Formula One News — August 2001

FERRARI president Luca Montezemolo, expects his man Michael Schumacher to seal the 2001 drivers' title as soon as the sport's August break comes to an end in Hungary on August 17-19.

THERE are often discussions in Formula 1 circles about whether the bubble of growth that envelopes the sport will eventually pop and what will occur when that happens.

IT is not long ago that Tommy Suharto was the man trying to promote the idea of a Grand Prix in Indonesia. He was head of the country's national sporting authority and an active racer in his own right.

THE flow of sons of famous fathers seem never ending in Formula 1. After Hill and Villeneuve, the sport is awaiting the arrival of a new Fabi, one of the Cheever gang, another Rosberg is on the way and now from Brazil comes word of a new Piquet.

THE word on the street is that Toyota Motorsport has settled its legal problems with the European Minardi team with the help of a large check.

FORMULA 3000 racer Antonio Pizzonia will soon test for the Williams team.

FORMULA 1 teams have long claimed to be at the forefront of technology but often one could argue that the sport has simply been applying aeronautical ideas to automobiles.

AS we suggested would happen Belgian brewing giant Interbrew has bought the Germany brewing company Beck's for $1.58 billion.

TOM WALKINGSHAW, the former chairman of Silverstone Circuits Ltd., has stated that any action by the FIA to scrub the British Grand Prix from the 2002 world championship calendar would be 'tragic'.

TOM WALKINSHAW is never far from a courtroom - or so it would seem from his involvement in Formula 1 in recent months.

JAPAN's rising star Takuma Sato totally dominated the annual Marlboro Masters Formula 3 race at Zandvoort on Sunday.

WITH the BAR driver line-up for 2002 settled, Jacques Villeneuve and Olivier Panis having committed themselves, then it seems that the options for Honda's protege Takuma Sato are growing more limited.

ALTHOUGH the Formula 1 calendar is in a temporary hiatus, the stars of tomorrow are all on parade this weekend in the Marlboro Masters Formula 3 weekend at Zandvoort, Holland.

ROB BAIN has defended Silverstone as the FIA threatens to leave the British Grand Prix off the provisional calendar for 2002 unless it can justify the continuing traffic chaos.

PETER SAUBER has indicated that the success of the little Swiss outfit in 2001 has earned a reprieve from the anticipated pull-out by title sponsor Red Bull.

BILL SIMPSON, a man who has helped to make motor racing a safer through the development of various safety equipment, has resigned from the company which bears his name.

AS we predicted on July 16 Alex Yoong will drive for Minardi at the Belgian Grand Prix - if the FIA agrees to give him a Superlicence.

THE controversial decision to stop the German Grand Prix following the start line collision between Michael Schumacher's near-stationary Ferrari and Luciano Burti's oncoming Prost.

DEFENDING world champion Michael Schumacher is looking forward to spending some time at home with his family in Geneva over the next two weeks as Formula 1 goes into its August hiatus.

IN the middle of June the European Commission's Competition Directorate completed its investigation into Formula 1 and announced that F1 was cleared of all competition questions.

WERNER KLATTEN, the new chief executive of Formula 1 shareholder EM.TV, on Wednesday told the annual shareholder meeting in Munich that he intends to refocus the troubled company on its core business of trading broadcast rights and merchandising for the children's market.

ALAIN PROST says that Jean Alesi is under contract to his team and will not be leaving to take Heinz-Harald Frentzen's job at Jordan.

IN what is being regarded as a subtle prod to Tony Blair's Labour government to offer more support to its home round of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, the British Grand Prix could be missing from next year's International calendar unless there is an adequate explanation forthcoming for the alleged continued traffic chaos at this event.

TOYOTA's indication that it will test during the winter ban may result in the rest of the Formula 1 team owners forcing the Japanese team to sit on the sidelines for a further 12 months should it pursue such a course.