NEWS ARCHIVE
QUALIFYING REPORT - FERRARI FERVOUR DAMPENED IN CHINA
Ferrari's hopes of winning the Chinese Grand Prix took a serious hit on Saturday in Shanghai with a damp track giving Michelin a major performance advantage over rival Bridgestone.
SATURDAY PHOTOS
Chinese GP - Saturday Photos
WILLIAMS BUILDING UP AERO DEPARTMENT
The Williams team is moving to improve its weakness this year with a major recruitment in the aerodynamics department, expanding Loic Bigois's team with the addition of Renault F1's Jon Tomlinson, who has been working in recent years with the aerodynamic team at Enstone.
SATURDAY PRESS CONFERENCE
Chinese GP - Saturday Press Conference
SATURDAY TEAM QUOTES
Chinese GP - Saturday Team Quotes
AMD LOOKING FOR PARTNERS FOR F1 SURVEY
AMD is looking to expand its annual Formula 1 survey to help the fans get what they want from the sport. The computer chip company has been involved in two surveys to date but wants to widen the research in order to publicise things that need to be done
QUALIFYING RESULTS
Chinese GP - Qualifying Results
SPYKER SIGNS A FERRARI DEAL
The Spyker MF1 Team has signed an engine supply agreement with Ferrari. This means that unless Cosworth Racing can do a deal to supply engines to one of the two Red Bull teams, the Northampton company will be out of Formula 1.
PRACTICE 3 REPORT - A GREY DAY IN SHANGHAI (AGAIN)
Michael Schumacher set the fastest time of a damp morning session on Saturday in Shanghai. The track was drying as the session went on and in the scramble at the end of the session there was plenty of action, including an off for Michael himself.
PRACTICE 3 RESULTS
Chinese GP - Practice 3 Results
BARRICHELLO WINS LEGAL ACTION
Rubens Barrichello has won an interesting legal action in Brazil against the web community orkut.com, a by-invitation chat room offered by Google on which people publish their opinions on whatever subject they choose.
PRACTICE 2 REPORT - A GREY DAY IN SHANGHAI
The weather in Shanghai has not been good today and during the second practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix there was rain at the Shanghai International Circuit, although not enough to disrupt the times to any great extent.
FRIDAY PHOTOS
Chinese GP - Friday Photos
NO AGREEMENT ON SHARING NEW CARS
Super Aguri F1 has been negotiating for some months now in the hope that all of the Formula 1 teams would agree to change the Concorde Agreement to allow it to use cars built by the Honda F1 team in 2007.
BRAWN COY AS HONDA REJECTS RUMOURS OF A RECRUITMENT
Ferrari technical director Ross Brawn knows what he is doing next year - but he's not telling.
A BIG CHANGE AT A1 GRAND PRIX
There were signs a few days ago that all was not well within the management of A1 Grand Prix when a calendar appeared with no mention of a race in Dubai - where the series was dreamed up by Sheikh Maktoum Hasher Maktoum Al-Maktoum.
MASSA TO DROP 10 PLACES ON THE GRID
Felipe Massa will drop 10 places on the grid in Shanghai as the result of an engine change on Friday. This will mean that Massa will probably not be in a strong position to help Michael Schumacher in his quest to win a final World Championship.
FRIDAY PRESS CONFERENCE
Chinese GP - Friday Press Conference
ALL CHANGE AT THE GPDA
The Grand Prix Drivers Association Ltd has had a complete change of leadership with David Coulthard, Michael Schumacher and Jarno Trulli stepping down as directors to be replaced by Ralf Schumacher (who will be chairman), Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber.
FRIDAY TEAM QUOTES
Chinese GP - Friday Team Quotes
PRACTICE 2 RESULTS
Chinese GP - Practice 2 Results
ON THE BLACK MARKET
Formula 1 in China has an unusual problem, according to reports in the China Daily newspaper. People in China want to see the Formula 1 racing but the tickets are so expensive that they cannot afford to buy them.
