03/02/2007
NEWS STORY
The launch of the his 2007 car wasn't really the time for Frank Williams to discuss the customer car issue. Admitting; "I don't think this is the forum to discuss this...
"However," he continued, " there is some disagreement among some of the teams as to whether certain cars fully comply with the rules of the Concorde Agreement. There is a long way to go, but personally I feel that a compromise can be reached."
Though Williams, who has already threatened legal action, was unwilling to say any more on the matter, his partner, Patrick Head was.
Speaking in a personal capacity, Head said that what cars teams run during winter testing is of no concern to him, what matters is what appears on the grid in Melbourne. According to his understanding, he said, Super Aguri will run with "last year's Honda", while Toro Rosso is "running with a Red Bull car but adapted for a Ferrari engine".
"We're running under the 1998 Concorde Agreement at the moment," he continued, "and it's absolutely plain and clear that each team has to be the designer and constructor of their car. And no amount of smoke and mirrors, such as inventing another company and handing over the IP (intellectual property) for a Euro or whatever, changes that.
We race for a Drivers' Championship," he continued, "and also for a Constructors' Championship, and I don't really see how a team can compete and score points in a Constructors' Championship if they're not a constructor. The word 'constructor' covers not just the manufacture of the car, but the design and the development of the IP that underpins that.
"In 2008 it's different," he added, "but not a clear position. The 2008 technical regulations were stated by the FIA without discussion with the teams. However, it's fully clear that there has to be a new Concorde Agreement and we are told that that will be fixed by the middle of the year. The agreement we have signed with FOM says that the rules under which we'll run from 2008 onwards, will be substantially as per the 1998 Concorde Agreement.
"There's quite a lot of strong feeling, even with the bigger teams," he admitted, "in that they think that anybody competing in the World Championship needs to be a constructor, as under Schedule 3 of the existing agreement.
"But as Frank says," he continued, "I shall be surprised if it ends up with a court hearing in Melbourne or whatever. There will have to be a compromise somewhere along the line, in that I think that Toro Rosso or Super Aguri, even if they do turn up with someone else's car - though they both claim they're not going to. I would hope that there would not be a situation whereby they're not actually allowed to race, Formula One needs every team that's out there."
Asked what he thought that compromise might be, having laughed off the suggestion of a separate championship for 'customer car teams' Head said: "I don't know. Under the current contract, which covers all of the commercial aspects of Formula One, I wouldn't have thought that a team which is entering another team's car could earn commercially as a constructor because they're not complying to the agreement which all the constructors have signed up to."
According to Pitpass' sources, despite the threats and posturing the matter is likely to be settled outside the courts.
It is long been known that Formula One is a whore, once again the issue facing the sport is to establish an acceptable fee.