Formula One News — September 2001

THE Frankfurt Motor Show this week is one of the biggest events of the automobile year and this year's event will see a record number of new cars being unveiled (57 in total) and a series of major announcements.

LUCIANO BURTI has been released from the University Hospital in Liege and is returning to his home in Monaco but the Prost driver will not be racing at Monza this weekend, doctors advising him that it would better if he sat out the event and concentrate on getting back to full fitness after his huge accident at Spa two weeks ago.

MCLAREN has not yet announced its drivers for the 2002 season and while this is not outrageously strange, it is still much later than all the major teams and the Formula 1 is beginning to ask what is going on.

DIETER HAHN, the man who has been doing all the negotiations between Kirch and the Formula 1 world has been named as the chairman of the new ProsiebenSat1 group, which will include Kirch.

AS we speculated would happen Prost Grand Prix has signed up Tomas Enge to drive for the team at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza this weekend.

ALL of us have dreams of course, but one suspects that Piero Lardi Ferrari's ambition to restore the ownership of the Fiat-owned brand and its all-important race team to the Ferrari family looks a touch optimistic.

SOON-TO-BE IRL racer Johnny Herbert chauffeured media and guests around Silverstone in the three-seater Arrows AX3 before Jos Verstappen spent the weekend with it in his native Holland giving rides around the famous Zandvoort circuit.

BERNIE ECCLESTONE has enjoyed a relaxing weekend away with his wife Slavica at the Portuguese Motorcycle Grand Prix, even taking a ride on the back of legendary former champion Randy Mamola's bike!

TOYOTA's F1 test car may have been six seconds off the pace during testing at the Hungaroring, but the prospect of too much in the way of overt criticism being aimed in the Japanese team's direction next season may have been subtly defused by a new deal to sponsor the British ITV network's coverage of the 2002 Championship.

LUCIANO BURTI's recovery from the injuries sustained in his high-speed accident in the Belgian Grand Prix continues to please the medical team attending to him, but a return to racing at next weekend's Italian Grand Prix has been written off.

THE influence of promoters Octagon Motorsport over all national and international motor racing in Britain has been given an all-clear to continue for at least five years by the British government's Department of Trade and Industry.

THE shake-up of British motor sport under Octagon Motorsport-led British Motorsport Promoters is set to continue in 2002 after the Office of Fair Trading cleared the US-based promoter in its investigation into the control of the domestic sport.

EUROPEAN MINARDI team principal Paul Stoddart is eager to further link his team to south east Asia following the signing of Malaysian driver Alex Yoong, who will join the race team at next weekend's Italian Grand Prix.

THE proposed Formula 1-style race series Premier 1 Grand Prix is understood to be chasing a supply of control tires from Avon.

THE nascent Toyota Formula 1 operation has spent most of the week in Budapest, trying out its test hack with a host of new systems and a much revised powerplant.

PADDY MCNALLY, commander in chief of Allsport the Formula 1 marketing and hospitality business, encountered a little misfortune this week when the 19th Century Chateau Fazy, under refurbishment for the rumored occupancy of Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, caught fire.

IT has been reported that Jean-Luc Gripond, financial director of the Prost Grand Prix team has parted from the outfit as Prost continues to seek new investment for the 2002 season.

WILLIAMS-BMW drivers Juan Pablo Montoya and Marc Gene were fastest Friday during the third and final day of testing at Nevers Magny-Cours. Montoya ran the fastest lap of the day at 1m13.896s, while Gene, the teams test driver, was half a second off the Colombian's time.

THE provisional calendar released earlier this week detailing the order of next year's Formula 1 world championship has been declared a spoof by the FIA.

AS Formula 1 looks further afield for new venues to replace existing European events on its calendar, China has been ordered to be patient as it bids for Grand Prix status.

AFTER an ignominious Belgian Grand Prix that saw spirited debate over the tire choice in qualifying, Juan Pablo Montoya's pole sitting FW23 stall on the grid, Ralf Schumacher's car left up on blocks on the grid, rear wing problems, an engine failure and a delayed pit stop Sir Frank Williams has weighed in to defend his team manager, Dickie Stanford.

ALL the warning lights will have flashed on for Jenson Button and his management team this week after Benetton team principal Flavio Briatore warned that the young British driver needs "to pull himself together" in the wake of a disappointing Belgian GP outing where he crashed on the same afternoon as team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella finished a strong third.

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA set the pace in Michelin's Magny-Cours testing on the opening day but on day two it was the Sauber of Nick Heidfeld that set the pace.

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER took over the reins at Ferrari to continue the team's presence at the top of the timing screens during the Bridgestone testing at Mugello, some 1.4s ahead of Olivier Panis in the BAR.