Formula One News — January 1998

WE hear from book publishing circles in London that Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone has recently concluded a deal with a major British publisher to write a book about his life.

THINGS have gone very quiet in recent months regarding the engine supply of British American Racing in 1999, but we hear that a deal has already been struck although no-one involved in the new team will say anything to identify the engine.

THE French National Assembly, in Paris, last week passed a new bill to overcome the problems related to the television coverage of the French GP.

THE new Minardi-Ford M198 ran for the first time last week at Ferrari's Mugello test track near Florence, in Italy, with Argentina's new rising star Esteban Tuero at the wheel.

THE Tyrrell team unveiled its last Formula 1 car at the Bluebird Cafe in London last week but the team, which will close at the end of the 1998 season, was unable to name a driver to partner Japanese new boy Toranosuke Takagi.

PETER SAUBER unveiled his new F1 car in Vienna last week with the gentle accompaniment of a Viennese waltz in the magnificent setting of the Orangery at the Schonbrunn Palace.

EDDIE JORDAN hopes that his 1998 will finally give the Silverstone-based team its first victory in Formula 1 racing, but Jordan was cautious when he launched the new Jordan-Mugen Honda 198 during a superb event at London's Royal Albert Hall.

ALAIN PROST launched his 1998 package last week at Barcelona and said that the team's intention was "to win the World Championship as quickly as possible".

THE Ferrari team has had nothing but trouble with the new F300 since serious testing of the car began at Fiorano on January 12.

THE Formula 1 race engineers have been having a major shake-up amongst themselves in recent weeks with the departure from Williams of Heinz-Harald Frentzen's race engineer Tim Preston, who has moved to Sauber.

THERE have been rumors that Benetton would switch to Bridgestone for some months and last week the Enstone-based team confirmed that it will switch from Goodyear to begin "a long-term relationship" with the Japanese tire company.

THE McLaren Formula 1 team has concluded a major new sponsorship deal with Cadbury Schweppes PLC, the London-based confectionery and drinks company.

STEWART GRAND PRIX launched its new SF2 chassis last week at Ford's Research and Engineering Center at Dunton, Essex, with high hopes for the season ahead - the team's second in Grand Prix racing.

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER began serious testing work with the new Ferrari F300 at the Fiorano test track last week but things did not go well with technical problems and bad weather meaning that very little could be achieved.

THE economic disasters which have affected the Far East will not disrupt plans to hold a Malaysian Grand Prix in 1999 - at least not if the Malaysians can help it.

THE Portuguese Grand Prix has been canceled and will be replaced in the 1998 FIA Formula 1 World Championship.

THE battles over the Belgian Grand Prix continue with the FIA having granted the organizers until February 15 to sort out the problems which have arisen from a Belgian government decision to ban tobacco advertising from the start of 1999.

AUSTRALIA's Health Minister Michael Wooldridge is clearly not a man given to subtle expression of his opinions.

THIS week will see no fewer than six Formula 1 teams unveiling their cars for the coming Grand Prix season with Stewart Grand Prix leading the way on Tuesday with the launch of the SF2 at Ford's Dunton Research and Engineering Center, near Basildon, in Essex.

FERRARI unveiled its new F300 Grand Prix car on Tuesday at Maranello and team principals put their necks on the line, saying that the team would have no excuses if it did not win the World Championship this year.

FERRARI used the launch of the F300 to unveil it long-awaited 150mph half-scale windtunnel at Maranello.

WILLIAMS GRAND PRIX ENGINEERING last week used Pinewood Studios to reveal its 1998 color scheme to a small selection of journalists and guests flown in from countries where the Winfield cigarettes - the new title sponsor - is sold.

LORD HESKETH, the British politician and former Grand Prix team owner, who is currently head of the British Racing Drivers Club - which owns Silverstone has said that the European Union tobacco sponsorship ban is "demented". Hesketh said that the policy is "bad, cheap, single issue politics and it will cost us jobs".

MAX WELTI, the team director of Sauber Petronas, has left the Swiss team.

THERE was a brief flurry of activity in Germany last week following confirmation that German state prosecutors were investigating whether or not they could bring criminal charges against Michael Schumacher for his maneuver against Jacques Villeneuve at Jerez at the end of last season.