Formula One News — May 2003

Renault Sport has announced that it will be building a conventional V10 engine next year. This marks the end of the company's disastrous foray into developing a wide-angle V10 engine and puts the team well behind it rivals in terms of developing the latest V10 technology.

The German justice system has decided that after a preliminary investigation it will not open a formal inquiry into the loans made by the Bayerische Landesbank to the crumbling Kirch empire.

Former F1 driver Tora Takagi has been named the 2003 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year following his strong performance with Mo Nunn Racing at The Brickyard. Takagi finished fifth in the race.

Sir Frank Williams went for a day at the races on Monday, popping down to Silverstone to see the British Formula 3 Championship race and to take a look at Nelson Piquet Jr., the son of his former driver Nelson Piquet.

Gualter Salles is to replace Alex Yoong at the wheel of the Dale Coyne Racing entry in the CART Champ Car series this year.

Bahrain was planning to host a race in October 2004 but the latest word from the Gulf is that the event will now be held on April 4. If this turns out to be true there are a number of interesting ramifications.

The BCN F3000 team says it will continue in the International F3000 championship, despite recent reports in South America. It seems however that Australian Rob Nguyen will lose his seat with the team as he has now run out of sponsorship.

Ralf Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen took to the streets of Stuttgart on Sunday to celebrate the 100th anniversary of ADAC, the German automobile club.

Toyota and Honda swept all before them in the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday with Gil de Ferran just beating his Penske team mate Helio Castroneves in the two Toyota-engined Penske cars: de Ferran in a Panoz G Force and Castroneves in a Dallara

The McLaren team is not going to rush the debut of the new MP4-18 and the team is not planning to race the car until the European Grand Prix at the Nurburgring at the end of June.

The Renault F1 team will announce its engine plans for 2004 on Tuesday. It is anticipated that the company will announce that work is already well advanced on a more conventional V10 engine than the current wide-angle V10 unit.

There have been rumors for some time that Mike Gascoyne might become a target for Toyota's Formula 1 team but at the moment there is nothing to back up the stories - except logic.

In recent years an organisation called the Lorenzo Bandini Association has been awarding a trophy each year to the F1 driver who has shown the most fighting spirit and this year it was announced that the award would go to World Champion Michael Schumacher.

Alejandro de Tomaso, an Argentine car racer who founded the de Tomaso car company, has died at the age of 76. He built several F1 cars including one with Frank Williams in 1970.

The Ferrari F1 team has announced that the fire at the Austrian Grand Prix was caused by fuel which found its way into the breather hose of the refueling rig during Rubens Barrichello's pit stop on lap 21.

Former F1 racer and Le Mans 24 Hours winner Johnny Dumfries was due to return to Le Mans this year after 11 years in retirement but the 45-year-old Scottish aristocrat has decided not to go ahead with the plan.

Formula 1 sometimes seems to have trouble attracting A-list celebrities but there does not appear to be a problem in the United States.

The World Health Assembly has unanimously adopted the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the world's first global health treaty, which includes a commitment to introduce tough controls on tobacco advertising and sponsorship.

Former F1 engineer Enrique Scalabroni set up a Formula 3000 team after the closure of his Asiatech project last year but there are reports that the team - known as BCN - may not be able to get to the end of the season.

Rising star Neel Jani has been given his first proper test in Valencia. The 19-year-old Swiss driver had previously carried out some straight-line running at the Vairano testing facility in Italy, doing aerodynamic mapping work to check that the car is the same on the road as it is in the windtunnel.

The Mercedes MP4-18 will run for the first time today at the Paul Ricard circuit in the South of France. Alexander Wurz will give the new car its first shakedown laps while David Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen will continue their development work on the MP4-17D alongside second test driver Pedro de la Rosa.

The all new McLaren-Mercedes MP4-18 will test for the first time tomorrow at the hands of Alex Wurz at the Paul Ricard circuit in Southern France.

Former F1 team owner Enzo Coloni has given the Lola-Dome-Mugen Honda F106 its first victory in Europe with his driver Marco Bonanomi winning at Imola last weekend.

Renault F1 test driver Franck Montagny continued his domination of the Superfund World Series by Nissan by winning two more races at Magny-Cours last weekend, despite very wet conditions.

The FIA and Ferrari are investigating the pitlane fire in Austria, with Intertechnique, the French aerospace company which supplies the refuelling machines.