Formula One News — February 2006

Many governments have tried to ban tobacco sponsorship over the years but Formula 1 has always cleverly dodged the legislation with deals which allowed cross-border advertising to continue.

Giancarlo Fisichella's FMS International GP2 team, a partnership with Coloni Motorsport team will be running 20-year old Luca Filippi for the next two seasons. Filippi drove for the Fisichella in last year's European 3000 Championship last year and has since tested for Minardi.

Valentino Rossi is no slouch in a racing car, but that does not make him a potential World Champion either and the idea that Ferrari would allow the Italian biker to race a car without him having the potential to win races is hard to believe.

Formula 1 boss Max Mosley has been appointed to the Legion d'Honneur for his services to motorsport. The 65-year-old accepted the award from the French foreign minister Philippe Douste-Blazy in Paris last night, which indicates that the award was put forward by that ministry.

There have been suggestions in recent days of a new Formula 1-standard racing circuit in Spain. It seems from our investigations that this is a little exaggerated at the moment although the town of Tineo, located 20 miles to the west of Fernando Alonso's home town of Oviedo has grand plans for a "Motor City".

The Swiss federal government has rejected plans to allow motor racing competitions in the country. The Upper House of the Swiss Parliament (known as the Bundesrat) has decided against cancelling the ban on racing which has existed since 1955.

The European Commission has sent "reasoned opinions" to Germany and Luxembourg for their failing to convert a European law about advertising and sponsorship of tobacco products into their national law.

An Israeli shipping company called Zim is to sponsor MF1 Racing this year. The company will appear on the nose of the new M16 chassis. The company has plans to become a global shipping and logistics company.

Although FIAT no longer helps Ferrari financially, according to chairman Luca di Montezemolo, there will be some relief in Ferrari circles with the news that FIAT is finally making money again after five years of losses.

Valentino Rossi's first public test of a Formula 1 car ended in embarrassment at Valencia yesterday when he spun off on his first lap out of the pits and ended up in the gravel.

As we exclusively predicted in December last year, Japan Tobacco Inc has now confirmed on its website that the company will finish its sponsorship with the Renault F1 team at the end of the current season. The company says that it is pulling out in order to be in compliance with the "International Tobacco Products Marketing Standards".

Patrick Faure has confirmed to members of the French press corps that he will be standing down from his role as chairman of Renault Sport in the summer. It is not entirely clear when that will be but it seems that it will be between July and October.