OCTOBER 2, 1995

Fondmetal and Tyrrell to split?

THE link between the Tyrrell F1 team and Fondmetal Technologies appears to be over, with Fondmetal in discussion with other teams, including McLaren.

THE link between the Tyrrell F1 team and Fondmetal Technologies appears to be over, with Fondmetal in discussion with other teams, including McLaren.

The split with Tyrrell appears to have come about because of the failure of the Hydrolink suspension system this year. This was the work of Frenchman Jean-Claude Migeot and his engineers at Fondmetal Technologies in Casumaro, Italy. The theoretical benefits were never translated to the race track and resulted in clashes between Migeot and Tyrrell's deputy technical director Mike Gascoyne - both men being proteges of Tyrrell technical boss Harvey Postlethwaite. In the end, the system was dropped, the decision coming as a serious blow to Migeot, who shot to prominence in 1989 with the raised-nose Tyrrell 019, but went on to design the disastrous Ferrari F92A and being forced to establish Fondmetal Technologies with Fondmetal wheel magnate Gabriele Rumi.