Formula One News — May 2002

Leo Kirch is not a happy man at the man, his life's work having fallen apart in recent weeks.

The Asiatech firm admits that it is building up towards becoming a Formula 1 team in its own right and the latest confirmation of this is the hiring of one of Formula 1's most experienced composite designers Ian Thomson.

A year ago this week Toyota announced that it was parting company with its technical director Andre Cortanze after very poor performances by the team's F1 prototype chassis.

It is currently the vogue to question whether, in these times of economic caution, whether one can be certain that the automobile manufacturers are committed the sport of whether they will axe sporting programs to meet savings targets.

The boss of the Bavarian state bank Werner Schmidt has told German financial journalists that the bank could join forces with JP Morgan and Lehman Brothers and sell the Kirch stake in the Formula One group of companies.

The teams wrapping up testing at the Valencia circuit in Spain were again greeted by wet weather conditions on Friday.

Just a couple of days after ABC in the United States kicked out its chief executive, Britain's ITV has followed suit with Stuart Prebble resigning from his position as chief executive.

Everyone now seems to agree that tobacco money is going to leave Formula 1 on October 1, 2006.

The FIA is showing an alarming tendency to think laterally at the moment and has come up with an unusual idea to try to stop Formula 1 teams wasting time and money testing between races.

Cosworth Racing says that it is happy to supply three teams with its engines next season.

It looks likely that Toyota Motorsport is going to test most of its United States-based hotshots before the end of the season.

As we suggested would happen a week ago, the FIA has announced that Francesco Longanesi Cattani, the head of the federation's External Relations Department has departed "to pursue a prestigious new opportunity".

It may not be a very big country but Holland is very keen on Formula 1 racing.

The recent days have seen Formula 1 back in parliament in Britain with debates over the tobacco legislation which is currently pending.

As we suggested yesterday, there is a major restructuring coming at Fiat with the group announcing plans to save $4bn in the course of the next three years thanks to restructuring and selling off non-core assets.

French aircraft engine manufacturer SMA, which is jointly owned by Renault Sport, the European Aeronautic Defense and Space company and the Societe Nationale d'Etude et de Construction de Moteurs d'Aviation, is to put the light aircraft engine it designed into production at a new factory in Bourges.

A year ago Adrian Newey signed a contract to join Jaguar Racing.

This week Eddie Jordan took his new rock and roll band V10 to Germany to play at a Deutsche Post function in Bonn.

The teams testing at the Valencia circuit on Thursday were able to get in half a day's worth of dry testing before the skies opened up around lunchtime.

The subject of government subsidies to farmers may not seem to have that much importance in the high-octane world of Formula 1 but the Formula 1 money supply could be affected because of the tobacco issue.

The lengthy battle surrounding the merger of Compaq and Hewlett-Packard is over following Walter Hewlett's decision not to pursue the matter further.

The current problems for television companies were highlighted on Tuesday afternoon when shares in Vivendi Universal, M6 and TF1 TV stations in France dived after the publication of reports saying that advertising revenues are going to remain weak.

May 1st may be a holiday for most of the world but that will not stop the Formula 1 teams as they continue their intensive test and development programs in preparation for the Austrian GP.

investigations have revealed some more details of the takeover of Arrows Grand Prix International by a company called Motorsport Holdings.

Testing continued at Valencia on Wednesday, where Jaguar joined the four teams that began testing at the Spanish circuit on Tuesday.