Formula One News — April 2000

THERE is much talk in the Formula 1 paddock at the moment over the future engine supply for Sauber with all the indications being that the Swiss team will be continuing with Sauber Petronas-badged Ferrari V10 engines again in 2001.

THE word from Maranello is that the team's coordinator Nigel Stepney has decided that he is leaving Maranello to return to Britain after eight years in Italy.

EM.TV announced recently that it had acquired a 50% shareholding in Bernie Ecclestone's Formula 1 empire from the financial houses Morgan Grenfell and Hellman & Friedman.

OUR spies in Italy tell us that the Minardi team may not complete its deal with the Spanish telecommunications company Telefonica.

THE West McLaren Mercedes team will go before the FIA Court of Appeal this week in Paris to argue that David Coulthard's second-placed McLaren-Mercedes should be reinstated in the results of the Brazilian GP.

TOM WALKINSHAW's plans to build Renault Sport versions of the Renault Clio at Uddevalla, in Sweden, are unlikely to go ahead following the announcement that Walkinshaw's AutoNova AB joint venture with Volvo has been terminated.

ROBERT SYNGE, the team manager of British American Racing, has been dropped in the latest reshuffling of management at the Brackley-based F1 operation.

AFTER the Brazilian Grand Prix Sir Frank Williams flew home via the United States for a tour of the team's sponsors in North America.

AS we predicted last week, Jaguar Racing and Michelin have announced a partnership for the 2001 season.

WILLY RAMPF has been appointed technical director of the Red Bull Sauber Petronas team.