Formula One News — August 1997

FORD will announce on Thursday that it has agreed a deal to supply Tyrrell with its V10 engines next year, in addition to its involvement with Stewart Grand Prix.

IT was no great surprise at Spa when McLaren boss Ron Dennis announced that the team will be keeping the same two drivers in 1998.

DAMON HILL, Gerhard Berger and Jean Alesi are all struggling to find good drives for next season.

ALTHOUGH it is yet to be announced Frank Williams is believed to have reached final agreement to keep both his current F1 drivers in 1998.

BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO will reveal its plans to enter Formula 1 racing at the Luxembourg Grand Prix at the end of September.

THE Belgian Grand Prix weekend was marred by a couple of controversial incidents - all of them involving Mika Hakkinen.

ONE interesting story which was doing the rounds in Spa was that David Richards is still hoping to get involved in Formula 1 next year, despite denials that he is talking to the Benetton Family about taking over the running of the team from Flavio Briatore.

TOM WALKINSHAW's plans for an F1 engine next year seem to be coming together with most of the speculation suggesting that Tom is planning to make his own V10 engine, in association with Brian Hart, and that this will be badged either by Yamaha - which does not want to pull out of F1 because of a lack of results - or by a car company which will be new to Grand Prix racing.

GOODYEAR has restructured its staff in Formula 1, CART and in the Indy Racing League.

AS expected the recent change of government in France has had a serious effect on Alain Prost's plans to use his political connections to help build up his Grand Prix team.

THE German car manufacturer BMW is to announce a long-term motor racing involvement with Williams at the Frankfurt Motor Show in the week following the Italian Grand Prix.

ALAIN PROST confirmed that he has re-signed Olivier Panis to drive for his team for the next two seasons.

OLIVIER PANIS says he hopes to be back in action in F1 for the Luxembourg Grand Prix at the Nurburgring at the end of September - and not at Monza as was suggested in Hungary.

AS we reported in May the Automobile Association of South Africa in Johannesburg is aiming to run a Grand Prix at Kyalami next season.

DON PANOZ announced just after we closed last week that he has recruited Jim Selwa, the chief executive of Lotus Cars USA to be vice-president and chief operating officer of Panoz Motor Sports.

JAN MAGNUSSEN's future with the Stewart team hangs in the balance for the moment, the young Dane having been a big disappointment this year.

THE uncertainty surrounding the future of Cosworth Engineering continues despite denials from its parent company Vickers PLC that the Northampton engine business - which builds the Ford V10 F1 engine - is up for sale.

LIFE is very complicated at the moment at Benetton.

THERE was plenty of testing action last week with work going on at Monza, Silverstone, Mugello and Fiorano.

FOR the last month there have been recurring rumors that British American Tobacco is planning to buy the Minardi F1 team.

PROST driver Jarno Trulli last week set the fastest ever lap around the Mugello racing circuit, near Florence.

JACKY EECKELAERT, Peugeot Sport's F1 Project Coordinator, is a man in demand at the moment.

THE Tyrrell team is expected to announce in Japan that it has landed a big new sponsorship deal with a major Japanese company and is expected to announce shortly that it has concluded a deal to run a second supply of Ford V10 engines in 1998.

CAL LINT, the manager of Goodyear's international racing department since the start of 1993 is to leave Formula 1 after the Belgian Grand Prix.

DAMON HILL's remarkable performance at the Hungarian Grand Prix is likely to boost his chances of landing a top F1 drive next year.