Formula One News — April 1996

WILLIAMS, Benetton and Sauber will all be in action this week at Jerez de la Frontera in southern Spain, looking for good weather as England continues to be wet and cold.

ALTHOUGH the team is still reeling from the departure of TWR personnel, Ligier will be out testing for three days this week at the Circuit Paul Armagnac at Nogaro, which is lost in the countryside of the south-west of France.

FORTI GRAND PRIX RACING is expected to have its first FG03/96 chassis ready to be raced at the European Grand Prix.

YOU may not recognize the Arrows team at the European Grand Prix.

PEDRO DINIZ's fire in Argentina has once again raised the question of the dangers of refueling in Formula 1 racing.

IVONE PINTON's little-known and largely unsuccessful Formula 3000 team - Durango Equipe - says it will be entering F1 in 1997.

FORMULA 1 teams do not stay idle for long.

THE Japanese Dome F1 prototype chassis tested for the first time last Friday at the Suzuka circuit in Japan, with Italian driver Marco Apicella completing laps on both the full length track and the much shorter "Eastern" circuit.

THERE were serious problems in Buenos Aires with bumps on the track, and many of the F1 drivers complained that the bumps - in the first corner and in the high-speed Ascari turn - were causing not only extreme discomfort but also unnecessary dangers.

THE McLaren garage in Buenos Aires was broken into last week and one of the Mercedes V10 engines was tampered with by someone who knew exactly what it was they were looking for.

LIGIER'S hopes of landing a French engine supply next year took another knock with Peugeot sources revealing that they will not be involved in supplying Flavio Briatore's team with V10 engines in 1997.

THE TWR Ligier alliance has been terminated with immediate effect and Tom Walkinshaw will pull the remainder of his staff out of the French team before the European Grand Prix.

BERNIE ECCLESTONE is to take over the promotion of the Canadian Grand Prix from the Molson Breweries-backed organization which currently does the job.

RENAULT Sport boss Patrick Faure said in Brazil 10 days ago that he did not know the company's plans in F1 after 1997 - although most of the F1 circus is assuming that Renault will stay on in Grand Prix racing where it has enjoyed a dominant position since 1992.

THERE will be an Austrian Grand Prix at the Osterreichring in 1997, and a contract is in place for the race to be held at the Zeltweg circuit until after the event in 2002.

THE Autodromo Municipal Oscar Alfredo Galvez in the Parque Almirante Brown in the suburbs of Buenos Aires was the first truly international standard racing circuit in South America.

GEORGE RYTON, who has been running the Ferrari drawing office in Maranello in recent years, is to leave the company to become Technical Director of Forti Grand Prix.

THE Formula 1 teams are constantly expanding their facilities and, at the moment, there seems to be more expansion than ever before.

THE Grand Prix Drivers Association tried to re-establish its bruised reputation in Brazil, issuing a statement announcing its incorporation in London with a formal constitution, elected officers and permanent offices in Monaco.

THE moves by the French government to turn Ligier back into a French racing team have begun a battle of influence to see who will use Renault engines in 1998 and beyond.

TOM WALKINSHAW's top managers at Ligier are leaving the team this week.

WE understand that Stewart Grand Prix has decided to buy the Formula 1 chassis design which was to have been used by the now-defunct Ikuzawa International team.

LOLA CARS is accelerating its plans to enter F1 in 1997 with Pacific Racing boss Keith Wiggins now having an office from which to coordinate the team at Lola's Huntingdon base.