Ferrari may now be too dominant in Formula One

BAR Honda's Jacques Villeneuve, of Canada, goes up on the grass as he rounds the hairpin during the morning practice session at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal on Friday. PHOTO: AP

The setting was perfect for a traditional Formula One showdown: The Ferrari cars were once again dominant and the little teams struggled to compete.

On a day when Ferrari teammates Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher posted the two fastest times in a rainy pre-qualifying session for the Canadian Grand Prix, a battle broke out Friday between the Minardi team and his big spending competitors.

It stemmed from the apparent collapse of a "Fighting Fund," money that was to help the low-budget teams compete.

"The fourth-oldest team in F1 deserves to survive ... but you can't keep competing with budgets that are 20 times your budget," said Minardi team owner Paul Stoddart. "If we don't have 10 teams, what sort of message does that send out on the state of Formula One?"

Stoddart started Friday's battle at the Canadian Grand Prix by withdrawing his support for proposed technical rules changes because the manufacturer-backed F1 teams have failed to give Minardi and the Jordan team funds they allegedly promised to help them compete.

German driver Michael Schumacher drives his Ferrari on a practice run in Montreal, Canada on Friday. The race will take place today. PHOTO: AP

The chiefs from the top teams then met in private, and deliberately did not invite Stoddart. They were still meeting when Stoddart arrived for a previously scheduled news conference of team leaders to discuss the actual race.

Believing the other chiefs were boycotting the news conference, Stoddart candidly began to discuss the private details of the alleged agreement.

When the bosses from McLaren, Williams-BMW, Jordan and BAR-Honda came in five minutes late, they were stunned to hear Stoddart airing their dirty laundry.

"We're moving out of sport and into drama TV," owner Eddie Jordan said. "This is not the proper forum for this."

Frank Williams agreed.

"I resent being set up," Williams said. "This [news conference] was a setup."

The subject wouldn't go away, leading to a back-and-forth verbal battle between Stoddart and McLaren boss Ron Dennis.

"No one gave me a handout, and more importantly, I never asked for one," Dennis said. "F1 is a difficult sport. If you can't take the heat, get out of the bloody kitchen. We do not have a soup kitchen in F1."

But it was Dennis who originally tried to give Minardi and Jordan a handout, proposing in January that the bigger teams join to give them about US$10 million so they could compete this season.

It was a cost-saving decision because if either Minardi or Jordan folds, the bigger teams would have to spend millions to field additional cars to meet the agreement that 20 be entered in every race. The grid is actually set up for a 24-car field.

But two independent teams, Arrows and Prost, have gone out of business over the past two seasons because they could no longer afford to compete.

With just 10 teams left in F1, losing one of the two underdogs would be a severe setback as the FIA tries to find a balance among its competitors.

"F1 needs 10 teams, that's the whole fabric of how we were brought up," Jordan said. "I do believe [in January] certain things were said about the fabric of 10 teams in Formula One. To do that, certain funds should be made available."

But Dennis argued there were many other issues that had to be resolved for the Fighting Fund to succeed. Since they haven't been, no money has been handed out.