Formula One News — July 2004

Nico Rosberg won the 13th round of the Formula 3 Euro Series on the short track at the Nurburgring on Saturday, taking the lead from series leader and poleman Jamie Green (ASM) on the second lap of the race and being able to stay ahead for the rest of the afternoon.

Ulsterman Richard Lyons continues to be the man to beat in Formula Nippon and took pole position in qualifying for the fifth round of the series at Sugo, the Yamaha-owned circuit located about 200 miles to the north-east of Tokyo.

It is no secret that France's Sebastien Bourdais did not go to America from choice after winning the 2002 FIA Formula 3000 Championship. The Frenchman was keen to get into F1 but no seats were available. Since then Bourdais has shown his class by becoming the dominant force in the Champ Car World Series his year.

It is entirely possible that Toyota test driver Ryan Briscoe might be seen driving a Jordan next year but there are not likely to be any decisions made until after the future of the team is confirmed by the rumoured new owners the Al-Maktoum Family from Dubai.

The organizers of the Belgian Grand Prix have invited 60,000 fans for free on Friday, August 27. In order to be one of the lucky group potential spectators will need to pick up a coupon made available through promotional offers or competitions organised by the participating companies.

As we reported last weekend, Minardi has terminated its title sponsorship agreement with Dutch company Wilux. Minardi signed a deal with the bathroom equipment manufacturer last year and Wilux became the team's title sponsor this year as part of a deal by which Wilux bought the space on the car and sold it on.

Jaguar Racing has announced that Mark Webber is leaving the team at the end of the season but says that the Australian driver "will continue to race for Jaguar until the end of the 2004 season and will remain integral to the development of the Jaguar R5".

There will be much excitement in Australian racing circles in the next few days with the announcement that Mark Webber has been signed to drive for the BMW Williams team.

Giancarlo Fisichella has signed to drive for the Renault F1. The Italian drove for the team between 1998 and 2001 but was unable to score any major results and on several occasions he threw away potential victories.

Renault F1 chairman Patrick Faure has been explaining the odd decision by the team to drop Monaco Grand Prix winner Jarno Trulli and replace him with Giancarlo Fisichella, a man who drove for the team back in 1998-2001 and never won a thing, despite several opportunities.

Eddie Irvine and Alexander Wurz are to join the ranks of Minardi drivers for the Altech South African F1x2 Charity Grand Prix at Kyalami on August 9. The event is being held to give race-starved South Africans a thrill and to raise money for Nelson Mandela Children's Fund and the Unite Against Hunger charity.

There is every reason to take very seriously the story published in The Independent in London, suggesting that Ferrari is looking at signing up Formula 3000 stand-out Vitantonio Liuzzi as a test driver for 2005 with the long-term intention of developing th 23-year-old into a replacement for Michael Schumacher.

The Staten Island Advance newspaper is reporting that the International Speedway Corporation has signed a deal to buy more than 600 acres on New York's Staten Island and is beginning the process to get clearance for the construction of an 80,000-seat raceway.

The new GP2 series may be struggling to attract teams from the FIA International Formula 3000 series but it should be remembered that there are several other championships which could supply the teams needed to get the new series off the ground.

The word of the street at Renault F1 this morning is that Mark Smith is leaving the Enstone team. Smith joined Renault in January 2001 on a five year contract and so should be staying until January 2006.

One-time Formula 1 hopeful Scott Dixon had to sit out the Indy Racing Laegue event on Sunday after two accidents on Saturday left him with chipped bone in his thumb and a badly sprained ankle. Both of the impacts were around 90G.

Organizers of the Race of Champions competition have done a deal to get Michael Schumacher and World Rally Championship leader Sebastien Loeb to take part in the end-of-season head-to-head competition in identically prepared rally-raid cars.

Giancarlo Fisichella will be confirmed on Wednesday as Fernando Alonso's partner at Renault F1 in 2005. It is expected that the announcement will be made at the same time as confirmation that Mark Webber is moving to Williams next year.

Fifty years ago a young actor called Marlon Brando won an Oscar for his performance as a one-time boxer, Terry Malloy, in the movie "On the Waterfront". In a memorable scene Terry tells his brother Charley (played by Rod Steiger) that he wasn't always a loser. "I could have had class," he said. "I could have been a contender..."

German GP - Race Notes

German GP - Sunday Photos

Race incidents

German GP - Sunday Press Conference

German GP - Race Results

Jarno Trulli has announced that he is leaving Renault F1 at the end of the year. This is no surprise as the team will announce the signing of Giancarlo Fisichella on Wednesday this week.