Formula One News — June 2000

Formula One's governing body, the FIA, have announced several new technical regulations that all teams must adhere to in the 2001 season.

Jos Verstappen has injured his neck in a testing accident at Magny Cours on Wednesday.

Formula One's governing body, the FIA, on Wednesday announced the provisional calendar for the 2001 World Championship, and the Malaysian Grand Prix was the only major mover.

The future of Jordan Grand Prix's engine supply was the topic of some discussion in the Montreal paddock with Eddie Jordan admitting that he was in discussion with "a number of manufacturers" about possible engine supplies in the future.

THE management of Jaguar Racing has finally settled on Silverstone as the location for its new Formula 1 headquarters.

LAST week was a significant one in the fight over tobacco legislation in Europe.

The major talking point at the Canadian Grand Prix was the future of Jacques Villeneuve.

McLaren Formula 1 boss Ron Dennis has finally been rewarded for his services to the motor racing industry with the announcement that he has been appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's Birthday Honours List.

THE Benetton team currently uses V10 engines which were designed by Renault Sport but are marketed by Supertec for Mecachrome under the Playlife banner.

AS we suggested a month ago British American Tobacco subsidiaries have now raised their shareholdings in British American Racing to 80% and while paddock rumor says that this was a deal so that the team could top up its budget, it seems more likely that it is part of the process by which the team splits away from Jacques Villeneuve and his manager Craig Pollock.

RALF SCHUMACHER will not decide until the last minute whether or not he will be fit to race in the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.

THE BRITISH RACING DRIVERS' CLUB last week voted to establish a company called Silverstone Operations Ltd. with the main aim of winning back the British Grand Prix to Silverstone while at the same time creating a more effective commercial structure which is not directly influenced by the BRDC and thus can operate independently to increase income from the track.

THERE are rumors in Formula 1 circles that the forthcoming FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting in Warsaw, Poland, on June 21 could produce some radical proposals for the future organization of Grand Prix racing.

IT was a slow week for news in Monaco and so there were quite a lot of speculative stories flying around after the event, notably one which was run in AUTOSPORT magazine in London which suggested that Frank Williams and Patrick Head have already decided that Jenson Button will be replaced by Juan-Pablo Montoya at the end of the season.

ALAIN PROST has confirmed that his technical director Alan Jenkins has left the French team and that the technical coordination will be looked after by the team's head of design Jean-Paul Gousset.

THERE were rumors in Monaco that Finland's Mika Salo is close to signing a contract to drive for the new Toyota Motorsport Formula 1 team in 2002.

THE German software company SAP has agreed a multi-year deal to sponsor the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis.

THE man behind the plans for an Egyptian Grand Prix appeared at Monaco this weekend in the company of Bernie Ecclestone.

BMW WILLIAMS F1 driver Ralf Schumacher crashed heavily while running fourth in the Monaco Grand Prix this weekend and the German youngster may have to miss the forthcoming Canadian Grand Prix.

ALAN JENKINS, the technical director of Prost Grand Prix, has departed the team following a power struggle between the Englishman and a group of Prost's managers in France.

EVER since the announcement that Williams had landed sponsorship from the Allianz Group the F1 community has been going through a turbulent phase as other big financial institutions look at buying into the sport.

THE city of Montreal faces serious problems at the Canadian Grand Prix if unions go ahead with a threat to disrupt the city's public transportation system.

THE future of the Arrows team's sponsorship from Orange remains uncertain following the announcement that the mobile phone company has been bought by France Telecom for $51bn.