Formula One News — April 2002

Wolfgang Reitzle is expected to ask the Ford board of directors to take the Lincoln-Mercury company off his hands.

There is speculation in THE MONTREAL GAZETTE that the Bombardier company may be discussing taking the title sponsorship of British American Racing.

The chief executive of DaimlerChrysler, says that the automobile manufacturers could reach a deal with Bernie Ecclestone over the future of Formula 1 if "our legitimate wishes can be satisfied, including that Formula 1 be on free-to-air television."

The well-known American motorsports writer Brock Yates last week mentioned in his column that he had heard that advance ticket sales for the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis were "in the dumper."

With Kirch Media having gone into administration on Monday the focus has switched to its sister company Kirch PayTV with rumors circulating that this firm will also have to seek protection because of huge debts.

The Ford Motor Company dumped its chief executive Jac Nasser in October last year but it has now emerged that the move cost the company $17.8m in salary and compensation.

Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo is to host a Ferrari and Maserati exhibition from the end of this month until the middle of July.

Telefonica used to be the primary sponsor of the Minardi team, but in recent years the Spanish telecommunications giant has been staying out of Formula 1 although it is still heavily involved in racing in Spain.

With Rubens Barrichello, Felipe Massa and Enrique Bernoldi in Formula 1 and most of the top names in CART and IRL, plus a whole new crop of drivers in Formula 3000, one would have thought that the Brazilian motor racing market would be saturated.

There are not many racing drivers who keep their sponsorship after the end of their racing careers but Niki Lauda was highly successful in this respect and was rarely seen without his Parmalat baseball cap.

The collapse of the Kirch Group will have considerable fall-out in the weeks ahead but at the moment nothing is very clear.

France's big hope for the future Sebastien Bourdais was in talks with Sauber in Brazil about the possibility of becoming the test driver for the Swiss team.

STORY

We hear from inside sources of the Arrows team that Phoenix Finance Ltd. will shortly file law suits in the High Court in London against the various parties involved in denying Phoenix an entry in this year's FIA Formula 1 World Championship.

For those wanting to experience what it is like to drive a Formula 1 car, there are now three ways in which that dream can come true.

The Sodemo-developed Renault Formula 3 engine was dominant last weekend in the opening round of the French Formula 3 series at Nogaro.

BAR is rumored to be about to get a new sporting director as part of the restructuring going on under the new management of David Richards.

At the recent JavaOne technology conference in San Francisco, the Vodafone representatives all appeared wearing Ferrari shirts and their booth featured a huge photograph of World Champion Michael Schumacher.

The collapse of Kirch could open the way for a settlement between the car manufacturers and the Formula 1 group of companies.

The Duesenberg name will return to Indianapolis this year with Johnny Herbert driving a Duesenberg Brothers Racing effort, sponsored by Western Union.

The Renault company has decided to extend the use of its Renault Sport name beyond the realms of motor racing and is to launch a range of electric, folding bicycles bearing the name.

The Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG roadster, which will appear this autumn and is scheduled to be the next Formula 1 Safety Car was unveiled last week at the New York Motor Show.

The parent company of SLEC, the firm which controls the commercial rights of Formula 1, has filed for insolvency.

In the last few days there has been a lot of discussion about whether the FIA Stewards at Grands Prix should be replaced by some form of permanent judge (or judges) who have experience of top-line racing.

Bobby Rahal has spoken of his feelings about being ousted from Jaguar Racing last year.