NEWS ARCHIVE
A TWELFTH TEAM IN 2002?
There are lots of rumors at the moment that there might still be 12 teams in Formula 1 this year but the reality is that there is no hope of such a thing.
BILL CLINTON COMES TO TOWN
Former US President Bill Clinton is in Melbourne this weekend and its expected to be a guest at the Australian Grand Prix in the course of the next few days.
DAMON HILL JOINS SKY TV
Damon Hill is to make a Formula 1 comeback as a TV commentator on Sky TV's British coverage of Grand Prix races.
DEUTSCHE BANK LOOKS AT F1
As we speculated a while ago, the giant Deutsche Bank may be looking to buy some of the shares of SLEC, the Formula 1 holding company, from the Kirch Group.
IRVINE TELLS PRESSMEN ABOUT "TREPIDATION"
Jaguar Racing's Eddie Irvine says that he is going into the new F1 season with trepidation because of the problems which the team has been having in pre-season testing.
MASKED MAN FIRES SHOTS IN ALBERT PARK
Formula 1 is sometimes stranger than fiction and on Wednesday evening in Australia a security guard at Albert Park was somewhat shocked when she encountered an intruder at the track, wearing a black balaclava.
MELBOURNE GETS UNDERWAY WITH BIG CROWD
The Australian Grand Prix kicked off on Thursday with local races being watched by a first day crowd of 51,300 people - the second biggest first day crowd in the history of the event.
NEW F1 BARRIERS TO BE REVEALED TODAY
Tyson Deceleration Research will unveil its latest fully FIA-approved Formula 1 crash barrier system later today at a press conference in Melbourne.
POLLOCK STILL LURKING
Craig Pollock was much in evidence in the F1 paddock in Australia and when asked what his role was for the weekend he replied that he was there is his capacity as "owner" of British American Racing and manager of Jacques Villeneuve.
SCHUMACHER ATTACKS WALKINSHAW OVER VERSTAPPEN
Michael Schumacher said he was sad that Jos Verstappen lost his Arrows drive at the last minute to Heinz-Harald Frentzen despite the fact that the Dutchman had a contract with Tom Walkinshaw's team.
TROUBLES AHEAD...
McLaren boss Ron Dennis warned the Formula 1 media not to be distracted by sensationalist stories in the weeks ahead and to look at the sport in a calm and considered way in the months ahead.
TWR ACQUIRES PROST!
The Tom Walkinshaw Racing organization has apparently agreed a deal to buy elements of the defunct Prost Grand Prix.
TWR RISING FROM THE ASHES OF PROST?
The decision of a French court to sell TWR the major assets of Prost Grand Prix for a tiny sum of money is an extraordinary one and the reaction in France is going to be interesting because the deal leaves Prost's creditors with little hope of getting any money back.
WOOD AT MINARDI
The Minardi team has recently signed up another engineer to help bolster the team.
ARROWS LAUNCH A23 IN MELBOURNE
Arrows unveiled its livery to the public in Melbourne on Wednesday morning, just two days before the new A23 will take to the Albert Park circuit in the hands of Heinz-Harald Frentzen and Enrique Bernoldi.
DENNIS ATTACKS FIA OVER MICHELIN DECISION
Ron Dennis is never backward in coming forward when it comes to complaining about the international automobile federation and in a letter to all the other team bosses has criticized the FIA for the way it handles the regulations in Formula 1.
LAWYERS WIN PRIZE FOR FIA CAMPAIGN
The British legal firm Herbert Smith has been granted the honor of being "Competition Team of the Year" for its defense of the international automobile federation during the European Commission's investigation into competition issues in motorsport.
SCHECKTER GETS A NEW CHANCE FROM CHEEVER
Tomas Scheckter, the former Jaguar F1 test driver, has been signed up by Red Bull Team Cheever to be Eddie Cheever's team mate in 2002.
TWR BIDDING FOR PROST?
As the Arrows team was launching its Formula 1 program for 2002 in Melbourne, a curious rumor surfaced in Paris with word that the Tribunal de Commerce of Versailles is studying a last-minute attempt to keep a 12th Formula 1 team going.
ASTON MARTIN TO FUND LE MANS PROJECT
Jaguar's sister company Aston Martin is to have its own Le Mans 24 Hour program, according to reports in The Financial Times in London.
CAR MANUFACTURERS WILL CONSIDER KIRCH DEAL
Mercedes-Benz boss Jurgen Hubbert says that the automobile manufacturers might buy the commercial rights to Formula 1 racing if the Kirch Group came up with a sensible price.
JORDAN ADMITS THAT IT NEEDS MORE HORSEPOWER
Eddie Jordan and Honda's Takeo Fukui have admitted in a press conference in Tokyo that the new Honda V10 engine is a bit short of horsepower.
MICHELIN HEEDS FIA WARNING
Michelin is not going to take on the FIA over the question of whether F1 tires should be allowed to have asymmetrical grooves.
