Formula One News — May 1995

THE Italian Grand Prix at Monza on September 10 is on - if the Italian authorities can get the necessary safety work at the track done in the time available.

WILLIAMS test driver Jean-Christophe Boullion has been loaned out by Frank Williams to drive for the Sauber-Ford team for the rest of the season.

AS suggested two weeks ago in F1 FOREIGN REPORT, Nigel Mansell's F1 career has come to an end with the announcement just before the start of the Monaco Grand Prix weekend that the British driver - World Champion in 1992 and Indycar Champion in 1993 - would not be continuing with the McLaren team.

QUADRUPLE World Champion Alain Prost seemed to be well-placed to put together a deal to start his own Formula 1 team in 1996 - with Renault engines and backing from French sponsors Elf and Gitanes Blondes - but the word on the street in France is that Alain has failed to convince Renault to give him engines and is now losing interest in the project.

EACH year at about this time, Formula 1 begins what is known as "the silly season" when teams and drivers begin talks about who will drive where next year.

THE 1996 French Grand Prix will take place at Magny-Cours, the circuit's five-year deal between 1991-95 having been extended by one year.

WALTER THOMA, boss of Philip Morris EEC, warned Formula 1 that it must put the sport back into Grand Prix racing if it wants the big sponsors to stay involved.

IT seems that suddenly there are plenty of American promoters interested in Grand Prix racing at the moment.

PETER SAUBER has won the battle to secure sponsorship from the Malaysian national oil company Petronas. At Monaco the Sauber-Fords carried Petronas backing on their rear wings in a deal which is believed to be worth $4 million over the next two seasons.

AS the other F1 teams were packing up to leave Monaco on Sunday night, team boss Nick Wirth was having crisis meetings to decide the future of the team - and if he cannot get the backing of a couple of potential sponsors Wirth is threatening to shut the team down, rather than continuing to mount up debts.

SATURDAY morning practice in Monaco was disrupted by a bizarre incident when French rally driver Jean Ragnotti crashed into Takachiho Inoue's Footwork - when it was being towed back to the pits.

THE Borough Board of Staten Island, Richmond County, New York, met last week to discuss a proposal for an international racing circuit to be laid out on the docks of the abandoned US naval base at Stapleton.

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER'S domination in the Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona has led to the usual bleating and wailing among less well-informed F1 observers.

KARL WENDLINGER will not be racing for Sauber this weekend at the Monaco Grand Prix - although the team has yet to make an official announcement.

THE Monaco Grand Prix is probably the most famous motor race in the world and it has been a major event for Grand Prix cars since 1929.

GIANCARLO MINARDI and his Minardi Scuderia Italia partner Giuseppe Lucchini are proving to be a thorn in the side of Ligier and Mugen.

THE demand for Formula 1 races seems to be constantly on the increase, and we hear from the Far East that Malaysia is the latest country planning to build its own Grand Prix Circuit.

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER set the fastest time in the week of testing in Barcelona, which followed the Spanish Grand Prix.

The Italian Grand Prix at Monza is virtually certain not to happen this year because of an increasingly complicated web of problems around the classic event.

Geoff Goddard, Cosworth Engineering's chief Formula 1 engine designer, has quit the company after 21 years.

As mentioned in F1 FOREIGN REPORT a month ago, Swiss racing manager Max Welti has been talking with a variety of F1 teams in recent weeks.

Nigel Mansell's decision to retire from the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona last weekend has done nothing for the $15million man's relationship with McLaren team boss Ron Dennis.

French racing star Jacques Laffite has been brought back to Formula 1 racing to act as a public relations man for the Ligier team.

Alain Prost's ambition to become a Formula 1 team owner took a huge step forward last week when Jacques Chirac was elected president of France.

The Formula 1 teams have started their annual battle to secure the best possible packages for next season.