Formula One News — April 1999

THE annual meeting of the British Racing Drivers Club last week failed to settle the issue of whether it wants to sell Silverstone to Brands Hatch Leisure. The members of the club considered a restructuring plan which would leave Silverstone independent but a 75% vote was needed for this to be accepted. We understand that a majority of members voted for the plan but the vote did not get the necessary percentage of votes to push ahead with the idea.

IN recent days Irish property developer Jim Mansfield has announced that he is considering the construction of a racing circuit near Dublin, in Ireland, with the intention of bidding for an Irish Grand Prix. The project would be linked to the construction of a football stadium nearby.

ZANDVOORT, the home of the Dutch Grand Prix between 1952 and 1985, is bidding for a race once again.

REYNARD MOTORSPORT is quietly positioning itself to become the motorsport partner of General Motors in the future, probably in the hope that the world's biggest car manufacturer will eventually decided to enter Grand Prix racing in an effort to maintain its lead in the automotive industry.

PSA PEUGEOT CITROEN - the parent company of Peugeot - says it is sticking to its policy of remaining independent, despite the consolidation going on in the automobile industry. And the company seems to be gearing up to use success in motor sport as a spur to future sales.

RUMORS from France suggest that Ferrari's Jean Todt is considering making a bid for Jarno Trulli to join Michael Schumacher at Ferrari for the 2000 season.

RALF SCHUMACHER topped the timesheets during three days of testing last week at Jerez, the German Williams driver having recorded a best lap of 1m24.232s after 180 laps of running. It was a good test for the Williams team - which has been struggling recently - but the times are not hugely relevant as it was clear that McLaren would have done quicker times if the team had stayed on for all three days of testing.

BMW MOTORSPORT is to begin testing its new V10 Formula 1 engine behind closed doors to prevent embarrassment if there are any problems. The tests will take place within a matter of days at the BMW test facility at Miramas, on the flat plains to the north-west of Marseilles.

BRITISH AMERICAN RACING says that Mika Salo has agreed to stand in for the injured Ricardo Zonta, if the Brazilian youngster is not fit to race at Imola at the end of the month.

SUPERTEC's Flavio Briatore was wandering around the paddock in Brazil telling anyone who would listen to him that Renault's current adventures will have no effect on the F1 program, as he tried to dampen criticism of the engines he is supplying to Williams, Benetton and BAR this year.

SEVERAL Formula 1 teams are believed to be experimenting with an exotic new lightweight metal-ceramic material called Boralyn.

Harvey Postlethwaite was one of the good guys of Grand Prix racing. He was an engineer of enormous talent, a great racing enthusiast, a man who loved to nurture new talent - both drivers and engineers - and a man who, because of bitter experience, was intent on improving F1 safety.

THE sudden death of Harvey Postlethwaite could have a dramatic effect on Honda's Formula 1 plans.

BOTH Ferrari's parent company Fiat and the massive Volkswagen empire are poised to make new acquisitions to strengthen their positions as the world's automotive industry consolidates. Rumors in Italy say that Fiat is after BMW, having been beaten by Ford in the bidding to buy Volvo.

THERE has been a shake-up in the management of BMW's Formula 1 project with the arrival of a new chief, Dr. Mario Theissen, to oversee strategy and operations. He will work alongside former racer Gerhard Berger, who will look after the project's marketing and public relations.

IT is only a few weeks since the Toyota Motor Corporation announced plans to enter Formula 1 racing with its own team, but already the Japanese firm is beginning a recruitment drive to put together a team of engineers to design an F1 engine.

BERNIE ECCLESTONE has agreed to pay the Formula 1 teams the money they had been expecting from television revenues this year, despite the fact that he has yet to get the outstanding $75m from France's Canal Plus.

THE Sauber team has restructured its ownership in recent days with the team's commercial director Fritz Kaiser, increasing his shareholding in the team.

THE FORD MOTOR COMPANY has suddenly become one of the most popular engine companies in Grand Prix racing, following the promising showing of the Stewart-Ford combination in Australia and Brazil.

PROST GRAND PRIX's test driver Stephane Sarrazin was Luca Badoer's replacement at Minardi for last weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix.

RICARDO ZONTA is likely to be out of action at the San Marino Grand Prix in three weeks and may also have to miss the races in Monaco and Spain as a result of his massive accident in Saturday morning practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos.

BRITISH AMERICAN RACING is rumored to be trying to convince the Honda Motor Co. that it should give up the idea of running its own team and supply engines to BAR. The management at Honda is believed to be studying proposals from BAR, Jordan and the British-based Honda Racing Developments operation.

WHEN the Formula 1 teams returned to Europe after the Australian Grand Prix they did enough miles of testing between them to have driven a car from Europe back to Melbourne! When they packed up to go to Brazil the 11 F1 teams had covered a grand total of 14,400 miles of testing in the last three weeks. And that does not include the aerodynamic mapping work up and down runways which several teams have also completed.

THE recent testing in Barcelona has highlighted a series of problems with Supertec V10 engines. Ralf Schumacher suffered one failure in his Williams, Giancarlo Fisichella lost an engine in his Benetton and both British American Racing drivers also had to put up with blow-ups.

CART team owner Jerry Forsythe says that he would like to increase his shareholding in British American Racing if the opportunity arises. Forsythe has confirmed that he controls 15% of the team, having bought the majority shareholding in Mount Eagle Inc. from Craig Pollock in November last year.