Formula One News — August 2000

MCLAREN test driver Olivier Panis topped the times for the second consecutive day at Silverstone on Wednesday.

TOMAS SCHECKTER insisted that he cannot wait for another chance to test a Formula One car after his debut at Silverstone on Tuesday.

JAGUAR test driver Luciano Burti is desperate to make a good impression in his second day of testing at Silverstone on Thursday as he bids to earn a drive with the Milton-Keynes based team.

MINARDI team boss Giancarlo Minardi has retaliated after McLaren driver David Coulthard criticized his driver Marc Gene at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

FERRARI, Sauber and British American Racing continued their preparations for the Belgian Grand Prix with an extensive testing session at the Mugello circuit, Italy.

OLIVIER PANIS has confirmed that he is joining British American Racing next season, as revealed last Friday in Budapest.

FRENCHMAN Jean Alesi was the first driver to try out the revamped Autodromo Nazionale di Monza circuit on Wednesday.

FERRARI have asked Formula One's governing body, the FIA, to investigate the possibility of introducing two-car pit-stops during a Grand Prix.

MCLAREN designer and technical director Adrian Newey has insisted that there will be no favoritism between the teams two drivers.

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER lived up to his reputation as one of the hardest working drivers in the Formula One championship as he tested for Ferrari at their Fiorano circuit on Tuesday.

FERRARI president Luca Di Montezemolo has urged his team's mechanics and engineers to rectify the wheel-spin problem that both Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello complained of at the start of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

JAGUAR'S Johnny Herbert has said that, despite his reluctance to leave Formula One, he is looking forward to a new and more relaxed challenge in the American-based Champ Car series next year.

MCLAREN test driver Olivier Panis topped the first day of testing at Silverstone on Tuesday - almost three and a half seconds clear of the rest of the field.

AUSTRALIAN Mark Webber has signed a deal to become the official test driver with Benetton next season. Webber was contracted to test for Arrows this year, but he only put the 1999 car through its paces and did not test this year's car after a contractual disagreement.

THE future of Prost Grand Prix remains clouded with various rumors circulating to suggest that the team will not now be sold because the team's new marketing company Hamburg-based UFA has come up with a huge new sponsor.

FURTHER investigations have revealed that the Formula 1 teams are negotiating with Bernie Ecclestone to buy his remaining shares in SLEC, the holding company of the Formula One group of companies.

ALTHOUGH it is yet to be officially announced Olivier Panis has agreed a two-year deal to drive for British American Racing for the 2001 and 2002 seasons.

CESARE FIORIO, the sporting director of the Telefonica Minardi team, has left the team as the result of "lack of agreement" relating to the future of the team.

THE Benetton team has confirmed that Giancarlo Fisichella is to stay for a fourth season and that Alexander Wurz will, as expected, not be continuing next year.

THERE are likely to be big spending cuts at Bridgestone Firestone as a result of the company's problems in the United States with the recall of an estimated 6.5m tires after a series of fatal accidents resulting from tire failures on light trucks and sports utility vehicles.

MORE has emerged in recent days about Coca-Cola's plans to enter Formula 1 and we hear that rather than going for one big sponsorship of a team the drinks company is planning to enter the sport with a blend of team sponsorship, driver backing, trackside signage and probably as the official supplier to the World Championship.

THE Sauber team is under pressure to produce better results in 2001 and, while Mika Salo has done well on occasion this year, Pedro Diniz has been rather disappointing and the team may be looking at replacing him.

AS we suggested in June, Mika Salo will be moving to Toyota Motorsport next year.

ALAIN PROST could have only two weeks left to save the future of his beleaguered Formula 1 team, or face the prospect of a humiliating departure from the sport he so commandingly dominated during his career as a four times world champion driver with an all-time record 51 Grand Prix wins to his credit.