Formula One News — December 2001

Following hot on the heels of Silverstone's possible problems over the future status of the British Grand Prix comes news that the long-term prospects for the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola might also be in jeopardy.

As we speculated as long ago as last May, British Petroleum is rumored to be entering Formula 1 in 2002 and the recent announcement that Texaco is stopping its involvement with Jaguar Racing would seem to suggest that this is where BP will end up.

The cars will be new in 2002 but the main contenders for the International Formula 3000 series are not going to change.

Eddie Cheever has confirmed that he has a deal to use the technical facilities of the TWR Group, the sister company of the Arrows Formula 1 team.

The image of Brazil has been badly tarnished by the murder of America's Cup yachtsman Peter Blake, during an environmental expedition up the Amazon River.

There is much speculation at the moment about the future supply of engines in CART but we hear from the United States that Cosworth Racing is bidding for a deal to supply one engine to the entire field.

Any serious Formula 1 fan will tell you that the first race to F1 rules was held in September 1946 on the streets of Turin in Italy and that the Valentino Grand Prix was won by veteran Achille Varzi of the factory Alfa Romeo team.

There are unconfirmed reports that Ralf Schumacher is to be charged with careless driving after his recent accident on the autobahn near Cologne.

In recent years Petronas has funded most of the growth of the automobile industry in Malaysia.

There was no great surprise in Formula 1 circles when the Premier 1 organized that it has shelved plans to launch the new F1-lookalike series until March 2003.

It is not surprising that the Malaysian state oil company Petronas is tipped to be buying the Sepang Formula One circuit.

BMW chairman and chief executive Joachim Milberg is to retire at the company's annual meeting next May after three successful years running the company.

Jordan Grand Prix has responded to our story that Benson & Hedges will not be the team's title sponsor next year by saying that "the FIA requested to have the teams' entries at a time when Jordan is still in discussion with a number of companies, including B & H, about the level of their sponsorship for 2002".

Ralf Schumacher had a shunt last week on a German autobahn, crashing a BMW 7 Series into the back of another car and punting it into the car ahead.

Bryan Herta wants to become America's next Formula 1 driver and was recently in England to talk to a variety of F1 teams about a possible job as a test driver.

There has been a lot of complaints amongst the F1 teams about the numbering system which goes against the established norm of the teams being listed in the order in which they finished the Constructors' Championship the previous year.

Yet again the British Grand Prix at Silverstone could be under threat in the wake of renewed speculation that the sport's governing body is poised to drop the race from the 2002 world championship calendar.

Jaguar Racing fuel supplier Texaco has decided to pull out of Formula One after a recent merger with Chevron.

The Formula 1 driver market is currently waiting to see what happens with Prost Grand Prix.

Prost Grand Prix will go back to the Tribunal de Commerce of Versailles on Friday to examine the four offers which have been made for the team.

Cosworth Racing, the engine-building arm of the Ford Motor Company's Premier Performance Division, is to build a four-stroke motorcycle engine for the Italian motorcycle firm Aprilia.

Joseph Heitzler is no longer president and chief executive of Championship Auto Racing Teams but he will remain as the chairman of the board of directors.

The managing-director of Prost Grand Prix Joan Villadelprat is rumored to be on Renault Sport's shopping list if he decides not to stay with Prost.

Eddie Jordan continues in his efforts to become the Irish version of Virgin boss Richard Branson, building up the Jordan brand in his native country.

The FIA has issued the provisional entry list for the 2002 Formula 1 World Championship and the only big surprise is that Mild Seven is still the major sponsor of the Renault Sport team.