APRIL 12, 2002
Legal moves from Phoenix
FIA President Max Mosley is expected to throw some light on the issue when he talks to the international media on Saturday.
In the meantime Arrows boss Tom Walkinshaw has been distancing himself from the project saying that he did alert his longtime friend Charles Nickerson to the potential purchase of Prost assets and offered to help him out with engineering support and personnel. Nickerson has not been seen in the paddock at all this year although according to earlier statements he was only "a representative" of Phoenix rather than being the owner.
The odd thing about the whole story is that Phoenix seems to have a lot of representatives - and not a lot of owners.
Walkinshaw's dedication to Phoenix was such that he spent a good part of the Brazilian Grand Prix weekend going from team boss to team boss trying to convince them all to let Phoenix compete his year (although he did not receive much support).
Walkinshaw says that rebuilding Arrows remains his priority. The team has however suffered somewhat this year by being unable to test and Walkinshaw's efforts on behalf of Phoenix have perplexed many F1 observers.