Formula One News — October 2003

Safety engineers have long been saying that the biggest danger for motor racing in the modern era is a car flying off the race track and into a crowded spectator area. With open-wheeler racing machinery there is always the possibility that one car will ride over the top of another and become airborne.

America has lost one of its rising stars with the death on Wednesday in testing at Indianapolis of 26-year-old Florida driver Tony Renna. Renna was on his fourth lap of a test for his new team Target Chip Ganassi Racing when reports suggest that the car, which had been driven the previous day by the new IRL Champion Scott Dixon, went sideways going into Turn Three, took off and flew in to the debris fencing and disintegrated.

The governor of the Korea's Kyongsang province, was in London last week to sign a memorandum of understanding for a Formula 1 race to take place in the city of Chinhae (also spelled Jinhae) in October 2009.

Tony Purnell has spent the last few months having a close look at the way in which Cosworth racing operates and has just announced a shake-up in the management.

The change in the Formula 1 calendar last week caused a fair bit of chaos because moving the European Grand Prix meant that the event then clashed with Rock am Ring, Germany's biggest summer rock concert.

The focus on the issue of tobacco in China has brought to light rumors that a deal is already in place for the 2004 Chinese GP to be sponsored by Marlboro.

Last weekend the Renault F1 team went on a promotional visit to Moscow to run a Renault R23B on a makeshift street circuit in the grounds of Moscow University.

The motor sport strategy of the Volkswagen Audi Group is at best mysterious. After winning the Le Mans 24 Hours for three consecutive years with the Audi brand, the company switched to the Bentley brand for 2003 and scored an impressive 1-2 finish. It was expected that Bentley would be back in 2004 to add to its record of wins in the classic sports car event. However it has just been announced that the firm will not be taking part at Le Mans in 2004.

The latest word from Italy is that Roman driver Gianmaria "Jimmy" Bruni is close to signing a deal to drive for Minardi in 2004.

Reports coming out of Brazil suggest that Eddie Jordan is in heavy discussion with US entrepreneur Roger Penske.

According to reports from the Xinhua news agency in China, the Chinese Grand Prix has yet to get clearance for Formula 1 cars to run with tobacco branding at the inaugural Chinese GP next year.

The Canadian Grand Prix has until the end of the month to come up with a financial package necessary to keep the race on the Formula 1 calendar.

The talks between Williams and Ralf Schumacher are dragging on as the two parties negotiate over the extension of Schumacher's contract beyond the end of 2004.

Giancarlo Fisichella's involvement with the works Alfa Romeo touring car team at Monza last weekend was much publicized before the event but there was no word at all about what happened.

Al Unser Jr, one of the top names in US racing, has been injured in an accident one his estate in Chama, New Mexico. The 41-year-old crashed while riding an all-terrain vehicle and was crushed beneath the device.

It is reported that George Gillett Jr and the Molson Family are looking at investing in the company that owns the Canadian Grand Prix.

There is good news for Indian motorsport with a handshake agreement between the two organizations which have been fighting over control of the sport in India.

Last week at Sebring, the Fittipaldi Dingman Racing team tested the youngest ever driver to run in a CART car, running 17-year-old Frenchman Nelson Philippe.

Satoshi Motoyama won his third Formula Nippon title at the weekend at Motegi, finishing second to Toshihiro Kaneishi in the penultimate race of the season.

Alex Zanardi, making his return to motor racing after losing both his legs in a crash two years ago at the Lausitzring, finished an impressive seventh in the European Touring Car Championship event at Monza at the weekend.

The FIA General Assembly has voted Britain back on to the FIA World Motor Sport Council. John Grant, chairman of the Motor Sports Association, will be the official representative, while Colin Hilton, chief executive officer of the MSA will be his deputy.

Team boss Eddie Jordan was ordered to pay mobile phone company Vodafone $1.67 million by a High Court judge in London today.

The South Pacific island nation of Fiji has become the first developing country to ratify the World Health Organization's Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (FCTC), which seeks to ban tobacco sponsorship around the world. This is a significant step as tobacco companies, driven out of the developed countries, have been targeting the developing world instead.

The FIA World Council's acceptance of the proposals of the Formula 1 Commission to allow teams to run a third car on Friday's but banning anyone who has taken part in more than six World Championship events during the two previous seasons may not be legal under the Treaty of Rome, the legal agreement on which the European Union is based.

The Moscow City Government is still dreaming about hosting a Formula 1 race - but clearly does not understand how the sport works.