Formula One News — November 2001

BBC Television's prime time consumer affairs program Watchdog screened an investigation into ticket prices at the British GP next year and called in Octagon Motorsport Rob Bain to justify the hike.

Vodafone, the mobile phone giant which has committed itself to backing both the Ferrari team and Manchester United football club is tightening its belt for some disastrous trading figures to be announced on Tuesday (13 November).

Vladimir Putin, the president of the Russian federation, has called on all Russia's citizens to help the police combat organized crime.

China has made a major step towards becoming integrated into the global economy by finally getting membership of the World Trade Organization

Eddie Irvine turns 36 today and with the retirement from Formula 1 of Jean Alesi, the Jaguar racing driver looks set to become the doyen of the sport next year.

The return of Gary Anderson to Jordan Grand Prix is an interesting move for both men. But it likely to cause some trouble.

While most of the car companies have reported a drop in sales figures since the terrorist attacks of September 11, BMW has just reported that its worldwide sales in October were up by 18.5 percent compared to the same period in the previous year.

Dietrich Mateschitz's claims that he is intending to create an American F1 team (an odd thing for an Austrian to be doing) have been confirmed.

Arrows launched legal action against Coral, saying the betting company is in breach of a sponsorship agreement. Coral is the owner of Eurobet.

At the recent European Minardi day at the Santa Monica (Misano) Circuit, Minardi F3000 driver David Saelens had his first experience behind the wheel of a Formula One car.

The Formula 1 authorities are watching developments in the United States of America closely as CART tries to figure out how to survive.

Jean Alesi tried his hand in a Mercedes-Benz touring car at Hockenheim on Wednesday and enjoyed himself enormously.

Gary Anderson, the man who oversaw the design of every F1 Jordan from 1990 to 98, is returning to the Silverstone-based team after a spell working with the rival Jaguar squad and Reynard Motorsport.

Nick Wirth, the former Benetton team chief designer and the man behind the Simtek F1 squad in 1994-95, is returning to front line motor racing as Technical Director for Reynard Motorsport.

The Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport has reported that Ferrari will begin defense of their championship using a revised version of the F2001 chassis instead of a new design.

Reports in The Financial Times indicate that Volkswagen will shortly announce the departure of Franz-Josef Paefgen, the chief executive of Audi.

Australia's James Courtney is to lead the British Formula 3 Championship-winning Carlin Motorsport team in 2002. He will also be the Jaguar Racing test driver next year.

The Bavarian state prosecution service has announced that it has started criminal proceedings against Thomas Haffa and his brother Florian.

Jarno Trulli is among 240 Italian-based sportsmen and women who have signed a petition calling on the United States and its allies to stop military action in Afghanistan.

Honda may be pulling out of CART at the end of 2002 but the company has just wrapped up its fourth Manufacturer's Championship in the American series, despite strong opposition from Ford and Toyota.

Coca-Cola Europe Ltd. has extended its title sponsorship of the Nordic Racing Formula 3000 team for an additional two years.

Formula 1 teams are constantly in search of new sponsorship and with the world teetering on the edge of a recession, the marketers are delving into new markets which are doing better than the traditional F1 revenue bases.

The CART series has announced a new 19-race calendar for next year.

Having nothing better to do at the moment Prost test driver Jonathan Cochet will go back to Formula 3 for the forthcoming Macau Grand Prix in an effort to relaunch his once-promising career.

FIA Formula 3000 champion Justin Wilson travelled to the final CART race at the California Speedway at the weekend, looking for a job in 2002.