Bart.Vandecavey
21-06-2002, 11:30
bron: planet-f1.com
Minardi Still Unpaid
Stoddart says he's prepared to quit F1 racing if he is 'shafted'
ALTHOUGH it has been widely reported that KL Minardi Asiatech have been awarded the ₤8m ($12m) won in last year's F1 world championship by the liquidated Prost team, Minardi boss Paul Stoddart claimed on Thursday that he had yet to see a penny of it.
The Australian millionaire also hinted strongly that if it was not paid today, he would quit F1 in disgust.
"The facts are simple," an angry Stoddart told Reuters. "Not a penny has been forthcoming and there's yet another meeting at four o'clock tomorrow [Friday].
"We're being played with. I don't think there are any other words for it.
"We seem to be pawns in a rather big game of politics, which I don't feel very happy about at all.
"We need to be paid. If I can come out of that meeting tomorrow [Friday] with the money paid, then I'll make an announcement that I had planned to make tonight that Minardi will continue for the rest of the year.
"But if I'm shafted tomorrow, then I will certainly have a different opinion.
Speaking bluntly Stoddart said he was "not one to cry wolf" and that this weekend he would make a decision about his team's future "one way or the other".
"If we've been shafted, then I want no part of this paddock. Those are pretty strong words but it's how I feel."
"There are a couple of team owners," said Stoddart without naming names, "who are incredibly upset and seem to think that they have some legal claim to this money. They just don't want to accept reality.
"I suspect the reason we haven't had it, is because he [Bernie Ecclestone] is hoping to have an amicable solution."
On the money Minardi received from Ecclestone at the start of the year, Stoddart said it was paid over as a loan under a separate agreement "like he's done to many teams and still is doing to many teams."
"You cannot confuse the two. What he lent, and there is proper security and a repayment programme against that, has absolutely sod all to do with the Concorde money. The agreement with Bernie at the start of the year was completely separate," Stoddart emphasised.
Minardi, meanwhile, have issued an announcement that they will be joined at this weekend's Grand Prix of Europe by a new commercial partner, the Quadriga Group.
Founded by Christian Baha, Quadriga, a successful global hedge fund manager with capital under its management of at least US$200 million, has not been involved in Formula One racing before now, but Baha sees it as a good setting to take his company to pole position in the financial world.
"In the world of investing, the hedge fund industry is surely considered the premier class, just as Formula One is considered the pinnacle when it comes to motor racing," he said
Trouwens dit is die nieuwe sponsor voor Minardi (foto: minardi.it)
http://www.minardi.it/foto/2002/m/VROKRBTYYY.jpg
Minardi Still Unpaid
Stoddart says he's prepared to quit F1 racing if he is 'shafted'
ALTHOUGH it has been widely reported that KL Minardi Asiatech have been awarded the ₤8m ($12m) won in last year's F1 world championship by the liquidated Prost team, Minardi boss Paul Stoddart claimed on Thursday that he had yet to see a penny of it.
The Australian millionaire also hinted strongly that if it was not paid today, he would quit F1 in disgust.
"The facts are simple," an angry Stoddart told Reuters. "Not a penny has been forthcoming and there's yet another meeting at four o'clock tomorrow [Friday].
"We're being played with. I don't think there are any other words for it.
"We seem to be pawns in a rather big game of politics, which I don't feel very happy about at all.
"We need to be paid. If I can come out of that meeting tomorrow [Friday] with the money paid, then I'll make an announcement that I had planned to make tonight that Minardi will continue for the rest of the year.
"But if I'm shafted tomorrow, then I will certainly have a different opinion.
Speaking bluntly Stoddart said he was "not one to cry wolf" and that this weekend he would make a decision about his team's future "one way or the other".
"If we've been shafted, then I want no part of this paddock. Those are pretty strong words but it's how I feel."
"There are a couple of team owners," said Stoddart without naming names, "who are incredibly upset and seem to think that they have some legal claim to this money. They just don't want to accept reality.
"I suspect the reason we haven't had it, is because he [Bernie Ecclestone] is hoping to have an amicable solution."
On the money Minardi received from Ecclestone at the start of the year, Stoddart said it was paid over as a loan under a separate agreement "like he's done to many teams and still is doing to many teams."
"You cannot confuse the two. What he lent, and there is proper security and a repayment programme against that, has absolutely sod all to do with the Concorde money. The agreement with Bernie at the start of the year was completely separate," Stoddart emphasised.
Minardi, meanwhile, have issued an announcement that they will be joined at this weekend's Grand Prix of Europe by a new commercial partner, the Quadriga Group.
Founded by Christian Baha, Quadriga, a successful global hedge fund manager with capital under its management of at least US$200 million, has not been involved in Formula One racing before now, but Baha sees it as a good setting to take his company to pole position in the financial world.
"In the world of investing, the hedge fund industry is surely considered the premier class, just as Formula One is considered the pinnacle when it comes to motor racing," he said
Trouwens dit is die nieuwe sponsor voor Minardi (foto: minardi.it)
http://www.minardi.it/foto/2002/m/VROKRBTYYY.jpg