Formula One News — May 2005

The battle for control of the British Racing Drivers' Club is over but now the club must face up to the more important problems it is facing, including the most important issue of all, which is to make the club meaningful again to racing drivers and create a desire for young British racing drivers to want to be members.

The Extraordinary General Assembly of the British Racing Drivers' Club gathered today and after a meeting lasting three and a half hours the vote revealed that Stewart had emerged the winner.

The FIA's desire not to get involved in the regulation of testing may have to be rethought a little bit following remarks made by David Coulthard after the Grand Prix Drivers' Association meeting in Barcelona last week.

What a difference a week makes. On Thursday last week Nick Fry of BAR Honda was complaining that the team was "appalled" by the decision of the FIA International Court of Appeal.

Red Bull Racing is tipped to be on the verge of doing a deal to run Bridgestone tyres in 2006.

British American Racing Honda has issued a statement which says that it is now willing to accept the FIA decision of the FIA Court of Appeal after the scrutineering problems in Imola.

The recent FIA International Court of Appeal resulted in the production of hundreds of pages of documents and data and with the Grand Prix as well there has been little time to analyse everything that emerged in the paperwork.

In our story on Tuesday about the FIA International Court of Appeal, we stated that "in 1985 the Automobile Club de Monaco also challenged the ICA and won in the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Paris."

The word in the United States is that Champ Car boss Kevin Kalkhoven is going to secure the series's biggest event in the most efficient possible way: he is going to buy the business and run it himself.

The members of the British Racing Drivers' Club meet today at Silverstone to vote on a decision which looks set to do the club serious damage no matter what happens.

An Italian state prosecutor has asked for the legal actions over the death of Ayrton Senna to be stopped, because of Italy's statute of limitations, which means that time had run out.

Sauber Petronas has just agreed a three-year deal with Mitsubishi Electric Europe for the supply of electro-discharge machining (EDM) tools to the Swiss team to improve its production capability.

Formula One Administration is currently involved in a couple of low-profile but nonetheless interesting activities.

The World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control is currently deposited at the United Nations Headquarters in New York and remains open for governments to sign at any time.

David Ward, the secretary-general of the FIA International Court of Appeal, says he is not happy with the current criticism of the court he runs, which rules on all cases of appeal which occur in motor sport and between the member clubs of the FIA.

Ferrari's ultimate boss Luca di Montezemolo is complaining that Formula 1 is being dictated too much by tyres.

A while ago the Ferrari press officer told members of the Formula 1 media that the team judged its popularity by the number of Ferrari flags in the grandstands at races. It may not be a hugely scientific way of doing things but it seemed to work.

Dan Wheldon is doing very well at the moment in the Indy Racing League but the young British driver is still keen on breaking into Formula 1 and at the weekend Wheldon's manager Julian Jakoby was busy chatting to teams in Barcelona to see what jobs might be available.

With Honda having run its V8 at Mugello recently, the race is on for other new engines appear and we hear that the first Mercedes-Benz V8 will be running in the back of a car in the week before Monaco, when the team does its pre-Grand Prix shakedown test at Elvington Aerodrome, near York.

The FIA has issued a statement reacting to the press release earlier today from BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Honda, Renault and Toyota. The FIA says that it will continue rigorously to enforce the rules of Formula 1 and will continue to have an International Court of Appeal.

The five car manufacturers other than Ferrari in Formula 1 continue on their path towards creating what they believe will be a better World Championship.

Spanish GP - Race Notes

Spanish GP - Sunday Photos

Spanish GP - Sunday Press Conference