some people are expecting some things. Sometimes it is better to keep quiet and come up with something that they are not necessarily expecting,” he said. “I hope everything will be resolved before Melbourne and, if people were complying with what had been signed in the Concorde Agreement, then there would not be an issue.

“We tried to find a compromise, but now we have to look into the details and see what is realistic. If Super Aguri turns up in Melbourne with an old car then we have no issues.”

Both Super Aguri and Toro Rosso have insisted that their plans for 2007 are fully compliant with the sport’s regulations.

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