NEWS ARCHIVE
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING...
THERE has been a great deal of noise in recent days about the incident between Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard during the recent Belgian Grand Prix, with the Ferrari management publicly blaming the McLaren driver for taking the German out of the race.
...WHAT HAPPENS TO MONTOYA
WILLIAMS's announcement that it is going to run Alex Zanardi and Ralf Schumacher means that the newly-crowned Formula 3000 Champion Juan-Pablo Montoya is unlikely to find an F1 drive next year. We believe that Williams is hoping to convince Zanardi's current boss Chip Ganassi to sign up the Colombian for CART racing for the next couple of years.
BAR IN TROUBLE...
BRITISH AMERICAN RACING has been having a very bumpy ride in recent days with the Formula 1 Commission deciding to torpedo the team's plans to run cars in different liveries. We have also heard stories of financial problems and we have even heard that BAR managing-director Craig Pollock has sold his shareholding in the team to American CART team owner Jerry Forsythe.
DAVID BROWN IN DEMAND?
DAVID BROWN, the boss of the West Competition Formula 3000 team - a McLaren offshoot - is rumored to be on the shopping list of several Formula 1 teams for next year.
DINIZ TO SAUBER
THE word in the paddock at the Nurburgring was that Pedro Diniz has signed a deal to drive for Sauber in 1999 and 2000.
F1 COMMISSION ACHIEVES LITTLE
THE new Formula 1 Commission met for the first time at the Nurburgring last week to discuss the matters of the moment in GrandÊPrix racing.
FORD TO BUY SHARES IN BENETTON?
WE hear rumors that the Ford Motor Company is keen to get more control over its future plans in Formula 1 and is currently in negotiation with the Benetton Family to purchase a shareholding in the Italian team.
FORMULA 1 AND INDIANAPOLIS
BOTH the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Bernie Ecclestone have denied reports in the Indianapolis Star newspaper that a deal has been reached for the United States Grand Prix to be held at the Brickyard for 10 years, starting in SeptemberÊ2000.Ê
THE SCOTS BATTLE OVER ANDERSON
FORMER Jordan Technical Director Gary Anderson has caused considerable confusion in recent weeks by agreeing to work for both the Arrows and the Stewart teams.
TOYOTA IN THE BACKGROUND...
TOYOTA continues to be a name whispered in the F1 paddock in relation to a possible assault in F1 in the course of the next three years.
WEST RENEWS WITH MCLAREN
ALTHOUGH it is yet to be officially announced, we understand that the German tobacco company Reemtsma has agreed to extend its sponsorship of McLaren with its West cigarette brand.
WILLIAMS CONFIRMS ZANARDI AND SCHUMACHER
AS we have been predicting for some time, Williams has finally confirmed that it will be running Alex Zanardi and RalfÊSchumacher in 1999 and the year 2000.
ECCLESTONE AND MURDOCH
ALTHOUGH Bernie Ecclestone's plans to float Formula One Holdings are currently on hold because of a dispute between the FIA and the European Commission we believe that Bernie still intends to sell shares in the company once the stock markets have gotten over the current financial crisis.
FORD COMPLETES PURCHASE OF COSWORTH
AS we predicted last week Ford has now successfully completed the purchase of Cosworth Racing from Audi AG.
LAS VEGAS GOES FOR GOLF
FORMULA 1 is not going to Las Vegas, despite years of negotiation and planning.
MASERATI TARGETING CART?
FERRARI bosses are aiming to rebuild Maserati and are planning to enter the US market in the year 2001 with a sporty range of cars aimed at those who cannot afford to buy a Ferrari.
MONACO TO HELP BEIRUT
PRINCE ALBERT of Monaco has told Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Al-Hariri that the Monaco authorities will help in any way they can in the organization of a Grand Prix in Beirut in the year 2003.
MOSLEY WARNS EUROPEAN UNION
FIA President Max Mosley has warned the European Commission that if the international federation loses its fight over the question of unfair competition then motor sport in Europe will be seriously affected.