YOONG RETURNS TO MELBOURNE
Malaysian F1 driver Alex Yoong may be having his first race in Melbourne in Formula 1 but the Minardi driver is not new to competition in the city.
BEIRUT OR BAHRAIN?
The race to be the first Middle Eastern country to host a World Championship Grand Prix is now on and despite Beirut having been talking about the idea for five years, it looks like Bahrain is going to get there first.
BRIDGESTONE AND MICHELIN CONTINUE BATTLE OVER GROOVES
Bridgestone has issued a statement reiterating the fact that they will supply tires in 2002 that fully conform to FIA rules, and suggesting that rival Michelin may not.
KIRCH TAKES ON "CRISIS CONSULTANTS"
The Kirch Group has appointed three insolvency experts to help it through its current crisis.
THE FUTURE IS ORANGE - BUT FOR WHICH TEAM?
Two years ago Orange launched its three-year sponsorship deal of Arrows with team boss Tom Walkinshaw making some fairly radical claims.
PROST DESIGNER TO SWITCH TO PANOZ?
It is nearly three years since Don Panoz acquired G Force and Van Diemen in order to expand his racing activities.
IRVINE FAILS TO GIVE JAGUAR A BOOST
Jaguar Racing's Eddie Irvine was one of the presenters at the annual Brit Awards in London, presenting Australian Kylie Minogue with an award for the Best International Album in 2001.
NEAR-MISS FOR THE FIA
The international automobile federation had a near-miss last night, according to police reports from Geneva.
ONE F1 MAN HIRES ANOTHER
Keith Wiggins, once the boss of the Pacific Grand Prix team, has taken another old F1 man across the Atlantic to be team manager of Herdez Competition.
BIG HEADS IN MELBOURNE
The organizers of the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne are always full of good ideas and to help promote the race this year they have decided to use four "big heads": Michael and Ralf Schumacher, David Coulthard and Juan Pablo Montoya.
DHL JORDAN HONDA LAUNCHES EJ12
As expected, Jordan announced international carrier DHL as its title sponsor at the launch of the new EJ12 in a Brussels airport hangar on Friday.
GRUELING WINTER TESTING FINALLY WRAPS UP
McLaren and Williams were the last two teams to finish preseason testing of their new designs at Valencia on Friday.
JORDAN TO ANNOUNCE DHL DEAL TODAY
As we exclusively predicted a couple of weeks ago Deutsche Post is to take over the title sponsorship of the Jordan team with its DHL courier company expected to be given the naming rights for the next three years.
JORDAN'S NEW SPONSORSHIP PACKAGE
There was not much surprising about the launch of the DHL Jordan Honda team in a hangar at Brussels Airport - a DHL hub - except that there was very little in the way of backing from Benson & Hedges and am awful lot of support from DHL and its parent company Deutsche Post.
MINARDI LAUNCHES NEW LIVERY IN KL
While Jordan was getting much attention in Brussels for the launch of the EJ12, the KL Minardi Asiatech team launched their 2002 championship contender in Kuala Lumpur.
SAUBER KEEN TO SIGN VERSTAPPEN AS TEST DRIVER
Jos Verstappen was in Switzerland for a seat fitting at Sauber on Thursday and has been offered the chance to test for the team.
SPORT'S TV REVENUES HAVE PEAKED
According to The Financial Times in London, sports are going to struggle to match the revenues of recent years from television companies.
TOYOTA REVEALS SARRAZIN DEAL
As we exclusively predicted yesterday Stephane Sarrazin has been named Toyota's test driver for the coming season, alongside Australian Ryan Briscoe.
TV FIGURES EDGE UP AFTER POOR 2000
Formula 1's television viewing figures for 2001 have now been made public and the total for the year is 54,477,361,661.
A SIGN OF THE TIMES
Volkswagen AH has announced that it is going to be stopping production at five of its factories over the Easter holiday period because of the drop in demand for new cars.
ECCLESTONE SAYS NO BID FROM HIM
Bernie Ecclestone says that his family has not made any offer to buy back the shares of SLEC which are owned by Kirch Media.
FINAL TESTING AT SILVERSTONE, VALENCIA TEST CONTINUES
Testing in Silverstone moved to the shorter National circuit for its final day on Thursday, where rain prevented dry running in the afternoon.
MERCEDES-BENZ TO BUILD FORMULA 3 ENGINE
Mercedes-Benz is to expand its efforts to support young drivers with plans to run a Formula 3 engine in Germany this season.
SARRAZIN LINKED TO TOYOTA TESTING ROLE
There are rumors in France that former Prost Grand Prix test driver Stephane Sarrazin may get a full-time job this year as a test driver with Toyota Motorsport.
ZANARDI BATTLING ON
Alex Zanardi is continuing his recovery and is now using artificial legs although he admits that some days are harder than others and he struggles to use the legs all the time.
ANOTHER AUSSIE TO BACK UP WEBBER, BRISCOE AND COURTNEY
Australia will have another driver in topline racing in Europe this year with the announcement that Rob Nguyen has joined Team Astromega to be team mate to Mario Haberfeld.
