Ruud Wildschut, the chief executive of the Dutch bathroom manufacturer which earlier this week terminated its sponsorship of Minardi, has given his version of the events that led to the break-up.

Mr Wildschut has admitted that core to the fall-out, was the Italian team's decision to run without sponsorship logos at the British Grand Prix, in tribute to sporting director John Walton. Whereas team boss Paul Stoddart wanted the cars to run without any signage other than the words 'John Boy', Mr Wildschut wanted a simple black decal.

The Dutchman says that he had paid for the advertising space on the car and therefore had the right in making a final decision on how the cars appeared. He claims that Stoddart's actions were "narcissistic".

Claims by Minardi that there were other financial issues at the root of the fall out, and that the 'John Boy' saga was merely the catalyst, were not addressed by Mr Wildschut.

We have deliberately omitted the name of Mr Wildschut's company as we feel he has had quite enough free publicity from this issue.