F1 teams may boycott races if penalties for US fiasco are excessive
Stoddart said it would be wrong for F1’s governing body the FIA to hand out “draconian bans” to the seven teams at tomorrow’s disciplinary hearing.
“Would we race after a (heavy) penalty? I think we’d have a meeting and you wouldn’t guarantee it,” said Stoddart.
But FIA president Max Mosley countered: “The governing body will always win.”
Mosley dismissed fears of a strike and said: “I’m not concerned if they take an antagonistic line.
“What are they going to do? If they go on strike, they’re simply cutting off their nose to spite their face. That won’t happen.”
Mosley said that punishment could range from a reprimand to a ban for life - but he added that he thought the punishment would fall between those two extremes.
Stoddart said: “If it is anything more than a reprimand it would be wrong - the teams were totally innocent victims, as was the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as were the American public.
“It could be anything - I have heard unofficial reports of what it might be, ranging from a $2.5m fine to a suspended ban, to all kinds of possible things. I would hope Max would come to his senses but who knows?”
If the teams were hit with a heavy ban, Stoddart said, “there would be an appeal, it would go to the (FIA) court of appeal, and then it would end up in the civil courts.”
Stoddart reiterated his view that Mosley was to blame for the fiasco.
He said Mosley should take “total responsibility” for the failure to reach a compromise at Indianapolis.
Mosley has again defended his decision to block a plan to build a chicane at the circuit’s final corner.
He said the FIA could not change its rules just because some teams had not taken the right equipment to a race.
Meanwhile, World championship leader Fernando Alonso has rejected claims that Michael Schumacher is a serious title contender after his victory at the US Grand Prix.
Schumacher’s victory in the race has moved him to within 25 points of Alonso.
But the Renault driver said: “He’s back because he scored 10 points at Indianapolis and eight in Canada. But we know we were more competitive than Ferrari at Indy and in front of him in Canada when we retired.”
Alonso retired from the Canadian race after hitting a wall and damaging his suspension while under pressure from McLaren driver Juan Pablo Montoya.
But Montoya and Alonso’s team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella also failed to finish in Montreal, promoting McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen to the lead and Schumacher to second.
Raikkonen is in second place in the championship, three points ahead of Schumacher.
But the 23-year-old Spaniard said he was confident he could hold off Raikkonen, even though the Finn’s McLaren has been the quickest car in F1 for the last few races.
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