Formula One News — December 2000

TOM WALKINSHAW's confidence in his recent deal to build a Formula 1 track in Moscow will be shaken by the news that the man who negotiated the deal has been gunned down and his chauffeur killed.

CRITICS think that Toyota is unwittingly making a mess of its Formula 1 plans by siting the team in Germany and using a lot of staff without any F1 experience,

THE recently established media group Vivendi Universal has announced plans to establish its own sports network in competition with Eurosport.

DEUTSCHE BANK, the biggest shareholder in the DaimlerChrysler empire with 12% of the company, says it is going to sell its shares in the German-US car company but this will not happen until the share price improves.

THE British New Year's Honours List featured a number of sportsmen, including a knighthood for multiple Olympic rowing champion Steve Redgrave but there was no knighthood for Jackie Stewart and there were no awards for the motor racing industry as the list was dominated by Olympic athletes.

NARAIN KARTHIKEYAN is expecting to make his Formula One testing debut with Jaguar Racing at the start of January.

WHEN the Formula 1 teams gather again in Australia in March there will be a new engine supplier on the grid. At least the name will be different.

WORLD CHAMPION Michael Schumacher has predicted a bright Formula One future for young Briton Jenson Button.

FERRARI President Luca di Montezemolo says that he would like to take a sabbatical from running the company.

FERRARI President Luca di Montezemolo says that the team's sporting director Jean Todt will be staying with the team nut there are no details as to how long this will be for.

MICHELIN's softly softly approach to its entry into Grand Prix racing should not be taken too seriously.

TOMMY SUHARTO, the man who wanted to take Grand Prix racing to Indonesia, a few years ago, is leading the local police a dance at the moment.

HAVING lost his regular race engineer Dino Toso to Benetton, Jordan's Jarno Trulli has been looking for a replacement and has been pushing the Silverstone team to hire Gabriele Dellicolli, with whom he worked at Minardi in 1997.

THE Brazilian state owned Brazilian oil giant Petrobras has decided to change its name to PetroBrax to support its plans for international expansion.

THE shares of Formula 1 shareholder EM.TV hit a new low on Thursday when they bottomed out at 5.00 Euros ($4.5).

RUBENS BARRICHELLO has insisted that the 2001 season will see a vast improvement in personal performances and a concerted push for the Formula One World Championship.

THE Ford Motor Company has begun to settle law suits relating to accidents involving the Explorer sports utility vehicle.

MALAYSIAN Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad says that he will stand down from office at the end of his current term in November 2004, who will be 79 by then time the next elections come up.

MICHELIN's Competition Director Pierre Dupasquier has been carefully playing down expectations that the French tire company could win Formula 1 races in 2001.

ALEX WURZ has declared his intent on securing a seat in one of Formula One's leading teams in the coming seasons, and he has singled out British American Racing driver Olivier Panis as his role model.

ANTONIO PIZZONIA has confirmed he will drive in the 2001 International F3000 championship but has not ruled out a testing role in Formula One.

JAGUAR will become the first Formula One team to launch their new car for the 2001 season.

FORMULA 1 bosses have never much cared about the demographics of the average Formula 1 race fan but it is something which will be taken into account in the years ahead as the sport grows.

FERRARI general manager Jean Todt has hinted at retirement from Formula 1 when his current contract with the team expires in 2001.

STUART TURNER, the former Director of Motorsport for Ford of Europe, today paid tribute to his former boss, colleague and friend Walter Hayes who died aged 76 in the London Independent Hospital on Boxing Day.