Formula One News — August 2002

The news that China is gearing up for a Grand Prix in 2004 has added pressure to the circuits which want a race in the near-future and more and more serious schemes are beginning to come out of the woodwork.

Tony Stewart has been fined $10,000 for punching a photographer at the recent Brickyard 400 event in Indianapolis.

The news that the British government is finally beginning to take the British motorsport industry seriously is good news - even if it is rather late in the day.

The organizers of the planned Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai recently announced that they have a fund of $400m to build a racing circuit in order to welcome Formula 1 in 2004 - and that a deal is in place with F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone.

Britain's Department of Trade and Industry has revealed plans for the government to act to help preserve Britain's place as the industry leader in motorsport.

Formula 3000 Champion Justin Wilson was lining up to drive for Minardi in place of Mark Webber - we hear that a deal had been struck, pending a seat fitting, but when the lanky Englishman went down to Faenza there was no way he would fit in the car.

Mike Den Tandt is from St-Vith in Belgium, not far from the Spa-Francorchamps racing circuit. He is 19 years old and has been competing in karting since he was five years old.

One can win scholarships at academic institutions for many different things but it seems that 13-year-old Freddie Martin-Dye has started a new trend by winning a sports scholarship to the $20,000 a year Cranleigh School in Surrey.

Things are very quiet at the moment in Formula 1 circles and so much has been made of two incidents in recent days in which leading players in motor racing have attacked photographers.

Former F1 driver Max Papis lost his drive in CART earlier this year when the Sigma Automotive team ran out of money.

There is talk that Sebastien Bourdais will give up his hopes of winning the International Formula 3000 title in order to take over Heinz-Harald Frentzen's drive at Arrows.

Ford Motor Company bosses in Detroit have informed Jaguar Racing that there is no need to worry about rumors in Formula 1 circles that Jordan Grand Prix is about to be named as a Ford factory team.

There has been talk for some time that r"a top Formula 1s" has begun design studies for an America's Cup racing yacht and these have resurfaced again in recent days in The Sunday Times in London.

Gerry Forsythe, the boss the Players Forsythe CART team has confirmed that he wants to run three cars in next year's series and that co"we are looking to bring somebody back to our series who has got star powerne".

BMW has had the most powerful engine in Formula 1 this year but problems with electronic systems and tyres have meant that the Williams-BMW team has won only one race so far this year. Everyone involved is keen to do better next year.

Melbourne and Sydney have traditionally been in competition to be Australia's bestknown city but the two have now joined forces to bid for the Soccer World Cup in 2014.

Mercedes-Benz has not had much to cheer this year in Formula 1 but at the weekend Markus Winkelhock, the son of Grand Prix driver Manfred, gave the Stuttgart firm its first win in the German Formula 3 Championship

The respected American racing journalist Robin Miller has reported on ESPN TV that CART team owner Gerry Forsythe has been to Europe in recent days to make Jacques Villeneuve a huge offer to return to CART next season.

Sebastien Bourdais wants to get into Formula 1 in the next few years and the International Formula 3000 Championship leader is busy adding to his curriculum vitae. His latest victory came on Sunday in the classic Spa 24 Hours.

The rumors suggesting that Fernando Alonso would be the best man to replace Alex Yoong made a lot of sense but if they were true one would have expected to have seen the Spanish driver joining the Minardi team at next weekend's Thunder in the Park at Donington Park.

Felipe Massa's manager Riccardo Tedeschi says it is ho"simply impossibleos" for the Brazilian youngster to be replaced before the end of the season.

It is being widely reported that Heinz-Harald Frentzen is unlikely to race at the Hungaroring for another team - and that begs an obvious question: why then did Frentzen leave Arrows?

NASCAR's biggest star Jeff Gordon has confirmed that there is a plan for him to drive a Formula 1 car in a demonstration at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and that this would include Juan-Pablo Montoya having a run in Gordon's Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

Although there have been many reports that Minardi is about to be sold to Prince Al Waleed to be run by Brendan McGuinness, it is worth noting that there is another consortium discussing the purchase with Paul Stoddart.