Formula One News — November 2003

According to race promoter Roland Hodel, the French Grand Prix will happen at Magny-Cours again but not until 2005. He says that the company that organises the race has a new deal with Bernie Ecclestone to take the race from 2005 to 2009 and an option for another five years beyond that.

In December it seems that the French Grand Prix will be taken off the Formula 1 calendar for next year and that will mean that the July 11 date will be empty. This has always been the traditional event for the British Grand Prix and is the date that the British wanted for 2004.

The French Grand Prix, which was scheduled to take place on July 11, 2004, has been cancelled because of financial problems. The news was confirmed on Friday evening by Marcel Charmant, president of the conseil general of the Nievre department.

The French Grand Prix will not be taking place in 2004. The local council of Nevers met on Friday afternoon to try to find a solution to the problem.

If the French Grand Prix is cancelled in 2004 because no-one will come to the rescue of the race at Magny-Cours, there will need to be some serious thinking in French motor racing circles about the future of the race.

The chopping and changing on the Formula 1 calendar has been non-stop throughout the autumn with horse-trading as 18 races try to fit into 17 dates.

As we reported in September, there are fears for the French Grand Prix in 2004, because the race promoter cannot raise the money to pay debts to Formula One Management, let alone fund the race for another season.

There are rumors in the United States that Patrick Racing CART team is to undergo a major revamp in the next few months and that it may even be that Pat Patrick will pass the whole operation on to a consortium led by Jim McGee.

With Juan Pablo Montoya moving to McLaren in 2005, Williams needs to find a new driver to partner Ralf Schumacher.

Eddie Jordan admits that he is keen to sell a majority shareholding in his Formula 1 team but he wants to do a Bernie Ecclestone kind of deal and stay in charge after selling out. In short, Eddie Jordan is not selling the team so much as selling Eddie Jordan as a concept.

Danny Sullivan has announced details of the where the Red Bull Driver Search winners will be racing next year.

The Macau Grand Prix used to be the last major event of the motor racing world but in recent years the International Formula 3 Korea Super Prix at Changwon has taken over that role, with most of the F3 teams going on from Macau to Korea to compete on the 1.8-mile street circuit in Changwon City.

Rob Nguyen, the impressive Australian who was forced to drop out of Formula 3000 this year because of lack of money, was back in an F3000 this week at Monza and was immediately quick, setting the third fastest time of the test at the Milan track.

Although CART has announced that there will be a Champ Car race at Brands Hatch next year, it seems that the news caught Brands Hatch Circuits Ltd unawares, as the track had been told that all plans to send the US cars to London had been called off.

Townsend Bell is due to test for Jaguar soon at Valencia in Spain but the American has never been to the track and there are rumours suggesting that to aid his cause he is going to go testing there with the Astromega Formula 3000 team.

The plans for a Grand Prix in Cancun, Mexico seem to be rather more advanced than thought with Mexican representatives and legal counsel meeting this week with Bernie Ecclestone in London.

There has been talk for some time that Red Bull may be considering a major sponsorship role at Jaguar Racing, as part of its plans to push into the United States soft drinks market.

According to sources in Canada, the agreement struck between the promoters of the Canadian Grand Prix and Formula One Management is until at least 2006.

According to Le Journal de Montreal, the Canadian Grand Prix promoter Normand Legault has succeeded in finding the support to allow the Canadian Grand Prix to continue next year. The deal is said to involve both the Canadian government and the provincial government of Quebec.

Dario Franchitti will return to Andretti Green Racing alongside Tony Kanaan and Dan Wheldon. Franchitti was out of most of this year's races because of a back injury after a motorcycle accident in Scotland.

The Shanghai Daily newspaper is reporting that the Chinese look set to ratify its signature of the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control at the National Peoples' Congress when it meets in March next year.

Newman Haas Racing, for a long time the most fervent anti-Indy Racing League team in CART, has finally come to the conclusion that it must embrace the IRL in addition to CART.

Renault will test Finn Heikki Kovalainen and Argentine Formula Renault V6 champion Jose-Maria Lopez in Barcelona at the start of December.

The news that Juan Pablo Montoya is to move to McLaren in 2005 is not a surprise. The stories have been circulating since late July when it became clear that Williams was not willing to increase the Colombian's salary in 2005.

As we reported some months ago, Juan Pablo Montoya will be moving to McLaren in 2005. The news was announced on Monday by Team McLaren Mercedes.