Formula One News — September 2002

<b>Italian Grand Prix Sunday Warmup Report</b>

It was not a big high profile meeting but at Monza Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone met with the representatives of the automobile manufacturers: Luca di Montezemolo representing Ferrari and Patrick Faure representing Renault and (oddly) Mercedes-Benz.

The Ford Motor Company will decide later this week what it intends to do with the Jaguar Racing Formula 1 program. And all the signs are that Jaguar will get the go-ahead to go on racing in green. The option would be for the company to sell the team off to Red Bull

<b>Italian Grand Prix Saturday Qualifying Report</b>

Race Stewards of the Italian GP have penalized Kimi Raikkonen for the incident he had with Jordan's Takuma Sato in Qualifying Saturday by taking away his fastest qualifying lap.

<b>Italian Grand Prix Saturday Photos</b>

The Crown Prince of Bahrain was at Monza to announce the signing of a contract for Formula 1 to visit the Middle Eastern kingdom from 2004 and onwards. Work will begin immediately on the construction of a Formula 1 circuit at Al-Jazair and it is anticipated that the event will take its place at the end of the F1 calendar

Tomas Enge is the International Formula 3000 Champion - or at least he is at the moment. Enge finished third on the road at Monza, while his rival Sebastian Bourdais retired with a mechanical problem and Giorgio Pantano dropped from second to fourth in the course of a frenetic last lap

n recent days there has been talk that Cristiano da Matta might not after all be a Toyota driver in 2002 but our sources say that stories that the deal had fallen out of bed were perhaps a part of the negotiating process rather than a definitive response.

<b>Italian Grand Prix Saturday Morning Free Practice Report</b>

It has been announced that the Italian investment bank Mediobanca has sold a 6.5% stake in Ferrari to Lehman Brothers, one of the three banks which now own SLEC, the Formula One group holding company.

The 2003 Hungarian GP will be pushed back until August 24 next year, creating a new three-week gap in the F1 calendar so that teams can take a break between the German GP on August 3 and the Budapest event on the 24th.

There was talk in the Monza paddock that Dietrich Mateschitz's plans for a Team Red Bull USA have been put on hold until 2004 as there is no obvious route for the Austrian drinks firm to take to fulfil its dream to have an American-flavored, Austrian-sponsored F1 operation.

The future of Arrows remains in limbo with the mysterious American backer seemingly no closer to a deal than was previously the case. There were stories earlier this week suggesting that a deal might be struck which would see Toyota buying the Arrows Concorde Agreement rights and benefits.

It is expected that Jos Verstappen will sign for Minardi shortly, returning to Formula 1 in 2003 after an enforced lay-off of a year which resulted from the decision by the Orange Arrows team to dump the Dutchman just before the start of the year.

<b>Italian Grand Prix Friday Photos</b>

<b>Italian Grand Prix Friday Afternoon Free Practice Report</b>

The F3000 title will be decided Saturday at Monza, the final stop of the 12 race series. Thomas Enge, despite his recent off-track problems, put himself in position to win the F3000 championship by qualifying four positions higher than rival, and current points leader, Sebastien Bourdais.

Thomas Enge's manager has confirmed that the young Czech tested positive for cannabis during a random drug test after the Hungarian round of the International F3000 series.

<b>Italian Grand Prix Friday Morning Free Practice Report</b>

www.autosport.ru, our colleagues in Russia, are reporting that all plans for a racing circuit on Nagatino Island in Moscow have now been shelved and the development of the island will now be restricted to residential construction.

The Jordan team will wear black armbands on their shirts this weekend in memory of Martin Whittingham, the team's physiotherapist who was killed in a road accident last weekend

CART has voted to change its statutes to allow Gerald Forsythe to increase his ownership of the series to 23%. Until recently it was impossible for anyone to hold more than 15% of the business.

The Ferrari team will have to do without Ross Brawn this weekend at Monza. The team's technical director is out of action recovering from a slipped disc and it does not look likely that he will be at the Italian GP this weekend.

Formula 3000 frontrunner Tomas Enge was keeping a low profile at Monza after the FIA announced that he had tested positive to using an illegal substance after the Hungaroring Formula 3000 race on August 17.