Formula One News — December 2003

The 2003 Prince Michael International Road Safety Award has gone to the Euro NCAP organisation for its work in improving the safety of new cars through its crash-testing programme.

Ferrari has purchased its French importer Charles Pozzi SA. Pozzi became a car dealer in 1932 when he became a Ford agent.

Championship Auto Racing Teams announced yesterday that Open Wheel Racing Series had informed it that the pending merger could be off because there will not be enough teams in the series next year.

As we revealed last week,the Mild Seven Renault F1 Team has agreed a long-term partnership with NTT DoCoMo, the mobile communications company. The sponsorship will be used to promote i-mode the Japanese company's mobile e-mail and internet access.

Jaguar Racing's boss Dave Pitchforth says that he is "frustrated" at not being allowed to run Justin Wilson as the team's third driver in 2004. The Englishman cannot be used because he has competed in more than six F1 events in the last two years.

The Brazilian Grand Prix is no longer under threat, following the decision of Judge Sergio Coimbra Schmidt of the Tribunal de Justica in Sao Paulo, who has overruled a previous decision by Judge Joao Andre de Vicenzo banning the organisers from running the event because it is a waste of public money.

The Jordan team has yet to make any official announcement about its drivers for 2003 but reports from Germany say that the team has reached an agreement with Nick Heidfeld.

Jaguar Racing has confirmed that Austria's Christian Klien will be Mark Webber's team mate for the 2004 Formula One season. Klien begins testing today at a three-day test at the Circuit de Catalunya. Klien drove an F1 car for the first time only a week ago at Valencia but impressed the team greatly.

Stefan Johansson's American Spirit CART team is being wound up following a lawsuit from Motorsports Spares International, Inc. for the non-payment of debts. The case came to court in the Marion County Court, Indianapolis, last week.

James Robinson has joined Jordan Grand Prix as head of race and test engineering, taking on some of the role which was previously done by Gary Anderson.

If rumors of the French Grand Prix being saved are confirmed there is likely to be some confusion as to which is the 18th race. This is highly important because the Concorde Agreement only allows for 17 races and the organizers of the 18th must find an extra $20m to pay the 10 Formula 1 teams $2m apiece to race.

The official entry list for the FIA Formula 1 World Championship has now been issued but it reveals little in terms of any news as most of the drivers, sponsors and engines are already known.

We hear that Jaguar Racing is on the verge of confirming that Christian Klien will be its second driver in 2004.

Today marks Mike Gascoyne's first day at Panasonic Toyota Racing in Cologne and the ambitious Englishman is keen to take the team forward this year.