Features

Displaying stories 661 - 680 of 908 in total

Technical - Ligier-Mugen JS45

Equipe Ligier Gauloises Blondes unveiled its Ligier-Mugen Honda JS45 at the Cafe de Paris, in Monte Carlo's Casino Square on January 22. The car will be driven this year by Olivier Panis and Shinji Nakano. It will once again be powered by Mugen Honda V10 engines and will run on Bridgestone tyres.Full Story
Technical - Tyrrell-Ford 025

The Tyrrell Racing Organisation - which is beginning its 30th season in Formula 1 racing - unveiled its 1997 challenger at the Capital Radio Cafe in London's West End on January 20. The Tyrrell-Ford 025 will be raced this year by Mika Salo and Jos Verstappen with young Japanese rising star Toranosuke Takagi acting as test driver.Full Story
Technical - Jordan-Peugeot 197

The Benson & Hedges Total Jordan Peugeot team unveiled its Jordan-Peugeot 197 at London's Hilton Hotel on January 30. Full Story
Technical - The new McLaren's MP4-12...

The West McLaren Mercedes Benz team had a "sneak preview" of its new 1997 car at its factory in Woking early on the morning of January 14. The prototype McLaren-Mercedes MP4-12 was unveiled in an orange and black livery - the color used on the old McLaren CanAm cars of the 1960s - but will be raced in a silver color-scheme this year. Silver is, of course, the traditional racing livery of Mercedes-Benz, but it is also the color used by the Germany West cigarette brand - the team's new title sponsor - for its West Lights packaging. The team wanted to get as much testing achieved as possible and so the McLaren sponsorship package will be revealed separately at a major launch in London's Alexandra Palace exhibition centre on February 14. The team says it is expecting to have 4000 people present for the event.Full Story
Technical - Williams-Renault FW19

The Rothmans Williams Renault team unveiled its 1997 car at its old factory in Didcot, Oxfordshire, on January 31. The Williams-Renault FW19 will be raced this year by Canadian Jacques Villeneuve and the team's new signing German Heinz-Harald Frentzen.Full Story

News Feature - Inside Stewart Grand Prix

On December 10 in London - just 11 months after announcing that they would be setting up a Formula 1 team - Jackie and Paul Stewart unveiled the prototype Stewart-Ford SF1 with which Stewart Grand Prix will contest the 1997 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, with drivers Rubens Barrichello and Jan Magnussen.Full Story
News Feature - Review of the year 1996

Damon Hill was expected to win the 1996 World Championship - and he did. From the start of the season it was very clear that the Williams-Renault FW18 was the quickest car in Formula 1 and as Benetton - the only other team using Renault V10 engines - seemed to have gone off the technical rails after the departure of Michael Schumacher, it was left to Williams to dominate, winning 12 of the 16 races, finishing 1-2 in the Drivers' Championship and completely dominating the Constructors' title.Full Story

Technical - John Barnard

Why would Ferrari, the pride and passion of Italy, risk all the complications of splitting its design office from its manufacturing and racing teams in Maranello, Italy, and site it near Guildford in England? It must be more than the desire to place it in that 50 by 100 mile rectangle that accommodates eight out of the top ten Formula 1 design offices.Full Story

News Feature - The McLaren enigma

McLaren's performance in recent years has been mystifying when you compare the results in the last three years with those of the late 1980s when the Woking-based team won 13 World Championships in eight seasons. Winning seemed to be easy. Team boss Ron Dennis said it was all down to good planning and even revealed that everything at McLaren was planned five years ahead.Full Story

Financial - Why Williams wins in Formula 1

Frank Williams is a strange man - but you can understand why. He has been paralysed since a road accident in March 1986. He is confined to a wheelchair and needs round-the-clock nursing. He cannot do all the things that people take for granted in life. The focus of his life, therefore, is his racing team and he thinks about it night and day. He is a worrier by nature, turning over in his mind all the things that can go wrong. He plans for the future but he keeps his plans very much to himself. He has learned from his mistakes over the years. There was a time in the mid-1970s when Williams was known as "Wanker Williams" because every project in which he was involved was a disaster. But he struggled on, refused to be beaten, and ultimately became a success. And now he wants to remain successful and he does what is necessary to ensure that Williams Grand Prix Engineering continues to win.Full Story

