Formula One News — July 2004

Jamie Green is not a name that has made a huge impression in Formula 1 until the recent French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours. Green claimed a dominant win the first Formula 3 Euroseries race on Saturday.

No-one in Formula 1 is happy with the current qualifying procedures but moves are afoot for a change to be made. Bernie Ecclestone has been circulating a new document, trying to get teams to agree to the same change that was rejected at the recent F1 Commission meeting.

The two-time Indianapolis 500 winner and a former Grand Prix driver Rodger Ward has died in Anaheim, California. He was 83 years of age and oldest surviving winner of the Indy 500, which he won in 1959 and 1962.

The promoter Harvey Goldsmith has admitted that he is trying to put together a London Grand Prix. Goldsmith told The Evening Standard newspaper in London that he believes a race in London is feasible but is having problems with the bureaucracy.

Michael Schumacher won his ninth victory in 10 races and that made the chaps down at Renault rather blue. They thought that Fernando Alonso was going to win the 2004 French Grand Prix.

While the Formula 1 circus was at Magny-Cours there were races going on around the world with a variety of F1 hopefuls pressing their claims for a chance to compete in the big time.

French GP - Race Notes

French GP - Sunday Photos

French GP - Sunday Press Conference

French GP - Race Results

Tonio Liuzzi completed dominated the Formula 3000 race at Magny-Cours to score his fourth victory in five races.

Renault did not announce its driver at the French GP as had been expected and it seems that this is because Jarno Trulli and Flavio Briatore are unable to agree financial terms on a new contract and Jarno is threatening to take up an offer from Toyota.

We hear that there is a certain amount of pushing and shoving going on in F1 circles at the moment over tyre supply in the future with some of the six Michelin teams looking at whether or not to do deals with Bridgestone in the future.

The official launch of the GP2 series took place at Magny-Cours with an announcement that Bridgestone will become the tyre supplier of the new championship.

The Formula 1 team bosses are divided over whether or not having 19 races is a good idea. The majority appear to be against the idea unless there is considerably more money available to help them

Jacques Regis, the president of the Federation Francaise du Sport Automobile, told the French TV station TF1 on Sunday morning that he is not planning to stand for the FIA presidency in October 2005.

After taking pole position for the French Grand Prix Fernando Alonso said he was surprised to be where he was. He had not expected the Renault to be that competitive at Magny-Cours.

French GP - Saturday Photos

French GP - Saturday Press Conference

French GP - Qualifying Results

Formula 1 aspirant Townsend Bell has gone back to US racing and will complete the season with Panther Racing, replacing British driver Mark Taylor.

Kimi Raikkonen set the fastest time of the morning session at Magny-Cours with a best lap of 1m14.513s, a fraction faster than Jenson Button's best lap of 1m14.568s. Michael Schumacher was right with the two men with a best of 1m14.571s

French GP - Practice Session 4 Results

French GP - Practice Session 3 Results

The two test sessions for the French Grand Prix were both disrupted by inclement weather which gave the time sheets little real relevance although most of the drivers who one would expect to see at the top of the timesheets were there or thereabouts.