PIZZONIA TO TRY GP2
Antonio Pizzonia is to test for Fisichella Motor Sport in GP2. The 25-year-old Brazilian driver still wants to rebuild an F1 career although he will then be heading off to Australia where he is due to race for the Rocketsport Champ Car team at the race in Surfers' Paradise.
ALBERS RE-SIGNS WITH SPYKER MF1
There is no big surprise in the announcement that Christijan Albers has re-signed for the Spyker MF1 team for next year.
THE NON-LOGIC OF CALENDARS
The calendars of Champ Car and the Indy Racing League have now been released and they create a number of strange date clashes with each other and with Formula 1.
PRACTICE 1 REPORT - WURZ ON TOP
Alexander Wurz led the way in the first practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix although 11 of the 24 regular drivers did not set a representative time, preferring to keep their engines fresh.
PRACTICE 1 RESULTS
Chinese GP - Practice 1 Results
DETROIT GRAND PRIX TO RETURN?
Motor sport is set to return to the streets of Detroit, the capital of the American motor industry, for the first time since 2001. Motor City has hosted races since the early 1980s when Formula 1 raced on the streets around the Renaissance Center.
VERSTAPPEN DROPS OUT OF ZANDVOORT
Jos Verstappen has dropped out of the opening round of the A1 Grand Prix Series at Zandvoort - a major blow for the race organisers, who had used the former F1 driver to draw in huge crowds of Dutch fans.
GET THEM YOUNG AND TRAIN THEM
The FIA-CIK and the FIA Institute is to launch an anti-drug campaign entitled "Race True" at the forthcoming World Karting Championship meeting at Angerville, in France.
JOHNNY GO LATELY
Johnny Herbert has spent the recent months trying to put a gloss on the face of the MF1 Racing team, using his "cheeky chappy" charm to offset the rather more dour presence of chief executive Colin Kolles and absentee owner Alex Shnaider.
KARTHIKEYAN'S DEAL WITH WILLIAMS LENGTHENED
Williams has extended Narain Karthikeyan's deal as a test driver, thus ensuring not only interest but in the team but also sponsorship from India's Tata, the country's biggest conglomerate of companies, which is involved in a multitude of different businesses.
THE POWER OF AN ACCIDENT
Motor racing is all about getting in the newspapers and it seems that sometimes it is not really important how that is achieved. Michael Schumacher was recently revealed to be the most popular driver in F1, despite all his obvious faults.
THURSDAY PRESS CONFERENCE
Chinese GP - Thursday Press Conference
INFINEON BRIBE CASE BRINGS JAIL TERM
Sponsorship agent Udo Schneider has been sentences to four years in jail for his role in a bribery case related to a sponsorship deal he arranged with the German computer chip manufacturer Infineon.
LOEB BREAKS HIS ARM
World Rally Champion Sebastian Loeb has been pretty much unbeatable in recent years with his Citroen but on Wednesday, Loeb did not help his cause when he crashed while riding a mountain bike in Switzerland and broke his arm.
MONTOYA'S STOCK CAR DEBUT FIXED
Juan Pablo Montoya will make his stock car debut in a round of the ARCA Remax Series at Talladega in Alabama on Friday October 6. The Colombian former F1 driver will appear at the wheel of a Texaco/Havoline Dodge.
TURKEY STRUGGLES TO PAY ITS FINE
Turkish Grand Prix organisers are saying that the $5m fine imposed by the FIA is too heavy a burden and that the race cannot afford to pay. In explaining the problem, the circuit manager Baran Asena told Autosport that the race had lost $5m in 2005.
GERMAN GP TO ALTERNATE CIRCUITS
An agreement has been reached between the Nurburgring and Hockenheim circuits to alternate the German Grand Prix
HITZINGER GETS DUAL RED BULL ROLE
German engineer Alex Hitzinger has been appointed as the technical director of Scuderia Toro Rosso and at the same time has been named as the head of advanced technologies for Red Bull F1, a move that indicates that there is a convergence going on between the two teams
RED BULL CONFIRMS AMMERMULLER
As we predicted some time ago, Red Bull Racing will be running GP2 driver Michael Ammermuller in its third car in the two Asian races. Although he was very successful in Formula renault last year, Ammermuller has struggled in GP2 this season but hopes to do better next season.
