Formula One Features

A new era is dawning in Formula 1, regenerating the sport and producing a new age. The hugely paid mega-stars of the greedy 1980s are now thin on the ground. These are men who have made perhaps US$60 million in their careers, which have lasted 10 years or more. Formula 1 is not as dangerous as once it was and so they have stayed longer and look at the sport as a business rather than a sport.

The reform of the International Automobile Federation (FIA) and the disappearance of its politically-independent - yet financially-dependent - sporting federation, the FISA is a great step forward for motor sport.

FISA will disappear in October. It has been abolished because there is no need for it. That may sound odd, but it is important to consider what the FISA was and why it was created.

Olivier Panis, the new Formula 3000 champion, does not know what he is doing next year. The newspapers in France say that he will be in Formula 1 but no deal is yet done. But it probably will be. Racing is in his blood and with a little help from Elf Panis will now take the next step in his career.

Have you ever wondered who will be the big names in Formula 1 in the year 2000. Who are the next Ayrton Sennas and Alain Prosts, John Barnards and Patrick Heads? We asked the experts.

The name 'Damon' comes from the Greek meaning 'conqueror'. This year Damon Hill is second in the World Championship,

Mika Hakkinen put his McLaren third on the grid in Estoril, ahead of Ayrton Senna. It was a remarkable performance for a man who has spent the year testing. But if he had been flying in qualifying. he really took off in the race. The problem was that it was not the right kind of take-off. On lap 33 he came through the final corner too fast and went off, launching the McLaren into the air and across the track - where a solid barrier awaited.

There is nothing new about Grand Prix drivers who started their careers, racing on motorcycles. A quick look back through the record books reveal some great names in Grand Prix racing started out on two-wheels: Tazio Nuvolari was a top bike racer in the 1920s in Italy and his motor racing rival Achille Varzi started out as one of his two-wheeled rivals on bike, Varzi being the first Italian to compete in the Isle of Man TT bike races. German Bernd Rosemeyer was also an accomplished bike racer before he joined Auto Union.

When you talk about Formula 1's top engineers the name John Barnard is soon part of the conversation. He's back at Ferrari this year and is as strong-willed as ever - particularly when it comes to rule-changes.

Japanese involvement in Formula 1 is not new. It dates back nearly 30 years to the days when Honda ran its own F1 effort in the Sixties. The team won twice in its 35 GPs, but the winners were American Ritchie Ginther and Englishman John Surtees. There were no Japanese drivers involved.

It is just over 10 years since Ayrton Senna sat in Grand Prix car for the first time. In that time he has made himself a legend. And yet the man himself remains a mystery. Some call him arrogant, ruthless and cunning and others say he is shy, gentle and compassionate. He doesn't seem to care. Deep down he probably does.

How can it be that Alain Prost, one of motor racing's all-time great drivers, has been matched this year by Formula 1 new boy Damon Hill, who never showed anything more than a solid talent before he arrived in Formula 1?

In the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, the two outlaws are pursued by a group of law men who they cannot identify and who don't give up. Motor racing folk feel the same way about the FIA World Motor Sport Council, which decides the rules of the sport... Who are those guys?

Damon Hill was on his way to victory in the German Grand Prix when the left rear tyre on his Williams deflated suddenly with only one and a half laps to go. Hill had dominated the race, taking the lead at the start and running away while Alain Prost tried to fight his way back after yet another bad start. Hill's cause was helped by a dubious 10 sec stop-go penalty imposed on Prost, but even before that, Damon had been well in control. He was over 10 seconds ahead of Prost and running to the finish, not forcing the pace, when the first sign of trouble came.

It was in December that Frank Williams decided that Damon Hill should partner Frenchman Alain Prost in the Williams team in 1993. Hill had raced in only two Grands Prix for Brabham but he had completed 18,000 miles of testing in his two years as the Williams test driver.

Ask a Formula 1 marketing man why companies are involved in Grand Prix racing and before you can say: "Positive interface situation" they are firing tracer bullets of jargon at you. They talk of "corporate motivation" and "image transfer", of "synergy" and "global brand awareness" and of "positioning in the market place", just like they used to do with stalls in vegetable markets.

A couple of years ago the Arrows Formula 1 team disappeared. Instead there was a team called Footwork. In fact nothing much changed apart from the name. The team was still the same beneath its pseudonym.

Jean Alesi used to be a pane-beater. Some say that his knowledge of this trade taught him that no matter how many dents you put in a car, they can always be knocked out later. Formula 1 cars don't dent these days, but the spirit of the panel-beater-turned-racer lives on in Jean Alesi's lurid F1 driving style. Show Jean a kerb and he'll drive over it. Give him a gap and he'll put a Ferrari through it. Ferrari number 27 is driven with the same kind of brio that it was in the days when it was driven by the late Gilles Villeneuve.

In her book A Different Kind of Life, Ginny Williams, Frank's wife, remembers when she first met her husband.

After his Peugeot 905s finished 1-2-3 at Le Mans, Peugeot Talbot Sport boss Jean Todt packed his bags and at the French Grand Prix in Magny-Cours "Napoleon" joined the Ferrari Formula 1 team. It was not to be one of the great debuts for an F1 team chief, Jean Alesi retired with engine failure and Gerhard Berger struggled home with an evil-handling car to finish 14th.

You wouldn't wish Michael Andretti's first season in F1 on anyone. It has been miserable. In the first three races he had three accidents and completed just four laps. The San Marino GP ended in a sandtrap after 32 laps, but in Spain he finished fifth. The Monaco and Canada were annoying because of a first lap incident and a mechanical problem. After seven races, therefore, the 1991 Indycar champion has scored two points, 40 fewer than his McLaren team mate Ayrton Senna.

At 07:00 on Friday morning, as Rome was waking up to the news that Ayrton Senna might not race for McLaren at Imola, Ayrton was on his final approach to the city's Leonardo da Vinci airport at Fiumicino on board an Alitalia flight from Sao Paulo.

Ford's F1 programme has never looked better but the company's F1 boss Steve Parker has a problem. McLaren is too successful. Benetton is supposed to the Ford factory team.

Mark Blundell is back in Formula 1 this year after a year testing with the McLaren team. With Ligier he reckons he can make an impact.