NEWS ARCHIVE
RALF CONTINUES TO SIT OUT
The BMW WilliamsF1 Team today announced that Ralf Schumacher will not take part in the forthcoming Monza test nor the Italian Grand Prix on September 12.
MINARDI EXTEND COSWORTH DEAL FOR 2005
The Minardi F1 Team today announced an agreement with their current engine partner, Cosworth Racing, for the supply of power units in 2005.
JAGUAR TO SWITCH TO FORD BRANDING IN 2005
Jaguar Racing will be transformed next year into a Ford-branded F1 team, according to the latest word from the F1 paddock. There is a strong body of opinion at Ford that the company should benefit from the programme if it is spending all the money.
ARBITRATION BECKONS
There were several meetings at Spa involving parties who are interested in stopping the FIA from imposing new engine rules before the end of the Concorde Agreement in 2007.
FORMULA 1 AND DOFASCO
There was some excitement at Spa over the stories in circulation that Dallara has been commissioned to build a Formula 1 car for a new team which is aiming to enter the World Championship in 2006.
RACE REPORT - TO FINISH FIRST, FIRST BE FINNISH
Belgian GP - Race Report
SUNDAY PHOTOS
Belgian GP - Sunday Photos
SUNDAY PRESS CONFERENCE
Belgian GP - Sunday Press Conference
RACE INCIDENTS FROM SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS
Belgian GP - Race Incidents
RACE RESULTS
Belgian GP - Race Results
SATURDAY PHOTOS
Belgian GP - Saturday Photos
SATURDAY PRESS CONFERENCE
Belgian GP - Saturday Press Conference
QUALIFYING RESULTS
Belgian GP - Qualifying Results
PRACTICE 4 RESULTS
Belgian GP - Practice Session 4 Results
FRIDAY PHOTOS
Belgian GP - Friday Photos
FRIDAY PRESS CONFERENCE
Belgian GP - Friday Press Conference
PRACTICE 2 RESULTS
Belgian GP - Practice Session 2 Results
WHO IS BEHIND THE DALLARA F1 PROJECT?
The word on the street in F1 circles is that the new Dallara F1 car may have been commissioned by one of the Russian oligarchs.
PRACTICE 1 REPORT - DAVIDSON QUICKEST AT SPA
Belgian GP - Practice Session 1 Report
PRACTICE 1 RESULTS
Belgian GP - Practice Session 1 Results
DALLARA PLANNING A RETURN TO F1
We hear from Italy that the Dallara company is likely to return to the Formula 1 world in 2006 with a Formula 1 chassis having been commissioned by a mysterious investor.
HERBERT JOINS MASERATI
Johnny Herbert is to race the new Maserati GT car this year and was out testing with the car this week at Mugello in Italy, alongside Fabrizio De Simone, Mika Salo and Andrea Bertolini.
LIUZZI MEETS SAUBER
Vitantonio Liuzzi had a meeting with Peter Sauber on Thursday in Belgium and it is no surprise that the Italian, who is dominating the Formula 3000 title at the moment, is a strong contender for one of the Swiss team's seats in 2005.
PRESTON LEAVES WILLIAMS
The BMW Williams team has lost one of its top engineers, Tim Preston, who has been in charge of test engineering in recent years. Preston is a longtime Williams man, having joined the company in 1989 when he became a member of Adrian Newey's drawing office.
RALF SCHUMACHER TO TEST BEFORE MONZA?
Ralf Schumacher may test before the Italian Grand Prix although the German's involvement in testing will depend on whether or not he gets medical clearance from the FIA doctors.
WILLIAMS RUNS "TOBACCO FREE"
The BMW Williams team will be running this weekend with a new message on the side of its cars. The words "tobacco free" will be seen in the spot which is usually filled with NiQuitin CQ, the GlaxoSmithKline brand managers wanting to stor things up a bit to draw attention to the "smoking cessation brand",
THE QUESTION OF QUALIFYING
Tony Purnell, the boss of Ford's racing activities in Formula 1, recently came up with the idea of changing qualifying in Formula 1 in order to improve the show, without affecting the purity of the sport.
THE SQUEEZE ON TOBACCO TIGHTENS
The reliance of tobacco money in Formula 1 has reduced in recent years and will continue to reduce as the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the world's first international treaty on health, moves quietly towards being ratified.
BELGIAN GRAND PRIX PREVIEW
Belgian GP - Preview
KLIEN AND JAGUAR
There have been lots of rumours in recent days about the future of Christian Klien at Jaguar Racing but there does not seem to be very much logic being applied in any of them.
