Formula One News — July 2003

BRDC chairman Jackie Stewart recently attacked Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley saying that "I just do not understand why they are being so vicious about Silverstone" and said that "if they have an agenda I do not know what it is. What I do know is that it is not a fair and level playing field."

The Bahrain government is busy getting ready for the first Formula 1 event which is expected to take place in April next year.

The last week has seen the publication of half-year results for many of Europe's big car manufacturers. According to the latest figures the car market in Western Europe as a whole is down 2.6% in the first six months of the year.

Bolstered no doubt by his first serious taste of Formula 1 with the BMW Williams team, Marko Asmer won both rounds of the HarrrierZeuros UK Formula Ford Championship at Croft in Yorkshire on Sunday.

Williams is the team in the news at the moment and not only on the race tracks. The organization has been pulling in sponsorship at a time when all the other major F1 teams have failed to do so.

Estonian Marko Asmer took pole position at Croft this weekend in the 2003 HarrierZeuros UK Formula Ford Championship.

It has been confirmed that the new McLaren which was supposed to have made its debut at the start of the European season in April will now not be seen until the Italian Grand Prix at Monza in September.

Many of the Formula 1 teams have said that driver negotiations for next year would not begin until the British Grand Prix and so talk is beginning to ramp up now as the Silverstone events draws closer.

Players Ltd, the Canada-based tobacco company has confirmed that it is ending its involvement in motor racing because of the ever-increasing problems with anti-tobacco legislation.

The report of the Motorsport Competitiveness Panel made interesting reading and included a section about the need to support "world-class motorsport events", arguing that these are important to the economic success of the UK motorsport infrastructure.

Paul Stoddart says that there is no longer a threat to the British Grand Prix. The Minardi boss said that the team bosses had agreed to adopt the rules for the rest of the year.

In an effort to promote the British Grand Prix the British Minister of Sport was given a ride in a Minardi two-seater in London's Hyde Park on Friday.

The British Government has agreed to create a $24m fund to help sustain and develop the UK motorsport industry. The money will be used to implement recommendations made by the Motorsport Competitiveness Panel, which was set up to look at ways of strengthening the industry.

There were rumors in Germany on Wednesday that Bridgestone would be withdrawing from the FIA Formula 1 World Championship at the end of 2004. The Japanese tire company could have ignored them but instead felt the need to issue a press statement on Thursday to say that there is no intention of withdrawing.

Willi Weber, the manager of Michael and Ralf Schumacher, is no fool. Ralf has won the last two races and Weber is now suddenly talking about extending the deal between Ralf and BMW Williams.

Brands Hatch, which hosted the British Grand Prix on a regular basis in the 1960s and 1970s, has been put up for sale by Octagon Motorsport.

The 2004 United States Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway could be run on June 20 with the Canadian GP taking place on June 6, according to the well-connected US journalist Robin Miller on ESPN.com.

The BMW Williams F1 team is to give Estonian racer Marko Asmer his first proper F1 test in Barcelona this week.

Negotiations are believed to be going on to move the United States Grand Prix to the final place on the F1 calendar.

David Coulthard, one of the representatives of the Grand Prix Drivers Association, says that Formula 1 should not brush safety issues under the carpet.

Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone admitted at the weekend in France that the Interlagos circuit in Sao Paulo is "a tip" when challenged that he is always attacking Silverstone when there other circuits which are far worse than the British facilty.

Paul Stoddart has a fleet of two-seater Formula 1 cars which he has not been using in the last year and he has proposed to the other Formula 1 team bosses that these be used next year for celebrity two-seater races on Sunday mornings at each Grand Prix.

Many of the Grands Prix this year have had smaller crowds than in previous years and Silverstone is no exception. The organisers of the event are hoping for a last-minute surge in sales to push up the numbers as it is understood that at the moment only 70,000 tickets have been sold.

French GP - Race Report

The Formula 1 team owners were in discussion again at the weekend in Magny Cours over the so-called Formula 1 "fighting fund". Paul Stoddart refuses to be beaten and while some of the other team bosses say that Stoddart has no right to any money because the deal was conditional on the rules remaining the same.