Features

Displaying stories 701 - 720 of 908 in total

Interview - Judith Griggs

All we ever hear about Melbourne in the newspapers is that there is controversy. The track site is constantly being invaded and protesters are being arrested. We have not heard a lot about what the race is actually doing for Melbourne and why the city went out of its way to snatch the race from Adelaide.Full Story
News Feature - Seasonal Preview 1996

Seasonal Preview 1996Full Story

Technical - Formula 1 Preview-1996

Compared to 1995, the changes to the Formula 1 Technical Regulations for 1996 have come into being with hardly a murmur. Full Story

Technical - Cheating the Technical Regulations

If Prohibition had been introduced before alcohol had been invented, there would have been no illegal stills or speak-easies. Impose a law on a nation that has the taste for alcohol and an industry is born that helped create organised crime in the USA. Full Story

News Feature - 1995 Formula 1 Review

Grand Prix racing in 1995 was dominated by Michael Schumacher and the Benetton-Renault team. The German won his second straight championship and the team won its first Constructors' title. The remarkable thing about this is that the Benetton-Renault B195 was probably not the best car. Everyone seems to agree that the Williams-Renault FW17 was the better car and that it was Schumacher who made the difference.Full Story

Technical - Patrick Head

If there is a single person who deserves the title of Senior Engineer in Grand Prix racing during the 1980's and 90's, it is Patrick Head. Full Story

News Feature - The writing game: How to become a Formula 1 journalist

Racing magazines often get letters from fans wanting to know how to become a Formula 1 reporter. There is not an easy answer but if you ask around the pressroom you get all kind of answers. Some go through journalism schools and working on local papers, but most have more unorthodox routes. We asked around the press room.Full Story
Interview - Setting the record straight: Johnny Herbert

When Michael Schumacher wins a Grand Prix he and Benetton boss Flavio Briatore make a great display of hugging one another for the television cameras. They are happy to win, no doubt, but when Johnny Herbert won the Italian Grand Prix for Benetton at Monza, the English driver was greeted with only a smile from Briatore. Up in the F1 press room, however, there were cheers when Herbert crossed the finishing line. Full Story
News Feature - Going back to the Nurburgring

When motor racing people talk of the Nurburgring they do not mean the much-criticized modern circuit, with its constant radius corners and enormous run-off areas, which can be found in the tree-covered Eifel Mountains, 30 miles to the west of the pretty Rhineland town of Koblenz.Full Story
News Feature - Las Vegas plans for a free Grand Prix

The promoter of the proposed United States Grand Prix in Las Vegas says that all spectators will be admitted to the circuit free of charge - if they are staying in a hotel in the city.Full Story
News Feature - Team Prost - a dream or reality?

It is six years since we first heard vague rumours that Alain Prost wanted to run his own Formula 1 team. In mid-1989, when he had fallen out with Ayrton Senna and was on the verge of leaving McLaren, he and engineer John Barnard came very close to doing a deal for Renault engines. The problem on that occasion was that the world was going into a recession and they could not find any sponsorship. Alain went to Ferrari instead. Two years later he was fired by Ferrari and found himself without a drive for 1992. Once again he began to look at doing his own team and had long negotiations with Guy Ligier about taking the French team. It failed and Alain joined Williams for 1993.Full Story
Technical - Building engines for 1996

The change in the Formula 1 engine regulations at the end of last year from 3.5-litre to 3-litre was a dramatic change, the first since the banning of turbocharged engines at the end of 1988. It was introduced because the FIA wanted the cars to be slowed down on the grounds of safety. For most of the engine manufacturers there was no time to build completely new engines and, in the interests of cost and speed, they simply converted the 3.5 engines to 3-litre spec.Full Story

Technical - Overtaking in Formula 1

To satisfy all the spectators of motor racing, not only the vast numbers of TV viewers but also the enthusiasts, the race should be won by the fastest car/driver combination on the day, having overtaken his rivals. Full Story

