Formula One News — January 2003

Craig Pollock might have chosen a better day to launch his new CART Champ Car team but the former BAR boss is hoping that he will get some coverage despite the fact that there is a revolution taking place in Formula 1.

The FIA has announced a dramatic series of changes to the F1 rules which will force F1 teams to cut costs. The federation issued the following explanation of the changes.

Having spent years trying to make the Formula 1 teams agree with one another, the FIA has finally grabbed the initiative to force the teams to accept cost-cutting changes to save the smaller teams from extinction.

The FIA called the F1 team principals together on Wednesday in London and informed them that it intends to rigorously apply its existing rules from the start of the coming season to cut costs dramatically.

Testing continued in Barcelona Wednesday, where 14 drivers took to the track for their respective teams, while the FIA and team bosses met in London to discuss cost cutting measures.

Alain Prost is to return to competition this weekend at the wheel of an Opel Astra ice racing car. The 47-year-old Frenchman will take part in four rounds of the Trophee Andros, the French ice racing series.

According to a report in The Guardian newspaper this morning, Mercedes-Benz says that it is willing to supply a secondary supply of engines in Formula 1 next year "under certain circumstances". The report says that these engines would be supplied for a cost of only $10m.

Setting up in Melbourne has already started in preparation for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on March 9 but organizers are facing an unusual problems because of the country's severe drought.

There are reports that the new Jaguar R4 has failed one of the side-impact crash tests dictated by the FIA. This is not a major setback for the team but could mean further delays before the new car is ready to run.

This morning the Formula 1 team principals will meet in London to discuss how to cut more costs in F1 this year. They will then all go on for a meeting with FIA President Max Mosley.

Olivier Beretta is to take over Ralf Schumacher's testing duties in the weeks ahead because the German driver is having problems with his back. It has been decided that Ralf will now wait until the new FW25 appears and leave development work to Beretta.

Back in the autumn there was a low-key announcement that DaimlerChrysler UK was planning to develop a 155-acre site in the middle of the old Brooklands racing track at Weybridge, just down the road from the McLaren factory at Woking.

Giancarlo Fisichella gave the new Jordan EJ13 its first shakedown runs yesterday at Silverstone, the new car running without any livery. No official details of the test run have been made available.

Italian financier Emilio Gnutti, who was once a shareholder in the Minardi team, is bidding to rescue the Fiat company, Ferrari's parent company. Reports in Italy say that Fiat's creditors have asked Gnutti to get involved.

Marc Gene spends a lot of his time test driving for the Williams F1 team but in his spare time he has also been doing development testing for Michelin tire compounds which are used in the Telefonica World Series.

British American Racing began a new era when it unveiled the new BAR 005 in Barcelona this morning, the first car to be produced under the management of David Richards and the new technical team led by Geoff Willis.

Testing continued in Barcelona at the Circuit de Catalunya Tuesday, where David Coulthard set a blistering pace for McLaren to top the timesheet. Coulthard was the fastest man on the track by nearly a second and a half, while testing with team test driver Alexander Wurz.

Bryan Herta may have missed out on the chance to race for Minardi in 2003 but the American driver says that there is still a good chance that he will be seen testing for the team in the course of the year.

The newly-branded B.A.R team has landed sponsorship from Honda in addition to free engines and chassis technology. The new BAR-Honda 005, which was launched in Barcelona this morning, features Honda badging, underlining that the Japanese company is very keen to return to its winning ways in Formula 1.

Arrows Grand Prix International was wound up yesterday by a court in Birmingham. A group of the company's creditors, including former driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen, had got together to apply for a compulsory winding-up order and this was granted by the court.

Williams and Sauber kicked off testing in Barcelona Monday in cold but dry conditions. Williams drivers Juan Pablo Montoya and Marc Gene set the fastest times of the day, while teammate Ralf Schumacher could only manage 5 laps, and ended the day at the bottom of the timesheet.

Minardi recently lost its commercial chief Rupert Manwaring to Lola but the team is shortly expected to name Paul Jordan as his replacement.

Australians continue to make an impact in Formula 1 with the Formula One Awards in Birmingham seeing two of the six prizes going to Australia. Mark Webber won the Best Newcomer Award for his performances for Minardi in 2002 while the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne was voted the best circuit by a panel of F1 experts.

As we reported recently, Craig Pollock, the former boss of British American Racing and the man who manages Jacques Villeneuve, is to run a team in Champ Cars this year. Pollock has scheduled a press conference on Wednesday which will feature Pollock and CART boss Chris Pook.

As we reported about a month ago it seems that Bernie Ecclestone is on the verge of taking control of the British Grand Prix. We hear that Ecclestone has agreed a deal which will see him taking over Octagon Motorsport in totality, which will give him control of all the major British racing circuits.