DECEMBER 1, 2002

Formula 1 entry published tomorrow

The FIA will tomorrow reveal the entry list for the 2003 Formula 1 World Championship and there will be much interest to see if the Arrows team is on the list. In recent days there has been little word from the Leafield team about whether or not the rescue deal with a German company has gone ahead

The FIA will tomorrow reveal the entry list for the 2003 Formula 1 World Championship and there will be much interest to see if the Arrows team is on the list. In recent days there has been little word from the Leafield team about whether or not the rescue deal with a German company has gone ahead as planned and there is still the outstanding issue of various law suits against the team. Legally-speaking, having applied for adminstration, the team is officially insolvent although the administration petition can be withdrawn if money is found.

The FIA may decide to follow its recent trend of handing over contentious F1 issues to the Formula 1 Commission but has every right, if it chooses to do so, to refuse Arrows an entry based on the team's failure to respect the terms of its commitment to F1 last year. The Formula 1 teams are believed to have made it clear that the majority of them do not believe that Arrows has any right to an automatic entry in the World Championship and that if Arrows is going to be on the grid in Australia it should enter as a completely new team and pay the necessary $48m deposit. To do this, however, the team will need to give the FIA details of its financial situation and this might create even more difficulties than trying to argue the case that the team has an automatic right to entry.

The FIA entry list may also reveal some more details of next year with Minardi's engine still to be confirmed and several drivers, notably Jordan and Minardi.