EUROPE ANNOUNCES SUPPORT FOR WHO TOBACCO TREATY
Health officials from the European countries have issued what they are calling the Warsaw Declaration for a Tobacco-Free Europe, throwing their support behind the World Health Organization's plans to ban tobacco advertising around the world.
JORDAN ANNOUNCES PARTNERSHIP WITH DAMOVO
Jordan Grand Prix announced a three year partnership with communications solutions company Damovo Wednesday.
KIRCH WILL SELL FORMULA 1 STAKE
The commercial rights for Formula 1 are up for sale.
TOP THREE CONTINUE PREPARATIONS
Ferrari, McLaren and Williams all continued with their preseason test schedules Wednesday.
WATSON TO JOIN SKY TV TEAM
The new Sky TV Formula 1 coverage in Britain is to feature John Watson.
WET DAY OF TESTING AT SILVERSTONE
Testing continued in mostly wet conditions at Silverstone Wednesday, but the track dried for a brief period in midmorning, allowing some useful dry runs for some of the teams.
WILLIAMS ENCOURAGES BUTTON - AND HIS DRIVERS!
Frank Williams says that he is still interested in the career of Jenson Button - even if the youngster had a difficult year in 2001.
CAR MANUFACTURERS CAUSE TURIN MOTOR SHOW TO BE CANCELLED
Times are tough in the car industry at the moment and on Monday the organizers of the 69th Turin Motor Show announced that the show in April is to be cancelled because most of the big car manufacturers have pulled out.
FORMER WILLIAMS TEST DRIVER ENDS UP IN AUSTRALIAN V8S
A couple of years ago Brazil's Max Wilson was being talked about as a potential Formula 1 driver.
JAGUAR ANNOUNCES DUPONT PARTNERSHIP
Jaguar Racing announced a new partnership with DuPont Performance Coatings, a branch of American materials company DuPont.
JAGUAR DESIGNER'S BONUS
The hit quiz show "Who wants to be a millionaire?" helped out a Jaguar Racing designer on Monday, Chris Martin one of John Russell's design team at Milton Keynes taking home $50,000 to brighten up his week.
KIRCH DEBT COULD BE AS HIGH AS $11.35BN
According to the highly-influential Wall Street Journal the Kirch Group could have debts and liabilities of $11.35bn - more than twice the accepted figure.
TRULLI SETS PACE IN SILVERSTONE AGAIN
The Silverstone circuit was busy Tuesday with teams conducting final preparations for the season opening Australian GP.
FINAL PRESEASON TESTING UNDERWAY
Preseason testing began to wind down over the weekend, with less than a week before the cars are shipped to Melbourne for the first GP of the year.
FINAL WEEK OF TESTING BEGINS
Final testing began on grand prix tracks in Great Britain, Italy and France for various teams on Monday.
HEAD PREDICTS INTERESTING TIRE WAR IN 2002
Patrick Head, the technical director of Williams says that the different characteristics of the Michelin and Bridgestone tires this year could result in some fascinating qualifying and race strategies.
KIRCH LENDERS EXTEND CREDIT, BUT $11BN DEBT REVEALED
The Kirch Group, who control the commercial rights to Formula One, may be saved temporarily from the brink of bankruptcy by its German creditors.
MASSA CRASHES SECOND C21 IN MUGELLO
Sauber finished up preseason testing on Monday in Mugello, but not the way they would have liked.
MONTOYA GETS A NEW RACE ENGINEER
Juan Pablo Montoya will have a new race engineer in 2002, Williams's Tim Preston having decided to stop travelling after two years running Jenson Button and then Montoya.
RALF SCHUMACHER KINKS HIS NECK
Ralf Schumacher had a fairly sizeable accident in Estoril at the weekend, wiping the two front wheels off his car as the result of a brake failure.
TESTING IN 2002
The Formula 1 teams agreed in October at Suzuka that they would institute their own testing regulations for 2002 as the FIA decided that it was no longer going to be responsible for policing testing.
THE PROBLEMS OF ONE ENGINE PER WEEKEND
The Formula 1 engine manufacturers are not that keen on the idea of a one-engine-per-weekend rule which was first suggested to them in December by FIA President Max Mosley.
WILLIAMS TO EXPAND GROVE FACTORY
When Williams Grand Prix Engineering moved to its new factory in Grove, near Wantage, six years ago the team seemed to be a little lost in the vast new facility.
F1 TO BE BROADCAST ON SPEED CHANNEL
According to advertisements in the United States, Formula 1 will be broadcasts this year by Speed Channel.
THE LAST FEW DAYS...
Testing times are never very significant because teams can if they wish remove the ballast from their cars and make them go quicker than they can legally go to impress sponsors and so on.
THE PROST DOES NOT HAVE A SAUBER FRONT END
We may never see the Prost AP05 in action but photographs of the windtunnel model reveal that the car does not have the Sauber-like front end aerodynamics.
