JULY 1, 2003

Yoong looks for cash

Alex Yoong says that he wants $200,000 in salary which is owed to him by Minardi from last year. Minardi boss Paul Stoddart says that he is taking legal action to get money from sponsors in Malaysia who failed to pay $1.5m that was promised. Yoong says that these deals were not related to his salary.

The fact that Yoong was even in the car was, however, linked entirely to the belief that his presence would attract money from Malaysia and without that it was unlikely that he would have been seen in F1. At one point, it should be remembered, Yoong was stood down because he was not performing well enough. The fact that he was paid a salary by the team is, in the circumstances, rather a surprise.