Formula One News — December 2001

Alex Zanardi has been in a wheelchair since he left hospital in Berlin but the Italian former F1 driver is now looking forward to being fitted with artificial legs so that he begin the process of learning how to walk again.

The British Tobacco Advertising and Promotion Bill has run into trouble in the House of Lords over whether airlines should be allowed to advertise cigarettes or not.

Williams's title sponsor Compaq is in the process of being swallowed up by rival Hewlett-Packard but the deal has been hit a major snag as HP's chief shareholder The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, has announced that it is opposed to the deal.

The FIA has received requests from a number of F1 teams that the race numbers for the 2002 FIA Formula 1 World Championship should follow the order of the previous year.

Following hot on the heels of Silverstone's possible problems over the future status of the British Grand Prix comes news that the long-term prospects for the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola might also be in jeopardy.

As we speculated as long ago as last May, British Petroleum is rumored to be entering Formula 1 in 2002 and the recent announcement that Texaco is stopping its involvement with Jaguar Racing would seem to suggest that this is where BP will end up.

The cars will be new in 2002 but the main contenders for the International Formula 3000 series are not going to change.

Eddie Cheever has confirmed that he has a deal to use the technical facilities of the TWR Group, the sister company of the Arrows Formula 1 team.

The image of Brazil has been badly tarnished by the murder of America's Cup yachtsman Peter Blake, during an environmental expedition up the Amazon River.

Roger Penske has abandoned CART and will run two cars in next year's Indy Racing League.

In recent years Petronas has funded most of the growth of the automobile industry in Malaysia.

Jordan Grand Prix has responded to our story that Benson & Hedges will not be the team's title sponsor next year by saying that "the FIA requested to have the teams' entries at a time when Jordan is still in discussion with a number of companies, including B & H, about the level of their sponsorship for 2002".

Any serious Formula 1 fan will tell you that the first race to F1 rules was held in September 1946 on the streets of Turin in Italy and that the Valentino Grand Prix was won by veteran Achille Varzi of the factory Alfa Romeo team.

BMW chairman and chief executive Joachim Milberg is to retire at the company's annual meeting next May after three successful years running the company.

There is much speculation at the moment about the future supply of engines in CART but we hear from the United States that Cosworth Racing is bidding for a deal to supply one engine to the entire field.

It is not surprising that the Malaysian state oil company Petronas is tipped to be buying the Sepang Formula One circuit.

There are unconfirmed reports that Ralf Schumacher is to be charged with careless driving after his recent accident on the autobahn near Cologne.

There was no great surprise in Formula 1 circles when the Premier 1 organized that it has shelved plans to launch the new F1-lookalike series until March 2003.

Eddie Jordan continues in his efforts to become the Irish version of Virgin boss Richard Branson, building up the Jordan brand in his native country.

Cosworth Racing, the engine-building arm of the Ford Motor Company's Premier Performance Division, is to build a four-stroke motorcycle engine for the Italian motorcycle firm Aprilia.

Prost Grand Prix will go back to the Tribunal de Commerce of Versailles on Friday to examine the four offers which have been made for the team.

The Formula 1 driver market is currently waiting to see what happens with Prost Grand Prix.

Ralf Schumacher had a shunt last week on a German autobahn, crashing a BMW 7 Series into the back of another car and punting it into the car ahead.

The managing-director of Prost Grand Prix Joan Villadelprat is rumored to be on Renault Sport's shopping list if he decides not to stay with Prost.