BERNIE'S NEW PURCHASE IS BRITAIN'S MOST EXPENSIVE HOUSE
The Daily Mail in London is reporting that Bernie Ecclestone is spending around $80m on a house in London.
BURDEN APPOINTED "MP FOR MOTORSPORT"
Richard Burden, the British Member of Parliament for Birmingham Northfield, has been appointed by the Sports Minister Richard Caborn to work as a liaison between the government of and the motorsport industry.
FERRARI TO BEGIN 2002 WITH F2001
Ferrari has announced that they will start the new season in last year's F2001, rather than the new F2002, which has not had a chance to prove reliable yet.
SCRATCHING AROUND...
The need for constant Formula 1 news is wearing the websites thin at the moment with the transcripts of Max Mosley's recent press lunches providing endless amount of irrelevant copy.
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT RECOGNIZES MOTORSPORT'S POWER
The British Government has steered well clear of the motorsport industry in recent years, largely because of the unfortunate scandal involving a payment of $1.6m to the Labour Party by Bernie Ecclestone.
TODT ADMITS FERRARI WILL PLAY IT SAFE
Ferrari's Jean Todt says that the Italian team is going to start the year with the F2001 rather than risking problems with the new F2002.
WALKER MUDDLING ON...
British television commentator Murray Walker retired from Formula 1 at the end of last season but he is still going to be talking to the fans this year thanks to an Orange telephone service.
ALBERT PARK TO GET ITS OWN BEACH
Gillette Australia has announced plans to build a beach at Albert Park during the Grand Prix weekend as part of its "Gillette for Women" advertising campaign.
ARROWS AND THE VERSTAPPEN/FRENTZEN MESS
A week after the signing of Heinz-Harald Frentzen and the firing of Jos Verstappen by Arrows without any comment by Tom Walkinshaw, the team boss has finally justified his decision to the world.
BERNIE IN LEAGUE WITH DAIMLERCHRYSLER AND FIAT?
The latest word in Formula 1 circles is that Bernie Ecclestone is going to buy back the company which owns the commercial rights of Grand Prix racing but will do so in league with DaimlerChrysler and Fiat, the major players in the plan to launch a new manufacturer-backed World Championship.
GRUMBLING ABOUT GROOVES AND GEARBOXES
The FIA system of controlling the Formula 1 technical regulations is highly complicated.
HERBERT SWITCHES HIS ATTENTION TO CART
Johnny Herbert is taking his time to get back into single-seater racing.
JAGUAR AND EDS
Jaguar Racing has hit back at disruptive rumors by announcing a three-year technology deal with the giant EDS company.
KIRCH DENIES ECCLESTONE DEAL
The Kirch Group says that it has not received any offer from Bernie Ecclestone for the company's shares in SLEC, the company which controls the commercial rights to Formula 1 racing.
MALAYSIAN TICKETS SALES AT 20,000
The Malaysian GP organizers say that they have sold 20,000 tickets for the event but are still hopeful of getting a crowd of 100,000 people.
NOW THAT IS POWER!
Formula 1 fan Sheikh Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa of Bahrain is campaigning for a race to be held in the country within the next few years - and he's a powerful fellow as he proved last week when he decided to declare Bahrain a constitutional monarchy and switched from being an Emir to becoming King Hamad.
RADIO RIGHTS ARE ALL THE RAGE
The ranks of the famed French radio reporters will be slashed in Formula 1 this year with the announcement that Radio Monte Carlo has bought the exclusive French rights to the World Championship from Formula One Administration.
SEX AND DRUGS AND ROCK AND ROLL
FIA bosses were less than impressed when model Naomi Campbell arrived at the High Court in London the other day, carrying a Formula 1-branded umbrella.
WHO WILL GET THE REMAINING TEST DRIVES?
With the Formula 1 driver line-up for 2002 now finalized (unless off course a revived Prost Grand Prix organization appears) and that means that the only jobs available are test driving roles.
$103,600 SPEEDING TICKET!
How fast do you need to be going to receive a $103,600 speeding ticket?
ARROWS TO LAUNCH IN MELBOURNE
Now that Tom Walkinshaw and Arrows has sorted out who will drive the new A23 in the coming season, the team has announced that they will officially launch the new chassis in Melbourne just days before the opening round of the 2002 season.
GALOPIN MOVES TO PESCAROLO
The demise of the DAMS Formula 3000 project has released longtime engineer Claude Galopin onto the job market. Galopin is a former Ligier engineer who became a designer with AGS and then went back to Ligier to design for the team.
JORDAN TO LAUNCH AT BRUSSELS AIRPORT
There are glamorous locations and then there is Brussels Airport, the venue for the launch of the new Jordan-Honda package on February 22.
RAIKKONEN ENDS VALENCIA TEST ON A HIGH NOTE
Thursday was the final day of testing in Valencia for McLaren and Jaguar, and Kimi Raikkonen lowered the track record to 1m10.937s in the new McLaren MP4/17.
