Formula One News — January 2003

The Williams team has been talking about its new FW25 challenger and Sir Frank Williams admits that winning the World Championship will "not be a summit that will easily be conquered. We are well prepared and completely determined to get to the top. We have a new, innovative chassis - the FW25 - ready."

Cosworth Racing has unveiled its new multi-million dollar dynamometer facility. This comprises three transient dyno cells, which have been custom built by the Northampton based engine company.

Bridgestone says that it would like to "clarify" the situation with regard to supplying tyres to Minardi.

Ferrari, Sauber and BAR returned to Valencia Friday to conduct a day of wet weather testing for tire supplier Bridgestone on an artificially wet track, but the weather, which has hampered the teams all week, once again forced the teams to change their programs.

Williams has unveiled its new FW25 chassis in Barcelona this morning and all the indications are that the new car is radically different in concept to previous cars which culminated in last year's FW24.

Minardi team principal Paul Stoddart has complained to the FIA about Bridgestone which he says has breached its obligations to Formula 1 by failing to supply tyres to Minardi.

The FIA has issued the official Formula 3000 entry list with 20 cars being listed but only six drivers having been announced.

Newman/Haas Racing has finally announced the signing of Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais as Bruno Junqueira's team mate in the CART Champ Car series this year. The pair will be chasing a fifth CART title for the team.

Promoting a Grand Prix has proved to be a difficult business in Malaysia in recent years but it seems that the decision to use the old-fashioned method of employing a beauty queen is proving to be very effective.

For the second day in a row, Minardi was forced to test on Avon F3000-spec slick tires because of their dispute with Bridgestone, and team principal Paul Stoddart now says he will go to the FIA to help resolve the problem.

McLaren set the pace again Thursday as teams returned to the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Valencia for testing. David Coulthard set the fastest time of the day, at 1:10.977. McLaren test driver Alexander Wurz, who was fastest at the circuit Wednesday, was third on the day.

Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone likes to keep people guessing and so comments this week in Autosport magazine that there might be a possibility of Spa returning to the Formula 1 calendar should be taken with a considerable pinch of salt.

The TAG McLaren Group has announced the creation of a new Automotive Division which will take over all of the activities of McLaren Cars and McLaren Composites.

Gerhard Berger, the sporting director of BMW Motorsport, says that the Munich company has still to decide on its future in F1.

There have been a rush of minor sponsorship and supplier deals in recent days.

The Williams-BMW team will tomorrow morning launch its brand new FW25 in Barcelona with high hopes that the new car will be considerably better than last year's FW24.

Melbourne-based sculptor Mitch Mitchell is working flat out to finish a 3-metre high statue of Michael Schumacher in time for the Australian Grand Prix in five weeks from now.

Peter Sauber's remarks suggesting that Formula 1 teams should buy standardized cars from a production racing car company if it wants to cut costs is not a new idea - but what is new is that a Formula 1 team boss with gravitas has actually put the concept into words in the public domain.

Craig Pollock has signed up France's Patrick Lemarie to be his driver in the new PK Racing Champ Car team.

Reports on ITV-F1.com suggest that some of the Formula 1 engine manufacturers are currently building as many as 600 engines a year to service two Formula 1 cars in 17 Grands Prix. If true, this statistic underlines the current need to cut costs in Grand Prix racing.

Ron Dennis has kept a very low profile in recent weeks following the FIA's moves to cut costs in Formula 1.

Felipe Massa and Jordan Grand Prix has the basis of a deal but the contracts have yet to be signed. At least that is what Massa's manager Marcio Fonseca is saying.

Windy conditions greeted the teams in Valencia Wednesday, making it difficult for them to record any consistent data. Eight teams still did their best to continue testing for the upcoming season.

Peter Sauber says he thinks that the Formula 1 changes have not gone far enough and he would like that the Formula 1 teams could buy chassis built by an independent racing car constructors.

Hugues de Chaunac, the boss of ORECA, who has been involved in Formula 1 on a couple of occasions in the last 30 years, will receive a Legion d'Honneur tomorrow at the Automobile Club de France for his services to motorsport.