Formula One News — November 2004

The recent days have seen two more countries ratifying the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, bringing to 36 the number of governments that have ratified the deal.

Jacques Regis, the president of the Federation Francaise du Sport Automobile, says that French companies should come to the aid of the country's racing stars and help them to get to the top. France is looking at a situation next year in which there will be no French F1 driver for the first time since the mid 1960s.

The people behind the new Midland F1 project were in the Champ Car paddock in Mexico City at the weekend and rumour has it that they were in pursuit of some money from Mexico.

The Ferrari team did not bother to attend the meeting of the Formula 1 team bosses in London today and so it could not take part in the discussions surrounding the subject of testing.

The 2005 British and French Grands Prix will be on the Formula 1 calendar. Nine of the 10 Formula 1 team bosses met with Bernie Ecclestone in London today and agreed a commercial deal for the races to go ahead.

The Formula 1 team bosses meet in London today and Ferrari will not be with them. The meeting is designed to move ahead with attempts to cut costs in F1 but the ability to change things has been severely hampered by Ferrari's refusal to agree with the other teams.

Laurent Redon dropped from the Formula 1 scene in 1999, heading off to America to race in the Indy Racing League. After that he eestablished LRS-Formula, a Formula 1 driving school at Magny-Cours.

The GPWC is already sliding into a position that puts the Formula One group in a difficult situation in relation to the British Grand Prix.

BMW Williams has confirmed that it will be testing Antonio Pizzonia, Anthony Davidson and Nick Heidfeld.

Imperial Tobacco, the owner of McLaren sponsor West, has just announced a 13% rise in profits for the 2003-2004 financial year with an impressive profit of $1.88bn.

Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais clinched the Champ Car World Series with a dominant performance in Mexico City on Sunday. The F1 aspirant led from the start and stayed ahead all the way (despite one spin) to the finish to make sure that there was no chance for his Newman Haas Racing team mate Bruno Junqueira.

British driver Richard Lyons has won the Formula Nippon title at Suzuka, despite finishing only third in the final round of the series behind the Mobilecast Impul team duo of Benoit Treluyer and Yuji Ide.

Mika Hakkinen was vaguely talking to a number of Formula 1 teams about a return to Grand Prix racing but after a small amount of interest from Williams in the late summer, the Finn seemed to be without any real options.

Cristiano da Matta was in Mexico City to watch the showdown of the Champ Car World Series between Newman Haas Racing team mates Sebastien Bourdais and Bruno Junqueira.

Former Grand Prix stars and Le Mans 24 Hour winners Martin Brundle and Mark Blundell say they want to get back to racing in 2006 with a team run by Dave Price.

The news that Sauber is switching to Michelin tyres next year was something of a surprise but only because the deal was thought to be unlikely because of fears that Michelin data would get leaked back to Ferrari.

There is speculation that the financial clout of the Royal Bank of Scotland is being used to try to convince Williams to accept David Coulthard as a driver.

The demise of Jaguar Racing will not mean the end of British Racing Green at the top level of international motorsport as the national racing colour will now be transferred to Aston Martin Racing.

David Coulthard still wants to be a Grand Prix driver and is currently in the process of trying to sell his services to BMW Williams, which is vaguely looking around to see if there is a sensible alternative to Antonio Pizzonia for 2005.

The Altria Group, the parent company of Ferrari's title sponsor Marlboro, could be split into two or three different companies.

The news that Peugeot and Citroen are going to leave the World Rally Championship at the end of 2005 is a blow for the series but the latest figures of French car sales, revealed a couple of days ago, give ample evidence of why such a move was necessary.

Although the Ford Motor Company has committed itself to the FIA World Rally Championship for the next four years, the Citroen and Peugeot teams have decided that they are not going to continue, at least as long as the WRC remains as expensive as is currently the case.

Jacques Regis says that the French GP is not under threat, despite the fact that the F1 teams say they will not do 19 races unless Ferrari agrees to accept control tyres and a restriction on testing next year.

HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has been elected to replace his late father as President of the United Arab Emirates. He has been the crown prince of Abu Dhabi since 1969. The role of Prime Minister of the UAE remains that of Dubai's ruler HH Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

The Champ Car World Series finishes off this weekend in Mexico City with Newman Haas Racing team mates Sebastien Bourdais (McDonald's Lola-Ford Cosworth) and Bruno Junqueira (PacifiCare Lola-Ford Cosworth) battling it out to win the title. Bourdais goes to Mexico City with a 22-point lead.