Formula One News — October 1997

UKYO KATAYAMA has announced that he is to retire from Formula One racing at the end of this season.

MAX MOSLEY was re-elected President of the International Automobile Federation last week in Paris.

THE FIA World Motor Sport Council announced a variety of decisions after last week's meetings in Paris.

KEN TYRRELL has given up the struggle as a rebel in the dispute over the Concorde Agreement and had signed a letter of intent to become a signatory to the new 1998-2008 deal.

FIA President Max Mosley has suggested that the FIA may decide to cancel the entire concept of the Concorde Agreement if the rebel F1 teams do not fall into line.

THE announcement of the British American Tobacco-sponsored Reynard Formula 1 team has been put back again and will now take place on December 6.

AS expected Jackie Stewart has reconfirmed that his drivers in 1998 will be Rubens Barrichello and Jan Magnussen.

BENETTON's controversial head of electronics Tad Czapski is to follow Ross Brawn to Ferrari.

THE disintegration of the team of engineers at Renault Sport, following the defection of Bernard Dudot to Prost Grand Prix is expected to begin shortly and we hear that Dudot's head of research and development, the highly-rated Frenchman Jean-Jacques His, is to join the Ford F1 operation, working with Cosworth engineers at Northampton.

CHRYSLER chief executive Robert Eaton announced this weekend in Germany that the company is intending to double its sales in Europe in the next five years.

EMERSON FITTIPALDI has officially retired from motor racing at the age of 50.

FRANK WILLIAMS, Patrick Head, Adrian Newey and David Coulthard last week missed their appearances in court at Imola - because there were no hotel rooms available in the entire Bologna region because of a huge ceramics trade fair taking place.

THERE is an FIA Congress this week in Paris with meetings of World Councils - Motor Sport and Touring and the annual General Assembly.

BERNIE ECCLESTONE's plans to float Formula One Holdings, the company which exploits the commercial rights to Grand Prix racing on behalf of the FIA, is going to go ahead, probably early next year.

AS predicted, Jacques Villeneuve and Heinz-Harald Frentzen will be staying with Williams in 1998 and the continuity of drivers should help the team as it tackles the new narrow track regulations next season.

MALAYSIA's financial problems have continued in recent days with the ringgit once again diving against the dollar as currency speculators frantically sell their ringgit.

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER reckons that he has only a 30% chance of winning the World Championship this year - but he is not about to give up.

AS we have been predicting for nearly a year Bernard Dudot is to leave his job as technical director of Renault Sport and take up a similar position with Prost Grand Prix at the end of October.

THE West McLaren Mercedes team did not do any major testing last week, giving Ilmor and Mercedes-Benz engineers the chance to try to pin down the problem which has been causing the team's V10 engines to blow up at recent races.