Formula One News — May 2000

PEUGEOT SPORT bosses say that no decision has yet been taken about the company's future (or lack of it) in Formula 1 and that there will be an announcement once the firm knows where it is going.

WHILE rival Peugeot is trying to decide on its future in Formula 1, Renault seems to know exactly what it is doing in Grand Prix racing and we hear that there are plans for the French car company to run a testing program this winter and throughout the summer of 2001 in preparation for its official return to F1 in 2002 with the Benetton team.

BMW WILLIAMS F1 driver Jenson Button was stopped by French police over the weekend for speeding on the A9 autoroute near Montpellier.

FLAVIO BRIATORE, the boss of the Benetton Formula 1 team, says that the team will stick with Alexander Wurz for the rest of the season.

THERE is expected to be an announcement later this week that the giant France Telecom has bought the Orange mobile phone company from current owner Vodafone AirTouch Plc for nearly $45bn.

GIANCARLO FISICHELLA slightly injured his thumb when he was involved in a spectacular accident while testing at the Circuit Ricardo Torma in Valencia last week.

AFTER a certain amount of negotiation, the young Brazilian Antonio Pizzonia finally had his first runs for Benetton last week in Valencia, Spain, and the 19-year-old was immediately impressive, recording a best time on his first day which was less than a second slower than Giancarlo Fisichella.

THREE tobacco firms went to the House of Lords, the highest court in Britain, last week to stop the British government introducing a ban on cigarette advertising before the planned European legislation.

THE French Grand Prix is to stay at Magny-Cours for the next five years.

THE BAR-Honda relationship remains at the center of much rumor-mongering at the moment with British American Tobacco's interest in the program apparently on the wane and Honda keen to keep hold of Jacques Villeneuve rather than losing him to a rival operation.

MARTIN WHITAKER, who was in charge of Ford's F1 plans until the end of last year, appears to be in the process of trying to get back into Formula 1 having spent the last few months in charge of the Ford World Rally Championship program.

THERE is increasing speculation that Colombia's Juan-Pablo Montoya will return to Europe next season to take over Jenson Button's drive at Williams.

MERCEDES-BENZ's motorsport chief Norbert Haug said at the Nurburgring that the company will not be giving its Formula 1 engines to Alain Prost next year.

THE appearance of European Commission President Romano Prodi at the European Grand Prix last weekend sent a very clear signal that relations between the Commission and Grand Prix racing have improved dramatically in recent months and that a deal may be close in the battle over whether or not Formula 1 is exploiting a monopoly situation.

THERE are rumors that Ferrari may take a risk at the end of this season and switch to Michelin tires next year.

THERE was a rash of action on the test driver market in Germany last weekend with Jaguar Racing announcing the appointment of Andre Lotterer, an 18-year-old Formula 3 driver.

THE Williams team announced a major sponsorship deal last weekend with the Allianz Group.

THE exact details of David Coulthard's injuries received in his plane accident two weeks ago have finally been made public by the McLaren team and it seems that contrary to earlier suggestions, the Scotsman did suffer three cracked ribs in the accident at Lyons Satolas airport.

GIORGIO PANTANO was testing for Benetton last week in Jerez de la Frontera. The 21-year-old Italian is one of the most highly-rated kartist of all time, having won a string of victories at international level.

THERE is already beginning to be speculation about what Frank Williams and Patrick Head are going to do at the end of this season about their drivers for 2001.

THERE were rumors after the Spanish Grand Prix that Volkswagen's Audi subsidiary is looking at buying the little Italian team.

SUCH was the speculation last week that Benetton boss Flavio Briatore decided to put out a press statement denying stories that Alexander Wurz would be replaced for the European Grand Prix.

JACQUES VILLENEUVE's decision whether to stay at British American Racing is currently holding up progress on the driver market for the 2001 season.

THE FIA Formula 1 World Championship was 50 years old on Saturday.

THERE has been considerable speculation in recent days about the future of Alexander Wurz at Benetton and there have even been hints that the Austrian may not survive with the team until the end of the season.