Formula One Features — December 2000

I have always been a little suspicious about the merits of being included in the New Year and Queen's Birthday Honours lists. This is not, you understand, because I feel that anything as insignificant in the overall order of things as spending a lifetime traipsing round the world reporting on motor racing merits a Knighthood - and that consequently I have been left out.

The F1 world seems obsessed with the idea of the young Englishman and the Colombian who supplanted him at Williams becoming the next great double act. But right now, as they settle into new berths and prepare for 2001, that prospect is as far from their conscious thinking as it could possibly be.

world has forgotten Jean-Pierre Wimille - and it is not really fair. There were top French stars in the early years of the sport but by the late 1930s the fading French racing industry meant that France did not have many big names.

Christmas is almost upon us and children everywhere are hoping against hope that their letters to Santa will have been answered, as what they've found in their parents' wardrobe just doesn't fit the bill. Some will be wanting a bicycle, many will have been hoping for a PlayStation 2 and others are holding out for? a Formula 1 contract.

When Renault announced plans to withdraw from Formula 1 in January 1997, the company chairman Louis Schweitzer said that the firm would be back "in three or four years". There were more important things to do than extending Renault's incredible run of success in Grand Prix racing. Schweitzer was about to announce a $750m losses for 1996 and he needed to cut costs.

Jaguar Racing's new technical director has been entrusted with the task of steering the British team in a more competitive direction from the engineering standpoint. But to start with, he has to establish at precisely what point the team really is as compared with its opposition.

Or why there was precious little chance of Britain's frequently controversial GP going anywhere other than Silverstone, its spiritual home. None of us should have been remotely surprised when the furor first blew up about the British Grand Prix, back in April. More than most races in the F1 calendar, the British race has always had a reputation for controversy.

Continuing our look at Formula One in the new century, we ask: Will the piston engine ever be toppled from its current supremacy? The demise of the internal combustion engine has been predicted more times than the overthrow of Max Mosley, even though it has been the technical cornerstone of F1 right from the very start of the World Championship half a century ago. The only serious considerations have been what configuration to choose, how many cylinders to have, what capacity to adopt, whether to supercharge or turbocharge it, or whether to allow it to breath naturally. In the early Fifties supercharged units were prevalent, until Ferrari's unblown 4.5 liter V12 ousted the long-running blown Alfa Romeo 1.5. In the late Seventies to the mid-Eighties the blown engine enjoyed a revival, primarily because Renault spotted the loophole in the regulations and introduced the 1.5 liter turbocharged powerplant as an alternative to the 3 liter unblown unit. Today the only engines that are permitted are normally asp

South Africa continues to hope for a return to the Formula 1 calendar. In principle there should be a South African Grand Prix in 2001, following an agreement between Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone and South African President Nelson Mandela in August 1998. Under that agreement Ecclestone agreed to send teams to tests in South Africa in 1999 and 2000 and promised that South Africa would get a slot in the calendar in 2001 if everything was in order.

The problems surrounding the British Grand Prix may have been sorted out in a deal between Silverstone, Brands Hatch and Bernie Ecclestone but the future of another classic Formula 1 race - the German Grand Prix - remains uncertain.

When Bobby Rahal was recruited by Jaguar Racing to take over as chief executive officer, the reaction within the F1 jungle was mixed. If there is one myopically introspective quality about the Grand Prix business it is a belief that only those established leading players inside the exclusive enclave have any real grasp of how to handle the sport's problems. Outsiders are neither qualified, nor welcome.

Whenever you think of sporting glory you think of the United States and, unless you come from the United States, you get depressed. Athletics, golf, sailing, tennis, winter sports? the tally of titles, medals and honors just goes on and on. For the parochially minded members of the global village then there's some solace to be found at American ineptitude at soccer - but then again with baseball, football and basketball to be getting on with that's no great loss on the USA's part. Then there's motor racing, of course, and despite the very best efforts of Motown we have another kettle of fish entirely.

The granting of Superlicences in Formula 1 is a subjective business. There are rules written out in the FIA Formula 1 Sporting Regulations but these are not clear. Article 10 of this code states that all drivers, competitors and officials participating in the Championship must hold a Superlicence and that applications must be made to the FIA through the application's national sporting authority but there are no lists of qualifications necessary. All that remains nowadays in the International Sporting Code is a clause which states that the FIA "reserves the right to refuse the issuing of a Superlicence without having to give reasons for this".

The United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis relaunched Formula 1 in America in the best possible way. But everyone knows that for Grand Prix racing to become a lasting success in the US market there will need to be either an American driver or a US team. There are a number of young American drivers trying to make their names in Europe. This is a good sign.

The deal announced on Saturday to save the future of the British grand prix at Silverstone is not only the most expensive commercial transaction in the history of the sport in this country, but also the only potential route to defuse the time bomb ticking away beneath the future Britain's round of the FIA formula one world championship.

For the first time this year I have spent a weekend without motor sport. Oh all right there was the Rally of Great Britain but there was scant chance of getting me down to Wales after a few weeks of shivering my bits off at assorted circuits watching Inside F1's stars of tomorrow in Britain's winter championships.