FIA SURVEY RESULTS
The FIA has announced the results of its latest survey, conducted in league with AMD. The federation's press statement said that 91,000 fans (about the same last year) took part in the survey and that 66% of these fans thought the reintroduction of tyre changes was an improvement.
ACTION AROUND THE WORLD, PART II
The Elkhart Lake Champ Car event witnessed one other important result which we omitted to mention yesterday. Team Australia's Simon Pagenaud claimed the Champ Car Atlantic Championship when his championship rival Graham Rahal retired with an electrical problem after six laps.
CHAMP CAR COMING BACK TO EUROPE
The Champ Car World Series is to host two races in Europe next year, one the road circuits of Assen in Holland and Oschersleben in Germany. The news will be confirmed as soon as the necessary contractual work is completed.
LEGGE WALKS AWAY UNHURT
Katherine Legge, the British girl who is racing this year in Champ Car, walked away from a collosal accident at Road America at the weekend when the rear wing fell off her car.
ACTION AROUND THE WORLD
Mike Conway wrapped up the British Formula 3 Championship at the weekend at Silverstone to give the Raikkonen Robertson Racing organisation its first title. Conway won the title with a dominant display which saw two pole positions, two race wins and two fastest laps.
DA MATTA GOES HOME
Former Toyota F1 driver Cristiano da Matta has returned to his home in Miami having been released from the Theda Clark Medical Centre in Neenah, Wisconsin, where he has been for the last seven weeks, since colliding with a deer during testing at Elkhart Lake.
F1 VETERAN RECOVERS
Former Le Mans winner, F1 racer and automotive journalist Paul Frere is in hospital following a serious road accident while road testing a Honda Civic Type-R on country roads in Germany.
MONTOYA TO GO TESTING TOMORROW
Juan Pablo Montoya has been released from his McLaren contract and is now free to begin preparation work for his NASCAR Nextel Cup programme next year. NASCAR team owner Chip Ganassi intends to get into action straight away and will run Montoya on Monday in an Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) car
TV DEAL GOING DOWN?
There are whispers in F1 circles that a big deal is being discussed that could result in Formula 1 TV rights for several countries to be bundled together for a single broadcaster.
BRIDGESTONE BIDS TO STAY IN THE LIMELIGHT
For some weeks now Bridgestone has been pushing for the idea that Formula 1 teams should be allowed to have a choice two different tyre compounds at races in the future - with the fans able to tell the difference by use of coloured sidewalls, a system that is currently being used in Champ Car racing.
TURKEY TO APPEAL?
The word is that the organisers of the Turkish Grand Prix are to appeal the $5m penalty handed down earlier this week by the FIA World Council. It is not clear whether an appeal is possible but Turkish newspapers are arguing that the problem is being handled by no less a figure than Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin.
SUZUKA TOLD THAT NO RACE POSSIBLE IN 2007
The Suzuka Circuit has told the Reuters newsagency that it will not be hosting a race in 2007.
CVC LOOKING FOR MORE CASH
CVC Capital Partners Ltd - the venture capital company that owns the Formula One group - is seeking $5.1bn in order to re-establish itself as the biggest leveraged buy-out firm in Europe.
SAUBER CONTRADICTS FONTANA
Peter Sauber says that F1 driver Norberto Fontana's claim that he was ordered by Ferrari to block Jacques Villeneuve at the 1997 championship finale at Jerez is not true.
THE PLOT THICKENS
The mysterious Formula 1 payment that ended up funding the FIA Foundation and secured the commercial rights to F1 for 100 years continues to provide plenty of interest in F1 circles.
TROUBLES IN HUNGARY
The Hungarian government, a staunch supporter of Formula 1, is under pressure at the moment, following the publication of tapes in which Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany said that he and his Socialist party had lied to the electorate in order to win the general election held earlier this year.