Interview - Yes Prime Minister: Mahathir Mohamad

Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad was at Estoril to have talks with Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone about the possibility of holding a Grand Prix in Malaysia in 1999.Full Story
Interview - Damon Hill

Damon Hill goes to Monza this weekend with the chance of winning the World Championship. He has a 13 point lead over his Williams team mate and rival Jacques Villeneuve with three races to go. If Hill wins and Villeneuve finishes lower than third the Englishman will become World Champion - and the first man World Champion to be the son of a World Champion.Full Story
News Feature - The political wranglings of 1996

Bernie Ecclestone began talking about a revolution he was planning in Formula 1 as long ago as the start of 1994. At the British Grand Prix in July that revolution officially began with Ecclestone's FOCA Television crew - around 120 people - inhabiting a vast grey mobile TV "building" which appeared behind the paddock at Silverstone. Inside were multiple production facilities, editing areas, workshops and satellite equipment. The entire facility - nearly 20 truckloads of equipment - has since been dismantled and transported from race to race. It cost $45m to build and its annual transportation bills will be around $1m.Full Story
News Feature - Behind the scenes at the BBC

Everyone in Britain knows about BBC motor racing commentator Murray Walker and his famous gaffes. For 20 years Murray has kept television viewers around the world informed with his screeches and yelps of excitement. It is not just the British who enjoy it because the same commentary goes out to Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada and even Hong Kong. In fact, in Australia Murray is an even bigger celebrity than in Britain.Full Story
News Feature - Damon Hill's title struggle

Before the Portuguese Grand Prix Damon Hill could not stop himself thinking that within an hour and 45 minutes he might become World Champion. He was starting the race from pole position and at Williams the driver who qualifies best gets first call on when to stop during the race. He had a strategic advantage.Full Story
Financial - The French connection - motor racing and politics

There has been much talk in recent days about Alain Prost establishing a "French national racing team". To the other F1 teams governmental help is, at best, a dream and yet in France government after government has poured money into motor racing. Why?Full Story

Technical - Gary Anderson

To reach the summit of motor racing, the Formula 1 World Championship, is a bit like climbing Mount Everest. Full Story

Interview - Jackie Olivier

The big story in recent weeks have been the news that Tom Walkinshaw is buying a controlling interest in the Arrows Formula 1 team and has big plans for the future. But where does that leave Arrows boss Jackie Oliver and why has he sold his team? We spoke to Jackie about the deal with Walkinshaw and found it to be a very revealing interview. Arrows has never really enjoyed a good media profile: in part because the team never achieved the results which were expected of it; but also because Jackie O has never been very comfortable talking to the press... He will not discuss shareholdings or prices or specific plans for the future. He prefers to talk about the broader issues of the deal between Arrows and TWR.Full Story
News Feature - Yamaha's Formula 1 struggle

No matter how one looks at it, Yamaha's Formula 1 involvement since 1989 has been a disaster - in terms of results. The first season was so bad that the West Zakspeed team qualified only twice in the 16 races. At the end of the year West withdrew, Zakspeed went out of business and Yamaha found itself out of F1 for the duration of the 1990 season. The engine programme was completely reorganized under new project leader Takaaki Kimura and a new V12 - the OX99 - was planned for 1991. A new alliance was formed with Brabham. Testing of a Brabham-Yamaha BT58Y - using OX88 engines - began in July 1990.Full Story

Interview - Adrian Newey

Adrian Newey designs the Williams F1 cars. He has been with the team since July 1990. His Williams-Renault FW14 design in 1991 set the team on a technical path which has so far netted 47 victories in the last six seasons - and brought three Constructors' and two Drivers' titles to Williams.Full Story

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