Formula One News — August 1995

ALTHOUGH it has not yet been agreed officially, Gerhard Berger looks likely to be Michael Schumacher's partner at Ferrari next year.

CONTROVERSIAL German Michael Schumacher's brilliant drive at Spa was spoiled by some outrageous blocking of Damon Hill when the Englishman was using wet tires and quite clearly traveling much faster than Schumacher, who had decided to stay on dry tires in spite of a rain storm.

SHORTLY after we closed for press last week, McLaren stunned the F1 world by announcing that Alain Prost would be testing for the team with which he won three World Titles in the late 1980s.

PACIFIC GRAND PRIX suffered a public humiliation in Belgium when local bailiffs arrived to seize some of the team's equipment because money was owed to Swiss engine preparation specialist Heini Mader relating to last season when Pacific ran the Mader-prepared Ilmor V10 engines.

THE Belgian Grand Prix marked another milestone in the history of Formula 1 television coverage with Bernie Ecclestone's FOCA Television company providing not only in-car and helicopter footage but also an entire crew of cameramen around the circuit, providing Belgian host broadcaster RTBF with all the necessary footage to create the international TV feed to be beamed around the world.

THERE seem to be a constant flow of stories about possible new teams in F1 in the near future. In recent months we have heard stories of a DAMS F1 team, Lola, Dome and Vanwall - although this last-named does not seem to be anywhere near as serious as the others.

FOLLOWING our recent story about secret Michelin tests, further evidence is coming to light that the French tire company will be in F1 next year - and there is even a suggestion that Michelin's arrival will force the Bridgestone/ Firestone empire to join the F1 battle as well.

THE governing body of motor racing, the FIA, reacted dismissively to rumors last week about a draft calendar for 1996, featuring 18 races.

SPA is one of the great road courses of the world and has been since it was first dreamed up by Belgian Jules de Thier in 1924.

WITH Michael Schumacher now confirmed at Ferrari, Jean Alesi at Benetton and Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve at Williams, the Formula 1 driver market is concentrated on the future of Ferrari's Gerhard Berger.

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER says he didn't sign for Ferrari just because they offered him millions more dollars than anyone else, but admits that he is not going to have an easy time in 1996.

ITALIAN oil company Agip, which has been pushed out of Ferrari by the wallet-wielding Shell, has been busily putting out stories that it is unhappy with the way F1 is developing, clearing the way for an eventual withdrawal from F1 without being seen to have been bounced in favor of Shell.

LIGIER boss Tom Walkinshaw is having to wait for a decision from Gitanes about its involvement in F1 in 1996.

IT may not yet be officially confirmed, but Scotsman Tom Walkinshaw is now rumored to have completed the share exchange with Benetton boss Flavio Briatore and has ceded his interest in Benetton Formula in exchange for a majority shareholding in the Ligier F1 team.

THIS week Ferrari will announce that it has signed Michael Schumacher for 1996 and 1997; Benetton will tell the world that Jean Alesi will take Michael's place and Williams will reveal that Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve will be its drivers next year.

HAVING signed a deal with Jean Alesi to be its number one driver next year, Benetton is now chasing a second driver for 1996 and the F1 rumor mill has been working overtime.

OUSTED Williams driver David Coulthard - who was drafted into the race team after Ayrton Senna's death - wanted to leave the team at the end of last season but was forced by the FIA Contract Recognition Board to stay with Williams this season.

THE Benetton team had a frightening near-miss during the Hungarian Grand Prix when the team's refueling machine began to fountain petrol during Michael Schumacher's first pit stop.

THE first draft of the 1996 Formula 1 World Championship calendar was being quietly circulated in Budapest and there were a lot of unhappy people about when they heard the details.

THE technical team at Minardi is to change dramatically within the next few months with the little Italian team's technical director, 34-year-old Aldo Costa, leaving along with the team's aerodynamicist Rene Hilorst.

THE Dutch racing circuit at Zandvoort, near Haarlem, has been given the go-ahead to construct a completely new racing circuit and rebuild all its existing facilities.

MICHELIN is gearing up to enter Grand Prix racing in 1996 and we believe that the French tire company has already carried out tests on its new range of F1 tires in a series of secret tests in Spain.

THE Hungarian Grand Prix is a leftover from the days when F1 took capitalism into the old communist Eastern Bloc, at the time a ground-breaking event.

RUMORS over recent weeks about a possible Vanwall F1 team continue to circulate but there seems to be little likelihood of the project actually getting off the ground.

ALAIN PROST has quickly silenced rumors which were suggesting that the 40-year-old Frenchman might be considering making a return to F1 as a McLaren driver.