Formula One News — May 2002

The news from America that Tomas Scheckter has got into trouble with the Indy Racing League authorities is no big surprise.

There are no longer thought to be any worries about the future of the British Grand Prix, but work on the roads around the circuit is still not finished although it is hoped that everything will be done in time for the British GP.

In recent times the banks have been looking for ways to raise more money and a few of them have hit on the idea of trying to convince wealthy people in sports and entertainment to let them manage their investment portfolios.

France Telecom may be about to expand the Orange mobile phone brand into the United States of America.

The next round of political maneuvers takes place this weekend in Austria with the Formula 1 team bosses called together by Bernie Ecclestone to try to find ways to cut costs.

Castrol, a major sponsor of BMW Williams and a backer of Jaguar Racing is to expand its sporting sponsorships with a two-year deal which will feature English soccer player David Beckham.

The "Artedinamica, Ferrari and Maserati" exhibition at the Tokyo Museum of Modern Art has had 10,000 visitors in a week, a record attendance figure for the famous gallery.

Leo Kirch is not a happy man at the man, his life's work having fallen apart in recent weeks.

The Asiatech firm admits that it is building up towards becoming a Formula 1 team in its own right and the latest confirmation of this is the hiring of one of Formula 1's most experienced composite designers Ian Thomson.

A year ago this week Toyota announced that it was parting company with its technical director Andre Cortanze after very poor performances by the team's F1 prototype chassis.

It is currently the vogue to question whether, in these times of economic caution, whether one can be certain that the automobile manufacturers are committed the sport of whether they will axe sporting programs to meet savings targets.

The boss of the Bavarian state bank Werner Schmidt has told German financial journalists that the bank could join forces with JP Morgan and Lehman Brothers and sell the Kirch stake in the Formula One group of companies.

The teams wrapping up testing at the Valencia circuit in Spain were again greeted by wet weather conditions on Friday.

Just a couple of days after ABC in the United States kicked out its chief executive, Britain's ITV has followed suit with Stuart Prebble resigning from his position as chief executive.

Everyone now seems to agree that tobacco money is going to leave Formula 1 on October 1, 2006.

The FIA is showing an alarming tendency to think laterally at the moment and has come up with an unusual idea to try to stop Formula 1 teams wasting time and money testing between races.

Cosworth Racing says that it is happy to supply three teams with its engines next season.

It looks likely that Toyota Motorsport is going to test most of its United States-based hotshots before the end of the season.

As we suggested would happen a week ago, the FIA has announced that Francesco Longanesi Cattani, the head of the federation's External Relations Department has departed "to pursue a prestigious new opportunity".

It may not be a very big country but Holland is very keen on Formula 1 racing.

The recent days have seen Formula 1 back in parliament in Britain with debates over the tobacco legislation which is currently pending.

As we suggested yesterday, there is a major restructuring coming at Fiat with the group announcing plans to save $4bn in the course of the next three years thanks to restructuring and selling off non-core assets.

French aircraft engine manufacturer SMA, which is jointly owned by Renault Sport, the European Aeronautic Defense and Space company and the Societe Nationale d'Etude et de Construction de Moteurs d'Aviation, is to put the light aircraft engine it designed into production at a new factory in Bourges.

A year ago Adrian Newey signed a contract to join Jaguar Racing.