JANUARY 28, 2005

Minardi and Nissany

Our spies tell us that Minardi will soon name Israeli driver Chanoch Nissany as a test driver for the 2005 season. Nissany has tested for the team and looks likely to take on the role of tester although Minardi will not be doing a great deal of testing between races in 2005. There was a similar deal with Portugal's Tiago Monteiro last season.

Nissany's link with F1 will help raise the profile of the sport in Israel and there have been stories knocking about of a group who want to build a Formula 1 circuit in the Negev desert. It seems that the plan would be for a testing facility for the winter rather than a racing facility as Israel's unstable political situation is decidedly unattractive to the F1 world.