Formula One News — May 2003

Austrian GP - Friday Testing Results

The latest rumors in the paddock in Austria suggest that Mercedes-Benz engine designer Mario Illien is being courted to join the Renault Sport operation in Paris to replace Jean-Jacques His.

The misfortunes of the Williams team at Barcelona have resulted in the team gathering up the troops for Austria and the team had no fewer than 10 engineers on hand at the A1 Ring, including new recruit Frank Dernie and Dr John Davies, who is currently in the process of upgrading the team's aerodynamic operations.

The word in the paddock in Austria is that Minardi will shortly have a new look with the team's sponsorship portfolio having changed somewhat since the start of the season.

Jordan has appointed Hungary's Zsolt Baumgartner as its test driver. The Formula 3000 driver will take part in Friday morning qualifying test sessions at the German and Hungarian GPs later this year.

The Chinese Grand Prix is still nearly 18 months away but there are beginning to be fears that the SARS virus could have an effect on the event.

Frank Dernie is back at Williams working on special projects for Patrick Head. Dernie was at Williams back in 1978 when he did aerodynamic work for the team which helped to launch the operation on its way to success.

It seems that we were wrong to credit Nelson Piquet Jr. as the youngest ever winner in British Formula 3. Back in 1992 the American racer Elton Julian won at Thruxton at the age of 17.

The Financial Times in London is reporting that Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo has set a deadline of December 31, 2003 by which time Bernie Ecclestone and the banks involved in F1 will have to have reached an agreement with the teams over the future of F1.

Austrian GP - Preview

For the last 12 years all General Motors racing activities have been overseen by Herb Fishel, the executive director of GM Racing. But at 61 Fishel is to retire. He will hand over his role to Doug Duchardt on June 1 and will retire in September.

Ferrari's parent company Fiat continues to struggle financially with its first quarter results revealing a bigger loss than was the case in the same period last year.

BMW WilliamsF1 sponsor Hewlett Packard believes that last year's drop in Formula 1 viewing figures will not have any effect on the sport's ability to raise money.

The Austrians are obviously keen to give their national Grand Prix a good send-off as demand for tickets is higher than normal.

Michael Schumacher won the Spanish Grand Prix using tires which had not been designed specifically for the Ferrari F2003 GA. He was thus at something of a disadvantage.

Nelson Piquet's son, Nelson Angelo Piquet, has scored his first win in the British Formula 3 Championship. The 17-year-old Brazilian took victory at Knockhill, on his first visit to the Scottish track.

Juan Pablo Montoya has had his driving license confiscated by the French police for speeding. The BMW Williams F1 driver was clocked at 126mph on the motorway between Paul Ricard and his home in Monte Carlo.

The government of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, on the Yucatan Peninsular, has ordered a feasibility study into the possibility of staging a Mexican Grand Prix at a purpose-built circuit near the city of Cancun.

Toyota and Honda are competing not only in Formula 1 but also in the United States where the two car companies are going head-to-head this year to become the first Japanese firm to win the Indianapolis 500.

Christijan Albers showed his DTM rivals the way to do it at the Adria International Raceway near Venice over the weekend, the 24-year-old Dutchman scoring his first DTM victory ahead of some of the more fancied runners.

Australian rising star Ryan Briscoe continued his successful path in the Formula 3 Euroseries at the Adria International Raceway in Italy with a third victory in the series.

An estimated 75,000 people turned out to watch Fernando Alonso drive five laps of a course laid out along Madrid's main Castellana Avenue on Sunday in his Renault F1 car.

It has been announced in the last couple of days that the receivers of the TWR Group have sold the design and engineering division of TWR Group Limited to Menard Engineering Limited, a company owned by US billionaire John Menard.

Dan Wheldon was named in February as the man who would take over from Michael Andretti and the last few days have seen Wheldon testing for the event along with all the other big players and he has been the one setting the pace.

Mark Webber has signed an extension to his current Jaguar Racing contract for the next two seasons. Webber joined Jaguar at the start of the year on a contract which, we believe, was bought from Minardi which ran until the end of 2003.