Formula One News — November 2004

Austrian energy drink firm Red Bull has taken over the Jaguar Racing team. The news was confirmed by Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz in the Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper.

Timo Glock, 2004 Jordan F1 driver, completed a test of the Superfund SF01 yesterday in Jerez, Spain.

The battle for control of Formula One, the company which holds commercial control of Formula 1 racing, took a major turn on Friday when the High Court in London rejected an appeal by Formula One Holdings against a court action being held in the United Kingdon rather than in a Swiss court.

Formula One Holdings has lost its appeal against the decision in July that the case between it and the three F1 banks be held in Britain. The main case will now go ahead at the end of the month.

Ferrari has done a deal with the Hornby group to create miniature Ferrari racing cars for use on its Scalextric tracks.

The appeal court in London this morning met to consider an appeal regarding the case between Speed Investments Ltd & Formula one Holdings Ltd. This will determine whether the main case will go ahead at the end of the month as had been originally planned.

Formula 1 is obviously a decent place to learn how to be a PR man or woman as the Volvo Ocean Race is to have an ex-F1 PR Director.

The Sauber Petronas team will be launching its new C24 chassis in Kuala Lumpur on January 11, 2005.

Negotiations are in their final stages for a Red Bull buyout of Jaguar Racing. The sale must be finished by Monday in order for the team to enter next year's World Championship.

Renault Sport has announced the teams who will be competing in the new Renault World Series in 2005.

Prospective Formula 1 team owners would be well-advised to take a look at the details of the forthcoming auction of Minardi items, scheduled to take place between November 17-20.

The announcement that auction house Sotheby's it will be auctioning a Ferrari F2004 with which Michael Schumacher won the first five races in 2004 flies in the face of all Ferrari traditions.

In Brazil the Formula 1 teams got together and agreed to accept a new qualifying plan which had been dreamed up by Bernie Ecclestone, Max Mosley and Jean Todt over coffee at the World Motor Sport Council in Paris the previous week.

This weekend in Sao Paulo Rubens Barrichello, Antonio Pizzonia, Juan Pablo Montoya, Felipe Massa, Luciano Burti and David Coulthard are all scheduled to compete in the annual Granja 500 karting event at the Granja Viana kart circuit.

There are reports in the South African newspapers that plans to host a Formula 1 race in Cape Town are not going as smoothly as some would have us believe with the government apparently unwilling to commit itself to such an expensive programme.

One factor which is important in the current economic slump in Formula 1 is the exchange rate between the US dollar and the Euro. Many of the teams negotiated their sponsorship deals in US dollars but have to pay out large sums of money in Euros.

The Race of Champions in Paris at the start of December is going to be a star-studded affair with F1 World Champion Michael Schumacher, WRC Champion Sebastien Loeb, NASCAR superstar Jeff Gordon, plus former WRC champions Colin McRae and Marcus Gronholm and DTM Champion Matthias Ekstrom.

Tomorrow morning at 09.45 (GMT) the Court of Appeal at the High Court in London will rule on the appeal in the case of Speed Investments Ltd versus Formula one Holdings Ltd.

NASCAR has been opposed to liquor sponsorship throughout its history but it seems that now anything goes.

Minardi has added yet another name to its list of drivers who are due to test at Misano later this month with a deal having been struck with Pastor Maldonado.

Sebastien Bourdais rang the Williams factory on Monday morning, as soon as he had wrapped up his American title and wanted to find out if Williams was aware of his flag-to-flag victory in Mexico City.

The Formula 1 teams say that the British Grand Prix is saved but the owners of Silverstone, the British Racing Drivers' Club do not yet have a deal with Formula One Management.

Scotland's Ryan Dalziel is to test a Champ Car shortly for PKV Racing.

David Richards's Prodrive company is one of the Europe's fastest growing companies, according to Europe's 500, an annual publication of the Europe's Entrepreneurs for Growth organization.

Paul Stoddart, the boss of Minardi, has entered the team for the 2005 FIA Formula 1 World Championship - despite the fact that he does not yet have an engine deal for the team.