Interview - Ron Dennis

McLaren was once the most feared Grand Prix team with a record of success which outstripped even the legendary Ferrari. Ron Dennis's group of companies - co-owned by Saudi Arabian businessman Mansour Ojjeh - had even launched itself into Ferrari's own road car market with the remarkable "McLaren F1" road car. Dennis was launching a World Land Speed Record attempt. But then everything seemed to go wrong. The racing team stopped winning; the supercar market dried up and the Land Speed Record attempt was put on hold. McLaren, it seemed, had lost its way. What does Ron Dennis say when he hears people make such accusations?Full Story
Interview - The Demons in Damon: Damon Hill

The last few weeks have been difficult ones for Damon Hill. There was the collision with Michael Schumacher at Silverstone and all the controversy which followed it. There was the accident in Hockenheim. There was the uncertainty over his future may be and - to top it all - Damon also had to worry about his wife Georgie giving birth to their third child. And yet, when you finally get to see the man away from the public eye, he is remarkably cool and calm. The British are wellknown for their "stiff upper lip" but this is not an affected emotion. It is Damon's way. People say he is moody and, perhaps, sometimes the frustrations do get to him but he can absorb pressure and indeed seems to thrive on it. Last week Damon won a finely-judged victory in Budapest. The same weekend he re-signed with Williams for 1996 and suddenly he is in a position where he can challenge for the 1995 title AND, according to Michael Schumacher, will start 1996 as favorite for that title as well. What does Damon think about such propFull Story
Interview - David Coulthard

Eighteen months ago the world had never heard of Scottish racing driver David Coulthard. Motor racing fanatics might have known that the 24-year-old had enjoyed moderate success in Formula 3000, winning a race at Enna and had done some low-profile testing for Rothmans Williams Renault.Full Story

Interview - Johnny Herbert

Every year after the British Grand Prix there is a party in the paddock at Silverstone. And every year Johnny Herbert is up on stage for the annual rendition of Chuck Berry's "Go Johnny Go". This year it was special - because, against all the odds, Johnny had won the race amid scenes of delight and jubilation rarely seen in F1. Everyone was happy for the chirpy Englishman who has struggled through all kinds of adversity, and yet has always managed to keep smiling and joking. David Coulthard and Jean Alesi showed their affection for Johnny by spontaneously lifting him onto their shoulders so he could take the cheers of the crowd.Full Story
Interview - Rubens Barrichello

Rubens Barrichello doesn't look like a racing driver. He is short and rather tubby. He has sleepy eyes, a big nose and a huge lop-sided grin. Like most 22-year-old men his favorite film star is Julia Roberts and his ideal dinner date is Cindy Crawford. One can blithely write that Barrichello is young. He arrived in F1 at the age of 20, but the point doesn't really come across until you consider that when he arrived in Formula 1 was racing against 39-year-old "veteran" Riccardo Patrese. Riccardo began his F1 career on the day before Barrichello's fifth birthday... Full Story

Technical - Formula 1 Scrutineering

When Charlie Whiting, the FIA Technical Delegate responsible for Scrutineering, rolls up at a Grand Prix on the Wednesday before the race, accompanied by a full-time assistant, two technical specialists - one in computers and software, and the other in fuel analysis - and nearly three tons of sophisticated measuring equipment costing the best part of a quarter of a million pounds, it would be logical to assume that the FIA is out to catch Formula1 Teams cheating. It is not. It is out to persuade them not to even try.Full Story

News Feature - Enlivening Formula 1

Last year was a dramatic season for Formula 1 racing - but for all the wrong reasons: fatal accidents, cheating, fire and politics snatched the headlines, while out on the circuits the racing was anything but exciting. Michael Schumacher dominated, winning nine of the 12 races he took part in (although one was taken away from him afterwards). The season ended with two storming races in Suzuka and Adelaide and so - because F1 has such a short memory - the tedium of the midseason has been forgotten. This year has been much the same - with little in the way of excitement up front.Full Story

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