Formula One News — September 2003

Further details are emerging about Ralf Schumacher's accident at Monza yesterday and it seemed that the car did not hit the barriers as was first reported but rather that it flipped several times.

According to our sources Michelin is busy making a batch of new, slightly-narrower front tires which will be used at the Italian Grand Prix if it is deemed necessary for the French company to play it safe because of the FIA's warning about the measuring of the contact patch of the tires.

Townsend Bell had his first runs in a Formula 1 car yesterday at the Lurcy Levis testing facility near Magny-Cours in central France, at the wheel of a BAR-Honda. Bell is due to do three days of aerodynamic testing for the team, checking that the results of the windtunnel are confirmed when the car runs on a track.

Bernie Ecclestone is going to get a lot of mail in the next few days. A Canadian marketing company has printed 108,000 postcards pre-addressed to the Formula 1 boss.

With just less than a month to go before the United States GP at Indianapolis, there has been flooding at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, following a miserable summer in Indiana. Record rainfall hit the city on Monday with 7.2 inches of rain recorded in a single day, beating the 108-year-old record.

There are some reports in the German press suggesting that Juan Pablo Montoya may not stay next year at Williams, despite the fact that he has one more year to run on his contract.

Ralf Schumacher had a sizeable crash yesterday in the closing minutes of the first day of testing at Monza when his BMW Williams went out of control in the Lesmo Corner and went into the barriers backwards at some considerable speed. The car then rebounded and flipped over.

Ralf Schumacher's Williams-BMW caught fire earlier today in the pitlane at Monza. The flames were quickly extinguished by marshals at the circuit after an apparent oil leak flared-up as he pulled in during his first few laps.

According to Fortune magazine, to be published later this week, Michael Schumacher is the 16th richest person in the world under the age of 40.

The man who ran on to the race track at the British Grand Prix six weeks ago has finally been released from jail after being given a suspended two-month jail sentence for aggravated trespass.

Ralph Firman is to miss the Monza F1 test this week but hopes to be fit in time for the Italian Grand Prix in 10 days. The team says that it hopes that Firman will be fit for the race at Monza but with Hungarian Zsolt Baumgartner having a large budget available it is always possible that Firman's recovery will be delayed...

Back in the 1980s former F1 driver Danny Sullivan tried his hand at the cinema and appeared in various TV shows, including Miami Vice. Now it seems Eddie Irvine wants to follow in Sullivan's footsteps.

There was a time when the FIA issued the Formula 1 World Championship calendar but nowadays it seems that happens so late in the day that many circuits feel the need to tell the world about arrangements before they are made official.

Today marks the end of the Formula 1 test ban of recent weeks and all the teams are due to go into action in the next few days, testing developments of the current cars and trying out new things for the cars in 2004.

The Formula 1 team bosses are currently locked in a discussion over how much testing should be allowed next year. This year has been odd in that the teams have been divided between those who test as much as they like (within the agreed limits) and those who have chosen to reduce their testing.