Formula One News — August 2001

THE Elf company has long been at the center of a strong of investigations into corruption in France and the French judicial authorities are not finished yet.

VOLKSWAGEN is planning a major rebranding process to increase sales of Audi and Seat cars and, interestingly, the intention seems to be to make them both more exciting and this would seem to suggest that motorsport programs are the logical way forward.

THE Bridgestone-Firestone company has settled the first of 400 law suits from victims of tire failures, paying out a rumored $7.5m to the Rodriguez Family in Texas.

WINNING the Formula 3000 title does not guarantee much these days and, despite an impressive season with Coca-Cola Nordic Racing Justin Wilson has yet to find a seat for next year.

AFTER a torrid year in 2001 that has seen the pre-season promise of its link-up with Ferrari dashed, sponsor funds fail to materialize and a total of four drivers appear in the race team, Alain Prost has set his hopes on achieving some stability in his team in 2002.

NIKI LAUDA is the new boss of Jaguar Racing - and no-one is quite sure why. Lauda is not known for his ability to run racing teams.

RENAULT SPORT has plucked away Jordan's head of research and development Bob Bell.

IN the wake of the shake-up at Jaguar, the team has appointed a new director of communications with Martin Whitaker being drafted in to take over the job, having decided to give up his job as head of Ford Racing - overseeing all other aspects of the car company's competition policy, notably the World Rally Championship.

KEN TYRRELL, who died early on Saturday morning, will be remembered not only as one of Britain's leading formula one team owners, but also the man who helped mastermind Jackie Stewart's run of three world championships.

JAPANESE tire supplier Bridgestone has voiced its frustration that the Toyota team, running on rival brand Michelin's rubber, was allowed to test at Spa so soon before next weekend's Belgian Grand Prix, potentially gaining invaluable data for its French counterpart.

THE pressure to secure Formula 1 races in new markets and to ensure that the very latest safety and communications facilities are in place at all the Grands Prix has led to Bernie Ecclestone's announcement that three of the current races will be canned by 2003.

GUESS what? Eddie Irvine's been full of praise for Michael Schumacher in the wake of his fourth world championship title.

SOON-TO-BE-OUSTED European Minardi driver Tarso Marques is hopeful of finding a berth elsewhere in Formula 1 next season.

KEKE ROSBERG, the former world champion and manager of Mika Hakkinen, has suggested that all is well in his client's bid to remain at McLaren.

TODAY (Thursday) sees the inquest into the alleged attempt to off-load Eddie Irvine on Jordan for $5 million without the knowledge of Ford's Premier Performance boss Niki Lauda, a big Irvine fan.

AS has long been in the pipeline, Jarno Trulli will team up with his mentor Flavio Briatore at the Renault Sport team - currently Benetton - in 2002.

NIKI LAUDA has won his battle for control of the Jaguar F1 team as it will be announced on Friday that Bobby Rahal has been ousted from his position as its chief executive officer after less than a year in the post.

FERRARI's Rubens Barrichello set the pace on the second day of testing at the picturesque Mugello circuit in Italy.

MIKA HAKKINEN again headed the charge at Silverstone in the second day of a three-team test.

RALF SCHUMACHER has been preparing for the run in to the end of the Formula 1 season by travelling with Williams to the Circuit de Catalunya in company with the fellow Michelin-shod men of the Benetton team.

MCLAREN's former champion Mika Hakkinen set the pace on the first day of Silverstone's latest F1 test.

IF Mika Hakkinen could drive as well every weekend as he did on his way to winning the British Grand Prix, McLaren boss Ron Dennis would probably be pushing a new two year contract under the Finn's nose and urging him to sign it as quickly as possible.

IS it just a silly season rumor, or is VW finally starting to get serious about going Grand Prix racing?

GIANCARLO FISICHELLA will replace his compatriot Jarno Trulli in the Jordan-Honda team next season in a three year deal designed to provide the British team with the continuity it believes it requires to improve its competitiveness and establish itself as a possible winning force.

THE Cologne-based Toyota test squad ended another solitary test, this time on home ground at the Nurburgring.