TRACY TO STAY IN CHAMP CARS
Paul Tracy has been rumoured to be on his way to NASCAR in 2005 but the Champ Car title-holder of 2003 looks like he is going to stay where he is.
WHY BERNOLDI?
The announcement that BAR-Honda is to test Enrique Bernoldi is interesting. The team needed an extra driver to do development work while Jenson Button and Takuma Sato are away in Asia and has picked Bernoldi, apparently because of his experience in F1.
JORDAN AND THE ARABS
There have been stories in recent days about the much-rumoured dealings between Jordan and the Al Maktoum family in Saudi Arabia.
MINARDI DELIVERS ON PRE-SEASON PROMISES
Paul Stoddart announced in Melbourne that he would be testing a variety of drivers in the course of the season and the Australian is to deliver on that undertaking with Australians Will Power and Will Davison, Portugal's Tiago Monteiro and Russian pay-driver Sergey Zlobin all due to run later this year.
MOTOR RACING AND THE OLYMPICS
Former Grand Prix driver Eddie Cheever was watching TV with his daughter the other day when they got into a fight over the remote control. She wanted to watch the Olympic Games and he wanted to watch automobile racing.
THE TOYOTA DRIVE
Although there is talk of three drivers still being in the running for the second Toyota drive next year, our sources continue to suggest that a deal is done with Jarno Trulli.
FRANCHITTI ADDS ANOTHER WIN
Dario Franchitti won the Indy Racing League race at Pikes Peak International Raceway at the weekend, his second consecutive victory and the Andretti Green Racing team's seventh win in 12 races.
THE BANKS WIN A MINOR SKIRMISH
The battle between the banks and Bernie Ecclestone for the control of SLEC, the Formula One group holding company was in the courts recently with a skirmish over whether or not the case can be heard at the High Court in London because of questions of jurisdiction.
BUTTON DOES NOT FLY
Jenson Button was due to race a BAR-Honda against a powerboat at London City Airport on Saturday, the stunt being organized by Britih American Tobacco
JAGUAR AND FORD
The rumour mill is never silent for long when it comes to the plans for Jaguar Racing in F1. The latest whisper is that there is a "strong possibility" that Jaguar's parent company Ford, will decide to get rid of the Jaguar branding.
WHY JACQUES VILLENEUVE HAS A PROBLEM
Jacques Villeneuve wants to come back to Formula 1 after a year sitting by the sidelines. This is a nice idea because Villeneuve can be a very exciting driver. The problem however is that while there is no shortage of talk about where Villeneuve could end up, there do not appear to be any serious offers.
ONWARD CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS
Former F1 racer Christian Fittipaldi is still a racer at heart even if his adventures in NASCAR have not been very successful. The 33-year-old did three years in F1 in the early 1990s before heading to America where he raced in CART for many years, winning two races and finishing runner-up at Indianapolis in 1995.
BRAZIL KICKS OUT SATO
The Brazilian authorities have struck a blow for freedom by banning Takuma Sato from entering the country because he did not have a visa.
JORDAN HAPPY WITH CHINESE - BUT WHO CARES?
The Jordan team yesterday announced a small sponsorship deal with the Shoulu-Huayuan Company, China's biggest property development company, which is promoting its latest upscale project, Beijing Chateau.
JORDAN GAINS CHINESE SPONSORSHIP
Jordan Grand Prix announced today an agreement with Shoulu-Huayuan Co. the largest property development company in China.
BRUNO SENNA TO COMPETE IN BMW UK CHAMPIONSHIP
Bruno Senna, the nephew of the late Ayrton Senna is set to compete this weekend in the Formula BMW UK Championship at the Brands Hatch circuit in Kent. Senna will be driving for top team Carlin Motorsport.
PURNELL'S GOOD IDEA
Ford's racing boss Tony Purnell has proposed an interesting and intelligent concept for Formula 1 qualifying which spices up the action without detracting from the purity of the sport. The concept is based on procedures which have worked very successfully in karting for many years.
SCHUMACHER JOINS THE FIGHT
Michael Schumacher says that the future of the sport is being disrupted by the ongoing fights between the Formula 1 team bosses and other decision-makers.
WHAT IS HAPPENING OUT THERE?
While the Formula 1 circus was achieving very little at vast expense in Budapest, there was action across the world in other racing with Indycar veteran Adrian Fernandez scoring his first win the Indy Racing League at the Kentucky Speedway. The Mexican driver-owner switched his team from Champ Cars early this year.
