Formula One News — October 2001

The Sauber team is expected to confirm this weekend that Brazil's Felipe Massa will be Nick Heidfeld's team mate next year. Massa will replace Kimi Raikkonen who is leaving Sauber to take up the offer of a drive with McLaren. Massa's deal with Sauber is believed to be for several years.

Following Dietrich Mateschitz's recent announcement that he is taking up an option to buy the Arrows F1 team in order to establish a red Bull-sponsored All-American Formula 1 team we have received word from the United States that Mateschitz is indeed working towards that goal in league with an American marketing company called MSM.

It has emerged that amongst those present at the recent United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis was none other than the president of General Motors Richard Wagoner Jr. who took over the running of the vast American car company a little over a year ago.

Chris Cooney has left Jordan and will begin work soon at Benetton.

The soccer-affiliated Formula 1 rival, Premier 1 Grand Prix, has been given provisional backing by the FIA's World Motorsports Council to continue the buildup towards a projected first round in July 2002.

The Toyota test team was in action this week at Paul Ricard as it continues its simulation of what it is like to run an F1 team.

With a party in his honor being planned in to the weekend's activities, we can expect many tributes to Jean Alesi in the coming days as he contests his 201st and final Grand Prix.

Jacques Villeneuve and the rest of the BAR team has apparently felt the wrath of Craig Pollock after a lamentable US Grand Prix, and as the works Honda-powered team arrives in Japan to race at Honda's Suzuka circuit

The big rumor in the paddock in Japan was that Arrows has sold its Bedford windtunnel to Jaguar Racing for $30m.

Double CART champion and former F1 driver Alex Zanardi, who cruelly lost both legs above the knee following a horrific accident in the German Champ Car race on September 15 is almost ready to leave hospital.

Britain's Justin Wilson, the 2001 FIA Formula 3000 champion, has resigned himself to having missed out on Formula 1 for the time being after Jordan opted to sign Japanese driver Takuma Sato over both Wilson and Jean Alesi.

BAR boss Craig Pollock has taken the loss of Takuma Sato on the chin, the highly-rated Japanese prospect having been freed from his testing contract to race with Jordan - after winning the British Formula 3 championship with BAR junior team, Carlin Motorsport.

Jordan Grand Prix have announced today that they have signed British Formula 3 Champion Takuma Sato to partner Giancarlo Fisichella in the team next season.

Klaus Volkert, the head of Volkswagen Group's human resources, has spoken out against the mooted interest in Formula 1 stirred up by the appointment of Bernd Pietchsrieder to the head of the German giant.

Our spies in England are reporting that one of the top Formula 1 teams is on the verge of signing up a woman racer to be the team's second test driver in 2002.

The news that Takuma Sato has signed a two-year deal to drive for Benson and Hedges Jordan Honda is not really a big surprise.

Jean Alesi's announcement that he is retiring from Formula 1 caused quite a storm, as it came during Bridgestone's annual gathering for the Japanese media.

Formula One veteran Jean Alesi has announced that Sunday's Japanese grand prix at Suzuka will be his 201st and last as he will be retiring after twelve seasons in the sport's most senior category.

Arrows boss Tom Walkinshaw has flatly denied the claims of Red Bull boss Dieter Mateschitz made to a magazine in his native Austria to have bought into Arrows.

Japan may be the nation most at home with advanced technology but Ferrari will not be using any of the systems it has been devising for 2002 when at this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix.

The first hint of the legal battle to come between Jordan Grand Prix and its sacked driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen has come prior to the Japanese Grand Prix.

Prior to the US-led reprisal attacks on Afghanistan, the end-of-season American Le Mans Series sports car race at Sepang had already been called off.

Eddie Jordan likes to keep himself busy away from the Formula 1 circus. Just a few weeks after his £1.4 million investment in Scottish soccer champions Celtic was revealed, the ebullient Irishman was found indulging his passion for music at Britain's MOBO awards.

Although the Formula 1 cars and equipment are already in Japan it remains to be seen whether the Grand Prix at Suzuka will go ahead following the first retaliatory attacks on Afghanistan following the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.