Formula One News — February 2004

For the last few weeks it has been assumed that the new Jaguar is not going to be competitive. At Valencia on Wednesday however Christian Klien put the team on the board by lapping the track in a time of 1m09.514s, just four-tenths slower than Juan Pablo Montoya's lap record of the same day.

There are stories coming out of Holland that Minardi boss Paul Stoddart has signed Dutchman Tom Coronel to be the driver of Minardi's third car at races this year. Paul Stoddart however says that there is no deal.

Chris Murphy, former Lola-Larrousse, Leyton House and Lotus F1 designer has quit the Astromega Formula 3000 team to join Opel Team Phoenix in the DTM.

An entry list for the 2004 British Formula 3 series is now beginning to build up and the teams have been testing for the first time this winter. For the moment there are still some important drives left available but most of the major players are now in place.

Dr Wolfgang Bernhard is the man expected to be named as the new boss of Mercedes-Benz next year when Jurgen Hubbert retires.

The announcement that Jurgen Hubbert is to retire as head of Mercedes-Benz next year is not really a surprise. What will be interesting will be to see whether or not Hubbert's departure will have a major effect on the much-vaunted GPWC, an organization which he was so keen to promote.

The sale of the assets of Championship Auto Racing Teams is completed and the series will now be brought out of bankruptcy under the new ownership of Open Wheel Racing Series.

A report from Autosport.com suggesting that US team owner Chip Ganassi is looking at a Formula 1 project is not to be taken too seriously. Ganassi laughed when told of the suggestion.

Trust Computers says that it will continue to support Jos Verstappen - but only if he has a different management.

As we have been predicting for some time, Jaguar racing has confirmed Bjorn Wirdheim as its third driver for 2004. It is anticipated that Wirdheim will bring sponsorship to the team from the mobile phone company Eriksson, although this was not confirmed by the press statement from Jaguar.

Mercedes-Benz chairman Jurgen Hubbert, a key player in the firm's Formula 1 programme and a pillar of the GPWC, is to retire next year. The company is expected to replace Hubbert with Wolfgang Bernhard, an executive who is currently working at Chrysler in the US.

McLaren went to Jerez last week hoping to shake off the lack of speed that was in evidence at the previous test in Barcelona. But by the end of the test the times were still not looking great with Kimi Raikkonen only able to set the 10th fastest time of the four-day test.

Jordan Grand Prix issued a very strange press release on Monday, clearly designed to stave off criticism from Holland that a deal was not done with Jos Verstappen.

Ralph Firman, out of work for 2004 following Jordan's announcement that it will be running Giorgio Pantano this year, is looking to a future in America. Firman says that his first choice would be to continue his career in open-wheelers in the United States but says that he is also interested in DTM if a good drive is available.

The Minardi team's major players were in Hungary at the weekend for what was in effect the launch of the 2004 programme with drivers Zsolt Baumgartner and Gianmaria Bruni. The event featured a two-seater race.

Stephanie Sheene, the widow of Barry Sheene, will wave the chequered flag at this year's Australian Grand Prix. Last year Sheene was invited to wave the flag but was too ill with cancer to be able to attend and he died the day after the race at the age of just 52.

With Giorgio Pantano confirmed at Jordan, the full field for the Formula 1 World Championship is now known.

Giorgio Pantano will race for Jordan Ford this season alongside Nick Heidfeld. The 25 year old Italian, a former multiple World Kart Champion, won the German F3 championship in his first season of single seater racing and went on to be a winner every year in his three seasons in Formula 3000, winning a total of six races.

Giorgio Pantano has been confirmed as the second driver of the Jordan team in 2004. He will partner Nick Heidfeld in the Silverstone based team. The announcement means that Jos Verstappen is out of a job.

Frank Williams says that cutting costs in Formula 1 is important and that the obvious way to do it is to cut testing but that cannot happen because Ferrari is blocking any restriction.

Both Frank Williams and Patrick Head say that they do not see it being easy for Juan Pablo Montoya to fit into the McLaren mode of operation.

Frank Williams and Partrick Head reckon that the Renault team will be chellenging for the World Championship this year. "They look very strong," said Williams. "They have World Championship potential." "Renault seems to have done a se

Ralf Schumacher and the Williams team are still talking, despite their failure to agree on financial terms for a new contract from next year.

Nick Heidfeld's deal with Jordan Grand Prix is a very curious one for there is no obvious signage on the car to indicated where the German's backing for the drive has come from.

As Giorgio Pantano waits for the necessary letters of credit to be prepared to guarantee the second Jordan drive for him, we hear that Jos Verstappen and his sponsors may be back in the picture one more time.