Formula One News — May 2002

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.

Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB has exercised its option to sell its 22% stake in the insolvent Kirch PayTV company and this looks likely to push Taurus Holding, Kirch PayTV's parent company into insolvency.

The Italian gambling commission is reported to have asked the judiciary if it can open an investigation into the result of the Austrian Grand Prix.

Takuma Sato has been released from Graz's University Hospital after a night under observation overnight following his accident in yesterday's Austrian Grand Prix.

The FIA statement on Monday about what happened at the Austrian Grand Prix indicate that the FIA is going to take action against Ferrari at the next meeting of the World Motor Sport Council in Paris on June 26.

Ask any student of nature: elimination of the weakest strengthens the species.

Following the merger of Williams-BMW title sponsor Compaq with Hewlett Packard, the team has announced that the branding on the car will change over to HP, starting at the British Grand Prix in July.

Indianapolis 500 qualifying on Saturday resulted in an interesting grid headed by former Williams test driver Bruno Junqueira.

Playing in rock and roll bands is all the rage in Formula 1 circles at the moment with Eddie Jordan involved with his V10 group and Damon Hill and his band the Conrods playing tonight at the A1 Ring to keep the many thousands of Michael Schumacher fans happy.

As we exclusively revealed a month ago former F1 driver Danny Sullivan has launched a scheme to find an American driver for Formula 1.

Volkswagen chairman Bernd Pischetsrieder was in the Formula 1 paddock in Austria but the new boss of the giant German car company continues to insist that there are no plans for VW to enter the sport.

The Ford Motor Company has given a clear message that it intends to remain in Formula 1 in the long-term.

The Formula 1 team bosses spent what appears to have been a constructive meeting on Friday evening at the A1 Ring with none of the hysterical shouting matches which have been the case in recent months.

Tomas Enge took pole position for the Formula 3000 race at the A1-Ring beating off Coloni's Giorgio Pantano by just 0.018 seconds in his Arden International car.

Matthias Lauda, son of triple World Champion Niki Lauda, is to make his racing debut in Spain this weekend in the Formula Nissan championship.

Ian Ashley was arrested in January when trying to board an airplane to the United States with tools in his briefcase and a pocketknife in his sock.

Volkswagen will announce on Wednesday that it is to enter a factory team in the Paris-Dakar Rally for lady racer Jutta Kleinschmidt.

In true Williams tradition, Ralf Schumacher arrived at the A1-Ring with a blond head of hair.

Williams Technical Director Patrick Head spent part of Thursday's press conference putting to rest rumors that the team is working on a new gearbox for the FW24.

Gianni Agnelli, the honorary chairman of Fiat and the man who is ultimately in control of Ferrari is expected to remain in hospital in the United States for several weeks being treated for a prostate problem.

Georg Kofler, the boss of German payTV channel Premiere is hopeful that investment can be found to keep the channel afloat.

Later this month BMW chairman and chief executive Joachim Milberg will retire after three years in charge of the Munich company.

The signing of Rubens Barrichello for Ferrari in 2003 and 2004 is the start of the 2003 silly season as the best drive available is now settled and so the focus will switch to who will drive next year for McLaren, Renault F1 and Sauber.

There is a lot of speculation in the Formula 1 paddock at the moment about the effects of the recession on the Formula 1 grids.

The Bavarian courts have appointed lawyer Joseph Fuchsl as the administrator of Kirch PayTV, his job being to decide whether or not the business can be turned into a viable operation or whether it should be closed down and the assets sold off to pay as much of the debts as possible.