Formula One News — June 2004

The FIA World Council has blocked 19 dates for Formula 1 races in 2005 and that is likely to send alarm bells ringing in the Formula 1 community where there has been much griping in recent times about the need to cut costs.

The FIA World Motor Sport Council met in Paris but there were few decisions of note except that the body backed Max Mosley's campaign to reduce speeds in Formula 1, illustrating the need by using lap times from Imola, Melbourne and Monaco, which argue that speeds are now too high.

Ralf Schumacher is out of action for around three months and that means that Williams now needs to look again at its driver line-up for the rest of the 2004 season.

Jaguar Racing has done a deal to run former F1 driver Martin Brundle in the Grand Prix of Regent Street next Tuesday in London. Brundle returns to Jaguar 14 years after winning Le Mans for the company in 1990.

Marc Gene, the Williams test and reserve driver, will drive for the team at the French Grand Prix this weekend but the team has yet to make any definitive decision about the longer term.

Ralf Schumacher got a shock yesterday when he visited the clinic at Bad Nauheim and discovered that he had two fractures in his spine. He will be out of action for at least eight weeks and probably 12 and that means that the Williams team is looking at not seeing him again until the end of September.

The Sauber team suffered a heavy blow in Canada when the disqualification of the Williams and Toyota cars handed McLaren a handful of points and with McLaren picking up another five at Indianapolis the Woking team was able to move ahead of Sauber in the Constructors' Championship.

The World Health Organization's anti-tobacco treaty, known as the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, closed for signature on Tuesday with 14 countries signing up on the final day, to bring the total of signatures to 169.

F1 aspirant Mark Taylor has been dropped by the Panther Racing IRL team after just a handful of races.

The Team Astromega Formula 3000 team has snapped up Belgian youngster Jeffrey van Hooydonk after he was dropped by Coloni Motorsport to make way for Super Nova Racing's Patrick Friesacher.

A number of Formula 1 driver have confirmed that they will be attending an event at Monza this September to remember the Uruguayan racer Gonzalo Rodriguez.

Al Unser Jr, one of the biggest stars of the Indycar scene in the last 20 years, is set to announce his retirement later today.

Ralf Schumacher yesterday visited a clinic in Bad-Nauheim near Frankfurt, where he saw doctors to see if they would give him the all-clear to race at the French Grand Prix.

The McLaren team spent four days at Jerez last week, putting miles on the new MP4-19B and by the end of the test the team had completed a total of 689 laps, 1893 miles, of testing with the four different drivers.

Another seven countries have signed up to the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, living the total number of signatories to 155 with one day remaining before the deadline for signatures.

The Ford Motor Company is currently engaged in a cost-cutting programme which the company intends to implement to help it towards its stated goal of ensuring annual pretax profits of $7bn within three years.

Jaguar Racing drive Christian Klien will be fit to race in France, despite injuring his right forefinger recently in an accident with a cooling fan.

The BBC is reporting that according to its sources Ralf Schumacher will miss the French Grand Prix. Our sources agree but add that because there will be no testing possibilities between the French and British events, the German will be stood down for both events. This has yet to be confirmed by the Williams team.

The Formula 1 team bosses are working towards presenting Max Mosley with a workable set of proposals to bring down the lap times so that he will not have to force them to accept changes.

The Formula 1 Commission is to recommend a new system to start races, with no start-abort if a car stalls on the grid. This will avoid the lengthy process of the team members going out on to the grid and then a second parade lap.

Tomorrow is the final day for countries to sign up to the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and the number of governments involved is jumping up each day, with five new signatories in the last couple of days, including Switzerland.

Nigel Mansell was out in a Jordan Grand Prix car on Monday at Silverstone, getting ready for a demonstration run he is going to do for the team when the Formula 1 cars come to London on Tuesday week.

The Formula 1 principals met in London today and although there do not appear to have any major ructions, it is clear that the qualifying system adopted this year is not going to be changed.

This time last year Williams was on a high. The start of the year had been difficult but development of the car and the tyres had turned the team into the dominant force in Formula 1 and that wuld remain the case until the closing races of the year when Ferrari responded with new ideas and more horsepower.

The Formula 1 Commission meets in London today to try to find a solution to the ongoing political and financial battles in Formula 1 with the teams and the FIA locked in a dispute over the rules and regulations, worries about escalating costs and long-term stability.