Formula One News — January 2001

JAGUAR's new chief operating officer Bobby Rahal has promised that the changes he has made will boost the team's chances of Formula One success, on the eve of the launch of their 2001 challenger.

THE Arrows Formula One team announced on Monday that Michael Ainsley-Cowlishaw has joined the team as race team manager.

THE convoluted political battles over the control of EM.TV, the German media company which controls 50% of the Formula One group of companies, continues with "white knight" Leo Kirch now rumored to be pushing for the removal of the current management at EM.TV.

SPANISH driver Fernando Alonso has said he will announce his Formula One future within the next two weeks -- with Minardi favorite to secure his services.

IT seems that barely a month passes without some new rumors about a new candidate for a Formula 1 Grand Prix.

THE Ferrari Gallery, close to the team's Maranello base in Italy, has announced a record number of visitors after 157,000 people visited in the year 2000.

THE first tests of the 2001 season will begin tomorrow at Jerez in southern Spain with Williams and Benetton both in action for three days.

IT seems that winning a World Championship with Ferrari is nowadays considered as important as winning wars in the old days.

FORMULA 1 has enjoyed a large amount of money in recent years from mobile telephone companies which are keen to link their image with the fast, high-technology of Grand Prix racing.

FERRARI drivers Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello are set to conclude their final week of vacation in a northern Italy ski-resort before getting down to the serious business of Formula One testing.

THE Jordan-Honda formula one team have shrugged aside suggestions that it is facing a any sort of crisis after it was announced that their chief designer Mark Smith has quit to join the rival Benetton squad x just over a week before their new car is due to be unveiled.

ANANDA MIKOLA has signed a two-year contract to race for the Astromega team in Formula 3000.

THREE-TIME Formula One World Champion Jackie Stewart is urging the British Government to offer financial assistance to turn Silverstone into the best Grand Prix circuit.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL EUROPE is reporting that the talks between Kirch and EM.TV have broken down over the price being paid for EM.TV's stake in Formula 1.

THE announcement that Jordan Grand Prix is to lose its chief designer Mark Smith to Benetton is the latest in a series of high-profile engineers who have left the Silverstone team.

NIKI LAUDA will remain associated with the airline that carries his name as the man in charge at the Milan-based Lauda-Air Italy, according to aviation sources which also believe that the former triple World Champion's recent resignation as boss of the entire company could have major repercussions for the Austrian airline market.

PROST GRAND PRIX have confirmed they have captured two of Minardi's key mechanics as they prepare to unveil their 2001 challenger.

THE EM.TV share price took another dive on Friday morning following reports in the Wall Street Journal Europe that the company's deal with Leo Kirch may not go through.

JAGUAR will build its planned F-Type roadster in 2004. It will be the company's first real sportscar since the famous E-Type was discontinued.

THE English football industry is booming at the moment and there is a currently a big battle going on to sponsor the Premier League.

THE problems surrounding the Reynard company continue with the news that its US subsidiary Riley & Scott is to become independent once again.

JORDAN GRAND PRIX will take to the waves after they announced on Thursday that they will enter a team in the Honda Formula 4-stroke Race Series.

JORDAN GRAND PRIX announced on Thursday the appointment of Gabriele Delli-Colli as Jarno Trulli's senior race engineer for the 2001 world championship.

CHIEF DESIGNER Mark Smith has quit Jordan to join Benetton just two months before the start of the new Formula One season, it was revealed on Thursday.

RICK GORNE's departure from British American Racing will probably very little effect on the team.