Stoddart won't give up

KL Minardi boss Paul Stoddart won't give up on Formula One without a fight and believes the team are being 'starved of its lawfully earned funds'. Minardi is owed money from the television rights from F1 after finishing tenth in the Constructors' championship last year but there have been delays in the finances being handed out.

In Canada Stoddart distributed a letter to the other teams asking that they agreed the money was rightfully his -- but he met opposition from Arrows boss Tom Walkinshaw, who allegedly sent out a letter of his own asking for the funds to be split between the whole grid. Walkinshaw was involved with Phoenix, who tried to take Prost's place on the grid but were blocked by the FIA.

Stoddart said Minardi needs the finances but denies that the team are about to go bust and he will continue to fight: "If people have a hidden agenda, then there is nothing I can do, but I will not go quietly," he said. "I am not going to roll over and die for something I believe in. But I could do without the sensationalism because we are the innocent party in this and we are being hurt by the stories. People don't read the small print they read the headlines, like: 'Will Minardi make it? I don't want to get hung by headlines that say Minardi is going to go bust."

"That is not the case. Minardi is being starved of its lawfully earned funds, and I want to see an end to that. If all else fails you will have a very bitter, twisted me going to arbitration in six to nine months time. I hope for everybody's sake and for F1 that it doesn't happen. I can't see what good this is doing anybody. I lay awake at night and wonder why it is happening."