Formula One News — June 1997

IN recent days there have been reports in the Toronto Globe and Mail suggesting that Formula 1 racing boss Bernie Ecclestone is considering a race in the Los Angeles.

OLIVIER PANIS was discharged from the Sacre Coeur hospital in Montreal last Monday - eight days after the crash in which he broke both his legs - and immediately flew back to France with his wife Anne.

WILLIAMS test driver Jean-Christophe Boullion is likely to be driving for Sauber at the British Grand Prix, standing in for the injured Gianni Morbidelli.

PROST GRAND PRIX announced on Monday that Jarno Trulli would be its replacement for the injured Olivier Panis.

ALAIN PROST's gradual revamping of the former Ligier team continues with the announcement that managing-director Bruno Michel is to depart with immediate effect.

DESPITE the arrival of money from Federal Express, the future of Flavio Briatore at Benetton continues to be unclear - with rumors that his recent fall-out with the Benetton family will not be patched-up.

THE international courier company Federal Express will announce on the Thursday before the British Grand Prix that it is to become a major sponsor of the Benetton Formula 1 team.

AS F1 engine supplies for 1998 and beyond begin to become clearer, the future of Tyrrell appears to be as a customer of the Ford Motor Company.

THE Tyrrell family has turned down a multi-million dollar offer to sell its Formula 1 team to the British American Tobacco company.

JACQUES VILLENEUVE's negotiations with Frank Williams for a contract in 1998 could end up with the French-Canadian being kicked out of his Williams seat.

THE flotation of Bernie Ecclestone's Formula One Holdings company is to be delayed until the winter.

MAX MOSLEY spoke out last week about legal interference in motor racing, during a conference in Rome about sport and its relationship with the law.

AS we were closing for press the replacement for Olivier Panis with Prost Grand Prix was still to be announced with Minardi's Jarno Trulli and Emmanuel Collard both in line for the drive - with Damon Hill as an unlikely outsider.

THE deal struck last week in Washington DC between the tobacco industry and American state negotiators is likely to mean the end of cigarette sponsorship in the United States.

JACQUES VILLENEUVE dominated testing at Magny-Cours last week, completing nearly 200 laps of the French circuit to set a best time of 1m15.16s - which is nearly a second faster than Michael Schumacher's pole position at the track last July.

DAVID COULTHARD says he is intending to stay at McLaren next year, pointing out that he has done better this year than Finn Mika Hakkinen and staking his claim to be kept on if the team's partners Mercedes-Benz and West cigarettes insist on the team having a German driver in 1998.

SAUBER PETRONAS driver Gianni Morbidelli suffered a broken left arm on last Thursday after a high-speed crash during testing for the French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours.

REPORTS in the German motor racing press that Nissan has a Formula 1 project with Tom Walkinshaw should be treated with some care.

THE flotation of Bernie Ecclestone's Formula One Holdings Ltd. looks likely to be delayed for some months because of worries in financial circles that Ecclestone and his financial advisors, the New York-based Salomon Brothers investment bank, are rushing things a little too much.

THE Formula 1 teams are busy trying to put together their commercial packages for next season - and the Montreal paddock was a hive of activity as F1 marketing departments tried to convince potential sponsors to sign up with them.

OLIVIER PANIS has broken both his legs and will be out of action for at least the next three months following a heavy crash in the closing stages of the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.

THE negotiations over the flotation of Bernie Ecclestone's Formula One Holdings (FOH) have, as expected, resulted in plans for a completely new Concorde Agreement, getting rid of the troublesome 1997-2001 document which has split the F1 teams for the last year.

THE uncertainty over whether or not Bernie Ecclestone will float his Formula 1 Holdings Ltd. company on the London Stock Exchange this summer is blocking a number of vital decisions which are currently holding up future developments in the F1 paddock.

JACQUES VILLENEUVE received a reprimand from the FIA World Motor Sports Council last week for comments he made in the German magazine Der Spiegel.

GERHARD BERGER was forced to miss the Canadian Grand Prix because of a sinus infection following a recent operation.