Formula One News — February 2001

BRIDGESTONE's new technical manager Hisao Suganuma has declared himself pleased with the company's preparations as they prepare for the first race in of the season in Australia.

OUTSPOKEN Ulsterman Eddie Irvine has slammed his Jaguar team as they prepare for the first race of the season in Melbourne on March 4.

MCLAREN's managing director Martin Whitmarsh has admitted that he is concerned about the reliability of the team's new MP4/16 car.

GIANCARLO MINARDI is looking forward to the new season now that stability has returned to the team -- and said securing the team's future has been the hardest job he has had.

PROST GRAND PRIX have confirmed the name of their F3000 Championship team as Prost F3000 Junior Team.

BMW-WILLIAMS technical director Patrick Head has indicated that Jenson Button's future in the sport will not be easy to resolve.

ARROWS technical director Mike Coughlan believes in the power of positive thinking going into the 2001 season, as he aims to bring the team's 23-year bid to get on terms with the big names in Formula 1 a step closer to fruition.

JOHNNY HERBERT has made a shock return to Formula One after being confirmed as the Arrows team's development and testing driver at their launch on Thursday.

FORMULA 1 commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone is poised to clinch another business coup today with the news that, after all, he will be selling another 25 per cent shareholding in his SLEC empire for an estimated billion dollars.

JENSON BUTTON completed Benetton's nine-days of testing at the Estoril circuit on Thursday as he drove alone for the final day.

GIANNI MORBIDELLI will find out if he is in line for a Formula One return with Minardi on Friday.

JEAN ALESI put the Prost team on top of the times in the eighth day of testing at the Portuguese circuit of Estoril on Wednesday.

MCLAREN's David Coulthard topped the times for the third successive day as wet weather marred testing at Valencia on Wednesday.

NIGEL MANSELL has signed a contract with European Minardi but he will not make an astonishing racing comeback, the team confirmed on Wednesday.

EXILED Formula One star Johnny Herbert is close to sealing a deal to race in this year's Indianapolis 500 race, he said on Wednesday.

FERRARI driver Rubens Barrichello is reportedly set to become a father for the first time.

EXPERIENCED Formula 3000 runner David Saelens has been announced as the second driver for European Minardi's F3000 assault this season.

THE Toyota Formula One team announced on Wednesday that they will base their testing work in 2001 and will launch their new car at the Circuit Paul Ricard, near Marseille in France.

FERRARI's Luca Badoer completed a successful three-day test for the team at the Fiorano circuit in Italy on Wednesday.

LAST night in London's Royal Albert Hall four "Bernie" awards were made to big names in Formula 1 in the course of a charity Grand Prix ball in aid of Professor Sid Watkins's Brain and Spine Foundation.

FOR some time the management of British American Tobacco has been under investigation for an involvement in international cigarette smuggling in Asia and Latin America.

ITALIAN Luca Badoer will return to testing duties with Ferrari on Tuesday after three weeks on the sidelines, it has been confirmed.

AS Formula One builds up for a tire war, Bridgestone has changed one of its senior technical men, less than three weeks before the first race of the season.

SCOTT LANPHERE, the American executive who took Morgan Grenfell Private Equity into the F1 business, is quitting the venture capitalist organization after a major row with the rest of the board.

DAVID COULTHARD broke the lap record at the Valencia track for the second day in a row on Tuesday.