MAY 31, 1999

More changes at British American Racing

BRITISH AMERICAN RACING has dropped its team manager Greg Field and two of its top mechanics as part of its latest reshuffle. In Barcelona Field was replaced by former Formula 3000 team owner Robert Synge, who has been running the BAR test team in recent months. Synge has no experience in F1 and had a less-than-successful record in F3000. He is, however, a close associate of Adrian Reynard.

Field's dismissal came as a surprise in the F1 paddock - not least to Field himself. He had, by all accounts been doing an effective job, trying to meld BAR from a group of individuals into a solid racing team, Such things cannot be achieved overnight but dumping the man trying to achieve the goal will achieve little at a time when the team needs to be building on a solid base.

As a result speculation in the paddock suggested that Field had been sacrificed to try to convince British American Tobacco bosses that the team is changing fast and will soon produce better results.

The operational running of the team is now controlled by Reynard's Rick Gorne, to whom Synge is reporting.