By Huw Alban & Mister X
September 4 2002

There seems to be a general confusion in the press over whether Arrows actually submitted a reply to the FIA by 18:00 yesterday, not helped by almost complete silence from the team itself. The FIA, however, have spoken and indicated that nothing had been received.

The BBC news service started the ball rolling, late yesterday afternoon, with a quote from an FIA spokesperson stating that they had “received nothing at their London office.” The quote went on to state that the FIA were planning to check their offices in Paris and Geneva this morning (Wednesday), and admitted that, if the team had ignored the deadline, then “the consequences are very serious.” These quotes originated from the BBC’s RadioFiveLive station in a report on the team’s troubles.

Apparently, however, this report is in direct conflict with a report on the BBC’s Teletext service which stated that the team had met the deadline and were now awaiting the FIA’s response.

This report could have had it’s roots in a quote that also appeared on the BBC’s web report from an unnamed Arrows team spokeswoman. “We have responded to the FIA and we are now waiting to see what happens,” she was quoted as saying. It could be that the Teletext offices have taken that quote literally and ignored the web based speculation.

The Times newspaper today also carries a small report on the events unfolding for the team this week, and has stated that the FIA “simply wants Arrows to disclose who is buying the team and provide guarantees that it will have money to continue.” The paper continues, “...without a guarantee that Arrows has funds, the ruling body would have no choice but to throw out one of Formula One’s most popular squads.”

Assuming the team have submitted the written explanation to the FIA on time, it is expected that a decision will be received by Arrows by the end of this week.