The 2004 Minardis, which the Italian team hopes to enter in this weekend's Australian Grand Prix, have passed scrutineering.

"The FIA's side is finished, our car complies with the 2005 safety regulations," team boss Paul Stoddart told reporters.

He then intimated that the threat of an all-out war, should his cars be refused entry to the race, had caused the FIA to back down.

"Remember Max saying that if the cars had this bodywork that they wouldn't be given their scrutineering tags. Well, the FIA's pulled away from that."

On home territory, Stoddart is stirring the mix and carefully manipulating the feelings of the media and thereby the fans. He insists that the only remaining threat to Minardi's participation in the race is Ferrari, which he claims is blocking his team.

The Maranello outfit, on the other hand, insists that it is not up to it to give approval to the Minardi but the FIA.

No matter how you look at it, the issue here isn't Minardi's participation in the Australian Grand Prix but rather the much bigger issue regarding the future of F1 and the apparent 'relationship' between the FIA, Ferrari and Bernie Ecclestone, who continues to sit on both sides of the fence.

The fact that Minardi had 2005-spec aero parts to hand in Melbourne is clear indication that Stoddart was always spoiling for a fight and would use any means possible to get it out into the open.