Formula One News — November 2000

FORMER World Champion Damon Hill has hit out at his long time rival Michael Schumacher - claiming that he is a better driver than the Ferrari ace.

WORLD CHAMPION Michael Schumacher vowed he would be back to his best when he returns to the cockpit of his car in January - after the operation to remove a pin from his leg was successful.

SPANIARD Fernando Alonso is at the center of Formula One attention with the possibility of three drives on the cards for the youngster - with Minardi, Ferrari and Prost.

SOMETIMES the most off-beat stories are the best, so it's nice to be able to record that the McLaren-Mercedes team is helping London's famous Great Ormond street hospital in what might best be described as "pit stop" baby care.

KARIM AZUZ, the president of the Tunisian Automobile Club, announced on Thursday that he is ready to meet the Federation Internationale l'Automobile (FIA) in a bid to host a grand prix in the future.

FINN Kimi Raikkonen's proposed move to Sauber is being held up by his application for a super licence to drive in Formula One.

ON Friday morning Formula 1 bosses were anxiously watching the Frankfurt Stock Exchange as the share price of Thomas Haffa's EM.TV company continued to fall.

AFTER losing 8% of its value on Wednesday, EM.TV took a further hit on Thursday on Frankfurt's Neuer Markt stock exchange with the shares dropping another 6.7% during the day to finish up at 29.03 Euros ($24.67).

NEW world champion Michael Schumacher has been named as the number one motor racing driver in the world according to the latest Champion Sparks Plugs Rankings.

THOMAS HAFFA's EM.TV media company, which owns 50% of the Formula One group of companies took another hammering on the Frankfurt Neuer Markt on Wednesday when the firm's share price dropped another 8.3% in a day.

WORLD CHAMPION Michael Schumacher is recovering at home in Switzerland after a successful operation to remove a 30-centimeter metal pin from his right leg.

LOIC BIGOIS, the head of aerodynamics at Prost Grand Prix is still out of action as the result of a motorcycling accident a month ago which resulted in the Frenchman suffering a broken leg.

ARROWS sponsor Orange is expecting to announce a management reshuffle in around a month and it is expected that Hans Snook, the man who brought the mobile telephone company into Formula 1, will leave the company.

WORLD CHAMPION Michael Schumacher has confirmed that he will auction one of his Ferrari driving suits next month in a bid to raise funds for an autism charity.

THE Volkswagen car company and its subsidiaries have avoided most forms of motor racing in recent years - apart from the successful Audi sportscar program - although there has been a fairly active rallying program with its subsidiaries Skoda, Seat and VW itself.

WE hear that Minardi is likely to sign up the rising Spanish star Fernando Alonso with backing from the Belgian finance company Leaseplan, which is hoping to use Formula 1 to expand its business in Spain.

TRIPLE WORLD CHAMPION Michael Schumacher will enter hospital this week to have an operation to remove a pin from his leg.

WHEN DaimlerChrysler board director Jurgen Hubbert stated firmly at the weekend that there would be no future berth for Michael Schumacher in the McLaren-Mercedes squad, he was re-stating the feelings of the German car company which played such a major role in the young Schumi's emergent career a decade ago.

JORDAN GRAND PRIX have reshuffled their management structure with the appointment of John Putt as chief operating officer on Tuesday.

MERCEDES-BENZ president Jurgen Hubbert has said that German Michael Schumacher will not be offered a return to the team when his contract expires with Ferrari in 2002 - even though they started him on his path to stardom.

AN announcement is expected shortly from Jaguar about further changes to the team for next season and we have heard stories that this will involve a new sporting director being appointed.

OUR spies tell us that there are to be changes at Jordan Grand Prix as a result of the team's disappointing performances this year.

IN recent days there have been worries about the future of Minardi and while this is not surprising given the fact that it is now early November and the team has yet to announce which engines it will be using in the World Championship next season.

IT is no secret that Prost Grand Prix is thinking about joining forces with Michelin but the recent engine deal with Ferrari is complicating matters as the French tire manufacturer does not want its tire technology leaking to Ferrari, which remains one of Bridgestone's top teams.

THE Toyota Motor Company has given more details about what it hopes to achieve with its Formula 1 program.