RENAULT PROFITS TUMBLE
Renault is going to need all the help it can get from its F1 program as its operating profits fell 77% because of the recession and the fact that the company is now beginning to suffer from an ageing product range.
THE RECESSION IS STILL DEEPENING
According to the latest word from the National Bureau of Economic Research, the recession is not over yet, despite a few signs that things are improving in the world's largest economy.
WILL ECCLESTONE BUY BACK HIS EMPIRE?
Reports in the German newspapers yesterday said that Bernie Ecclestone is ready to spend $700m to buy back the shares in SLEC which are owned by Kirch Media.
A YEAR IS A (VERY) LONG TIME IN POLITICS
A year ago this week Niki Lauda was appointed the head of Ford's Premier Performance Division and put in charge of Jaguar Racing, Cosworth Racing and Pi Electronics.
COMPLICATIONS FOR KIRCH
Werner Klatten, the boss of EM.TV, has revealed that his company still owns 16.7% of SLEC because a deal to sell those shares to Kirch has never been completed and at the moment the shares cannot be sold as they are being used to secure a loan with the Bayerische Landesbank.
MCLAREN, JAGUAR CONTINUE DEVELOPMENT IN VALENCIA
McLaren and Jaguar returned to Valencia Wednesday for day two of the three day test. Both teams fielded two drivers and two 2002-spec cars.
POLLOCK AND JAGUAR?
There is little doubt that ousted British American Racing boss Craig Pollock does not consider his F1 career to be over just yet and there are rumors linking the Scotsman to takeover bids of Prost.
PRE-SEASON BARCELONA TESTING COMES TO A CLOSE
Wednesday was the final day of testing at the Circuit de Catalunya before the season starts on March 3rd.
CAN THE MANUFACTURERS REMAIN UNITED?
There is a feeling in Formula 1 circles that the planned automobile manufacturer World Championship in 2008 will never be a success because of the changing needs and the changing faces in the automobile world.
FORMULA ONE BUYS FORMULA 1.COM
Formula1.com has been a thorn in the side of Formula One Management for the last few years, the website arguing that "F1" is a generic term and that as such anyone can use it.
KIRCH BEGINS SELL-OFF
The Kirch Group, the troubled commercial rights holder of the Formula One group of companies, has begun selling off its assets in an effort to avoid being taken over by a bigger media company.
MCLAREN, JAGUAR KICK OFF VALENCIA TEST
McLaren and Jaguar began a three day testing session in Valencia on Tuesday, where both teams fielded two 2002-spec chassis.
THE FUTURE REVENUES OF FORMULA 1
One problem which is currently not being addressed by F1 is the fact that TV revenues are going to drop in the years ahead.
TRULLI ON TOP IN BARCELONA ON DAY TWO
Testing continued in Barcelona on Tuesday for the second day of the three day session, and Jarno Trulli set the pace in the new Renault R202 once again.
A LITTLE EMBARRASSMENT FOR RENAULT
The feeling in Formula 1 circles is that one's private life is one's own business and it only becomes an issue if it impacts on the sport.
ALESI TO TEST FOR MCLAREN
We reported just the other day that Jean Alesi had a seat fitting with McLaren, and the reason for that seat fitting has just been announced.
BRAKES TO THE FORE
There is expected to be much talk of brakes when the new season gets underway in Australia as there are more than a few engineers who feel that brakes which are being cooled with what are effectively turbines are actually being used because they help to improve the flow of air over the front end of the car.
CART CHANGES RULES TO PROMOTE BETTER RACING
The CART series in the United States is often cited as having much better racing than Formula 1 but the CART authorities do not seem to agree.
FERRARI'S LAP RECORD
New Ferraris always break lap records and the drivers always say that they are "promising" so Michael Schumacher's much-publicized first laps with the F2002 at the weekend should not be taken too seriously.
MCLAREN PROTEGE RETURNING TO BRITAIN IN 2002
Gary Paffett, a McLaren test driver and something of a protege for the team, raced in German Formula 3 last season, and while he did not win many races he was nonetheless right up there with the frontrunning teams.
STILL NOTHING FOR FORMULA 3000 CHAMPION WILSON
You have to feel sorry for International Formula 3000 champion Justin Wilson.
TESTING MOVES TO BARCELONA
Four teams began testing at the Circuit de Catalunya near Barcelona on Monday, where fog delayed any running for over an hour in the morning.
VERSTAPPEN ANNOYED BY ARROWS BEHAVIOR
Jos Verstappen has made it very clear that he is less than delighted by the behavior of the Orange Arrows team and is considering legal action against the outfit.
F2002 MAKES IMPRESSIVE DEBUT AT FIORANO
Michael Schumacher gave the new Ferrari F2002 it's first test at the team's Fiorano circuit, and quickly showed the car's potential by breaking the track record.
HAYMARKET AND CART
Haymarket Publishing has long been the leading publishing business in motor racing but despite occasional forays into promotional magazines for F1 teams and car manufacturers the company has managed to maintain the reputation of being relatively independent.
