SEPTEMBER 11, 2006

Stoddart mulls over the future

Paul Stoddart says that he is now in a position to enter Champ Car next year but has yet to convince himself that he wants to spend his life flying backwards and forwards across the Atlantic.

Paul Stoddart says that he is now in a position to enter Champ Car next year but has yet to convince himself that he wants to spend his life flying backwards and forwards across the Atlantic. Stoddart is even believed to have negotiated a deal to run his fleet of F1 two-seaters at a number of races in the United States as the F1 circus was not much interest in using them. Stoddart says that he will have to decide soon and that he would probably take over an existing team rather than starting own thing but still needs to be convinced that it is the right thing to do.

Stoddart was at Monza to visit the F1 fraternity and was muttering about maybe looking at doing something in GP2 instead. The Australian aviation magnate has a large racing factory and staff in Ledbury and still owns the right to use the Minardi name. He started out in major international competition fielding a Formula 3000 team with drivers Mark Webber and Christijan Albers before moving into F1 with Minardi. Stoddart accepts that the way F1 is at the moment it would be hard to get back into the game but with cost-cutting and other changes that could occur in the years ahead, he might one day be in a position to get back into F1.