Formula One News — August 2001

IT is not long ago that Tommy Suharto was the man trying to promote the idea of a Grand Prix in Indonesia. He was head of the country's national sporting authority and an active racer in his own right.

THERE are often discussions in Formula 1 circles about whether the bubble of growth that envelopes the sport will eventually pop and what will occur when that happens.

FERRARI president Luca Montezemolo, expects his man Michael Schumacher to seal the 2001 drivers' title as soon as the sport's August break comes to an end in Hungary on August 17-19.

FORMER world champion Nigel Mansell is to join celebrations marking Scuderia Ferrari's 68-year history at the top of motor sport at this year's Silverstone Historic Festival.

FORMULA 1 teams have long claimed to be at the forefront of technology but often one could argue that the sport has simply been applying aeronautical ideas to automobiles.

THE word on the street is that Toyota Motorsport has settled its legal problems with the European Minardi team with the help of a large check.

TOM WALKINSHAW is never far from a courtroom - or so it would seem from his involvement in Formula 1 in recent months.

AS we suggested would happen Belgian brewing giant Interbrew has bought the Germany brewing company Beck's for $1.58 billion.

FORMULA 3000 racer Antonio Pizzonia will soon test for the Williams team.

TOM WALKINGSHAW, the former chairman of Silverstone Circuits Ltd., has stated that any action by the FIA to scrub the British Grand Prix from the 2002 world championship calendar would be 'tragic'.

JAPAN's rising star Takuma Sato totally dominated the annual Marlboro Masters Formula 3 race at Zandvoort on Sunday.

ROB BAIN has defended Silverstone as the FIA threatens to leave the British Grand Prix off the provisional calendar for 2002 unless it can justify the continuing traffic chaos.

WITH the BAR driver line-up for 2002 settled, Jacques Villeneuve and Olivier Panis having committed themselves, then it seems that the options for Honda's protege Takuma Sato are growing more limited.

ALTHOUGH the Formula 1 calendar is in a temporary hiatus, the stars of tomorrow are all on parade this weekend in the Marlboro Masters Formula 3 weekend at Zandvoort, Holland.

PETER SAUBER has indicated that the success of the little Swiss outfit in 2001 has earned a reprieve from the anticipated pull-out by title sponsor Red Bull.

DEFENDING world champion Michael Schumacher is looking forward to spending some time at home with his family in Geneva over the next two weeks as Formula 1 goes into its August hiatus.

THE controversial decision to stop the German Grand Prix following the start line collision between Michael Schumacher's near-stationary Ferrari and Luciano Burti's oncoming Prost.

AS we predicted on July 16 Alex Yoong will drive for Minardi at the Belgian Grand Prix - if the FIA agrees to give him a Superlicence.

BILL SIMPSON, a man who has helped to make motor racing a safer through the development of various safety equipment, has resigned from the company which bears his name.

IN the middle of June the European Commission's Competition Directorate completed its investigation into Formula 1 and announced that F1 was cleared of all competition questions.

TOYOTA's indication that it will test during the winter ban may result in the rest of the Formula 1 team owners forcing the Japanese team to sit on the sidelines for a further 12 months should it pursue such a course.

BRITAINS national motorsports authority, the MSA, has denied that direct threats have been made by the FIA to drop the British grand prix from the 2002 formula one world championship calendar.

BRITAIN's triple Grand Prix winner Johnny Herbert has ruled out making an immediate race debut in the CART Champ Cars series after unofficially breaking the British closed circuit record at the new Rockingham oval in Northamptonshire.

ALAIN PROST says that Jean Alesi is under contract to his team and will not be leaving to take Heinz-Harald Frentzen's job at Jordan.