MONTOYA SETS RECORD PACE AT FINAL DAY IN VALENCIA
Williams and BAR returned to Valencia on Sunday, where Juan-Pablo Montoya shattered the track record in the new BMW powered FW24.
POLLOCK GRAND PRIX
There is no doubt that Craig Pollock was less than happy when he was ousted from his role at British American Racing.
THE DANGER OF THE MELBOURNE CORONER'S REPORT
The report of the Victorian State Coroner Graeme Johnstone into the death of marshal Graeme Berveridge in an accident during last year's Australian GP was a controversial document, ruling as it did that the accident was "avoidable".
ALESI GETS A MCLAREN SEAT-FITTING!
Jean Alesi has had a seat-fitting at McLaren - but the current drivers are not apparently too worried as the team is not about to hire the veteran Frenchman to race.
ASCANELLI MOVES TO MASERATI
Giorgio Ascanelli, the head of research and development at Ferrari, has been transferred to be the new technical head of sporting operations at Maserati. He will be replaced in his role at Ferrari by Ignazio Lunetta.
CRASHES EVERYWHERE IN SPAIN
It has been a destructive couple of days in Formula 1 circles with David Coulthard rolling a McLaren on Friday in Barcelona and Heinz-Harald Frentzen having two high-speed rear wing failures with his Arrows in Valencia on Saturday.
F1 NUMBERS TO REMAIN THE SAME
The disappearance of Prost Grand Prix will not change the F1 numbering system this season with numbers 18 and 19, which were to go to Prost, being left unused this year.
MOSLEY SAYS HE WANTS A NEW APPEAL SYSTEM
FIA President Max Mosley says that he would like to see a new appeal system in F1 to stop teams appealing decisions as a matter of course.
MOSLEY SAYS THAT CHINA HAS THREE F1 PROJECTS
Max Mosley said that there are three Formula 1 projects at the moment in China: one in Shanghai, one in Beijing and the third at a regional city inside the country.
TESTING WINDS DOWN IN VALENCIA
Williams and BAR returned to the Ricardo Tormo circuit on Saturday, while Arrows decided to sort out their rear wing problem rather than continue their testing program as scheduled.
ANOTHER TESTING ACCIDENT
David Coulthard became the latest driver this week to suffer a major testing accident when he lost control of his McLaren MP4/17 in Barcelona.
ARROWS FORGETS TO TELL VERSTAPPEN...
Jos Verstappen has a right to be less than pleased with life at the moment but to add insult to injury he says he has not heard from the Arrows team that his services will not be required in 2002 - except by reading it on the team website.
CORONER REPORT RELEASED
Victoria State coroner, Graeme Johnstone's report on his findings into the death of a course marshal during last year's Australian GP were released Friday, and was very critical of race organizers.
DAMS PULLS OUT OF FORMULA 3000
Just to underline the state of motor racing in France, DAMS has announced that it is pulling out of Formula 3000 this year.
FIA RESPONDS TO MELBOURNE CRITICISM
The FIA has hit back at the Melbourne Coroner's ruling that the death of marshal Graeme Beveridge was "avoidable".
KIRCH OFFERS F1 DEAL TO MANUFACTURERS
The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported this morning that the Kirch Group has approached the car manufacturers with an offer to get them involved in running SLEC.
MONTOYA FASTEST AT VALENCIA
The testing lineup slimmed down Friday in Valencia, with five teams in action.
MOSLEY WINDS UP THE INTEREST IN F1
This is the time of year when FIA President Max Mosley traditionally has a series of lunches with some of the leading F1 journalists.
SPONSOR LOYAL TO VERSTAPPEN, DUMPS ARROWS
While Tom Walkinshaw and Arrows have abandoned Jos Verstappen, Dutch sponsor, Trust, will remain loyal to him.
A MYSTERY AT FERRARI
The launch of the new Ferrari F2002 answered some of the questions which have been asked in recent months but there was one mystery left by the end of the presentation of the new car.
ACCIDENTS MARK TESTING IN VALENCIA
Two considerable accidents marked testing in Valencia Thursday.
ARROWS CONFIRMS FRENTZEN
The Orange Arrows team has announced that Heinz-Harald Frentzen will join Enrique Bernoldi in the team this season and says that Jos Verstappen has been "released" from his contract.
CHANGES TO THE FERRARI PACKAGE
Like many of the Formula 1 teams Ferrari has worked hard on its front-end aerodynamics with the lower suspension mounting points being located beneath the chassis itself attached to a longitudinal underbody "fin".
FIORIO HIRED TO PROMOTE NISSAN SERIES
Cesare Fiorio has done a lot of jobs in motor racing but his latest is to promote Spain's Formula Super Nissan series.
FISICHELLA CRASHES EJ12 IN VALENCIA
Giancarlo Fisichella was unhurt after a considerable accident during Thursday morning testing in Valencia.