A1 EXPANDS WITH GREECE AND SINGAPORE
The A1 Grand Prix Series kicks off at Zandvoort in Holland on October 1, with a second race planned a week later at Brno in the Czech Republic. The series has had some changes over the winter with the withdrawal of the Austrian, Japanese, Portuguese and Russian teams but has signed by Greece, Turkey and Singapore.
MYSTERY SURROUNDS F1 LOAN LAW SUIT
The mystery of the $300m legal action against the Formula One group, filed by Swiss finance company Kamos-Finanz has raised much interest in Formula 1 circles.
SPYKER MF1 REVEALS THIRD DRIVER ROSTER
Spyker MF1 has named its test drivers for the next three races with Alexandre Premat appearing in China, Adrian Sutil in Japan and Ernesto Viso in Brazil. The team is continuing to test other drivers at the moment and ran Adrian Valles yesterday and will be running Ronnie Quintarelli today.
THE TRUTH WILL OUT?
Nine years after the World Championship showdown at Jerez in 1997, the then Sauber driver Norberto Fontana has decided to tell the story of what happened to him during that highly-charged weekend.
PREMAT GETS SPYKER IN CHINA
Frenchman Alexandre Premat will be the Spyker MF1 third driver for the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai. Premat will test for the team at Silverstone tomorrow.
SPYKER GOES ORANGE
The Spyker MF1 team will be running in orange and grey livery from now on. The switch in colour scheme comes after the purchase of the team by a Dutch consortium and will mean that the cars are now much more easy to distinguish than they have been in the past.
TURKS FINED ONLY $5M
The FIA World Motor Sport Council has fined the national sporting authority of Turkey (TOSFED) and the organisers of the Turkish Grand Prix (MSO) a total of $5m as a result of the incident at the recent Turkish Grand Prix.
WHY TOYOTA HAS AN F1 OPERATION
According to reports in Japan, Toyota will soon announce plans to increase its overseas production by 40% by 2008. If all goes to plan the company will be manufacturing 9.1m cars a year, five million of them in foreign factories.
BUTTON TO COMPETE IN THE RACE OF CHAMPIONS
Jenson Button is to take part in the Race of Champions, scheduled to take place on December 16 at the Stade de France in Paris. Button will represent England while regular RoC name David Coulthard will once again be present, representing Scotland alongside rallying star Colin McRae.
A NEW STAR, AND SO NEW AMBITIONS
With Poland delighting in the success of Robert Kubica, there are plans for a Formula 1 standard race track in the country. The city of Gdansk, on the Baltic coast, is talking about making a huge investment to build a modern F1 facility and the local authorities have even picked a site near the town of Straszyn
STAGE SET FOR A NEW CONCORDE AGREEMENT
The agreements made in Paris yesterday between the FIA, the Formula 1 teams and the Grand Prix Manufacturers' Association have moved the sport a little further towards a final settlement that will lay the foundations for the next Concorde Agreement.
F1 DEAL-MAKING IN PARIS
The FIA has announced that it is planning to push back the introduction of its planned aerodynamic regulations from 2008 to 2009 to allow more research into the subject. previously the FIA had been insisting that teams would have to use the CDG" rear wing idea.
TURKEY SHOOT IN THE PLACE DE LA CONCORDE?
Today is the day when the FIA World Council will decide what to do about the Turkish Grand Prix podium business with a special session to hear representatives of national sporting authority TOSFED and the race promoter MSO.
VISO AND SPYKER MF1
The third Midland F1 has been a bit of a rent-a-car this year with a series of different youngsters having a go in the car. Giorgio Mondini has appeared nine times, Markus Winkelhock four and Adrian Sutil twice.
AROUND THE WORLD
With the Formula 1 teams not racing last weekend, the biggest event taking place was the NASCAR Nextel Cup race at the New Hampshire International Speedway where Kavin Harvick of Richard Childress Racing winning the first event that counts towards this year's Chase to the Cup.
