Formula One News — June 2003

The remaining assets of Arrows Grand Prix International Limited are being sold off at auction on June 18-19 at Leafield.

Canadian GP - Preview

General Motors is now admitting that it is willing to make an "extraordinary response" because of the uncompetitive nature of its Chevrolet Indy Racing League engine and rumors continue to suggest that this assistance could come from rival Ford's Cosworth racing division.

The new Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren road car will be unveiled at the Frankfurt Auto Show in the autumn.

British American Racing had Jenson Button out of action after his Monaco crash when its test team headed to Monza for a three-day test this week. The team's third driver Takuma Sato began running on Tuesday alongside test driver Anthony Davidson.

No fewer than 22 schools across Britain entered a recent competition to design an F1-style car, using CAD/CAM software. The resulting machinery was on display last week at the Olympia exhibition centre in London.

The case between British American Racing and Partnership Production Group International (PPGI) is rather more complicated than perhaps appearances have suggested.

The Turks have been quietly working away towards a Grand Prix for several years and that work is now beginning to pay off.

Preparations for the Canadian Grand Prix are well under way as the teams plan their first trip to North America in the 2003 season, with testing taking place all over Europe today.

Justin Wilson and his manager Jonathan Palmer have revealed that the innovative IPO scheme to support Justin's F1 career has been a big success. The scheme closed last Friday with the $2m million he needed to fund his drive with Minardi in the bank.

An attempt was made to seize the BAR equipment after the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday but the paperwork was not in order and as a result the cars were not impounded and left Monaco shortly afterwards.

A couple of weeks ago Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone was talking about expanding the World Championship calendar to 20 races but now he is back to the normal F1 song sheet, telling the German newsagency DPA that "we found out some time ago that 16 is a good number, maybe one more."

Jenson Button is not taking part in this week's F1 testing following his crash in Monte Carlo.

DaimlerChrysler has warned that competition in the US car markets will result in a loss for Chrysler of $1.1bn in the second quarter. The German firm has already made it clear that Chrysler will not meet its full year operating profit target of $2bn.

The 1978 Formula 1 World Champion Mario Andretti is not seeking re-election as a director of the board of CART. The shareholders of the company will vote for the board members on July 17.

A racing driver knows that he is beginning to get old when people keep asking him about his retirement. In recent years this has started happening to Michael Schumacher.

There are stories doing the rounds that Cosworth Racing might somehow become involved with building Chevrolet IRL engines.

Chris Pook, the chief executive of the CART series, has confirmed that he is involved in negotiation with Bernie Ecclestone about possible links between CART and Formula 1.

The future of the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps rested largely on the Belgian national elections as the government was unable to alter the laws which had been voted through, including the anti-tobacco legislation which led to the race being cancelled.

It must be contract negotiation time down at Maranello because suggestions that Juan Pablo Montoya could replace Michael Schumacher at Ferrari are not very likely to happen unless Michael decides he does not want to stay beyond the end of his current contract, which runs out at the end of 2004.

Monaco GP - Race Report

The Silly Season seems to have begun with the first serious talk of who is going where in 2004 and initial rumors trying to suggest that there will be an opening at Toyota next year for Jacques Villeneuve. There have also been stories that Ferrari is looking at a long-term future with Juan Pablo Montoya and Felipe Massa

The Monaco Formula 3000 race on Saturday saw a very alarming incident when Super Nova Racing's Enrico Toccacello, who was due to go into the pits for a penalty having cut a chicane, suddenly slowed as he arrived at the top of the hill before the Virage de Massenet.

A few months ago August Busch III, the chairman and chief executive of the giant US brewing company Anheuser Busch, met Ferrari's Jean Todt to discuss a sponsorship deal between Ferrari and Budweiser, Anheuser Busch's biggest brand.

Monaco GP - Sunday Race Notes