GERMAN GOVERNMENT PUSHING FOR F1 SALE
The Suddeutsche Zeitung newspaper is reporting that the Kirch media group is under pressure from the German government to sell off its non-core assets to avoid being swallowed up by a foreign media business.
KIRCH-MURDOCH: THINGS GET WORSE
Kirch's managing-director Dieter Hahn had resigned from the board of British Sky Broadcasting.
PROST ATTACKS
Alain Prost has lashed out in an interview with the French weekly magazine AutoHebdo at those people who he feels bear some of the responsibility for the failure of Prost Grand Prix.
PROST SAYS US BID CAME CLOSE
Alain Prost revealed in his outspoken interview with Autohebdo magazine that there were two American groups which bid to buy Prost Grand Prix.
SO WHAT HAPPENS TO VERSTAPPEN?
The dumping of Jos Verstappen is a tough blow for the Dutchman, coming as it does at a very late moment before the start of the new season.
VILLENEUVE FOR LE MANS?
There is speculation that Jacques Villeneuve might be planning to race at Le Mans this year, sharing an Audi with his friend Patrick Lemarie.
BRAWN ADMITS DELAYS WITH F2002
Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn says that the Italian team delayed the launch of the F2002 because the development programs had not produced the results which the team had been hoping for.
BUYING THE PROST DESIGN
A number of Formula 1 teams seem to have found themselves in difficulties because they decided not to copy the Sauber aerodynamic principles which were introduced in 2001.
FERRARI AND ADVANCED MICRO DEVICES
Ferrari has signed a new sponsorship agreement with the semiconductor manufacturer Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
FERRARI F2002 - SO WHAT'S NEW?
The rumors have been circulating for weeks but the new Ferrari F2002 does not look very different from its predecessor.
FERRARI LAUNCHES ITS 2002 CHALLENGE
Ferrari has launched its 2002 challenger at Maranello and the team has decided to take a risk in an effort to find more performance after winning three consecutive Constructors' titles.
FISICHELLA LEADS DAY THREE OF VALENCIA TEST
The testing in Valencia got a little more crowded on Wednesday when BAR, Jaguar and Arrows joined the fray.
FRENTZEN TO REPLACE VERSTAPPEN AT ARROWS
It has yet to be officially confirmed by the Orange Arrows team but it now seems certain that Jos Verstappen is to be booted out of the team and replaced by Heinz-Harald Frentzen.
HOW GOOD IS THE NEW WILLIAMS?
There have been rumblings from Spain that the new Williams FW24 chassis is not as competitive as the team had been hoping it might be - despite the fact that the car is setting good testing times.
WHAT HAPPENS TO F1 IF KIRCH DEFAULTS?
The Bayerische Landesbank has said that it will not be lending the Kirch Group any more money and that opens the way for Kirch to be taken over by a bigger rival media company.
BRISCOE CONFIRMED WITH NORDIC
As we exclusively predicted two weeks ago rising Australian star Ryan Briscoe, the Toyota F1 test driver, will drive for the Nordic Racing team in Formula 3000 this season.
DURAND GOING BACK TO MCLAREN?
Prost Grand Prix technical director Henri Durand is a man in demand at the moment following the closure of the French team.
EVEN MORE ON THE ARROWS A23
Our spies at Leafield are revealing more details of the purposeful-looking Arrows A23, which does as we speculated feature a Sauber-like front suspension.
HEIDFELD LEADS DAY TWO IN VALENCIA
Sauber, Jordan and Minardi joined testing in Valencia on Tuesday, and Nick Heidfeld posted the fastest lap of the day in the new Sauber-Petronas C21.
HONDA'S RECORD RESULTS
Honda may be struggling to be competitive in Formula 1 at the moment but the company is making a lo of money, recording a profit of over $1.1bn in the last three months of 2001.
THE FERRARI CRASHES IN SPAIN
A week ago Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello both had sizeable accidents during testing in Barcelona.
WALKINSHAW LOSES IN COURT (AGAIN)
The Court of Appeal in London has rejected the appeal by the Arrows Formula 1 team against a ruling in February last year that the team should pay Pedro Diniz $700,000 in compensation after it failed to convince a court that Diniz broke his contract with Arrows at the end of 1998.
WORK BEGINS AT LAGUNA SECA
The Laguna Seca racing circuit has started work on $15m upgrading program which will result in the circuit finally getting permanent garages with VIP hospitality suites above them and a brand new media center and race control building.
A CHANGE OF MANAGEMENT AT TOYOTA
There has been a change of management at Toyota Motorsport with Toshiro Kurusu replacing Ichiro Kowada as the Executive Vice President of Toyota Motorsport GmbH.
A SOCIAL MEETING?
BAR boss David Richards has recently had an hour-long cup of coffee with none other than Eddie Irvine, lead driver of Jaguar Racing.
EDDIE JORDAN GOES TO JAPAN
Eddie Jordan has flown off to Tokyo today for what are believed to be talks with the management of Honda.
ENCOURAGING TEST FOR JAGUAR
While there was much attention being paid to the departure of Steve Nichols, Pedro De la Rosa continued to test the new Jaguar R3 in Barcelona, with somewhat encouraging results.
