Formula One News — May 2008

The Super Aguri F1 team says it is in "final discussions" concerning an agreement for a substantial shareholding to be transferred to the German company.

It is worth noting that the motor racing world was represented yesterday at the Prince of Wales's May Day Business Summit on Climate Change by Honda Racing F1's Nick Fry. This involved not only the heir to the British throne but also Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Enviroment Minister Hilary Benn and American Senator George Mitchell.

Radovan Novak is much in the news today for his remarks to a Czech radio station about who was responsible for what Max Mosley claims was an investigation into his private life. The end result of this was the sordid revelations that have filled the newspapers of late.

Today is the 14th anniversary of the death of the great Ayrton Senna, the last fatality in Formula 1. And while FIA President Max Mosley is under intense pressure to resign because of his sexual adventures, it is worth remembering that one of the reasons for this statistic is that Mosley acted decisively after Senna's death.

Most of the Formula 1 trucks going to Istanbul did not come home after the Spanish Grand Prix but instead headed to Trieste in order to take a ferry ride through the Adriatic in order to be in Istanbul in time to begin setting up the Grand Prix over the weekend.

Brendan Connor, who was chief executive of Cosworth Racing between 2001 and 2003, is one of the candidates in the running for the chairmanship of Advantage West Midlands, one of the nine regional development agencies in England that were established to help to create sustainable economic development.

There is much to learned from the promotion of motor racing in the United States and the Formula 1 world might be wise to look at the latest idea that has come to light.

Aston Martin has confirmed Heinz-Harald Frentzen as one of its drivers for the Le Mans 24 Hours. The former F1 star will join Karl Wendlinger and Andrea Piccini. Frentzen has previously raced only once at Le Mans, back in 1992 when he raced a Lola-Judd.

A1 GP chairman Tony Teixeira has told Reuters that he has given upon his plans to buy a Formula 1 team. The aim of the team was to provide cars for his series's champions to enter Formula 1, but the idea has now been shelved because F1 has given up on allowing customer cars. Teixeira was involved in negotiations to buy both Spyker and Scuderia Toro Rosso.

In a radio programme in Prague, in the Czech Republic, the FIA's Radovan Novak has suggested to Radio Impuls's interviewer Vaclav Moravec that McLaren might be responsible for the sex scandal that has thrown the FIA into turmoil in the last few weeks. The comments were picked up by various other media outlets in the Czech Republic.