PANIS LEAVES F1 AS MONTAGNY PREPARES TO JOIN TOYOTA
Olivier Panis is retiring from Formula 1 after 12 years in the business and Toyota is to replace him and Ricardo Zonta with France's Franck Montagny.
BRIGHT IDEAS ON THE BLACK SEA
The Black Sea coastline has long been a favourite place for people to take their holidays and as the countries bordering the Black Sea open up to western ideas, so ambitions are beginning to grow.
PAY BACK TIME FOR FORMULA ONE
The latest reports of the Formula One group of companies has revealed that there is a law suit against one of the companies (SLEC) and against the Ecclestone Family holding company Bambino, relating to a loan of $235m made five years ago by the Swiss banking firm of Kamos-Finanz.
RAYMOND BAXTER
The former BBC motor racing commentator Raymond Baxter has died at the age of 84.
ANOTHER SURVEY
The FIA has contacted us to point out that the F1total.com survey about perceptions of manipulation and fairness in F1 is not the only such survey available and that we should take others into account if we are to be totally fair. This is a good point.
THE CASH COW MOOS
The latest accounts of Formula One Administration (FOA), covering the year 2005, have revealed a pre-tax profit of $435m, up from $413m the previous year. The turnover increased from $705m to $787m, an increase of more than 10%.
RENAULT AND RED BULL
As we predicted two days ago, Renault has announced a deal to supply engines to Red Bull GmbH in 2007 and 2008. The Austrian drinks company has yet to confirm which team will use which engines as the company also has an engine deal in 2007 with Ferrari.
THE DANGER OF PERCEPTIONS
The FIA has issued a clarification to the Formula 1 teams, regarding the way in which the question of blocking in qualifying is handled. This effectively gives more power to race director Charlie Whiting.
NEW FACES ON THE F1 BOARD
The Formula One has taken another step towards becoming a more traditional company by announcing the appointment of two serious international businessmen to the board of Alpha Topco Ltd, the holding company of the business.
FIAT CONFIRMS FERRARI BUY-BACK
Fiat has confirmed that it is in the process of spending around $800m to buy back 29% of Ferrari. Fiat chief executive Sergio Marchione says that he hopes to have the deal completed by the end of the month.
GLOCK AND BMW?
Rumours from Hinwil suggest that we could be seeing a new test driver in the third BMW in the last three races of the season. Sebastian Vettel has done a very impressive job in recent events.
THE CASE FOR LEWIS HAMILTON
Lewis Hamilton won the GP2 series in emphatic style this year. For the first half of the year the ART team seemed to have an advantage but Hamilton blitzed his more experienced team mate Alexandre Premat much more than Nico Rosberg did in 2005, when Premat and Rosberg had the same level of experience.
NEW BARRIERS USED AT MONZA
The FIA might not have done itself many favours at Monza last weekend, but it is now keen to put a more positive spin on the weekend with the announcement that it used a new "High Speed Safety Barrier" for the first time.
RED BULL AND RENAULT
It will shortly be announced that Red Bull GmbH has signed an engine supply deal with Renault for a supply of Formula 1 engines for 2007 and beyond.
A WORD OF WARNING TO THOSE IN SEARCH OF SPONSORSHIP
The large amounts of money that move around in motor racing circles have been known to attract a range of people, from those who are happy to cut a few corners to others who see the potential for a sting. We hear on the Formula 1 grapevine that a rather nasty sting is being perpetrated at the moment.
A PLACE FOR F1 IN ALABAMA?
The Alabama Gulf Coast is not a big area but its white sand beaches and clear waters are popular with the locals, who flock to the beaches in the summer months. The area is not as well known as the nearby resort cities of Biloxi, Missipippi and Pensacola, Florida, but the locals think that there is a lot of potential.
JANI GOING TO AMERICA
Christian Klien's decision not to accept the offer of a Red Bull-sponsored Champ Car drive in 2007 with Kevin Kalhoven's PKV Racing has opened the way for Scuderia Toro Rosso test driver Neel Jani to head off to America, where he hopes he will finally get his name in lights and use success in America to return one day to F1.
