04/03/2005
NEWS STORY
As Minardi boss Paul Stoddart seeks assistance in the law courts in Melbourne, it appears that another F1 squabble looks set to end up making a mockery of the sport and lots of money for those that least need it.
There appears to be a dispute over the services of former Renault man Mark Smith, who joined Red Bull last month, just two months after returning to Jordan, where he had previously worked alongside Mike Gascoyne.
When Smith left Renault in late 2004 - following months of speculation as to his future - it was widely assumed that he would team up with his old partner at Toyota. Consequently there were plenty of raised eyebrows when he joined re-Jordan, the team with which he had spent ten years following its F1 debut in 1991.
However, in the wake of Alex Shnaider's buy-out of the Irish team, Smith was one of the first out the door. Although many believed that he would now finally move on to Toyota to join Gascoyne, he stunned the pitlane by joining Red Bull.
At today's press conference in Melbourne however, it was clear that Jordan is still under the impression that Smith is part of its team, while Red Bull says he's theirs.
Asked about his team's plans for its technical department, Jordan boss Colin Kolles dropped the bombshell: "The situation with Mark Smith is not clear at all, from our side at least. This is what I can tell you. There are some announcements made, maybe he signed some other contract. We still have a contract with Mark Smith, that is the fact."
A few feet away, Red Bull boss Christian Horner looked visibly stunned. Asked to clarify the situation, the Englishman replied: "As far as I am concerned he will be joining the company imminently but Colin's comments today are obviously the first I have heard of anything to the contrary."
At which point Kolles interjected: "He has a very clear contract. I'm not supervising somebody if he's signing two or three or four or five contracts. Everybody has to decide for himself. If he works professionally or unprofessionally. What kind of statements they make or don't make. So it's a question for me of dealing in a proper way, in a professional way."
Once again, it seems the only people who will really get a kick out of F1 are the lawyers.