Formula One News — September 2001

Michael Schumacher's plans to take a few days out after the US Grand Prix and enjoy the countryside appear to have been cancelled.

Double CART champion and former Williams F1 driver Alex Zanardi regained consciousness yesterday (Thursday), for the first time since his traumatic accident in the CART race in Germany that led to the amputation of both his legs.

IT was not rain falling from the sky, rather water bubbling up through the track surface which caused the world's fastest racing cars to stand silent in the pit lane yesterday.

Ferrari, Williams and Sauber all continued testing on Friday at different circuits.

Sheffield's Justin Wilson is being seriously considered for promotion to formula one by the Jordan-Honda team after an outstanding first test in one of their cars at Silverstone this week.

Despite his reservations about the running of the event, Ralf Schumacher will climb aboard the number 5 Williams at Indianapolis and compete in the US Grand Prix.

The British ITV television channel will be breathing a major sigh of commercial relief this week that it signed an 80 million pound, four year deal for sponsorship of its World Championship F1 coverage from Toyota.

Dominant Euro Formula 3000 championship leader Felipe Massa greatly impressed the Sauber team in his first run with them at Mugello.

Wet weather plagued day two of testing at Silverstone on Wednesday, where many of the teams were preparing for the final two Grand Prix of 2001.

Czech driver Tomas Enge appears set to deputize for the injured Luciano Burti in the second Prost at Indianapolis, just as he did in the Italian Grand Prix.

Sauber's Nick Heidfeld tested Thursday at Mugello, replacing young Brazilian Felipe Massa who was behind the wheel Tuesday and Wednesday.

According to the German media Heinz-Harald Frentzen has begun the legal action against Jordan Grand Prix that has been promised since his abrupt dismissal prior to the German Grand Prix.

According to reports in the European press Sauber has been sniffing around Fernando Alonso as a potential replacement for Kimi Raikkonen.

Juan Pablo Montoya's rookie season in F1 has seen the Colombian ace benefit from the advice offered to him by Frank Williams, Patrick Head and Gerhard Berger.

The weather decided to cooperate Thursday at Silverstone for the final day of testing before the United States Grand Prix.

Alex Zanardi remains in a critical condition at the Unfallkrankenhaus Berlin (UKB) where he has been since his accident on Sunday at the Lausitzring.

MANY of the F1 teams were back testing on Tuesday preparing for the final two Grand Prix of 2001 in the United States and Japan.

The recent suggestion that by the FIA President Max Mosley that there should be a summit between all the national sporting authorities in the federation to discuss the globalization of motor sport has been greeted favorably by most of the member clubs of the organization.

The Pro Sieben Sat 1 Media and Kirch Media companies have agreed to merge.

Formula 3000 Champion Justin Wilson did a very commendable job in his first test for the Jordan Grand Prix at Silverstone on Wednesday.

Sauber, in search of a replacement for Kimi Raikkonen, has been impressed by the speed and feedback of 20-year-old Brazilian Felipe Massa during his first day of testing for the team at Mugello.

Thursday is the last day which Formula 1 teams have to finish off their packing before their equipment must be ready to bee sent off to Schipol Airport in Amsterdam.

The Shanghai city government, which is pondering a bid to host a Grand Prix in 2003, is very keen to attract international business to the city.

Bernie Ecclestone was a man of many meetings at Monza but one which may be significant was with a number of Russians involved in the plans to hold a race in Moscow in 2003.