Formula One News — February 1996

THE Formula 3000 Champion, Italian Vincenzo Sospiri, has been hired to be Benetton's test driver in 1996.

BENETTON also announced plans to run up-and-coming Italian star Jarno Trulli in a "Benetton Junior Team" in the German Formula 3 Championship.

ALAIN PROST gave the new McLaren-Mercedes MP4/11 its first shakedown tests at Estoril on Saturday - the day before the team's official presentation.

THE Arrows team will reveal its Footwork-Hart FA17 this week at Silverstone, and is expected to announce that its 1996 drivers will be Dutchman Jos Verstappen and Brazilian Ricardo Rosset.

THE recent decision by the FFSA, the French national motor sporting federation, to nominate Paul Ricard to host the French Grand Prix between 1997 and 2000 may not be as clear-cut as originally imagined.

DISINFORMATION is false or misleading information which is used to confuse or discredit one's opposition.

FIA President Max Mosley has revealed that work is pushing ahead on the development of a "black box" recorder, which will be similar to the flight recorders used in the aircraft industry.

THE Tyrrell Racing Organization unveiled its new Tyrrell-Yamaha 024 last week and the car ran soon afterwards at Brands Hatch. It will undergo further testing at Estoril this week.

THE Italian authorities are denying that any decision has been made as to whether charges will be brought against members of the Williams team and the Imola organizers as a result of the accident which killed Ayrton Senna.

THE Ligier Formula 1 team launched its new JS43 chassis at Monte Carlo last Monday and ran for the first time a couple of days later at Paul Ricard.

THE Benetton-Renault B196 is being launched today at Taormina in Sicily - the town in which Jean Alesi's family lived before they emigrated to France.

MIKA HAKKINEN secretly tested a McLaren-Mercedes MP4/10 at Paul Ricard over the weekend - although the team made sure that reporters were not allowed in to watch the Finn's performance.

THE 1997 French Grand Prix will be held at Paul Ricard, the circuit near Toulon in the south of France, and will host the race until the year 2001.

THE international automobile federation is on a crash course with the top Formula 1 teams over the question of tire supply in Grand Prix racing.

FIA President Max Mosley has revealed that the new Concorde Agreement, which comes into force on January 1, 1997, will give the Formula 1 teams a lot more say in changes to the technical regulations - if they can agree among themselves.

TYRRELL says that it will nominate a test driver within a couple of weeks and there are indications that the job will go to Frenchman Emmanuel Collard - who was expected to be named Jordan's test driver.