Formula One News — November 2004

Ma-Con Engineering, the Formula 3000 team Ma-Con has announced that it is not going to be joining the new GP2 series but rather plans to compete in the rival Formula Superfund championship.

There is talk in rallying circles of Renault becoming involved in a World Rally Championship programme with its new Logan budget car.

Anthony Davidson's test with BMW Williams has been blocked because BAR Honda and Williams cannot reach an agreement on the terms under which he will drive the car.

The BAR-Honda team has conducted a three-day evaluation of a number of rising stars, looking for the men most likely to be the stars of tomorrow.

The FIA has just cancelled the planned Formula 1 Commission meeting on December 9 saying that there was unlikely to be a quorum at the meeting and that none of the teams had volunteered any items for the agenda.

The negotiatons over the British Grand Prix have gone quiet in recent days but that does not mean that the problems have all been solved. The teams may have agreed to race at Silverstone but a deal has yet to be struck between Bernie Ecclestone and the British Racing Drivers' Club, which owns the track.

The Chinese automobile industry is booming and, according to the latest predictions from VDA, the German automobile industry union, this year Chinese production will outstrip that of Germany, to become the world's third biggest manufacturer of automobiles after the United States and Japan.

After a few quiet weeks with nothing much happening in Formula 1 the teams are back in action this week, testing in preparation for the new season with tests so far this week with Ferrari at Vairano and Barcelona.

Formula 1 refugee Justin Wilson has switched from Conquest Racing to join billionaire Carl Russo's RuSport team for 2005. Justin will partner the man who beat him to rookie of the year honours this year AJ Allmendinger.

The Formula 1 world will have to wait for a judgement in the case of Speed Investments versus Formula One Holdings at the High Court in London. After two days of legal arguments, Mr Justice Park said that he will hand down a judgement in a few weeks after he has considered the case some more.

The case between Speed Investments Ltd and Formula One Holdings Ltd kicked off at the High Court in London yesterday with Elizabeth Jones QC, for Speed Investments, asking Mr Justice Park for a summary judgement in the case,

Reports from Italy indicate that the San Marino Grand Prix has agreed the terms of a contract to run until 2009.

As we predicted yesterday, Ferrari has confirmed Marc Gene as its second test driver, sending a clear message to the other teams that it has no intention of getting involved in any testing bans, presumably working on the belief that if Ferrari holds out the other teams will crumble and testing will be left as it is.

The Toyota Motor Corporation has announced to its European dealers that it is going to be spending $650m in the course of the next five years to promote its luxury brand Lexus, to take on Mercedes-Benz and BMW in their home markets.

It is anticipated that Ferrari will name Marc Gene as its second test driver shortly. The team is expected to stay with current number one tester Luca Badoer and take on Gene to help him out.

The long and impressive Formula 1 career of David Coulthard may be coming to an end. Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz says that the team is not really interested in the Scotsman.

The BMW Williams team is to have its team launch next year in Bahrain in the first week of January. The car will be launched at the end of January at the more conventional venue of Valencia in Spain.

France has won at Macau once again with Alexandre Premat bringing his ASM Dallara-Mercedes home at the end of a battle-scarred race which ended after 13 laps with a red flag after a multiple pile-up. Prior to that there had been two Safety Cars.

Despite the rumours of an all-Dutch driver line-up at Minardi and a Jordan test for Christjian Albers, it seems that Jos Verstappen's future is not in Formula 1.

Lewis Hamilton won the 10 lap first heat of the Macau Grand Prix after the usual mayhem and destruction on the first lap. At the first corner Hamilton outbraved his team mate Robert Kubica with an all-or-nothing move.

David Richards will leave British American Racing with his head held high. "I delivered what I said would take five years in only three, and you cannot look upon that as a down. It's very positive," he said.

Twenty-year-old Polish driver Robert Kubica has taken pole position at the Macau Grand Prix ahead of his Manor Motorsport team mate Lewis Hamilton. The two men were separated by two-tenths of a second but were clear of the rest of the pack.

Dutchman Christian Albers is to test for Jordan at Jerez on December 1.

Jenson Button is not going to be running away to Williams because BAR is being sold. The company with which Button has a contract has not changed and will not change ownership.

The long-awaited law suit between the three bank involved in Formula 1 and Bernie Ecclestone's Formula One Holdings company will start on Monday morning with Justice Sir Andrew Park scheduled to hear the case.