Formula One News — November 2001

Williams technical director Patrick Head has promoted from within his current engineering staff, nominating two young aerodynamic engineers to replace Geoff Willis.

It was a quiet weekend for the sports pages of the British national newspapers and so one dreamed up the idea that Frank Williams was going to buy a stake in English premier league soccer club Newcastle United.

Bernie Ecclestone once again heads The Sunday Times's list of high earners in Britain in 2001 with an income estimated to be worth around $1.1bn in the last 12 months.

An estimated 30,000 race fans turned up on Saturday in Stuttgart to see Mika Hakkinen off on his sabbatical year.

There are only a limited number of tracks in Britain which have licences for Formula 1 testing and that has created significant problems with bookings.

Renault Sport has taken on Fernando Alonso to be its second test driver in 2002. The news means that the Spaniard will not be racing next year but will do testing work alongside the team's number one tester Mark Webber.

The annual Granja Viana 500 mile kart race at Interlagos, which is due to take place on November 10, had attracted many of the top names in Brazilian motorsport.

McLaren's CEO Ron Dennis has explained that his team's decision to switch to Michelin rubber in 2002 has nothing to do with any doubt that it could not continue to be successful using Bridgestone tires.

Pedro Diniz, who owns 40% of Prost Grand Prix, has said that he has left the team because he was not in agreement with the way it was being run. Diniz added that he expects the future of the team to be sorted by December at the latest but said that only a miracle would guarantee its survival.

Mercedes-Benz boss Jurgen Hubbert has confirmed that DaimlerChrysler is discussing buying the shares in Ilmor Engineering owned by the Morgan Family and those of Roger Penske. The two parties each own 25% of the Ilmor business.

It seems that Formula 1 people are right to be worried about the idea of hosting a race in Moscow. On Friday morning one of the city's leading administrators was gunned down and killed.

Rumors are circulating in France that Prost Grand Prix is on the verge of filing for bankruptcy protection, although the stories have been denied by the team.

There is another new multi-million dollar motor racing facility in China.

The new Jaguar-Cosworth R3 will be launched in Britain on January 4.

A day after Ford Motor Company boss Jacques Nasser was removed from office in the United States of America, Jaguar Cars managing-director Jonathan Browning has left the company and the suggestion is that others in the company may be on the way out as well because of plans to introduce a new committee to oversee Jaguar, Land Rover and Aston Martin.

RECENTLY retired F1 star Jean Alesi has been testing the waters outside the premier division recently to determine what will be the next step in his career.

The World Health Organisation is pushing governments not to accept tobacco industry promises of self-regulation with regard to advertising.

DaimlerChrysler board director Jurgen Hubbert has warned media group Kirch that it has 12 months left to sort out its stance over commercial rights - or face the prospect of the major car makers pressing ahead to form an independent series when the Concorde Agreement expires in 2007.

We have been hearing rumors for some time from Europe that Japan's Nippon Mitsubishi Oil company may be in the process of expanding its involvement in Formula 1.

With the current ban on testing in Formula 1 and the fact that the rules for next year are unchanged teams are going to be ready with new cars earlier than ever so that the new machinery can undergo development and reliability work before the new season opens in Melbourne in March.

Former US President Bill Clinton will be in Melbourne on business in the week of the Australian Grand Prix and has been invited to attend the event by race organizer Ron Walker.

The FIA says that it will shortly publish the latest regulations regarding testing restrictions in Formula 1 and says that McLaren boss Ron Dennis was wrong in Japan when he suggested that the governing body had not carried out the correct procedures in deciding the rules.

Jackie Stewart has received the 2001 Lifetime of Achievement Award for his services to motor racing from the Royal Association for Disability and Rehabilitation.

The FIA President Max Mosley says that suggestions that one of the signatures on documents at the United States Grand Prix was forged are incorrect.

Although Russia is polishing up its international image and trying to give the impression that it is getting away from the bad old days of being run by criminal gangs, the country still has a long way to go before all its problems are solved.