Formula One News — September 2002

Eddie Irvine enjoys a film star lifestyle and some of his opinions are as bizarre as those expressed by some of Hollywood's finest.

America's popular talk show host David Letterman is doing his bit for the promotion of Formula 1 in the United States of America - and will have Juan Pablo Montoya on his Late Show tomorrow on CBS. The show will be broadcast at 11.30pm EST,

The word from America is that the mystery investor who was going to save the Arrows team is no longer interested.

Kool, the sponsor of Team Green (now owned by Michael Andretti), has withdrawn from all motor racing activities. It had been thought that the BAT subsidiary would switch across to the Indy Racing League with Andretti but this is not going to happen.

The word from France is that Hugues de Chaunac's ORECA organization may be considering a CART team for next year, but only if the money is right.

The big names in the automobile industry will be gathering this week in Paris for the Mondial de l'Automobile in the hope that the car markets will improve.

There has been talk for some time about whether or not the Brazilian petrol company Petrobras would be continuing in Formula 3000.

The McLaren Formula 1 team has revealed a sharp rise in profits in the year ending November 2001. The team has put in returns which reveal that it made pre-tax profits of $48m, up from the previous year's $40m.

It is not a surprise but there is no sign of the Arrows team at Indianapolis and no-one seems to think that the team will be seen again this year.

The announcement that Mercedes-Benz has acquired a majority shareholding in Ilmor Engineering is the first visible sign of a major reorganisation going on behind the scenes at the German car company in the wake of Ferrari's domination of the F1 scene.

We hear from Japan that there will soon be a shake-up in the management of the Formula 1 program. Honda has not been very successful since officially returning to F1 in 2000 with British American Racing.

It has been coming for a long time but Mercedes-Benz has now confirmed that it has acquired a majority shareholding in Ilmor Engineering, the company which builds engines for the McLaren-Mercedes Formula 1 program. The company will be renamed Mercedes-Ilmor.

The announcement that Bahrain has secured a Grand Prix from 2004 onwards will come as a major blow to the ambitions of other Middle Eastern states that wanted to be the first to bring Grand Prix racing to the region.

The construction of a racing circuit in the Kingdom of Bahrain will open up the Middle East to the Formula 1 sponsors and bring a whole new region into direct contact with the sport.

IRL driver and two time defending Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves was given his first taste of Formula One Friday behind the wheel of the Toyota TF102 at the Paul Ricard circuit.

Sauber has confirmed that Heinz-Harald Frentzen will drive for the team during the upcoming USGP in Indianapolis.

There are rumors that the international automobile federation will soon announce the return of an FIA-backed European Formula 3 Championship.

The automobile manufacturers were very upfront about their plans to do their own World Championship when the current Concorde Agreement runs out but for the last couple of months things have gone very quiet.

Renault bosses are worried that the 120-degree V10 engine program - which has not been a great success to date - is going to be a major handicap next year.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen had an eventful day behind the wheel of the Sauber C21 at Silverstone Thursday. The German, who was evaluating whether he could drive the relatively small chassis effectively at next weekend's USGP, set the fastest time of the day but crashed heavily on his last lap

Indy Racing League rising star Sarah Fisher is to test a McLaren-Mercedes Benz during the United States Grand Prix weekend. The 21-year- old, who represents TAG Heuer in the United States, will run the car on Friday. Fisher visited Woking yesterday for a seat fitting. She will be driving the team's spare MP4-17.

Jos Verstappen has made his thoughts known about his future with Minardi - which should be confirmed at the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis.

The Media Laboratory at the Massachussetts Institute of Technology is one of the world's outstanding think-tanks were new ideas are explored and developed. One of these will be seen for the first time at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the course of the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis weekend.

Testing continued at Silverstone Wednesday, where Sauber, Renault and Jordan continued preparations for the upcoming USGP.

Bernie Ecclestone has confirmed that he might be interested in buying Ferrari but he told the Italian sports newspaper Gazetta dello Sport that, "it would depend on how the company was structured. ro,"