JUNE 15, 2002

Schumacher's new team mate

A court in Canada has been hearing of the racing exploits of Frenchman Christopher Rocancourt.

A court in Canada has been hearing of the racing exploits of Frenchman Christopher Rocancourt, who presented himself as Michael Schumacher's Ferrari team mate until he was arrested in April 2001. Rocancourt pleaded guilty to defrauding a Vancouver businessman by claiming that he was a Ferrari F1 driver. He has been in jail since his arrest and his sentence meant that he has to serve only one more day in prison. However he was also fined $97,000 and is facing extradition to the United States where there are similar allegations against him.

Rocancourt went to Canada after being arrested in East Hampton, Long Island, where it was claimed he conned rich victims out of $1m by pretending to be a member of the Rockefeller Family. After fleeing to Canada he went to the ski resort of Whistler and pretended to be an F1 driver and got loans out of a victim by promising to buy a massive house in the area.

The Canadian judge said she was not convinced that Rocancourt had turned his back on crime but he says he now wants to go straight and write an autobiography... One presumes this will include details of his sparkling racing career.