As 'Planet Paddock' considers the imminent (2006) arrival of Russian émigré Alex Shnaider and his Midland F1 project, Minardi boss Paul Stoddart remain sceptical and warns that there is no easy way to buy success in Formula One.

"There are no Abramovich fixes in Formula One," said Stoddart, referring to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, who has poured millions into football team Chelsea, and a man courted by several team bosses and even Bernie Ecclestone.

"It's not like football," Stoddart continued. "When you buy a football team your assets are your players and if you buy players, which you can do very quickly, you can be very successful overnight.

"Formula One doesn't work like that," he added. "Formula One has a history of teams coming in, spending sometimes up to one billion dollars and still being last in the first year.

"I quote BAR," said the Australian. "BAR came in in 1999, they spent $250 million in their first year and came last. Toyota came in two years ago and reportedly spent over a billion dollars in their first year and they came last.

"It takes time. Ferrari have been in the sport for over 50 years and they went 21 years without a world title. There are no shortcuts in Formula One."

However, Stoddart is pleased to see 'fresh blood' enter F1, particularly at a time when three teams are fighting for their survival.

"I wish them a lot of luck because this is not an easy business, particularly at this delicate stage where we have no guarantee of the future. We need 12 teams but I would be very interested to see if it actually happens," said Stoddart of the Midland announcement."