FORMULA 1 TAKES A HAMMERING
Formula 1 has come in for a fair chunk of bad press on Monday as newspapers reacted to the tedious race in Hungary on Sunday. The Times in London headlined its story "Schumacher's history lesson leaves Formula One yawning".
RACE REPORT - THE VALUE OF SYNCHRONISED SWIMMING
Hungarian GP - Race Report
SUNDAY PHOTOS
Hungarian GP - Sunday Photos
F1 TEAM BOSSES HAVE "WORST EVER" MEETING
The Formula 1 team principals met on Saturday in Budapest but were unable to agree on anything, a situation which led one of the number to describe the meeting as "the worst ever".
WILLIAMS AND NEWEY
The gossip mill was working a bit too much in Budapest with stories suggesting that Adrian Newey is to return to Williams in 2006. This is complete rubbish and seems to have been started to disrupt the team as it tries to fight back after a poor season.
SUNDAY PRESS CONFERENCE
Hungarian GP - Sunday Press Conference
RACE INCIDENTS FROM HUNGARORING
Hungarian GP - Race Incidents
RACE RESULTS
Hungarian GP - Race Results
SATURDAY PHOTOS
Hungarian GP - Saturday Photos
SATURDAY PRESS CONFERENCE
Hungarian GP - Saturday Press Conference
QUALIFYING RESULTS
Hungarian GP - Qualifying Results
PRACTICE 4 RESULTS
Hungarian GP - Practice Session 4 Results
PRACTICE 3 RESULTS
Hungarian GP - Practice Session 3 Results
COSWORTH RENEWS CHAMP CAR DEAL
Our sources in the United States are reporting that the stability of Cosworth Racing has been bolstered in recent days by a new agreement to supply engines to the Champ Cars series in 2005.
LIUZZI ON POLE - VAN DER MERWE OUT
Vitantonio Liuzzi continues to break records in Formula 3000 having secured another pole position in his Arden International entry at the Hungaroring. Liuzzi was on dominant from taking pole with assurance, despite the fact that his car shed its front wing at one point in qualifying.
LYONS LOOKS AT F1
Richard Lyons, the current leader of the Formula Nippon Championship in Japan, was in the paddock in Hungary, talking to teams about possible jobs in 2005. Lyons met with as many as eight different F1 teams.
FRIDAY PHOTOS
Hungarian GP - Friday Photos
FRIDAY PRESS CONFERENCE
Hungarian GP - Friday Press Conference
PRACTICE 2 RESULTS
Hungarian GP - Practice Session 2 Results
PRACTICE 1 REPORT - SCHUMACHER TOPS IN BUDAPEST
Hungarian GP - Practice Session 1 Report
PRACTICE 1 RESULTS
Hungarian GP - Practice Session 1 Results
HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX PREVIEW
Hungarian GP - Preview
CHAMP CARS FOR PUERTO RICO?
The latest word in America is that the Champ Car series could end its season with a race on the island of Puerto Rico.
A QUIET DAY FOR FORMULA 1
The Formula 1 circus pitched up in Budapest but there was little to report on Thursday with Jenson Button making no comment about the recent problems with BAR and Williams. David Coulthard said he was interested in joining BAR and that was about it. Behind the scenes however things are still moving along.
DA MATTA IN THE US
Cristiano da Matta was in the United States last weekend, attending the Champ Car race at Road America and the word on the street in US circles is that the Brazilian has the offer of a job in the series next year with Paul Newman, who is planning to run his own team in 2005.
HAS TRULLI SIGNED FOR TOYOTA?
While the Formula 1 spotlight is currently on Jenson Button, we are hearing suggestions from Germany that Toyota has now finalised its deal for next year with Jarno Trulli, our sources saying that the contract was signed at the start of the week.
BRISCOE'S GRANDAD RACED IN BUDAPEST
On Friday Ryan Briscoe will take to the circuit in Budapest in a Toyota Formula 1 car but it will not be the first time that someone from the Briscoe family has raced in Hungary.
BAR ASKS LEGAL QUESTIONS
British American Racing says that the dispute between Jenson Button and the team over the English driver's contract with Williams for 2005 and 2006 cannot go beyond the Contract Recognition Board. They argue that the Concorde Agreement signatories accept decisions made by the CRB
MINARDI DRAWS 60,000
The Minardi team pulled in 60,000 spectators on Monday in South Africa with its Altech South African F1x2 Charity Grand Prix at Kyalami. The event featured two 10-lap races between the fleet of Minardi two-seaters.
NISSANY MOVES TO FORMULA 3000
The 41-year-old Budapest-based Israeli driver Chanoch Nissany will make his F3000 debut in Hungary this weekend, replacing the Turkish driver Can Artam at Coloni Motorsport.
