AUGUST 3, 1998

The Tyrrell brain drain continues

THE Tyrrell team will shortly lose its team manager Steve Nielsen, who has decided not to move to British American Racing next year. The 34-year-old says that he is not sure what he will be doing in the future but it is widely believed that he will be part of the planned Honda Formula 1 team and that the timing of his departure is significant as the new team needs to begin making more concrete plans if it is to be up and running by November.

Nielsen has been involved in Grand Prix racing since 1986 and has worked his way up from truck driver to team manager. He moved from Team Lotus to Tyrrell in 1991 and after a very brief spell at Benetton became Tyrrell team manager in 1995. He is close to Dr. Harvey Postlethwaite, who is rumored to be the man in charge of the Honda program. Other members of the Tyrrell staff are expected to follow Nielsen's lead in the course of the next few months.

Our spies tell us that a factory in Surrey has been found and acquired for Honda and, despite rumors in the F1 paddock in Germany that the project will be delayed a year, all the indications are that the project is going to go ahead as planned. An announcement is expected at the end of this month.

There is no doubt that some factions within the Honda Motor company do not want the European program to go ahead and are trying to destabilize the situation.