Formula One News — November 2002

Formula One testing resumed Tuesday in Spain, and while half the teams were in Barcelona, half were at the Valencia circuit conducting preliminary testing for next year.

The Renault Formula 1 team may have been something of a disappointment in the last 12 months but the company is doing very well in the European New Car Assessment Programme, which crash-tests all new road cars.

In recent days the sailing world has had its attention focussed firmly on Auckland where the racing has begun to establish who will win the Louis Vuitton Cup and so go on to challenge Team New Zealand for the America's Cup competition which will be held in Feburary in Auckland.

CART will not be coming back to Rockingham Motor Speedway. The announcement was made by CART after Rockingham's management decided that the race was not financially viable. CART is expected to announce that it has agreed deals with a number of European venues to keep the international flavour of the series going.

This morning the Ford Motor Company's head of Formula 1 activities Richard Parry-Jones is holding a media briefing at The Landmark Hotel in London and there is speculation that there will be an announcement about the management of the Jaguar Racing operation.

The word on the street in Milton Keynes is that the announcement from Ford this morning will reveal that Niki Lauda is being replaced as head of Jaguar Racing and that the job of chief executive will go to Tony Purnell, the founder and chief executive of the PI Research electronics firm

Rubens Barrichello is at home in Brazil, having a winter holiday but the Ferrari driver intends to return for the new F1 season in the best physical form ever and last weekend competed in a triathlon in Santos. Barrichello ran, swam and cycled to finish 18 minutes behind the winner.

The CART series is looking at deals with a number of race tracks in Europe, hoping to pick up some of the venues which have been unable to land Grand Prix races. According to a report in The Guardian newspaper in London these include Brands Hatch, Estoril and Spa.

The Panasonic Toyota team will be launching its 2003 challenge at the Paul Ricard circuit near Toulon on January 8. The team will unveil the new TF103 and introduce its new driver line-up of Olivier Panis and CART champion Cristiano da Matta.

Eddie Cheever, one of the stalwarts of Formula 1 in the 1980s, says that he is considering retiring as a racing driver after the Indianapolis 500 next year.

Audi has been expected to confirm its withdrawal from involvement in the Le Mans 24 Hours for several months and the news has finally been announced by the Ingolstadt firm, which says that it will now only be represented by private entries.

As we predicted would happen earlier this week Bernie Ecclestone has now confirmed that his pay-per-view TV service is to end. Ecclestone will now concentrate on building up the traditional free-to-air television business

The rebuilding of the CART series promised to see a few European-based teams moving their activities to the United States and Prince Alfonso d'Orleans-Bourbon, the cousin of King Juan-Carlos of Spain, says that he is intending to run a two-car operation next year in the United States.

Jaguar Racing has been growing rapidly in the course of recent seasons as it struggles toJaguar Racing has been growing rapidly in the course of recent seasons as it struggles to compete with the other manufacturer-backed teams in Formula 1

The Ford Motor Company has thrown its undisputed weight behind the CART series in 2003 and 2004. The series, which is already supported by Bridgestone will also feature sponsorship from Ford using

The Paul Ricard facility continues to build up its reputation as a test track and the latest addition is a fully automatic watering system to allow teams involved in testing to simulate different levels of rainfall to help them develop tyres and cars for wet conditions.

The European Parliament's vote in favour of new pan-European anti-tobacco regulations could have a dramatic effect on the number of Formula 1 races in the European Union as the International Automobile Federation (FIA) continues to try to champion its policy of a global ban on all tobacco advertising from 2006.

As we predicted recently the final of the four Red Bull American drivers has landed a drive in the Telefonica World Series by Nissan. Paul Edwards will drive for the KTR team and will begin his preparation in the final two races of the series this year on December 1 at Curitiba in Brazil and on December 8 at Interlagos.

This is the time of year when every man and his dog are handing out awards for the motorsport activities of the last 12 months and Ferrari is expected to win most of them.

The Ford Motor Company has tweaked its top management once again, electing James Padilla and David Thursfield as executive vice presidents. Padilla and Thursfield are the men in charge of the company's automotive units, which gives a clear signal that Ford's aim is to focus on its core business.

Dale Coyne Racing has announced that it has signed a deal with Swiss driver Joel Camathias to race in CART next year. Camathias tested for the team at Sebring a month ago and now appears to have come up with the money for a full season in 2003.

There are reports in the Cologne newspapers that Toyota's F1 engine boss Norbert Kreyer is to take over the role of technical director of Toyota Motorsport. This would be at the expense of the current incumbent Gustav Brunner.

The European Parliament has voted through a proposal to outlaw cigarette advertising at international sporting events throughout the EU. The Parliament in Strasbourg voted 311 to 202 with 39 abstentions to accept the tough new restrictions on tobacco advertising

The Turks have been doing a lot of talking in recent months about hosting a Grand Prix at some point in the future and now that the national election is out of the way the Turks are again pushing for an F1 date.

The recent comments by German financial man Oliver Behring are strange at best. He says that he has taken over 60% of the Arrows team and that all the team's problems are miraculously solved and that it is virtually certain that the team will be at the first race in 2003.