DECEMBER 3, 2000
More December movements
THE start of December traditionally marks a time of change in Formula 1 circles and this year in no exception.
Conspiracy theorists in F1 think that Giancarlo Fisichella's knee problems could be used to get the Roman driver out of the way. Team boss Flavio Briatore seems to have had a worrying number of drivers with health problems during his time in F1: he dropped Johnny Herbert for that reason in 1989; two years later Roberto Moreno's fitness was called into question when Briatore wanted to snap up the young Michael Schumacher while in the course of 1994 both JJ Lehto and Jos Verstappen were shown the door for similar reasons: Lehto making way for Verstappen and the Dutchman being ditched when the team wanted to re-sign Johnny Herbert. More recently both Jean Alesi and Gerhard Berger were out of action with real health problems, Berger's sinus problems giving Alexander Wurz the chance to show his abilities.