Formula One News — August 2002

Jonathan Cochet, the former French Formula 3 Champion and one-time Prost Grand Prix test driver, has been trying to find a way to progress into Formula 1 since the demise of Prost

The now-annual Minardi Thunder in the Park event at Donington Park on August 10-11 will once again give F1 fans the chance to take a look behind the scenes of F1 with the team promising spectators the chance to get close to the drivers and the cars.

A year ago it was the dot.coms, then came the telecoms and then the accounting scandals and now it is the turn of financial institutions to come under the scrutiny of the stock markets. In the last few weeks insurance and banking companies have been hammered

Tommy Suharto, the man who tried to put Indonesia on the Formula 1 map, is not going to be bidding for any more Grand Prix dates - as he has just started a 15-year prison sentence for ordering the murder of an Indonesian Supreme Court judge

The Formula 1 circus is on holiday this week but the many websites connected with the sport have felt the need to keep producing news not seemingly worried as to whether or not there is any logic to any of it.

Former Jaguar Racing team boss Bobby Rahal is rumoured to be looking at the possibilities of running cars in the Le Mans 24 Hours.

The seemingly endless stream of young Brazilians racing in Europe could begin to dry up as the country faces economic problems, following the collapse of the banking systems in Argentina and Uruguay and uncertainty over the future because of the forthcoming election in October.

On Sunday we revealed that Bryan Herta would be joining Minardi at the Thunder in the Park event at Donington in the middle of August.

We suggested last week that the plans for a Grand Prix in Turkey might be affected by political issues and that appears to have happened with the Turkish parliament voting for new elections to be held in November.