THE SPEEDWAY TO BE RESURFACED
Indianapolis Motor Speedway is currently closed as work begins on a resurfacing of the oval, the first since 1995. The $2m project will involve the removal of the old surface of the 2.5-mile oval with 36,500 tons of new asphalt being laid in its place.
BUTTON - BLOWING AWAY THE SMOKESCREENS
There has been a lot of weird and wonderful talk about what has been going on between Jenson Button, Williams and BAR and it is worth taking a look at the issues involved in an effort to throw some light on the likely development and outcome of the situation.
BAR-HONDA LOSES IN PARIS
BAR has lost its appeal against the decision of the German Grand Prix stewards to ban a software-controlled torque-transfer device which the team briefly tried out on Friday at Hockenheim.
A RESHUFFLE AT TOYOTA
There has been a big shake-up at Toyota Motorsport with the chief victims being the team manager Ange Pasquali and Norbert Kreyer.
MORE SILLINESS OVER BUTTON
There has been a further outbreak of madness today about the future of Jenson Button with BAR putting out a statement saying that the Contract Recognition Board has "acknowledged that as of today Jenson Button is the only valid contract registered for the 2005 season". This means nothing.
SOUTH AFRICANS PLAN GRAND PRIX BID
A South African consortium is bidding for a Grand Prix in 2007. David Gant of Parallel Media South Africa, a member of the consortium, says that a site near Cape Town's international airport has been picked out as the site of a new facility and that preliminary talks have been held with a number of private sector companies.
WHAT ARE THEY ALL ON ABOUT?
A great deal of rubbish is currently being said and written about Jenson Button's decision to switch from BAR-Honda to BMW Williams next season. BAR may have tried to claim the moral high ground by claiming that Button is breaking a contract but this has yet to be proven.
BOURDAIS PULLS AHEAD
Sebastien Bourdais has been the dominant force in Champ Car racing this year with four wins in seven races but in the eighth round of the series at Road America at the weekend the Frenchman was beaten by in a chaotic race by Alex Tagliani, who scored the first victory in the series for Paul Gentilozzi's Rocketsports Racing.
KOVALAINEN WINS AT LAUSITZ
Renault rising star Heikki Kovalainen scored two dominant wins in the Nissan World Series at the weekend at the Lausitzring.
WHY DUMPING BUTTON IS NOT SMART
BAR team bosses may want to drop Jenson Button for the rest of the year because of his decision to move to BMW Williams next year but this is not going to achieve a great deal.
IS THIS WHY BUTTON MOVED TO BMW WILLIAMS?
While the Fomula 1 press has been getting its knickers in a twist over whether or not Jenson Button should move to BMW Williams next year, Bernie Ecclestone has stepped up on to the moral high ground, telling The Daily Star that "morally Jenson has an obligation to stay" at BAR.
PREMAT IS THE BEST IN EUROPE
Alexandre Premat won the prestigious Marlboro Masters in Zandvoort at the weekend for the ASM Formule 3 team. Premat took advantage of a mistake by his team mate Eric Salignon, who spun while leading the race.
BUTTON AND WILLIAMS
The announcement that Jenson Button has gone to BMW Williams in 2005 and 2006 has come as a huge surprise for everyone in Formula 1 even, it seems, team boss Frank Williams.
MEANWHILE IN FINLAND
World Rally Championship commercial boss David Richards was due to show up for the latest event in the series and, by pure coincidence, one of his guests for the weekend is a local motor racing type by the name of Mika Hakkinen.
WILLIAMS EXPLAINS THE DEAL
Sir Frank Williams has been explaining what happened to allow him to get Jenson Button as a BMW Williams driver in 2005 and 2006.
THE BATTLES OF THE BABIES?
This weekend at Zandvoort the talk will be of genetics as Nico Rosberg, the son of 1982 World Champion Keke Rosberg, takes on Nelson Piquet Jr, the son of three-time World Champion Nelson Piquet at the 14th annual Marlboro Masters Formula 3 race.
BAR SAYS BUTTON UNDER CONTRACT IN 2005
BAR has issued a statement making it clear that it believes that Jenson Button is under contract for 2005.
MORE PAIN FOR THE TOBACCO BARONS
The US tobacco industry is now in the sixth year of its 25-year deal with the majority of the state governments in the USA to pay $206bn as a settlement for legal actions over the cost of medical treatment of smokers. Now it seems the US Federal Government is mounting a new attack on tobacco.
