Written by:
Kevin Krefting
Super Aguri and Toro Rosso are set to face stiff opposition to their plans of running "customer" cars next year. (LAT Photo)
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Super Aguri and Toro Rosso's plans of racing hand-me-down versions of this year's Honda and Red Bull next season have taken a serious hit as some of the sport's top squads, including Ferrari and McLaren, are reportedly against the move.
Customer chassis will be allowed per the new FIA regulations in 2008, but Aguri and STR are seeking to explore loopholes to put the practice in action already in '07. Thus far, the chief advocate against both squads was Spyker boss Colin Kolles, whose team arguably stands the most to lose in the matter.
After a meeting in Monaco, Spyker asked for all other F1 teams to commit in writing to section 3 of the Concorde Agreement (the document that governs the sport), which 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."
Ferrari, McLaren, Williams and Toyota all abided to Spyker's request. Oddly, so did Red Bull, which hints at the energy drinks company's confidence that it will again be able to bypass the rules as its designs' intellectual properties belong not to Red Bull Racing but to a third-party company called Red Bull Technologies. However, unlike this season, when STR fielded what ultimately was a modified version of the previous-year RB1, the Italian-based team plans on entering a disguised iteration of the same Adrian Newey-penned RB3 to be campaigned by RBR.
"There have been some complaints from some of our competitors, but I do not understand exactly what they are based on," STR co-owner Gerhard Berger told autosport.com. "I can say we are complying fully with the regulations."
Honda, BMW Sauber and Renault have yet to take a stance on the subject.