RED BULL RUNNING THREE IN JEREZ
Red Bull Racing is going to have an interesting time in Jerez this week, following the departure of Christian Klien. The team will be running his replacement Robert Doornbos, the likely third driver Michael Ammermueller and, curiously, Tonio Liuzzi of Scuderia Toro Rosso.
RACE REPORT - SCHUMACHER'S HIGH AND GOODBYE
The 2006 Italian Grand Prix was an extraordinary Formula 1 event. Not because the racing was good but rather for other reasons. It was, in truth, a rather bad-natured meeting with Renault getting hot and bothered about a very dubious FIA decision after qualifying.
AMMERMUELLER GETS THE RED BULL GIG?
GP2 driver Michael Ammermueller could get the Red Bull racing test drive fror the last three races of the year, but if that is going to happen he is going to need to sort out a superlicense in the course of the next few days.
KLIEN OUT, DOORNBOS IN AT RED BULL RACING
As we revealed last night, Christian Klien has departed Red Bull Racing and will be replaced in the final three races of the year by Dutchman Robert Doornbos. It has not yet been revealed who will be the team's third driver in China, Japan and Brazil.
STODDART MULLS OVER THE FUTURE
Paul Stoddart says that he is now in a position to enter Champ Car next year but has yet to convince himself that he wants to spend his life flying backwards and forwards across the Atlantic.
F1 TEAMS PLAN ALTERNATIVE TO FIA CDG REAR WING
The Formula 1 teams are planning to propose an alternative solution to the FIA's Central Downwash Generating rear wing.
GPDA OUTLINES ITS PROBLEMS WITH MONZA
The Grand Prix Drivers Association, which represents 27 of the current F1 drivers and test drivers, has issued a statement to clarify its position with regard to the Autodromo Nazionale at Monza.
RACE NOTES - SCHUMACHER WINS ITALIAN GP
Italian GP - Race Notes
HORNISH WINS IRL TITLE ON COUNTBACK
Dan Wheldon won the final Indy Racing League race of the season for Target Chip Ganassi Racing, beating his team mate Scott Dixon at Chicagoland ahead of Penske rivals Sam Hornish Jr and Helio Castroneves.
KLIEN OUT AT RED BULL RACING
As darkness was falling at Monza on Sunday evening the word in the pitlane was that we will not be seeing Christian Klien again in a Red Bull-Ferrari. We hear that the Austrian youngster told his mechanics that he would not be back in China and that opens up some interesting possibilities for the team.
SUNDAY PHOTOS
Italian GP - Sunday Photos
SUNDAY PRESS CONFERENCE
Italian GP - Sunday Press Conference
SUNDAY TEAM QUOTES
Italian GP - Sunday Team Quotes
RACE INCIDENTS
Italian GP - Race Incidents
RACE RESULTS
Italian GP - Race Results
ALONSO DAMNS F1
Fernando Alonso and Flavio Briatore have spoken out about the penalty that pushed Fernando down to 10th on the grid.
VALLES TO TEST FOR SPYKER MF1
GP2 driver Adrian Valles will test for Spyker MF1 Racing at Silverstone on September 19 and 20.
QUALIFYING REPORT - A SYMBOLIC MOMENT
The Formula 1 world believes that Michael Schumacher will announce his retirement from Formula 1 on Sunday and by doing so will make way for Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari.
FIA KICKS ALONSO BACK TO 10TH
The FIA Stewards have ruled that Fernando Alonso impeded Felipe Massa in the qualifying session at Monza. As a result of this the Spaniard's best three qualifying laps have been removed and that means that he drops to 10th on the grid.
MIDLAND SELLS MF1 RACING TO SPYKER
Spyker Cars has finally confirmed the acquisition of Midland F1 Racing. The new team will be called Spyker MF1 Racing and will be a 100% subsidiary of Spyker.
