04/03/2005
NEWS STORY
The Minardi saga has taken a new twist with the news that the Italian team has unconditionally withdrawn its complaint to the Supreme Court of Victoria.
We previously reported that having been refused entry to today's practice sessions by the race stewards, Stoddart was left - in his opinion - with two options.
One was to take out an injunction, which he did, the other was to attempt to get his cars 'street legal' for the remainder of the weekend.
This afternoon, an FIA spokesman has confirmed to Pitpass that Stoddart will now pursue the second option and has opted to withdraw his legal challenge.
"Without the FIA's knowledge and without the opportunity for the FIA to participate in the proceedings, Minardi sought an injunction from the Supreme Court of Victoria," said the spokesman.
"The FIA immediately sought leave for an early hearing to present the facts to the Court before any of the Saturday sessions could take place.
"However, we have since been informed that Minardi has unconditionally withdrawn its complaint to the Court."
This means that the Minardi crew will have to work through the night in order to get the car fully up to 2005 spec. That said, this shouldn't be too much of a problem because the parts were already available.
Talking to the FIA it is clear that the decision not to allow Minardi to use its 2004 cars rests solely with the race stewards, who felt that allowing such a move would set a dangerous precedent, after all, this is the Formula One World Championship we're talking about, motor sport's blue ribband series.
Before he could take part in proceedings in Melbourne, Stoddart (Minardi) needed two things, the FIA technical delegate's report confirming that the cars conformed to the official requirement, and the signatures of the nine rival teams.
Although Stoddart claimed he had eight signatures, two teams had changed their management over the winter, therefore the signatures - in the case of Jordan and Red Bull - were no longer valid.
Jean Todt promised to give Stoddart a letter of support providing the signatures of the other eight teams were validated, and that Minardi agreed to abide by the stewards' decision.
It remains to be seen how the FIA will react, for Stoddart has challenged - with a little help from the Supreme Court of Victoria - the sport's governing body, and this in itself could set a dangerous precedent..
It is worth remembering that in 2006, Melbourne hosts the commonwealth Games. Imagine the scenario whereby an athlete entered in the 100 metres suggests that they haven't had time to train properly and therefore requests that they only have to run 80 metres. Then, on being told that this is not possible, they resort to the Supreme Court of Victoria to challenge the ruling.
That's not as crazy as it sounds, not after today's events.