Formula One News — December 2003

There is talk at the moment that there will be new teams in Formula 1 in 2005 and 2006. This is hard to believe because the system has been designed to make it very difficult for that to happen.

With Minardi having two seats in F1 in 2004 but a lot of drivers keen on landing a deal, Jos Verstappen needs to move quickly if he is to remain in F1 next year.

The French Grand Prix will be cancelled on Friday when the FIA World Motor Sport Council meets in Monte Carlo, unless the French can find an extra $20m to pay the teams to take part in an 18th race.

British American Tobacco has strengthened its position within BAR by taking up shares which were authorised when the team began in 1998. It is not clear to what extent this alters the balance of the shareholdings in the team but it will inevitably mean that the other shareholdings have been diluted.

Paul Stoddart says that he is planning to help out Australian youngsters Will Davison and Will Power with test runs in his cars next year.

The lastest spat between Ralf Schumacher and Williams may end up being of little significance given the cut and thrust of modern Formula 1 contract negotiations but, at the same time, we may be witnessing a split between Schumacher and Williams which will result in the German departing the team in 2005.

The Australian government has become the latest - the 79th - to sign the World Health Organisation's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, committing the nation to not only ban all tobacco advertising but also to encourage other countries to do the same.

The Formula 1 test in Jerez de la Frontera has beens eriously disrupted for the last couple of days by rain although the teams have been using the wet weather to work on the development of tyres and carry out systems checks rather than pushing ahead with major development work.

Austrian driver Norbert Siedler is to test drive for Minardi this week at Vallelunga. The 20-year-old has backing from both Superfund and Red Bull, both of which have money available for F1 in 2004.

Renault and Nissan seem to be working more and more closely together with the latest evidence being the fact that Nissan GT factory driver Satoshi Motoyama, who this year was also crowned Formula Nippon Champion, is to test for the Renault F1 team.

Spanish racing sources are reporting that there are plans for the Real Automovil Club de Espana to completely rebuild its famous racing facility at Jarama as a "Motor City".

An investigation in the Italian backwater of Potenza could lead to interesting times if a local magistrate by the unlikely name of John Henry Woodcock, gets his way.

As we exclusively predicted some weeks ago it look like the British Grand Prix will be confirmed for the weekend of July 11, taking the date which had been set aside for the French Grand Prix.

The word on the street in Formula 1 circles is that Williams is about to add another new sponsor to its impressive roster with stories suggesting that the Grove team will soon announce a deal with the mobile communications company O2.

It is coming up to 10 years since the death at Imola of the great Ayrton Senna and the organisers of the San Marino Grand Prix have announced that they will not let the event pass without some recognition of one of the sport's greatest drivers, killed in his prime on May 1 1994.

It is a little known fact that Giorgio Pantano was heavily in negotiation with Jaguar Racing before the drive went to Christian Klien. The Italian is believed to have a considerable amount of money behind him and has plenty of experience in Formula 3000 and he drove some very strong races this year.

There have been reports in recent days in the German press indicating that the negotiations between Williams and Ralf Schumacher have run into difficulties. this is not surprising as Schumacher's management will be of the belief that Williams needs Schumacher in 2005.

Jaguar Racing and Italian design studio Pininfarina have joined forces to produce an unusual livery for a Formula 1 Jaguar, based on the aerodynamic forces which are involved in running an F1 car.

Work is nearly finished on a new pit road in Albert Park in preparation for the 2004 Australian GP.

Renault Development Driver Jose-Maria Lopez has his first taste of Formula 1 this week in Barcelona at the wheel of a Renault F1 car but he will be back in an F1 car shortly - courtesy of Minardi. The Argentine youngster will test for the Faenza team at Vallelunga

Chinese driver Tung Ho-pin, who will have his first tests in an F1 car on December 11 at Jerez, is now working with trainer Erwin Gollner to prepare for his first taste of F1. Gollner was previously working with Jacques Villeneuve but has been with Tung since mid-November.

The merger between CART and Open Wheel Racing is off and the CART company now faces the prospect of being placed in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. OWR may then try to buy the assets and run the series in 2004 but with time being short, the prospects do not look good

In September Bernie Ecclestone remarked that he did not care what the GPWC and the banks who are shareholders of SLEC, were discussing at a meeting during the Italian Grand Prix weekend. He felt that he held all the cards in the long-running dispute over the future of the sport.

The GPWC and SLEC met in Geneva on Thursday have agreed some kind of a deal at a meeting in Geneva today. The parties involved have agreed to prepare a "memorandum of understanding" before the end of the year to detail the future structure of Formula 1.

Australian Formula 3 Champion Michael Caruso was in Italy this week for a two-day test with Coloni Motorsport at Magione. Caruso hopes that the test will help him raise money to come to Europe, following in the footsteps of Mark Webber, James Courtney and Ryan Briscoe.