By Andrew Cutler
April 24 2007

The current debate about the legality of Scuderia Toro Rosso's and Super Aguri's chassis has prompted some people to question whether or not the Sporting Regulations that are due to take effect for the 2008 season actually allow for the use of so-called "customer cars". Speaking at the lunch of the U.N. Road Safety Week, FIA president Max Mosley voiced his opinion that articles 19 and 20 of the upcomming Regulations do allow for the use of customer chassis and, futhermore, that this change will be good for the overall health of F1. "They (the regulations) make a distinction between the constructor and the make - and of course the points go to the make and not the constructor" he told reuters. "Very few people have looked at the rules yet, but they will."

"For me it is self evident that you have got to have customer cars," said Mosley. "Formula One cannot afford 12 lots of R&D at the level that the people at the front are spending. If you don't have customer cars you end up with people at the back being lapped three or four times during the race. That doesn't help anyone and is miserable for the drivers concerned. I think the customer car issue to me is self evident."

While Mosely was firm in his support for "customer cars" starting in 2008, he sidesteped the current fight over the issue. "There is a dispute there about what the Concorde Agreement means. And fortunately there is a clause in the Agreement that sends disputes like that to arbitration. So if they cannot agree then they go to arbitration. It is not directly our problem. It is just two completely different views of what the Agreement says."