Formula One News — October 2008

Helio Castroneves pleaded not guilty to federal charges that he used offshore companies to evade US taxes. The Brazilian appeared in court in handcuffs with his legs chained. He was released on bail of $10m.

The BMW Sauber F1 team has announced that it is to retain its current driver line-up in 2009. This is not a surprise as the team had taken up the options on both men. Christian Klien will also be retained as test driver.

FIA President Max Mosley has decided to continue his campaign to increase privacy laws by taking his spanking case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. He wants newspapers across Europe to have to tell the subject of a story about any revelations before they are published.

More details are emerging of the plans to revamp Donington Park for the British Grand Prix in 2010. Donington Ventures Leisure Ltd has submitted plans for the first phase of the re-development of Donington Park. North West Leicestershire District Council has accepted the plans as being valid and they will now move on to the approval process, which the circuit hopes will be completed by early next year.

US motor sport will have a major presence in Monaco this December with leading figures from across the nation's racing industry set to participate in this year's Motor Sport Business Forum.

The AT&T Williams team has confirmed that is sticking with the same driver line-up in 2009.

Adrian Campos had a fairly mediocre Formula 1 career back in the 1980s with Minardi but he intends to return one day to Grand Prix racing with his own Formula 1 team. The team started 10 years ago to take part in a new Spanish championship called Open Fortuna By Nissan (the predecessor of the modern Renault World Series).