Formula One News — April 1997

THE Sauber Petronas Formula 1 team is already looking at its driver line-up for next season in an effort to have another established star alongside Johnny Herbert.

THE Argentine Grand Prix ended up being a clean sweep for Goodyear, with the top eight finishers all using the American rubber.

WILLIAMS will continue to be sponsored by Rothmans for 1998. It will be the cigarette company's fifth season with the team.

THE Ford Motor Company has been forced to admit that the Formula 1 V10 engine it built at the start of last year is never going to be competitive enough and that a new design must be undertaken for the 1998 season.

FORMER Formula 3000 driver Wim Eyckmans says that he is planning to put together his own Grand Prix team for the 1998 season.

WILLIAMS driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen had a disappointing performance in Brazil, where he qualified a disastrous eighth on the grid and then could finish no higher than ninth in race.

THERE are suggestions from the Middle East that Lebanon would like to host a Formula 1 Grand Prix.

ALAIN PROST has confirmed that he is not intending to do a deal with Ferrari designer John Barnard for the complete design of his future Formula 1 cars.

RUMORS in French circles in recent days suggest that Alain Prost is going to sign up currently unemployed French driver Emmanuel Collard to be his team's test driver, in preparation for the arrival of Peugeot V10 engines next year.

HAVING been left in the lurch by the demise of the Mastercard Lola Formula 1 team, Brazilian racer Ricardo Rosset - and his manager Richard Dutton - have been negotiating in recent days with the Jordan team in the hope that Rosset can get a job testing for the Silverstone operation.

THE constantly-recycling rumor that BMW will enter Formula 1 next year has popped up again, the suggestion this time being that the Munich-based car manufacturer - which is currently making healthy profits and looking to new markets around the world - will pay for the Mecachrome V10 engines which Williams will be using next season.

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER flew back to Europe after the Brazilian Grand Prix to test for Ferrari at Mugello, outside Florence in Italy.