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Williams and Spyker are preparing to launch protests against three teams immediately after qualifying in Melbourne on Saturday, as the customer car row comes to a head.In addition to the long threatened actions against Super Aguri and Scuderia Toro Rosso, they are also expected to take on Red Bull Racing. Although most of the talk in recent weeks has concerned the first two teams, RBR is in effect in an identical situation to Toro Rosso since both teams claim that their cars were designed by a third party company, namely Red Bull Technology.Although Frank Williams himself is not in Australia, he has sent legal representation. Each protest against each team has to be accompanied by a 2,000 Euro (about $2,640) fee.Williams and Spyker have had to wait until Melbourne before taking any action because the cars under question had to be presented at a race meeting before anything could happen, and in any case Super Aguri did not show its definitive car until this week. Choosing the immediate aftermath of qualifying will add to the drama.A key element of their action is that the FIA entry form requires any entrant to confirm that they are a constructor, and there are widespread doubts about the ability of the teams concerned to back up their claims.The entry form includes the statement: “We, the Applicant, hereby confirm that we are a ‘constructor’ within the meaning of schedule 3 of the 1998 Concorde Agreement.”Schedule 3 itself states that: “A constructor is a person (including any incorporated or unincorporated body) who owns the intellectual property rights to the rolling chassis it currently races, and does not incorporate in such chassis any part designed or manufactured by any other constructor of F1 racing cars except for standard items of safety equipment, providing that nothing in the Schedule 3 shall prevent the use of an engine or gearbox manufactured by a person other than the constructor of the chassis.”The matter is also referred to in the FIA Sporting Regulations under Article 6.3, which states: “The constructor of an engine or rolling chassis is the person (including any corporate or unincorporated body) which owns the intellectual property rights to such engine or chassis. The make of an engine or chassis is the name attributed to it by its constructor.”FIA sources say that there is no question of the protested cars not starting this weekend’s race, so the final outcome could be some time coming.There has been talk of the teams concerned not being eligible for constructors’ points, which in turn would have an impact on the income and other benefits they are granted by Bernie Ecclestone. Critics of the Williams/Spyker view have insisted that their position is entirely motivated by financial considerations.
