I see that Force India is continuing with the arbitration regarding customer cars in the shape of the Toro Rosso and Super Aguri teams. This action was begun at the beginning of last year and one wonders whether it will ever see a conclusion, so long has it been running.
Force India team
Although separate from Williams' threatened legal action should Prodrive enter F1 with a McLaren chassis, the arbitration issue was, no doubt, an added factor in persuading Dave Richards to give up on his attempt to compete in the sport this year. With a Force India spokesperson maintaining that the team would be happy to see STR and SA forced to withdraw from F1 ("the lesser [sic] competition, the better"), it becomes clear that this issue has the potential to drastically limit the number of teams on the grid for 2008.
To my mind, it is time this matter was brought to a close, one way or the other. Although I wish Force India all the best in their efforts in the sport, the endless arbitration drama has gone on too long already and does nothing but harm to F1 in general. It is presumably too late for anything to be done about STR and SA participating in the 2007 season and it seems farcical that still no decision has been reached after an entire year has gone by.
I know that everything has been complicated by the failure of the teams and the FIA to sign a new Concorde Agreement, but that is no excuse for allowing things to drag on for so long. If the existing structures cannot cope with the matter, it surely is time that the FIA stepped in and brought the whole business to an end. Max seems to think that the lack of a Concorde Agreement gives him a free hand anyway; let him use that to decide things once and for all.
The teams argue that, with no new agreement in place, the old one continues, but this is dubious in the extreme. A time limit is a time limit, after all, and I agree with Max on this one (a rare event indeed).
As long as this continues, any prospective entrants to F1 will be turned off the idea. That may suit Force India in that it allows them to finish higher up the race order but it is not good for the health of F1. Ninth in the constructors' championship may sound better than eleventh but it is still last place if only nine teams compete.
In fact, Force India's decision to carry on the arbitration process rather gives the lie to their ambitious statements at the launch of their 2008 car. If they are hoping for midfield places later in the year and podiums in the years to come, they are going to have to compete with much stronger teams than SA and STR. Getting rid of their weakest rivals may even be delaying the team's vacating of the last places on the grid; they will find it much harder to get on terms with the likes of Honda, Toyota and Williams.
I do not know why the arbitration has been such a long drawn-out affair and, quite frankly, I do not care. The point is that it needs to come to an end without further delay. It benefits no-one apart from a bunch of lawyers and, in the meantime, F1 is left in a state of limbo, not knowing whether the so-called 'B' teams will be allowed to compete or not.
The sports' structures have failed to bring about a quick and decisive result; it is time that Force India acted in the best interests of the sport and called the whole thing off. It may have suited Spyker to start the process last year but Force India should not be saddled with such a sour and divisive legacy. Vijay Mallya should realize that arbitration can achieve nothing for his team and he should end the matter now, before the new season begins.