Formula One News — July 2006

Jacques Villeneuve has ambitions to become a successful rock singer but at Magny-Cours he had to make do with being top of the time charts in the morning session on Saturday.

French GP - Practice 3 Results

There was much coming and going in the paddock in Magny-Cours concerning the 2007 and 2008 engine regulations.

General Motors, Renault and Nissan have confirmed that the two companies are moving foward after their exploratory talks about creating a three-way alliance.

A year ago the Boy Scouts of America in Paris took on a number of Formula 1 teams in a Pinewood Derby competition at Magny-Cours. The competition was repeated this year with more teams getting involved.

Robert Kubica ended the second practice session for the French Grand Prix with the fastest time, repeating his performance in the morning session, setting a time that was six-tenths of a second faster than World Champion Fernando Alonso.

French GP - Friday Photos

French GP - Friday Press Conference

French GP - Friday Team Quotes

Renault-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn has been a busy man of late with negotiations beginning with General Motors about a possible merger between the Renault-Nissan.

The word in the F1 paddock at Magny-Cours is that there are problems with the Japanese sponsor Direxiv, a McLaren backer and the funding behind the DPR GP2 team.

French GP - Practice 2 Results

Robert Kubica gave BMW a good start to the Magny-Cours weekend with the fastest lap in the Friday morning qualifying session, setting a lap time that was three-tenths of a second faster than the Honda of Anthony Davidson.

French GP - Practice 1 Results

The French Grand Prix is this year celebrating 100 years of Grand Prix racing, but there is a slight problem with the French law.

There are reports in the British newspapers that David Coulthard has signed a deal to race for Red Bull Racing again next year.

There are rumours coming out of Holland that former Minardi team owner Paul Stoddart is joining forces with his former sponsor Harry Muermans to run a Champ Car team.

French GP - Thursday Press Conference

Juan Pablo Montoya may think he is the fastest thing in NASCAR, but Russ Wicks knows he is after setting a new record for world stockcars at the Bonneville Salt Flats last week.

The return from the Americas is traditionally a time at which Formula 1 teams introduce major updates to their cars and, as a result, we often see a change in the hierarchy as a result.

With Nicolas Lapierre having been refused permission to race GP2 by his doctors, the Red Bull-sponsored Arden International team has once again called on Scuderia Toro Rosso third driver Neel Jani.

Franck Montagny will remain as the second Super Aguri F1 driver at the French Grand Prix. According to Japanese sources,

As we predicted yesterday, McLaren has announced that Juan Pablo Montoya is out of McLaren with immediate effect. Pedro de la Rosa will take over at Magny-Cours.

Toyota and Williams have yet to confirm their new relationship but there are signs that MF1 Racing is now busy looking for an alternative engine supplier for 2007. The team has shown some improvement in recent weeks but has yet to score any points and attention is turning to next year.