SEPTEMBER 12, 2002

The FIA in action against Arrows..

The FIA continues to adopt a very wary approach towards the issue of Arrows. The federation has outlined what everyone already knows - if Arrows is in an insolvent state, it has lost its rights under the Concorde Agreement.

The FIA continues to adopt a very wary approach towards the issue of Arrows. The federation has outlined what everyone already knows - if Arrows is in an insolvent state it has lost its rights under the Concorde Agreement. But, quite rightly, the FIA has said that there is no definite proof that the team is insolvent. A High Court judge has given his opinion that the team is insolvent but that is apparently just an opinion and not a ruling.

Whatever the case, the future of Arrows will now depend entirely on what happens when the next winding-up petition is heard later this month or early in October. There is also the question of the law suit between Arrows and Morgan Grenfell on whether or not the team owes the bank $92m.

Some of the signatories of the Concorde Agreement are worried that the document is being sidestepped by the team and that if Arrows can stay out of insolvency until after the Japanese GP in mid-October it can then spend the winter being completely reconstructed. Claims from other teams that Arrows is insolvent and should therefore be excluded from the World Championship cannot be proved and so the team could escape any sanction.