Formula One News — December 2001

Amid the financial and political maelstrom that is Argentina at the present time, former Brabham, Ferrari, Lotus and Williams F1 driver Carlos Reutemann, is reportedly considering running for the presidency.

World Champion Michael Schumacher's plans to set up home in the Swiss town of Wolfhalden have reportedly been deal a blow by the Swiss foundation for the maintenance and preservation of the landscape.

Last summer there were stories that Turkey was trying to put together a bid to host a Formula 1 Grand Prix. At the time it looked as though it might be related to the FIA elections which were due in September.

There are stories circulating in F1 circles that the planned Russian Grand Prix in Moscow has run into financial trouble with F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone because he has asked for the majority of the money for the race to be paid upfront.

Racing legend Emerson Fittipaldi has injured himself on an evening bicycle ride near his Florida home.

It is widely believed that the restructuring of the way in which television works in the years ahead will have a detrimental effect on the financing of the sport and many F1 marketing men are keeping a close eye on the media markets to see what developments are taking place.

The McLaren Mercedes team is trying to improve in all areas of performance for the year ahead but there is one specific area of development which the Woking team is concentrating on at the moment.

Darren Manning has failed to make much of an impression in Formula 3000 in the last couple of years and until recently was looking to a future with the Premier 1 Grand Prix series.

The current trend is for sons of famous 1970s drivers to try to make their way in the sport.

Willi Weber has written on Ralf Schumacher's web site demanding that issues within the team should be straightened out man-to-man rather than through the media, which might strike some as the pot calling the kettle black...

The South China Morning Post has confirmed that the proposed Formula 1 circuit near the planned motor city near Shanghai will be built with a view to attracting Formula 1 possibly by 2004.

Gerry Forsythe has not had a good week.

Understanding the motives of the Honda Motor Company in Formula 1 has never been easy.

The latest whispers from Milton Keynes are that Jaguar Racing's chief aerodynamicist Mark Handford may be on the move at the end of this month.

Juan Pablo Montoya's trip to Brazil promoting the BMW Williams fuel supplier Petrobras brought about a meeting with Sid Mosca, a regular face in the Brazilian racing community.

More bad news for F1 backers emerged today (22 December) with the news that Jaguar Racing's major sponsor HSBC faces potential $720 million losses as a result of the Argentina economy facing meltdown

Argentina's dreams of sending young racing drivers to Europe and rebuilding its once great reputation as a motor racing nation are in tatters following the recent economic problems in the country, which has enormous foreign debts.

The deal between Arrows and Jaguar racing over the Bedford windtunnel may not be going through as planned.

The writing is on the wall at Guyancourt and Alain Prost is clearly worried.

Representatives of Honda and Toyota will be welcomed at the next meeting of members of the planned Grand Prix World Championship, which will take place in January.

The Kirch Gruppe says it will ride the crisis if News Corporation boss Rupert Murdoch forces it to buy him out of the Pay-TV business Premiere next autumn.

Although the production departments of the Formula 1 teams will remain flat out over the Christmas period, producing parts for the 2002 cars, the decision-makers in the sport are now beginning to drift away for their Christmas holidays and that means that political activity will die down for a while.

The coroner who investigated the death of course marshal Graham Beveridge said Thursday that his findings would not affect the race's future, and that he would not interfere with the 2002 event taking place.

Octagon Motorsport has announced plans to rebuild Silverstone's current pit complex to better accommodate spectators, while plans to build a new pit complex exclusively for Formula One, on the straight after Club corner, have been abandoned.