Formula One News — September 2003

Italian GP - Friday Qualifying Report

Italian GP - Friday Photos

Italian GP - Friday Qualifying Results

Ousted Jaguar Racing driver Antonio Pizzonia is expected to take legal action against Jaguar Racing as a result of his recent firing. Pizzonia was dropped after the British Grand Prix and Justin Wilson was drafted in to replace him.

Italian GP - Friday Practice Results

The situation of Mike Gascoyne and Renault remains one of the mysteries of current Formula 1.

The board of directors of CART has agreed that the company for $0.56 per share, based on the number of shares available. If this transaction is completed a new organization called Open Wheel Racing will take over the running of CART and take the company off the New York Stock Exchange.

Zsolt Baumgartner has been confirmed as the second Jordan driver at the Italian Grand Prix. The Hungarian driver will thus take part in his second event, having stood in for Firman after his recent crash in Budapest.

Italian GP - Friday Testing Results

Jordan Grand Prix driver Ralph Firman will not be racing at Monza this weekend because of a balance problem related to problems with his inner ear. Firman crashed at high speed in Hungary three weeks ago.

The FIA has now issued the official Formula 1 calendar for 2004 and, as expected, there will be 17 races.

Ferrari and Volkswagen have agreed a technical cooperation between their Maserati and Audi subsidiaries. The deal was announced at the Frankfurt Motor Show and, according to Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo, Maserati and Audi will use the same distribution networks in some countries.

ASH, the anti-smoking group in Britain, has launched a less than charitable attack on the Formula 1 authorities because of the recent arguments over the Canadian Grand Prix.

Turkey has committed to a Formula 1 race in 2005 and now the race is on to build a new racing facility in time for a race in 2005. The initial deal is for seven years and will cost Turkey around $100m.

Our sources in Formula 1 circles say that a deal is now nearing completion between Formula One Management, the creditor banks involved in FOM's parent company SLEC, the automobile manufacturers and Formula 1 teams over a new commercial deal for the sport.

The Frankfurt Motor Show, opened this week with Italian GT cars taking center stage with exciting new offerings from Maserati, and the return to official competition of the Lamborghini name.

There has been quite a fuss in recent days about Gerhard Berger's "retirement" from Formula 1. Berger stepped down as head of BMW Motorsport earlier this year but remained involved in the company's negotiations with Williams.

Ralph Firman should be back in action this weekend with Jordan. The British driver has not driven an F1 car since his crash in Hungary three weeks ago.

The increasing interest in motor sport in Mexico has been highlighted by the announcement yesterday by the FIA that the country will host a round of the World Rally Championship next year. Japan has also joined the expanded 16-event calendar.

The FIA met with representatives of Michelin and the McLaren and Williams teams on Monday and after being shown examples of the new Michelin tires before and after use, confirmed that it believes that these tires will comply with the rules as long as they are used in the same way at the Italian GP as they were in testing.

It has been argued many times that the Formula 1 regulations are loosely worded but when one considers the three different sets of rules (the FIA International Sporting Code, the FIA Formula 1 Sporting Regulations and the FIA Formula 1 Technical Regulations) they form a fairly bullet-proof set of rules.

Justin Wilson is not a definite next year at Jaguar Racing. The team is understood to have an option on his services for 2004 but at the moment there is no deal in place.

At the end of trading of Monday the CART share price ended under a dollar for the first time, closing at $0.91. This puts the company into serious danger with the New York Stock Exchange.

There was a meeting yesterday at McLaren headquarters in Woking to try to sort out the current tire crisis in Formula 1. The meeting involved the FIA technical delegate Charlie Whiting, Ron Dennis and Martin Whitmarsh of McLaren and Sir Frank Williams and Patrick Head from Williams.

Ralf Schumacher will undergo a medical inspection today before deciding whether or not to race at Monza this weekend. If Ralf decides not to race his World Championship hopes will disappear.