POLITICKING WITH THE BLAZERS
Max Mosley might want to stand for re-election in October 2005. An interview with the 64-year-old FIA President in F1 Racing magazine quotes Mosley as saying that he had no intention of such a thing but that "there's significant pressure from all sides of the FIA saying I should."
BAR - NOW WHAT?
The loss of Jenson Button is going to be a massive blow to BAR-Honda ambitions and the team atmosphere in the team is obviously not going to be very good for the rest of the year.
WILLIAMS SIGNS BUTTON FOR 2005
24-year-old Jenson Button has signed a contract to drive for Williams-BMW in 2005 and 2006.
ANTONIO PIZZONIA FOR BMW WILLIAMS
Williams has confirmed that Antonio Pizzonia is going to be Ralf Schumacher's replacement for the Hungarian Grand prix and probably for the Belgian GP as well.
DA MATTA GOES
As we exclusively reported yesterday, Panasonic Toyota Racing has dropped Cristiano da Matta and will replace him with third driver Ricardo Zonta with immediate effect. The team confirmed the move in a press release earlier today.
NO RALF? NO SURPRISE
Ralf Schumacher will miss at least two more Grands Prix despite his recent comments on a visit to the German Grand Prix. The German said that he wanted to be back in F1 at the Hungarian Grand Prix but that was never likely given that he needs to be passed fit by FIA doctors.
SCHECKTER AT KYALAMI
The 1979 World Champion Jody Scheckter will be attending the forthcoming Altech South African F1x2 Charity Grand Prix at Kyalami as one of the additional attractions for the event, which will feature a race between Minardi's eighth two-seater F1 cars.
WHAT IS THIS TORQUE TRANSFER BUSINESS?
During the Friday testing for the German Grand Prix Lucky Strike BAR Honda ran its spare car fitted with a software-controlled hydraulic system which allows torque transfer from one front wheel to the another.
RIO TO HOST BRAZILIAN GRAND PRIX IN 2006?
The word on the street in Brazil is that Rio de Janeiro will host the Brazilian Grand Prix in 2006. The Interlagos circuit in Sao Paulo has been the venue of the Brazilian Grand Prix since 1990 but prior to that the race was held for nine years at the Jacarepagua track, outside Rio de Janeiro.
ZONTA IN FOR DA MATTA?
We are getting reports in from Brazil and from Germany that Panasonic Toyota Racing's Cristiano da Matta will not be seen in the team again this year and that his place will be taken in the races ahead by the team's third driver Ricardo Zonta.
NEW YORK SALUTES MARIO ANDRETTI
Mario Andretti will be Grand Marshal of New York City's 60th Columbus Day Parade on October 11. Columbus Day is a national holiday which remembers the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus in 1492.
DAVID COULTHARD AND JAGUAR RACING
There has been speculation for months that David Coulthard might be the perfect man to replace Mark Webber at Jaguar Racing in 2005 but our sources in the team said that there was no chance of that deal happening as the team was not willing to pay a lot of money for a star driver.
PANIS SAYS NEW TOYOTA IS ON THE PACE
Mike Gascoyne's arrival at Toyota earlier this year was the beginning of a revamp at the Cologne team which will bear full fruit when the F105 appears next year but in the interim the feisty Gascoyne set to work to do what he could to improve the performance of the F104.
THE IRL GOES ROAD RACING
The Indy Racing League will feature road courses next year with two non-oval events planned for the 16-race calendar next year. The IRL will race at Sears Point in California on August 28 and at Watkins Glen in New York State on September 25.
THE NEW WORLD OF TOBACCO ADVERTISING?
It is worth noting that the State of Qatar in the Arabian Gulf has become the latest nation to ratify the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, an international treaty which seeks to ban all tobacco sponsorship in sport.
BAR APPEALS
British American Racing has appealed against the decision of the FIA Stewards at Hockenheim to ban the team from using an "electro-hydraulic software controlled device which connects the front wheels via drive shafts and allows controlled torque transfer from a faster wheel to a slower wheel even under braking".
MEANWHILE, SOMEWHERE ELSE
Although Formula 1 is now on holiday for a few days, a lot of other racing series have been busy around the world with the Indy Racing League in action at Michigan International Speedway, Formula Nippon at Sugo, the Eurocup Formula 3 teams busy at the Nurburgring, and the Renault V6 Eurocup at Spa.
JORDAN AND THE AL MAKTOUM FAMILY
The Sunday Times in London reported at the weekend that Eddie Jordan has agreed terms to sell his team to the Dubai royal family. Our understanding is that the deal has been agreed but will not be completed for a couple of months while the financial details of the arrangement are sorted out.