Formula One News — February 2003

The Renault Sport team is throwing its weight behind a fund-raising programme to help raise funds for the new Oxford Children's Hospital.

The new Minardi-Ford Cosworth ran for the first time at Fiorano today with Jos Verstappen at the wheel.

Mika Salo is still trying to decide what to do now that he has been dropped by the Toyota F1 team. The Finnish driver has been over in the United States in recent days, attending the CART test in Sebring in Florida and having a look at the CART scene.

Australia's Network 10 will be the covering Formula 1 this year in Australia and will kick off as the host broadcaster of the Australian Grand Prix. The company replaces Channel Nine which had the F1 coverage last season.

Testing continued at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona Tuesday, where Olivier Panis showed the potential of the new Toyota TF103 by setting the fastest time on the day, outpacing Renault's Fernando Alonso by about four tenths of a second.

We hear that the current 107% qualifying rule will remain in place despite the fact that a driver may choose to run with a very heavy fuel load.

Giorgio Pantano's plans to race this year in CART fell flat but the Italian has signed to drive for the Super Nova team in Formula 3000 and as part of the deal seems likely to be named as the Jordan test driver.

Jaguar Racing has confirmed that it is looking for a new high profile sporting director to be the team's public face.

The complicated shareholding structures of Formula 1 have been streamlined with the news from Germany that EM.TV has agreed to sell its 16.7% share in SLEC to the Bayerische Landesbank for $9m.

Tony Purnell, the chief executive of Ford's Premier Performance Division, has revealed that Minardi has yet to pay for its 2003 Ford Cosworth engines and needs to make a substantial payment before the season begins if he wishes to have the engines. It is believed that the team needs around $5m before the Australian GP.

The disposable assets of the Arrows Formula 1 team will be auctioned in about a month and could provide a welcome chance for F1 teams to pick up bits and pieces that they need without having to spend too much to do it.

The members of the Shura Council, the upper house of the Bahrain national assembly, have voted in favour of the funding necessary for the construction of the Formula 1 circuit.

The auction of the assets of Asiatech in Versailles last week gave an indication of the state of the Formula 1 economy at the moment.

Minardi announced Monday that Italian Matteo Bobbi will return as a test driver for the team for the third consecutive year. The 24 year old will assist with the development of the new PS03, which is scheduled to run for the first time later this week, and will take part in the Friday morning test sessions at each grand prix event.

Jordan and Renault resumed testing in Barcelona Monday in cool conditions. Renault fielded three drivers, and Jordan two, with Fernando Alonso ending the day at the top of the time sheet in a Renault R23 by nearly three seconds.

Minardi has finally come to an agreement with Bridgestone for a supply of tires in 2003 after weeks of reports that the Japanese tire company was unwilling to supply the team.

There are rumours in Holland that Christjian Albers may have found the money needed to become the Jordan team's test driver this year. Albers had been in line for the second Minardi drive

Anthony Davidson, the BAR test driver, is to race for the Prodrive Ferrari team in the Sebring 12 Hours and 3e Mans 24 Hours races.

In these difficult economic times, the role of the small F1 teams has been put into the spotlight. Some of the big teams treat those at the back of the grid with disdain and have no interest if they disappear or not, others would like to see them kept alive as they provide an easy way for the bigger operations to train drivers

More than 30 years of service with the McLaren F1 team has come good for New Zealander Bob McMurray, who left the team a couple of years ago and returned to his native land. McMurray is to become the resident F1 pundit for New Zealand's TV One broadcasts of the Formula 1 Grands Prix.

Bernie Ecclestone and the taxman have never been soul mates but now it seems Bernie is planning to collect his own taxes in Formula 1 in an effort to support the struggling small teams in Formula 1. Ecclestone is proposing that a "TV tax" be levied on the teams which get the most coverage.

Although it is being said that Jaguar Racing will be joining Minardi, Jordan and Renault in Friday testing, it is not as easy as that. According to FIA President Max Mosley the teams involved in the testing agreement have to agree to accept the new team and the FIA also has to accept the application.

Jaguar announced Friday that they will join Renault, Jordan and Minardi in the two one-hour testing sessions on the Fridays of grands prix. By doing so, the team will be limited to 20 additional testing days during the season with one car at each test.

FIA President Max Mosley is expected to propose to the Formula 1 Commission that the $48m bond for new teams entering the Formula 1 World Championship be axed to help newcomers come into the sport to replace teams which have failed or are in the process of failing.

Octagon Motorsports has announced that it will invest $6.5m in revamping Silverstone in order to retain the British Grand Prix. The company, which has been losing money at Silverstone, is biting the bullet and investing again in order to avoid the venue losing the race and thus much of its value.