Spyker head for arbitration over rivals 17 Mar 2007
Stewards decline to rule over 'customer car' allegations
The Spyker team say they plan to go to arbitration to determine the legality of the Red Bull, Toro Rosso and Super Aguri cars, following an approach to the Melbourne stewards to have the situation clarified.
Spyker team principal Colin Kolles claims that the Super Aguri SA07 is last year’s Honda RA106, and that Red Bull’s RB3 and sister team Toro Rosso’s STR02 are one and the same car. All three teams claim to own the intellectual property rights of their cars, as stipulated in the FIA regulations.
When the Australian Grand Prix stewards were approached by Spyker, they told Kolles that they could not rule on the issue since the dispute revolved not around the FIA regulations, but rather an interpretation of the Concorde Agreement that governs the overall running of the sport.
"The situation is that we had a meeting with the scrutineers and they basically confirmed to us that it is not a matter of the FIA, it is a matter of the Concorde Agreement," Kolles confirmed to the media on Saturday afternoon.
With arbitration usually a lengthy process, the stewards' decision removes the immediate threat of any protest disprupting Sunday's Australian Grand Prix.
