Spyker to seek arbitration over F1 rivals

MELBOURNE, Mar 17 (Reuters) Spyker will go to arbitration over the legality of cars entered in tomorrow's season-opening Australian Grand Prix by Formula One rivals Super Aguri and Toro Rosso, team boss Colin Kolles said.

Kolles told reporters today that Spyker were convinced the Super Aguri SA07 was the same as last year's Honda, and therefore in breach of the rules that say teams must design their own cars.

They also believed Toro Rosso had broken the rules both last year and this season by running cars they had not designed themselves.

Both teams say their cars are legal.

Kolles said Spyker had sought a 'clarification' from stewards at Albert Park after today's qualifying and been told it was not something they could rule on because the dispute regarded an interpretation of the sport's confidential Concorde Agreement.

''The situation is that we had a meeting with the scrutineers and they basically confirmed to us that it is not a matter of the FIA, it is a matter of the Concorde Agreement,'' said the team boss.

He said that was important because Super Aguri and Toro Rosso, part-owned by Red Bull, maintained that their cars had the approval of the governing International Automobile Federation (FIA).

Asked whether Spyker would now be going to arbitration, he replied: ''Yes, this is as I see it.'' COMPROMISE AGREEMENT Kolles said Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone had suggested a compromise agreement, under which Super Aguri and Toro Rosso would be ineligible for constructors' points but the two teams had rejected the proposal.

''We fully agree with Bernie's proposal,'' he said.

''We have a constructors' championship. It says constructors' championship...you have to manufacture your car. This qualifies you to be a constructor.

''Bernie says that only constructors belong in this championship.'' Any case presented to the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is likely to take some time to be resolved and could also involve former champions Williams in support of Spyker.

Honda-backed Super Aguri failed to score any points in their debut season last year but were far more competitive today, with Japan's Takuma Sato qualifying 10th and Briton Anthony Davidson 11th out of 22 drivers.

Ferrari-powered Spyker filled the last two slots on the starting grid.

Both this year's Red Bull and Toro Rosso cars have been designed by Adrian Newey, but with different engines, while last year's Toro Rosso was effectively the car that Red Bull raced in 2005 after buying Jaguar from Ford.

REUTERS SAM KP1358