APRIL 18, 2002

Minardi confirms Arrows protest

Paul Stoddart, the boss of Minardi, has confirmed a story we reported at the start of the week that an official complaint has been sent to the FIA about the behavior of the Arrows team in Melbourne.

PAUL STODDART, the boss of Minardi, has confirmed a story we reported at the start of the week that an official complaint has been sent to the FIA about the behavior of the Arrows team in Melbourne. Stoddart will not say which team is involved but all the indications would seem to point to him - given the battle that has been going on in recent months between Stoddart and Arrows boss Tom Walkinshaw over the Phoenix Finance Ltd. bid to run a Formula 1 team this year.

"Whether it was Minardi or another team remains an issue between the FIA and the team involved," Stoddart told ITV-F1.com. "However it must be said that rules are there to be obeyed. There are many precedents of the FIA taking harsh action against teams who cheat those rules. So it remains for me to say that whatever action the FIA take has my total support."

Arrows had denied that any protest had been made.