Formula One News — August 2000

THE Toyota Formula 1 team in Cologne, Germany, is in the process of hiring new people for its planned team, which is due to enter Formula 1 in 2002.

THE world's best known brand - Coca-Cola - has never been actively-involved in Formula 1 sponsorship but there have been signs in recent months that this could change.

PROST driver Jean Alesi has been suffering the side-effects of his huge accident at Hockenheim, complaining of dizziness, stomach pains and vomiting.

Formula 1 reporting on the web is colourful but rarely accurate as there are not many websites in a position to pay contributors.

DAVID HUNT, the younger brother of the late 1976 World Champion James Hunt, is said to be launching a bid to acquire control of the ailing Prost F1 team.

THOMAS HAFFA is willing to sell his shareholding in the Formula One group of companies, but the German media baron is asking $2bn for the 50% share in Bernie Ecclestone's SLEC Holding company.

A totally new category of international single seater racing designed to blend near-F1 performance with a dramatic new marketing and promotional concept is set to be launched for 2002.

ITALIAN Giancarlo Fisichella has launched an attack on Michael Schumacher over their collision in the German Grand Prix.

ARROWS' Jos Verstappen has called for Formula One officials to contemplate adding Holland to the Grand Prix calendar.

BENETTON'S Alexander Wurz was taken to the hospital in Spain on Saturday after suffering damage to his right leg in an accident in crash while testing in Valencia, Spain.

THE impending announcements that Juan-Pablo Montoya is to join Williams and that Jenson Button will move to Benetton next year mean that the chief interest on the driver market in Formula 1 is who will drive the second cars for Benetton, Jaguar and British American Racing.

BMW-WILLIAMS technical director Patrick Head has insisted that the banning of private testing in Formula One is not viable because it would cause chaos at race weekends.

MCLAREN duo David Coulthard and Mika Hakkinen continued to prove they have what it takes to win the world championship this year as they topped the times in Friday's testing in Valencia, Spain.

ARROWS will begin testing with new engine suppliers Asian Motor Technologies (AMT) in October after meeting technicians for the first time.

MINARDI technical director Gustav Brunner is set to turn down Jordan after insisting that he is happy to stay at the Italian team.

JENSON BUTTON will definitely switch to the Benetton Playlife F1 team for 2001 - and enjoy at least the first year of its metamorphosis into the fully blown Renault F1 squad in 2002 - in a deal to be announced in the next fortnight.

TELEGLOBE have announced that they will withdraw their sponsorship with British American Racing at the end of the current season.

THE downward pressure on the share price of EM.TV & Merchandising AG, the company which owns half of the Formula One group of companies, continued on Thursday and by midday the value of the stock had dipped below 50 Euros for the first time since November.

EXPECT Olivier Panis to commit to British American Racing as number two to Jacques Villeneuve for the 2001 season with a formal announcement coming within a month.

MCLAREN test driver Olivier Panis stepped up his quest for a drive in the 2001 Formula One World Championship as he topped the times in the opening day of testing in Valencia, Spain.

PROST have confirmed that they will wait until the weekend before making a decision on whether Jean Alesi will be fit enough to drive in the Hungarian Grand Prix on August 13.

THE shares of EM.TV & Merchandising AG, the company which owns half of the Formula One group of companies, continued to fall this week and on Wednesday morning had dipped to 52 Euros, which is half what they were worth in March.

THE bottom line in contemporary F1 is that the sport's blue riband category lacks for sheer quality at the sharp end of the field.

BERNIE ECCLESTONE says he's fed up with the "renta-quote" generation of F1 drivers and wants to encourage a new breed of competitors who can think for themselves rather than recite a litany of pre-digested PR speak served up for their advanced delectation by corporate public affairs staff.