RENAULT AND TORO ROSSO
Seen visiting the Toro Rosso offices in Monza on Saturday night were two Renault engine men - and indication that we may be seeing the French V8 engines in the back of the Italian cars next year, leaving Red Bull Racing to spend another year with Ferraris.
LEWIS HAMILTON IS GP2 CHAMPION!
The FIA stewards have been very busy this evening at Monza with the question of whether to punish Fernando Alonso for his incident with Felipe Massa in the dying seconds of the F1 qualifying session on Saturday.
SATURDAY PHOTOS
Italian GP - Saturday Photos
MORE ON SPYKER MF1
The Spyker MF1 team will be announced at 7pm European time when the Dutch consortium will give details of the sale of the team by Alex Shnaider. The name Spyker MF1 has been chosen because of the stipulations in the Concorde Agreement
GABRIELE TREDOZI LEAVES TORO ROSSO
The takeover of Minardi by Red Bull was always going to lead to staff changes at the Italian team as the plan from the start was for Scuderia Toro Rosso to have its chassis designed by Red Bull Racing in England (when that becomes legal in 2008).
ADVANTAGE HAMILTON
Giorgio Pantano might have won the GP2 race on Saturday at Monza but all eyes were on the fight behind him as Nelson Piquet Jr and Lewis Hamilton circulated in close company, Hamilton pressuring Piquet in the hope that the Brazilian would make a mistake.
SATURDAY PRESS CONFERENCE
Italian GP - Saturday Press Conference
SATURDAY TEAM QUOTES
Italian GP - Saturday Team Quotes
QUALIFYING RESULTS
Italian GP - Qualifying Results
PRACTICE 3 REPORT - MASSA ON TOP
Felipe Massa set the fastest time of the morning session on Saturday, setting a lap that was nearly four-tenths of a second ahead of Nick Heidfeld's BMW Sauber.
PRACTICE 3 RESULTS
Italian GP - Practice 3 Results
DRIVERS WANT WORK AT MONZA
Formula 1 drivers want work done at Monza to improve safety at the Autodromo Nazionale. This creates a number of problems as the circuit runs very close to the outer wall of the park and increasing run-off would involve going outside the parkland area.
MIDLAND SOLD
The Midland F1 team has been sold to the Dutch-Arab consortium led by Michiel Mol.
PRACTICE 2 REPORT - MORE PR FROM BMW
Sebastian Vettel is clearly a man that BMW want to use in the future as the Munich firm has been very carefully building up the youngster's profile in F1 with a series of good results in practice sessions in Turkey and now in Italy.
FRIDAY PHOTOS
Italian GP - Friday Photos
FRIDAY PRESS CONFERENCE
Italian GP - Friday Press Conference
FRIDAY TEAM QUOTES
Italian GP - Friday Team Quotes
F1 TEAMS FLOCK TO MONACO FORUM
All 11 current Formula 1 teams have confirmed their intention to participate at the 2006 Motor Sport Business Forum - and they will be joined by the sport's future 12th team Prodrive, represented by chief executive David Richards.
PRACTICE 2 RESULTS
Italian GP - Practice 2 Results
PRACTICE 1 REPORT - A QUIET MORNING AT MONZA
The Formula 1 teams arrived at Monza with a lot on their collective minds. The engines that will be used this weekend are the ones that will be frozen for use in 2007 and 2008 and so many of the engine-makers had decided to take risks.
PRACTICE 1 RESULTS
Italian GP - Practice 1 Results
PETER BROCK
Peter Brock, Australia's biggest motor racing star for the last 30 years, has been killed in a rallying accident in Western Australia. The 61-year-old was driving a 1964 AC Cobra Daytona Coupe on the Targa West in Western Australia.
THURSDAY PRESS CONFERENCE
Italian GP - Thursday Press Conference
MORE ABOUT MICHAEL
Michael Schumacher's manager Willi Weber has told the German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur that a decision has been made about Schumacher's future. Inevitably, Weber will not talk about the decision and Michael Schumacher is refusing to even talk about the subject.
