Formula One Features — March 1998

The Grand Prix Ball in Melbourne on the Friday night before the Australian Grand Prix celebrated the 50th anniversary of Bernie Ecclestone's involvement in motor racing.

The Honda Motor Company is expected to announced on March 28 at the Twin Ring Motegi CART race in Japan that it is about to launch a major Grand Prix campaign which will be ready in time for the 1999 season. Although it is yet to be officially confirmed we believe that Honda has settled on a two-pronged attack with a supply of V10 engines for British American Racing and for a completely new Honda F1 team, which will build its own cars in Japan and will be run by former Grand Prix driver Satoru Nakajima.

Writing this article following the opening race of the year in Melbourne, it is easy to judge which of all the different details of the new 1998 Formula1 cars are the right solutions. In every detail, as well as overall package, the McLaren has got it right.

The Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne marked Bridgestone's first Formula 1 victory and the dominance of the McLaren-Mercedes team suggested that part of the reason for the team's breath-taking victory was the competitiveness of the Bridgestone tyres.