NEW ARROWS RUNS
The new Arrows A23 was run for the first time at the Kemble airfield in Gloucestershire.
NICHOLS DUMPED BY JAGUAR RACING
Steve Nichols, the technical director of Jaguar Racing, has been dropped by the troubled racing team and while the news is not exactly a big surprise given the performance of the Jaguar-Cosworth R3 in recent tests, it is not going to make life any easier for the team as it tries to sort out the problems.
RUMORS BEGIN AS F1 ENGINEERS PLAY MUSICAL CHAIRS
Yesterday we hinted that there was about to be a reshuffle amongst some of the top engineers in F1 and rumors have already begun that Egbahl Hamidy is about to depart Jordan Grand Prix and may be replaced by Renault F1's Pat Symonds.
STEINER GETS TECHNICAL DIRECTOR ROLE
Gunther Steiner has been appointed technical director of Jaguar Racing to replace the departed Steve Nichols.
WHO GOES WHERE FROM PROST GP?
The liquidation of Prost Grand Prix will free up a number of team personnel to work with other Formula 1 teams. The team's managing-director Joan Villadelprat will be one man who should soon be snapped up.
WHO WILL REPLACE STEVE NICHOLS?
Jaguar's announcement that Steve Nichols has been dropped by the team was phrased in typically public relations waffle.
WILLIAMS AND RENAULT KICK OFF VALENCIA TEST
Williams and Renault began testing at the Valencia circuit on Monday in artificially wet conditions.
JAGUAR TESTS IN BARCELONA
Jaguar had the Circuit de Catalunya to themselves Saturday, but only managed 47 laps between two drivers and cars.
MELBOURNE TO BE CONFIRMED THIS WEEK?
The Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne is due to take place a month from now but the date remains provisional at the moment because of the legal implications that might exist in the report and recommendations of the Melbourne coroner.
NIKI LAUDA ONE YEAR ON
It is one year since Niki Lauda took over as head of the newly-created Premier Performance Division of the Ford Motor Company, his role being to run Jaguar Racing, Cosworth Racing and Pi Electronics.
SILVERSTONE COMES UP IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS
The British government says that it "does not anticipate that" the entire Silverstone by-pass will be finished in time for the British Grand Prix in July.
TECHNICAL DIRECTORS ON THE MOVE?
February is traditionally the time of year when a number of F1 technical directors have contracts which run out.
BRISCOE GETS MELBOURNE DRIVE
As we predicted a week ago, Australian rising star Ryan Briscoe will be racing a Ferrari sportscar at Albert Park in order to learn the race track in preparation for his F1 debut which is expected to take place in 2003.
KIRCH AND POLITICS
It is German election time and Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is looking at ways to hold off the challenge from Edmund Stoiber.
NEW MINARDI RUNNING AT IMOLA
The new KL Minardi-Asiatech PS02 made its first appearance on Friday with Alex Yoong doing the first shakedown runs at Imola.
REBUILDING WORK AT SUZUKA
Suzuka has long needed to be revamped.
STILL NO WORD FROM MELBOURNE CORONER
With less than a month to go now before the start of the Formula 1 World Championship in Australia, the race in Melbourne remains provisional on the F1 calendar pending the delivery of the Coroner's Report into the death of track marshal Graeme Beveridge during last year's race.
THE FUTURE OF MIKA HAKKINEN
Mika Hakkinen, taking a year's "sabbatical" from Grand Prix racing is waiting for the Australian Grand Prix to see how he feels when he is not at a Grand Prix track for the first time in years.
THE NEW ARROWS TO RUN ON MONDAY
Enrique Bernoldi is scheduled to test the first new Arrows-Cosworth A23s on Monday in England before the car is sent to Spain for more intensive tests.
ACTION AMONGST THE WILLIAMS SPONSORS
Williams's sponsor Compaq has gained clearance from the European Commission for the takeover of the firm by Hewlett-Packard.
CHELLO STRUGGLING
The cable company United Pan-Europe Communications, the parent company of Arrows sponsor Chello, has announced plans to pay off $7bn of debt by issuing new shares, thus diluting the existing shareholdings.
FORD GETS A NEW PROBLEM TO SOLVE
The Ford Motor Company is not having a good time at the moment.
GM GETS SERIOUS ABOUT LE MANS
General Motors launched its Cadillac Le Mans program two years ago to change the international image of the brand and to increase sales around the world.
SAUBER DELIGHTED AT TURN OF SPEED WITH NEW C21
The Sauber team was very confident at the launch of the new C21 that the car was going to be better than the 2001 car but testing in Barcelona has shown that the car is very impressive indeed.
TESTING CONTINUES IN BARCELONA
Antonio Pizzonia was the sole test driver for Williams on Friday in Barcelona, and, in 74 laps of the Circuit de Catalunya, the Brazilian out-paced the rest of the field by more than half a second in an FW23 fitted with the new BMW engine.
