Formula One News — January 2001

THERE has been speculation in recent days in The Sunday Times in London that a number of car companies will bid for Mercedes-Benz if Jurgen Schrempp, the chairman of the German automobile firm's parent company DaimlerChrysler, is ousted.

THERE has been a major reshuffle of the staff of Ferrari with Britain's Nigel Stepney moving into a new role as racing manager.

FERRARI driver Michael Schumacher believes Sauber's new recruit Kimi Raikkonen has the pedigree to become a future world champion in Formula One.

EDDIE JORDAN realized that things had gone awry immediately after the roguish, playful New Year greetings in the little media soiree.

INFINEON TECHNOLOGIES AG announced on Thursday that they have extended their involvement and profile in Formula One by sponsoring Jordan.

THE British American Racing team has suffered a number of serious accident overs the years because of suspension failures but the timing of the latest crash at Jerez de la Frontera could not have been worse for the team.

PIERO FERRARI, the son of the Italian company's founder Enzo, has received a personal invitation from George Bush Junior to take part in the newly-elected US President's inauguration ceremony on Saturday in Washington.

THE Benetton team - which will soon become known as "Renault Sport UK" - has been restructuring in recent weeks with the arrival of new engineers and new administrators.

JAGUAR driver Eddie Irvine will have a new race engineer for the 2001 season when Bobby Rahal finalizes negotiations with Prost's Humphrey Corbett.

PAUL STODDART, the Australian multimillionaire who runs the European Formula F3000 team, is rumored to be on the verge of buying Minardi.

ITALIAN Formula One driver Jarno Trulli has vowed only to speak English around his Jordan team-mates, despite being reunited with race engineer and compatriot Gabriele Delli Colli.

DOUBLE world champion Mika Hakkinen has declared that the birth of his son Hugo will enable him to drive even faster in the forthcoming 2001 season -- because he is more confident as a person.

THE old days of the Buzzin Hornets appear to be over for the revamped and newly-named Benson & Hedges Jordan Honda team - as they are being replaced by a new shark replica on the nose of the new EJ11 car.

JAGUAR's early advantage as the first F1 team to unveil its new 2001 challenger encountered an unwelcome setback yesterday when its number one driver Eddie Irvine seriously damaged the new car in a high speed smash.

SAUBER announced on Wednesday a new partnership deal with leading financial services company Credit Suisse.

FRENCHMAN Olivier Panis impressed the onlooking David Beckham as he topped the times on the second day of testing at Jerez on Tuesday.

MCLAREN's Mika Hakkinen demonstrated his intent to regain his world championship crown as he topped the times for the second successive day on the final day of testing at Valencia on Wednesday.

FRENCHMAN Jean Alesi completed the second of two days testing at Magny-Cours for Prost and team principal Alain Prost admitted he was impressed with the car's performance.

JORDAN chairman and chief executive Eddie Jordan has promised to devote more finances than ever in a bid to see his team crowned world champions.

FORMER Jaguar technical director Gary Anderson is to join Arrows for the 2001 Formula One World Championship.

FERRARI test driver Luca Badoer narrowly outpaced British American Racing's Olivier Panis to top the times on the final day of a three-day test at Jerez on Wednesday.

AFTER the hype of their launch on Tuesday, Jordan ran their new EJ11 car for the first time at a cold Silverstone on Wednesday.

BENETTON's Giancarlo Fisichella has received the award for the best Italian driver in Formula One for the fourth successive year.

FRENCH tire manufacturer Michelin's name will appear on a host of non-motorsport products in 2002 after they agreed a ground-breaking deal with The Licensing Company (TLC).