Formula One News — May 2002

Michael Schumacher, Rubens Barrichello and the Ferrari team could face legal actions as a result of what happened at the end of the Austrian Grand Prix.

Jean Redale, the founder of Alpine - one of the key players in bringing Renault into frontline motor racing, celebrates his 80th birthday tomorrow.

Testing at the Valencia circuit in Spain continued Thursday, as the teams continue to prepare for the Monaco GP in just over a week.

The teams testing at the Paul Ricard circuit in southern France decided to run on the shorter configuration of the circuit on Thursday because it more closely resembles the tight Monaco circuit they will visit next week.

A few months ago we suggested that Mike Coughlan, the technical director of Arrows, was coming to the end of his contract and that he might be looking around for work with a bigger team.

Testing at the Valencia circuit resumed Wednesday where Jordan joined the mix, just days after scoring their first championship points of the year.

One would have thought that the reaction to Ferrari's actions in Austrian would have slowed by now but we are still receiving e-mails on the subject.

Many people in Formula 1 circles has thought that the demise of Reynard meant the end of the planned Premier 1 Grand Prix motor racing series which is due to kick off next year.

The partial flotation of Ferrari SpA, the company which builds Ferrari and Maserati road cars and which oversees Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, will have no effect on the way in which the company is run.

The furor surrounding the Austrian Grand Prix has still not died down with e-mails still flooding in from all over the world. Here are a few of the comments we have received.

Tomas Enge, who has hopes of getting back into Formula 1 next year, won a dominant victory in the A1 Ring Formula 3000 race.

The Orange mobile phone company is currently in the process of deciding what to do in Formula 1 next year with the options being to stay with Arrows, to switch to another team, to concentrate on trackside signage or to forget Formula 1 and look elsewhere.

The first of four sales of Prost cars and equipment took place 10 days ago with 12 cars going under the hammer at the Palais de Congres in Paris.

Hugo Boss is McLaren's longest established partner, the two companies having worked together since the 1980s and as a result Boss has acquired a very clear and well-established brand as one of the world's leading suit makers.

Bernie Ecclestone, the boss of the Formula One group of companies, says that he does not believe that the automobile manufacturers are going to start their own World Championship.

Many of the hundreds of e-mails that we have received in the last few hours suggest that Bernie Ecclestone is somehow to blame for what happened in Austria.

Fiat has announced that it is going to sell shares in the Ferrari company and is hoping to raise $900m from the sale.

Michael Schumacher did not turn up yesterday evening at the Variety Club's annual awards dinner in London at which he was due to be given an award as International Sportsman of the Year.

Jackie Stewart has warned the FIA not to ban Ferrari because of the effect it will have on the British Grand Prix if the Italian team is not allowed to take part.

Some of the teams resumed testing on Tuesday in preparation for Monaco in just two weeks time.

The Italian Embassy in Brazil is to grant Italian citizenship to Rubens Barrichello, as a way to compensate the humiliation suffered by Barrichello in Austria.

Luca di Montezemolo has backed up Ross Brawn and Jean Todt's decision to ensure that Michael Schumacher won the Austrian GP on Sunday.

Phoenix Finance Ltd. goes to the High Court in London this week for an answer in its case against the FIA and FOM.

Formula 1 is in the firing line today after yesterday's Austrian Grand Prix and it is not just the people in the grandstands and the world media that felt cheated by Ferrari's insistence that Michael Schumacher win the race yesterday.

This morning Formula 1 is being hammered from all sides by public opinion. But F1 is not dead as some might suggest.