Formula One News — June 2003

The word on the street in Formula 1 circles is that Ferrari's chief aerodynamicist Nick Tombazis is on his way to Panasonic Toyota Racing. Tombazis has been in charge of aerodynamic work at Ferrari since 1999 and has played an important role in helping the team to its recent successes.

It has been confirmed that Jenson Button will be racing this weekend for British American Racing. There had been some speculation in the press that Button would miss the race because of concussion but the man himself said that there were no problems.

Jeff Gordon, the four-time NASCAR Winston Cup champion impressed the Williams team with his test at Indianapolis and he was only two seconds off the pace after just a handful of laps in the car - an impressive performance for a man who has never been in a Grand Prix car before.

There was much scurrying about in the paddock on Thursday afternoon as Formula 1 team principals discussed whether or not they will agree to create a "fighting fund" for Minardi and Jordan, as had previously been agreed, or whether the whole dispute over the matter is going to go public.

We hear that Minardi boss Paul Stoddart has had enough of trying to convince the bigger Formula 1 teams to honor commitments that they made to support the smaller teams in these difficult economic times.

A decision will be taken later today as to whether or not Jenson Button will race for BAR in Canada.

The word from Australia is that the banned international cricketer Shane Warne is to support the career of one of Australia's latest Formula 1 hopes Will Davison. Davison is currently racing in the British Formula 3 Championship but has big ambitions - and a great pedigree.

The much-vaunted switch of cars between Juan Pablo Montoya and Jeff Gordon went ahead as planned on Wednesday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with the pair doing a handful of laps each in the other's racing car.

The management of Nurburgring GmbH says it wants to take legal action against the European Union because of the planned tobacco ban in the middle of 2005. The company says that the new legislation if it goes ahead will do the company permanent damage.

TAG Heuer and McLaren International have extended their relationship which dates back to 1985 when the Swiss watchmaker, then owned by McLaren partner Mansour Ojjeh first began supporting the team.

FIA President Max Mosley says that he would like to see Formula 2 reintroduced to act as a junior league for Formula 1 with promotion and relegation between the two series just as happens between different leagues in football.

Jenson Button will find out Thursday if he will be permitted to participate in Sundays Canadian Grand Prix.

Alain Prost has signed to drive with the Toyota in France's Trophee Andros ice races this winter. The deal is for two years and is aimed at helping Toyota sell its Corolla T model in the European market.

As part of the attempt to build up F1 interest in the United States of America four-time NASCAR Winston Cup champion Jeff Gordon and Juan Pablo Montoya will swap their racing cars on Wednesday.

The announcement that Michael Schumacher has re-signed for Ferrari until the end of 2006 will have a number of interesting effects on the Formula 1 driver market.

Carlos Reutemann, the former Formula 1 driver who has been a leading politician in his native Argentina in recent years, is one of dozens of people in the Sante Fe province who has contracted leptospirosis as a result of his involvement in helping to clean up the province after devastating floods in April.

Our spies tell us that the new McLaren-Mercedes MP4-18 suffered a crash last week in testing at the Circuit de Catalunya while being driven by Kimi Raikkonen. The word in F1 circles is that Raikkonen lost control of the car in the final corner and Raikkonen bruised his knee in the ensuing impact.

Fabio Carbone on Monday won the second Formula 3 Euroseries race at Pau after talented youngster Nico Rosberg went out with an mechanical problem after leading for most of the event.

Ferrari announced today that it has extended the contracts of many members of the current race team through the end of the 2006 season - including Michael Schumacher.

Sir Jackie Stewart has been giving his opinion of Antonio Pizzonia's F1 career to date and reckons that the Brazilian is overdriving his Jaguar.

Toyota F1 protege Ryan Briscoe seems to be unbeatable this year in the Formula 3 Euroseries. The Australian on Sunday wrote his name into the record books by winning on the streets of Pau - an impressive achievement for a rookie.

Former F1 driver Tora Takagi has been doing well in the Indy Racing League this year, particularly at the recent Indianapolis 500 but the Japanese driver was in trouble at the weekend at Texas Motor Speedway where he was blamed for a spectacular three-car accident.

Vodafone is being sued for $225m by the Jordan Formula One team, which is claiming that the mobile phone company reneged on a deal to sponsor the team.

There has been speculation in recent days that Sauber's new windtunnel in Hinwil has caught the attention of the Mercedes-Benz management in Stuttgart.

There is little topline racing in Europe this week, so the spotlight falls on Pau where the Formula 3 Euroseries cars will dispute the 63rd Grand Prix de Pau on the streets of the Bearnais city.