Formula One News — May 2000

THE European Commission announced at the end of last week that its planned hearing of the issues involved in its dispute with Formula 1 has been delayed following "innovative and constructive" new proposals which have been made by the FIA President Max Mosley.

THE future of Peugeot in Formula 1 appears to be close to being settled.

AUSTRALIAN engineer Sam Michael is expected to become chief designer of Jordan Grand Prix at the end of the year.

THERE was much talk in Barcelona about the future of British American Racing.

DAVID COULTHARD emerged unscathed last week when the chartered executive jet in which he was travelling crashed at Satolas airport in Lyons, France.

WE hear that the city of Syracuse in south-eastern Sicily is planning to build a Formula 1 standard racing circuit, backed by the local government but funded by private enterprise.

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.

BRITISH AMERICAN RACING and Sporting Elite, the company which manages Mika Salo, are in legal action over the Finn's release from a BAR contract last year which enabled him to drive for Ferrari.

TONY GEORGE, the owner of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, says that the United States Grand Prix in September will make a profit this year.

THE steering committee of the British Racing Drivers Club has revealed proposals to restructure the club's involvement with the Silverstone racing circuit.

ORANGE, the company which is sponsoring the Arrows F1 team this year, is as expected to be sold.

IN recent weeks there has been increasing speculation about what Peugeot intends to do in Formula 1.

THE planned departure to Benetton in the middle of next year of Jordan's Mike Gascoyne is a major blow to the Silverstone team.

AS we suggested last week, change is afoot at Benetton and the first sign of that came with the announcement that Jordan's chief designer Mike Gacoyne will move to the Enstone team in July 2001.

BMW'S desire to rid itself of the lame duck Rover Car company has hit trouble, with the venture capital company Alchemy withdrawing its offer last week when it failed to agree terms with BMW on which group would pay for redundancies.