AUGUST 15, 2002

No concessions for Arrows

The FIA Stewards of the Hungarian Grand Prix issued the entry list for the event at 5pm local time on Thursday and there were no Arrows cars listed at all. This means that there can be no argument about whether or not the team "participated" in the event and so Tom Walkinshaw must now rely on whether or not the team is allowed to claim that it missed the event because of "force majeure". This will depend on what the Formula 1 circus decides "force majeure" means. In general terms "force majeure" is applied to accidents, natural disasters and things beyond the control of the team. Lack of finance has never been accepted as "force majeure" but with the current state of interpretation being applied to the Concorde Agreement nothing seems to be certain. However if Arrows is granted "force majeure" one or two of the other teams are likely to challenge the definition at the International Chamber of Commerce in Lausanne.

For the moment therefore it looks like Arrows is dead - but it is still not certain.