Formula One News — October 2003

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

There is no surprise at all in the announcement that Britain's Anthony Davidson will be British American Racing's third driver next season for Friday practice. Davidson has been with the team for several years now and with the departure of Jacques Villeneuve moves to third in the list of drivers, behind Jenson Button and Takuma Sato.

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.

Formula 1's problem this year has been filling the grandstands but the sport is still financially sound with the Formula One group continuing to rake in huge sums of money in TV right sales and race fees

Bob Bell, the new technical director of Renault F1 is not a well known figure in F1 circles but has a highly accomplished career behind him.

The fact that the FIA World Council has listed Canada on its latest version of the Formula 1 calendar for 2004 is no guarantee that the race in Montreal will take place.

The World Motor Sport Council has agreed to increase the F1 World Championship from 17 to 18 races next year. If this happens it will be the first time that the series has had as many events.

The World Motor Sport Council has voted through the expected changes in Formula 1 and the result is hardly what can consider to be cost-cutting initiatives with 18 races on the F1 calendar, Canada having paid its way back to the fold.

As we exclusively predicted some time ago Renault F1 has lost Mike Gascoyne and replaced its technical director with his deputy Bob Bell.

David Richards, the boss of British American Racing and the man who runs the commercial side of rallying, has lost his vote on the FIA World Rally Championship Commission which has been restructured to make decision-making more efficient.

The Motorsport Industry Association will shortly to host a "Clean Racing: the Role of Motorsport in the Green Revolution" conference, with the aim to draw attention to the possible role that motorsport could play in the development of energy-efficient automobiles.

Giancarlo Fisichella has some time off between F1 contracts and so is planning to have some fun this weekend at the wheel of a works Alfa Romeo in the final round of the European Touring Car Championship at Monza.

Kenny Brack has undergone a second operation, after his enormous accident at the Texas Motor Speedway.

Jaguar is celebrating its highest-ever sales total in a month with 15,613 cars sold worldwide in the course of September. This is the best result in the 83-year history of Jaguar.

Red Bull has named three youngsters who will now be funded to race in European single-seaters next year. The winning candidates after the three-day assessment were Dominique Claessens, Colin Fleming and Matt Jaskol.

With the 2003 World Championship done and dusted, the Formula 1 teams will be looking back at the successes and failures of the season and all will have plenty to consider.

The FIA World Motor Sport Council meets today in Paris to consider the proposals made by the F1 Commission. The changes to the Sporting Regulations are supposed to enhance the World Championship with a new format for race weekends.

Scott Dixon has ambitions in Formula 1 and the young New Zealander gave himself a big career boost by winning the Indy Racing League title for Target Chip Ganassi Racing at the Texas Motor Speedway.

The Indy Racing League was given a reminder at the weekend that no form of high-speed open-wheler can be 100% safe with Sweden's Kenny Brack being seriously hurt in a spectacular accident with Tomas Scheckter just a few laps from the finish of the Chevy 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

When Michael Schumacher and his brother Ralf went on a bender on Sunday night, the multiple World Champion was letting off steam. Racing drivers are unused to alcohol and often do some pretty silly things when under the influence.

There was a time when all the great motor racing champions came from motorcycle racing. In the 1920s, for example, Tazio Nuvolari and Achille Varzi were both great riders before becoming great drivers and in the 1950s and 1960s.

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