THE TESTING GRIND CONTINUES
THE incredible - some might say insane - Formula 1 testing schedule continued last week with major tests going on at Magny-Cours and at Mugello. The F1 testing this year has been more intensive than ever before with the result that Ferrari, for example, has done 20,000 miles of testing this season. That works out at around 1000 miles a week, given the ban on testing in the week before a race.
VASSER STAYS IN AMERICA
CART star Jimmy Vasser has signed a new three-year deal with Target Chip Ganassi Racing, ending speculation that he would switch to Formula 1 next year.
ZANARDI AND SCHUMACHER JR. AT WILLIAMS
WILLIAMS GRAND PRIX ENGINEERING will announce this week that it has signed Alex Zanardi and Ralf Schumacher to be its drivers for the next two years.
...AS WILLIAMS BUILDS A SECOND TEST TEAM
WILLIAMS GRAND PRIX ENGINEERING is understood to be putting together a second test team for the 1999 season.
...BUT CHANGES AHEAD AT STEWART
THERE were rumors in the paddock at Monza of coming organizational shake-ups at Stewart with a new chief designer being hired and Alan Jenkins altering his role slightly, to become less of a designer and more of a Technical Director.
FRENTZEN SIGNS FOR JORDAN
HEINZ-HARALD FRENTZEN surprised the Formula 1 world last week by signing for Jordan Grand Prix.
HERBERT TO STEWART
JOHNNY HERBERT also surprised the Formula 1 world by announcing that he has signed a two-year deal with the StewartÊFord team, leaving Peter Sauber after two frustrating seasons with the Swiss team.
MINARDI RE-SIGNS WITH FORD
MINARDI made a series of announcements at Monza, the most important of which was a continuation of the Italian team's involvement as a Ford customer team although the deal is being dressed up as "official support" from Ford.
SCAMMELL TO HEAD COSWORTH RACING
DICK SCAMMELL, the former boss of Cosworth Racing, is to get his old job back when Ford completes its purchase of the company from current owners Audi AG.
WHO DRIVES FOR SAUBER?
THERE was considerable activity in the Sauber motorhome at Monza following the news that Johnny Herbert has quit the team to join Stewart Grand Prix and that Sauber has failed to reach agreement with Heinz-Harald Frentzen.
ZANARDI'S FIRST WILLIAMS TEST
ALEX ZANARDI is to test for Williams within the next month, the team keen to begin working with the CART champion before the month-long end of season testing ban comes into effect.
ZONTA OR DINIZ FOR BAR?
RICARDO ZONTA and Pedro Diniz are fighting it out for the second seat at British American Racing.
ANOTHER BATTLE IN BEIRUT
IT seems that there are not one but two projects to run a Grand Prix in Beirut in the year 2003.
ARROWS PICKING UP THE PIECES
TOM WALKINSHAW's Arrows team spent last week working flat out in order to have three serviceable cars at the ItalianÊGrandÊPrix.
DOES FRENTZEN STILL HAVE A CHANCE AT WILLIAMS?
THE announcement that Team Rahal has signed a deal with Max Papis for the 1999 CART season means that one of Heinz-Harald Frentzen's options for next year has disappeared.
LEMARIE TRIES THE TYRRELL
THE little-known French racing driver Patrick Lemarie was given a test run last week at Silverstone by the Tyrrell team.
MALAYSIAN PROBLEMS?
THE Malaysian Grand Prix may again be in trouble following moves last week by the country's Prime Minister Dr.ÊMahathirÊMuhammad to isolate the Malaysian economy from the rest of the world.
PIERO LARDI FERRARI TO HEAD CSAI
PIERO LARDI FERRARI, the son of Enzo Ferrari, is to become the new President of the sporting commission of the AutomobileÊClubÊof Italy.
RACING TO RETURN TO ADELAIDE
ADELAIDE, the former home of the Australian Grand Prix, is obviously missing having racing cars on the streets and last week the city announced plans to run two 250km events for V8 touring cars in April next year.
TESTING AT MONZA
THE Formula 1 teams went into action on Tuesday at Monza, getting ready for the Italian Grand Prix there next weekend and, despite the abuse of the tifosi, it was David Coulthard who emerged fastest of the three day test.
