Formula One News — March 2002

The first major gathering of the years of the European automobile company executives will take place this week in Geneva with the 72nd Geneva Motor Show.

Williams and Renault were back to work on Tuesday at Silverstone. Both teams put their test drivers to work, Marc Gene for Williams and Fernando Alonso for Renault.

Michelin dominated the final standings in Melbourne, capturing every points paying position other than one.

It was clear in Melbourne that whoever was behind the Phoenix Finance Ltd. Formula 1 team did not have a very clear understanding of the way in which the sport operates.

Dieter Hahn says that he would like to find a way of keeping the investment but admitted that it might have to be sold to help Kirch through a liquidity crisis.

Gary Anderson, has been rather vocal in criticizing the race stewards' decision not to stop the Australian GP after a first turn accident collected 8 cars.

Forgetting the legal and political issues involved in the takeover of Prost Grand Prix assets, the Phoenix Finance Ltd. F1 team is going to have a series of virtually insurmountable problems in the weeks ahead if it is to stay alive.

Jordan Grand Prix is denying rumors that its technical director Egbahl Hamidy is leaving the team. Hamidy is currently "on holiday". Time will tell.

While the attention in Formula 1 has been focussed on Melbourne and all the shenanigans going on down there, it is worth noting the results of a recent test in Japan where Honda has been trying out youngsters for its GT program.

Cosme Rogeau, the liquidator of Prost Grand Prix, seems to be a man under pressure at the moment and on Saturday afternoon he issued a second press release to try to explain the deal he has struck with Phoenix Finance Ltd.

Takuma Sato's first grand prix weekend has started disastrously, but the Japanese rookie will be given the chance to change his luck on Sunday.

As we revealed some weeks ago, Formula1.com has been acquired by the Formula One Group and it has now been announced that the website will become the official website of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship.

The automobile manufacturers will be meeting next week at the Geneva Autosalon to discuss the development of the planned GPWC series, which they say will replace Formula 1 in 2008.

After a day of fiery exchanges between Tom Walkinshaw and Paul Stoddart over the issue of the assets of Prost Grand Prix, more facts are beginning to emerge about the deal.

Egbhal Hamidy, the technical director of Jordan Grand Prix, is currently "on holiday" and that is bad news for the Iranian-born engineer - because at Jordan when the technical director does not make it to the first race to see how his new car is doing, the relationship is clearly over.

Toyota Racing has signed a sponsorship agreement with global foreign exchange specialist Travelex. Travelex is the world's largest operator of currency exchange bureaux.

Clearly feeling under pressure to explain himself the official liquidator of Prost Grand Prix has announced details of the deal over the sales of Prost's assets.

Michael Schumacher's colorful manager Willi Weber has been talking rather a lot in recent days about a bid by Stuttgart to host the Olympic Games in 2012.

The news that Tom Walkinshaw Racing has bought the assets of Prost Grand Prix means that the Minardi team will not get around $12m of TV money which goes to the top 10 F1 teams.

The Melbourne Age newspaper dredged up an interesting story on Friday when it reported that Williams F1 star Juan Pablo Montoya stopped off on his way into the city from the airport when he spotted a go-kart circuit in Port Melbourne.

With speculation that former US President Bill Clinton will be a VIP guest at the Australian GP, there was added excitement on Thursday when film star Russell Crowe turned up in Melbourne.