Possible protest over "customer cars" could spoil 1st race

Actually until the last 2 years a lot of F1 teams used gearboxes which were first of all 'off the shelf' then 'built to spec' by companies such as Hewland (in the case of Williams). It is only their seamless-shift system which has seen Williams make their own. So this is not really an issue.

The problem I have with Super Aguri is that they don't even build the cars themselves! (Torro Rosso do) Super Aguri's are constructed at Honda in Japan!

Customer teams are allowed from 2008, last time I checked a calendar, this is 2007...

Ok now what?

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Motor racing-Spyker to seek arbitration over F1 rivals

Kolles said Spyker had sought a 'clarification' from stewards at Albert Park after Saturday's qualifying and been told it was not something they could rule on because the dispute regarded an interpretation of the sport's confidential Concorde Agreement.

"The situation is that we had a meeting with the scrutineers and they basically confirmed to us that it is not a matter of the FIA, it is a matter of the Concorde Agreement," said the team boss.

Asked whether Spyker would now be going to arbitration, he replied: "Yes, this is as I see it."

Any case presented to the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is likely to take some time to be resolved and could also involve former champions Williams in support of Spyker.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/UK_MOT...17357620070317

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I don't think Spyker have much of a chance with this one.

When it comes to stuff like this, its not really so much what the Concorde agreement says, its about what Max and Bernie have decided is acceptable.

Red Bull wouldn't have bought Minardi if they had to develop two seperate cars, it only made business sense if Minardi/STR could use off the shelf chassis. RB would have passed this by Max/Bernie before buying to make sure there investment made sense. I'm pretty certain they got the appropriate nudge and wink to tell them its ok.

I think the same is true of Suzuki, he would have asked them what could be done for 2007, and would have got a nudge and a wink in return, otherwise again his business model wouldn't have made sense if he had to develop his own car for 2007 only and revert to a customer car for 2008.

I sympathise with Spyker and to a lesser extent Williams (how did you get into F1 again Frank?) but I think this whole customer car deal was sorted out two years again when RBR bought Minardi.

And it's this that makes F1 so utterly unattractive nowadays. All the legal and technical bickering that goes on now is what's turned me off F1. Simply too much money involved.. All very sad..

Well it wont make any difference to this weekends race, I assume it now moves over to the lawers giving them a chance to make some money out of it.

Who cares about Torro Rosso, it's not as if it is Minardi and needs our support.

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Originally Posted by Valve Bounce

I can only say that the day that Williams is worried by Super Aguri simply shows how far Williams has degenerated sa a force in F1. That's equivalent to Jean Todt and Ron Dennis protesting against Paul Stoddart three years ago; not that they would have contemplated such a stupid move. Now Williams is squabbling over the scraps that the other dogs have left behind. How sad!!

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Sad that they are fighting against cheating and fighting for their own rights? I hope Williams and Spyker win their protest and SA and TR get banned

Reading what Brundle wrote on the ITV site, I agree that it's better to have four more competitive chassis on the racetrack. He also says "This sport is about excellence and performance, so I would rather see last year's Honda than some cobbled up, underfinanced Super Aguri."

I agree in that respect, but if this is the pinnacle of motorsport, then surely every team should be capable of competing in its own merit.

Opps, I guess this must be the NASCAR Forum. Can't be F1 with all this political haggling, can it?
What the _____ happened to just building cars for the rules and let the races decide how good your car is?
It was still F1 when Lotus built most of the cars on the grid.
Cjent

"Bernie Ecclestone has encouraged Spyker to carry out its planned protests against the eligibility of the Super Aguri, Toro Rosso and Red Bull Racing cars, we can reveal.. The protests are expected to be filed after qualifying in Australia."

http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/formulaone/36051/