No new 2005 car for Minardi
Stoddart claims that dispensation is necessary to allow his team to compete with respectability in ’05 because the prolonged delay in finalizing next year’s technical regulations has left too little time in which to build a new car. He said: “If the technical regs were finalized in December, we could chop bits off our car and hack it about to make it fit, but we’d end up being 20 seconds off the pace and probably not very safe. “None of us wants to do that, so what we’re asking is for the teams to give us a break and allow us to appear in something that at least resembles competitive shape. Can F1 really afford to have another team disappear? I don’t think so." McLaren boss Ron Dennis and Frank Williams have indicated they would not oppose Stoddart’s move.
09/25/04 Paul Stoddart has asked the FIA and other F1 teams to consider granting the Minardi team an exemption from building a new car next year because it will make no difference at all to the grid order. Stoddart has backed up his request with statistics that show that on average the team is five seconds a lap slower in qualifying that the pole time and Max Mosley has asked teams to reduce performance by three seconds a lap. Stoddart argues that even with the 2004 cars his cars will still be at the back of the grid and it makes no sense at all to force Minardi to build new cars and allow the team time to regroup and get prepared for 2006. Stoddart is believed to have got some support from other team owners but what sounds like an eminently sensible idea is unlikely to be accepted. Stoddart says that the move can be justified by force majeure because the sudden withdrawal of an engine manufacturer is a case of force majeure. Grandprix.com