ITALIAN GOVERNMENT CONFIRMS IMOLA CASH
The plans have been in place for some time but the Italian government has now confirmed that it will be providing $13m for work at Autodromo Enzo & Dino Ferrari and that work will begin in October and be completed by March.
A RAINY WEEKEND AT MONZA?
Weather forecasting is a famously imprecise art but at the moment the meteorologists are suggesting that this weekend's Italian Grand Prix will be troubled by rain at various points during the weekend.
SPYKER AND FERRARI
As we reported a fortnight ago, the news that Spyker is negotiating for Ferrari engines for the Midland F1 team in 2007 should not come as a surprise.
A HEADACHE FOR ADRIAN NEWEY
When he is not banging himself on the head while having accidents racing old sports cars, Red Bull Racing's Adrian Newey is worrying about next year's RB3 Formula 1 car.
KOVALAINEN BUT NO SPONSORSHIP
Renault's announcement that Heikki Kovalainen will join Giancarlo Fisichella next year with the addition of two new test drivers and the news that Flavio Briatore will stay or for two more years has obscured one important fact: the team does not have a title sponsor for next season.
SUNDAY - A BIG DAY FOR MICHAEL?
We suggested a month ago that Michael Schumacher was on the verge of retiring and while that suggestion was knocked down by a number of sources at the time, there is now increasing speculation that Schumacher will announce his retirement at the Italian Grand Prix this weekend.
STEPPING INTO ALONSO'S SHOES
Heikki Kovalainen goes into the 2007 season as replacement for World Championship Fernando Alonso. These are big shoes to fill.
FORD GETS A NEW CHIEF EXECUTIVE
The Ford Motor Company has named Alan Mulally as its new chief executive. Mulally is currently head of Boeing's commercial aircraft division. Mulally (61) will take over the job from Bill Ford, although he will remain involved as the company's executive chairman.
RENAULT RE-ALIGNS ASPIRATIONS
Renault F1 loses Fernando Alonso at the end of the current season and the team was somewhat caught out by the Spaniard's move to McLaren and, unable to hire a top name driver, has finally settled on Giancarlo Fisichella and Heikki Kovalainen, with test drivers Ricardo Zonta and Nelson Piquet Jr.
SILVERSTONE TAKES A GAMBLE
Silverstone has announced that it will gives fans $95 back if they buy an adult grandstand seat before the end of September and Jenson button wins the race in July next year.
ACTION ACROSS THE WORLD
Kasey Kahne won the NASCAR Nextel Cup race on Sunday at California Speedway giving Dodge a much-needed victory. Dale Earnhardt Jr was second ahead of Clint Bowyer. Seventh-placed Matt Kenseth moved into the lead in the Nextel Cup overtaking Jimmie Johnson, who finished only 11th.
LEGAULT SUED BY CHAMP CAR
Champ Car is suing Canadian GP promoter Normand Legault, demanding $325,000 for outstanding fees owed by the Canadians.
FRANCHITTI TO RUSPORT?
We hear that Dario Franchitti may be doing the couple of Champ Car races of the season for the Rusport team, replacing Cristiano da Matta. We also hear that Andretti Green Racing will be running Patrick Carpentier.
A1 GRAND PRIX ON THE OFFENSIVE
The new A1 Grand Prix Series has always made much of the fact that it has no intention to trying to rival Formula 1. It is thus rather odd that the series has just announced plans to upgrade the performance of its cars in 2008 to "a level comparable with Formula 1".
TURKEY RESPONDS
The Turkiye Otomobil Sporlari Federasyonu (TOSFED), the national sporting authority of Turkey, says that it did not break any FIA rules at the weekend when Mehmet Ali Talat was allowed to present the winning trophy to Felipe Massa, arguing that he fulfils the criteria in the FIA regulations.
VILLENEUVE AND NASCAR
There are increasing stories suggesting that Jacques Villeneuve will be re-appearing in NASCAR next year.
ASTON MARTIN UP FOR SALE
Aston Martin, one of the great British automotive brands, has been put up for sale by the Ford Motor Company. The company has been controlled by the Detroit giant since 1987.