Formula One News — July 1999

WHISPERS from France suggest that Renault could supply a team with factory V10 engines in 2001 although these would be badged as Nissan V10s.

THE Formula 1 team bosses have not had a meeting for several months now and it seems that there is unlikely to be a gathering of the clans until the Belgian or Italian GP at the earliest.

PEUGEOT's future involvement in Formula 1 looks increasingly unlikely after the 2000 season following the announcement that the French carmaker's sister company Citroen will not be allowed to enter a team in the FIA World Rally Championship.

PROST GRAND PRIX's Jarno Trulli is tipped to be on his way to Jordan Grand Prix next year, to replace the retiring Damon Hill.

THERE was an important General Motors/Opel meeting in Germany last week at which a proposal for a GM Formula 1 program was discussed by the company management. There have been strong indications in recent weeks that the American giant has been considering using F1 to broaden global interest in Cadillac products.

EDDIE IRVINE might have won a fine victory over McLaren in Austria but the Ulsterman's future with the Italian team seems to be coming to an end.

DAMON HILL's indecision about his future was somewhat overshadowed by the events following Michael Schumacher's accident at Silverstone but on Wednesday the former World Champion announced that he is going to continue racing for the Jordan team until the end of the year - as he had originally planned to do.

EDDIE IRVINE will head Ferrari's challenge for the Formula 1 World Championship following Michael Schumacher's accident at Silverstone.

FINLAND's Mika Salo was named as Ferrari's replacement for Michael Schumacher on Tuesday last week and that evening had his first laps in a Ferrari F399 at the team's Fiorano test facility.

THE FIA has published details of Michael Schumacher's crash, recorded by the "black box" accident data recorder in the Ferrari.

MCLAREN has signed a long-term driver contract with Brazilian CART driver Helio Castro-Neves.

REPORTS in the German press suggest that DaimlerChrysler is planning to take more shares in the TAG McLaren Group, over and above the 40% on which an option has been agreed.

Rumors in Italy suggest that Gabriele Rumi is planning to sell his shares in the Minardi team at the end of the year and there has been talk of a Spanish consortium buying his shareholding in the team.

THE Ford Motor Company has announced that Paul Stewart will move from his position as deputy chairman of Stewart Grand Prix to a new position as chief operating officer of the team.

HEINZ-HARALD FRENTZEN gave the Jordan team and Honda a boost when he set the fastest time of the four day Monza Formula 1 test last week.

FIA President Max Mosley turned up at Silverstone and launched an attack on the anti-smoking authorities which, he said, had failed to deliver any evidence to prove that the tobacco sponsorship in F1 makes people start to smoke.

THE Arrows team has announced plans to use Supertec V10 engines in 2000. The deal - which the team had denied it was planning - will mean that team boss Tom Walkinshaw is giving up his own engine program.

THE Italian prosecutors announced last week that they will appeal the decision to acquit Williams engineers Patrick Head and Adrian Newey. The two were cleared of manslaughter charges relating to the death of Ayrton Senna at Imola in 1994 by a Bologna court in December 1997.

HEINZ-HARALD FRENTZEN will stay with Jordan in 2000. The team had an option on the 32-year-old German and decided to take it up after his magnificent win at the French Grand Prix . The move would suggest that the team is not going to sign up another topline star such as Eddie Irvine or David Coulthard despite the fact that the team's sponsor Benson & Hedges wants a high-profile name in the team.

MICHAEL SCHUMACHER crashed heavily during the opening lap of the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. The Ferrari star's F399 suffered a rear brake failure at Stowe Corner and went straight off at around 130mph. The sand trap barely slowed the car at all and Schumacher hit the wall - which was protected by tires - almost head on. It was a huge accident. The Ferrari stood up very well to the impact but the double World Champion suffered two broken bones in his lower right leg.

EUROPEAN COMMISSION President Romano Prodi has named his new team of Commissioners and the Competition portfolio has gone to his fellow countryman Mario Monti.

THERE are suggestions in Europe that the huge US brewing company Anheuser Busch is negotiating for a five-year sponsorship deal for the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis with its Budweiser beer brand.

AS we have been suggesting for some time, DaimlerChrysler has announced that it is buying a 40% shareholding in the TAG McLaren group of companies. The deal is believed to be worth around $200m and will see the automobile giant becoming the biggest shareholder in the group.

THERE has been much speculation in Italy in recent days suggesting that Rubens Barrichello will sign a deal to race for Ferrari next year, replacing Eddie Irvine.

THE British Grand Prix is traditionally the mid-season race and, more importantly, the race at which the Concorde Agreement dictates that payments for the next six months are decided upon. The system is designed so that 10 teams receive prize money and a share of the TV and travel funds. The top 10 is based on the results achieved by each team in the two previous half-seasons. To date British American Racing has not enjoyed the benefits because it had no previous results. Team boss Craig Pollock sent a letter to rival teams in March protesting this arrangement but nothing has changed so far.