Formula One News — March 1997

FOR some weeks there have been whispers in Formula 1 circles that Reynard Racing Cars is once again planning to enter Grand Prix racing.

JACQUES VILLENEUVE has re-signed with the Williams team for the 1998 season.

THE Mastercard Lola F1 team - which entered Grand Prix racing just a few weeks ago in Melbourne has withdrawn from the World Championship with immediate effect.

EXECUTIVES of Europe's TV stations are not happy with the increasing restrictions being placed on their crews and reporters in Grand Prix racing.

THE Brazilian Grand Prix marked the first occasion on which Bernie Ecclestone's Formula 1 Communications company produced the entire television show.

JOHN BARNARD and Tom Walkinshaw are discussing working together in the future - after Barnard buys the Ferrari Design and Development facility and turns it into an independent design house.

COSWORTH ENGINEERING will be selling its Ford V10 engines to customers in Formula 1 next year, although Stewart Grand Prix will continue to benefit from exclusive developments of the engines as Ford's factory team in F1.

ALAIN PROST's package of financial backers continues to grow with the news that the team has landed a four-year deal with the Bic company, famous for its ball-point pens, cigarette lighters and shaving equipment.

MIKA SALO is rumored to be on the verge of signing a contract to be Michael Schumacher's partner at Ferrari in 1998 and beyond.

EDDIE JORDAN's decision to hire two young drivers for this season may prove to be expensive as Ralf Schumacher and Giancarlo Fisichella find their feet in Formula 1.

THE tiresome squabbling over the 1997-2001 Concorde Agreement continues to grind on with Williams and McLaren now threatening legal action unless the teams which are signatories to the agreement allow them to sign up on equal terms.

WITH the 1997 season up-and-running and Melbourne giving the teams an idea of how the rest of the season will develop - Williams is still dramatically ahead - attention is already turning to putting together the packages for 1998 with engines being particularly important for Tyrrell, Arrows, Benetton and Jordan.

THE Renault car company last week announced a loss for 1996 of around $750 million, explaining why it was considered essential last June for the company to announce that it was withdrawing from Grand Prix racing at the end of this year.

FERRARI and Minardi decided to test at Monza and Michael Schumacher emerged fastest after his three days of running with a best lap of 1m24.13s.

WHILE most of the F1 teams decided to test at Silverstone, Williams and Arrows chose to run at Paul Ricard where the weather was better than in England.

DESPITE Fisichella's crash the Benson & Hedges Jordan Peugeot team had a successful Silverstone test with Ralf Schumacher setting the fastest times at the recently speeded-up Northamptonshire circuit.

BACK in November last year reports from Japan suggested that Toyota was planning to enter F1 as an engine supplier.

FORMER Grand Prix driver Pierluigi Martini was on the witness stand in Imola last week, giving evidence as a prosecution witness in the manslaughter cases against Frank Williams, Patrick Head and Adrian Newey.

BERNIE ECCLESTONE has spent the last few months quietly restructuring his group of Grand Prix-racing related companies in what appears to be preparation for the rumored flotation of the entire business on the London and New York stock exchanges.

PADDY McNALLY is likely to become the chief executive of Formula One plc if the company which controls most of Grand Prix racing's commercial business is floated on the London stock market this summer - as is being suggested.

ALAIN PROST says he is tempted to move his team from its base at Magny-Cours but that he is still to decide whether it is really necessary.

THE changes to the Monaco Grand Prix circuit are going ahead, despite complaints from the F1 drivers that they will detract from the excitement of driving around the harbor-side circuit.

GRAND PRIX RACING has been at the forefront of recent television technology and there are expected to be new developments announced before the flotation of Bernie Ecclestone's company this summer.

THE Nurburgring has moved quickly to ensure that it will host the Luxembourg Grand Prix for five years - starting this year - to avoid the race being replaced by one in the Asia Pacific region.

DAMON HILL may not have had a very successful time at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne but he won the race to be the first driver to be out testing in Europe after the event.