Minardi v. FIA

The first day of practice is over at Melbourne and McLaren has been at the top of the speed charts in both sessions. No surprise there, but at the other end of the spectrum, Minardi has not taken the track and the reasons seem curious at best.New rules this season have precluded the teams from running last years cars unless they have been substantially modified to meet the 2005 requirements. The new rules are an attempt to slow down cornering and reduce speeds in an effort to gain a measure of safety and to begin to cut costs. In theory, allowing a 2004 car to run against the 2005's is a big advantage to the 2004's. In theory!The reality is somewhat different. In Minardi's case they have been so far off the pace the past few years that they were more a threat not to make the race because of being too slow.Paul Stoddardt, team principal for Minardi found himself in his usual bind at the end of last season. The small, underfunded team was faced with the question of engines. When Jaguar (Ford) pulled out of F1 racing last year, the fate of Cosworth was not known. Cosworth at the time was supplying engines for Minardi as well as Jaguar and Jordan. Jordan made the switch to Toyota engines and once Jag was reborn as Red Bull they went with the Cosworth when it became apparent the engine manufacturer was going to continue on.This is where things become a little fuzzy for Minardi. Stoddardt claims he could not begin production on his 2005 car until he had an engine. Budget wise, Minardi will always be behind, but when Red Bull can get it together, then why couldn't Minardi?Well, as it turns out, no less than Max Mosley told Stoddardt that if he went to each team and got signatures allowing him to run his 2004 car until the 2005 was ready he could race. Up until yesterday, Ferrari and Red Bull had both said no. Red Bull probably had a legitimate beef as teams can scrape out a couple of points early when everyone else is still dialing in their combinations. A year old Minardi may just have enough to get one of those precious World Championship points which would take it away from another team. As for Ferrari, well they are just assholes and there is not accounting for class or taste, especially the lack thereof.So Minardi, after a week of politicking finally got his signatures. Now the FIA and race stewards are not allowing the team on the track.This is a PR nightmare for F1. You have a small, uncompetitive, yet famously popular team left out. This happens after the FIA president tells you that you can race if you get the other teams to agree. You do and now they pull this shit.People in the US look at F1 as elitist and boring. There is so much politicking that goes on that it sometimes seem like they might as well race around the courthouse halls instead of on tracks. F1 would be well served to enforce the rules they set up unilaterally. When it comes time for a new agreement, the teams should sign it if they like, or get out if they do not. No lawsuits and no changing of the rules. If the length of the last agreement was too long, shorten it.Until the world, and the US in particular, sees that F1 is interested in competition and not politics, this will simply not survive in the US.