Formula One News — April 1995

Money can buy you many things in the hyper-competitive world of Formula 1 racing, but it cannot buy you job security.

The Autodromo Enzo & Dino Ferrari at Imola, 20 miles to the south-east of Bologna, Italy, is the home of the San Marino Grand prix, even though San Marino - an independent republic which comprises of 23 square miles of land and is completely surrounded by Italy - is nearly 50 miles away.

The Italian investigation into the accident which claimed the life of Ayrton Senna at Imola on May 1, 1994, has still not yet reached any conclusions, and last week Italian magistrate Maurizio Passarini applied for a six-month extension to the deadline by which he must publish his findings.

As predicted in Formula 1 Foreign Report a fortnight ago, Sauber went testing at Mugello, Italy, last week with a radically-different aerodynamic package, featuring a raised-nose similar to those used by the Benetton, Williams and McLaren teams. Remarkably, this has been achieved without the chassis having to be changed.

Nigel Mansell will return to Formula 1 this weekend, driving a McLaren-Mercedes MP4/10B - built especially to accommodate him.

A childish war of words between F1 drivers Gerhard Berger and Michael Schumacher has escalated in recent days to such an extent that it could all end in libel action.

As predicted last week, Gerard Larrousse has finally had to face reality and has announced that the Grand Prix team which bears his name will not be competing in this year's FIA Formula 1 World Championship.

The FIA has changed much in the last few years, but it still has the capacity to make well-intentioned decisions which leave the organization looking, to the general public at least, utterly inept.

Formula 1 drivers, mechanics and engineers are gluttons for punishment so the annual Easter holidays do not have much of an effect on their lives - and their constant demand for new developments mean that many fabricators and machinists also have to miss out on time at home with their families.

The FIA International Court of Appeal is like the Supreme Court of the Automobile.

In the last week there has been a renewed flurry of interest in the possibility of Alain Prost running his own Formula 1 team.

Alain Prost has launched a highly critical attack on the current generation of Formula 1 team owners.

The Larrousse Formula 1 team says it will be at Imola for the San Marino GP at the end of this month, but it looks increasingly likely that the team will not be seen in action - at least not in 1995.

When Max Mosley was campaigning for the FISA presidency against Jean-Marie Balestre back in 1991, he promised that if elected, he would ensure that the governing body of the sport finalize its calendars as far in advance as possible to avoid being in a situation where races were coming in and dropping out of the calendar after the season had begun.

Former Porsche Competitions Manager Max Welti was in Buenos Aires for the Argentine Grand Prix.

The Formula 1 teams are racing back to Europe in order to get much-needed testing mileage under their belts in the fortnight before the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola.

The Sauber-Ford team has been forced to admit that its new C14 chassis is not very good, and there are plans for the car to be substantially modified before the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola at the end of this month.

McLaren boss Ron Dennis says that the team is on schedule to have a pair of special "wide-bodied" McLaren-Mercedes MP4/10 chassis ready for Nigel Mansell to drive at Imola.

Hot on the heels of Williams and Benetton moving to larger factories, McLaren is planning a similar expansion.

Portuguese racer Pedro Lamy is close to signing a deal to race with the new Forti Corse team.

Gerhard Berger became the most experienced Ferrari Formula 1 driver ever on Sunday when he competed in his 81st race for the legendary Italian team.

Some of the Formula 1 teams are not interested in taking part in 17 races this year - although the FIA has recently announced that the calendar has been extended.

Michael Schumacher was lucky not to have drowned while on holiday between the Brazilian and Argentine Grands Prix.

Ligier's technical director Frank Dernie is to stay on with the Magny-Cours team, although he came close to quitting after the Brazilian Grand Prix.

The first major international motor races in Argentina took place after the Second World War, initially on a street circuit laid out in Buenos Aires's Palermo Park in 1947.