Arrows team's absence promotes complications

Reuters, London, England

The withdrawal of the Arrows team from this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix has caused serious complications to a potential takeover, according to bidder Craig Pollock.

Tom Walkinshaw, principal of the cash-strapped outfit, decided his team should sit out the 13th round of the season on the advice of his lawyers.

"Not being in the paddock is a huge complication because you are in breach of your agreements with all the other teams," Pollock, the former British American Racing team principal, told reporters in the Hungaroring paddock on Friday.

"If you are buying anything within this paddock, you want to have the absolute agreement of the sport.

"In theory, you can have two races where you do not participate and you pay the promoter a fine, but I don't think it would be a very clever thing to do because I think you would lose the support of the paddock."

Arrows, deep in talks to secure new investors, have pleaded force majeure -- an unavoidable obstacle keeping them away -- to explain their absence from the Hungarian Grand Prix.

But if a deal is not done soon and the team is deemed to be insolvent, they will lose their right to compete in the championship.

Pollock, whose bid is one of three from three different continents on the table for Arrows to discuss, said the matter had to resolved before the Belgian Grand Prix in two weeks' time.

"I think it has to be done pretty fast because the team is not in the paddock and not being in the paddock is a huge complication," he said.

"I would like to think we are ahead but you can never know. At one stage I said I was 80 percent confident, but today it is very difficult to say because this (the Arrows absence) complicates the situation tremendously."

With Arrows missing, only 20 cars competed in the opening practice session in Hungary and falling grid numbers are a growing concern for Formula One.

The Prost Grand Prix team was declared bankrupt at the beginning of the year and Australian Paul Stoddart's Minardi outfit is yet to secure a full budget to compete next season.

But Ron Dennis, the principal of the affluent McLaren-Mercedes team, said on Friday that Arrows should be helped in their bid for survival and not be punished for missing the event if they are financially stable.

"I think the important thing for Arrows to maintain its value is it stays out of liquidation," said Dennis. "If that is the case, then I think it's a question of the teams and the governing body -- but more the governing body.

"I think they would look to support the teams, taking a pragmatic view on some of the other regulatory aspects that determine whether a team has to pay a fine or not.

"There are automatic mechanisms but there is the power within the FIA -- and certainly with the teams to waive those.

"I think in this instance, I would feel most teams would be supportive of anything that would keep another Grand Prix team involved."