Formula One News — September 2002

<b>United States Grand Prix Sunday Race Report</b>

Jos Verstappen will almost certainly join Minardi next year - but the announcement will not be made until the Cosworth engine contract is inked.

Fears in F1 circles that the switch of position at the end of the United States GP at Indianapolis might have an effect on the popularity of the sport in the United States of America appear to have been alarmist.

The announcement of plans for an American Formula 1 team have been greeted with a certain amount of incredulity in Formula 1 circles.

Murray Walker, the famed British Formula 1 commentator is on a world tour to promote his biography which was published recently in Britain.

Igor Yermilin, the vice-president of the Russian Motor Racing Federation, has confirmed that the planned Grand Prix of Moscow is, in effect, out of the question for the next few years.

<b>United States Grand Prix Sunday Photos</b>

Pedro de la Rosa had a pretty miserable United States Grand Prix. He made a poor start and dropped to the back of the field and then his Jaguar suffered a transmission failure and the back end of the car caught fire as it rolled to a stop beside the race track

Michael Schumacher's attempt to stage a dead heat at the United States Grand Prix failed by just seven centimeters, according to the Ferrari telemetry.

The Ford Motor Company is expected to have on a major rethink of the structure of its Formula 1 activities. The Detroit manufacturer is acutely aware of the lack of success of its Jaguar Racing program and the recent in-depth study into the problem has revealed the need for the entire operation to have more autonomy.

<b>United States Grand Prix Sunday Race Notes</b>

<b>United States Grand Prix Sunday Warmup Report</b>

Renault has revealed that their 2003 contender is nearly complete and will take to the track for testing as early as next week, while McLaren has announced they will start the 2003 season with an evolution of the MP4/17 rather than with a new car.

The Arrows team is expected to make an announcement on Monday about its future and the signs are that this will not be good news.

There is much excitement at the Honda R&D headquarters in Tochigi, Japan, this weekend as the 2003 Honda V10 engine is fired up for the first time.

<b>United States Grand Prix Saturday Qualifying Report</b>

<b>United States Grand Prix Saturday Photos</b>

American racing legends Dan Gurney and Phil Hill have revealed that they have plans to launch an all-American Formula 1 team for the 2003 season. The project has been in the pipeline for a couple of years.

There has been speculation for some time that Jaguar Racing will soon announce that Mark Webber has been signed to drive for the team next year. In theory therefore the line-up for next year should be Webber and Pedro de la Rosa as the Spanish driver has one year to run on his contract with the team.

<b>United States Grand Prix Saturday Morning Free Practice Report</b>

The Sauber Petronas team played host at the weekend to Russ Wicks, the current propeller-driven water speed record holder.

The stories that Valentino Rossi could have a future in Formula 1 may be a little wide of the mark because, according to our sources in motorcycle racing, the Italian would prefer to join the World Rally Championship trail.

There are is still some pushing and shoving going on over the destination of various Formula 1 sponsors next year with the future of Red Bull and Deutsche Post still to be decided.

Indy Racing League star had a run in the McLaren spare car on Friday afternoon in Indianapolis and although the times were not very significant, the 21-year-old enjoyed herself during a three lap demonstration run for the fans at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

ust days after the Red Bull Formula 1 Driver Search began, the scheme has already lost two of the 16 finalists and a third is looking unlikely to continue to the tests which will take place at Paul Ricard in mid-October.