Formula One News — December 2004

Formula 1 likes to pride itself on being the best in many areas of motorsport but one area where the sport has been very weak in recent years has been in its marketing of itself.

Team Astromega was not one of the teams to join GP2 and has announced that it intends to compete next year in the new Formula Superfund championship and will also run a team in the new Italian F3000 championships.

The Champ Car World Series is reported to have had a major clear-out of its management with five executives being dropped on Friday. The organisation remains under president Dick Eidswick, who is assisted by vice-presidents David Clare and Joseph Chrnelich.

There are reports that McLaren has concluded a major new sponsorship deal with the distillery firm Diageo. The company has been talking to Formula 1 teams since last summer and recently announced plans to enter the NASCAR Nextel Cup with the championship-winning Roush Racing.

The plans for a Grand Prix in London have not disappeared despite the news that the British Grand Prix has been secured for the next five years.

Toyota Formula 1 test driver Ryan Briscoe is expected to be named as the third driver of Target Chip Ganassi Racing in the Indy Racing League team next year.

Michelin has announced that Pierre Dupasquier will be retiring at the end of 2005 and will hand over his responsibilities as head of the Competition Department to Frederic Henry-Biabaud.

The New South Wales government is considering an application for a promotional event to be held on Sydney Harbour Bridge on the weekend before the Australian Grand Prix in March.

This weekend has seen more of the annual flurry of prizegiving galas with the FIA holdings is annual gala at the Sporting Club in Monaco. The big news of the evening was the award for the best Grand Prix of 2004 being made to Bahrain.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indy Racing League have announced new presidents with Joie Chitwood III and Brian Barnhart being promoted to replace Tony George.

France's Stephane Sarrazin will drive for Subaru in next year's world rally championship. The 29-year-old was a Formula 1 driver with Minardi and went on to test for Prost Grand Prix and Toyota.

We hear from Milton Keynes that one of the team's top engineers Dr Mark Gillan is going to leaving the team and plans to leave the sport entirely.

There have been lot of rumours in recent days about Williams making an announcement about drivers, but our sources say that nothing is planned immediately and that it could be some weeks before anyone is nominated to be Mark Webber's partner in 2005.

The latest whisper in F1 circles is that Mika Hakkinen may be named as the third driver of McLaren and will help the team to develop the MP4-20 in 2005.

Jacques Regis, who was rumoured to have been one of the men who might replace Max Mosley last summer, has been named as the man in charge of sorting out the World Rally Championship.

The Reuters newsagency says that despite cuts being made in non-core activities, the Formula 1 operations will continue.

The French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin has announced that he intends to relax the country's employment laws which restrict working to 35 hours a week.

The Ford Motor Company is to have another major shake-up of its top management.

Coverage of Formula 1 racing could take a hit in the months ahead if the international newsagency Reuters decides to axe its coverage of Grand Prix racing.

The announcement of a deal for the British Grand Prix for the next five years will mean that the British Racing Drivers' Club will now embark on a major redevelopment programme to create 750,000 sq ft of revenue-generating facilities.

The FIA World Council will meet today in Monte Carlo but there will be little Formula 1 activity because of the cancellation of the Formula 1 Commission which had originally been scheduled for yesterday.

British American Racing Holdings Ltd, the holding company of the BAR-Honda F1 team is in administration following the failure of a legal challenge to stop the company clearing out minority partners in the business.

The British Grand Prix has been confirmed with a five-year deal between the British Racing Drivers' Club - owner of the Silverstone circuit - and F1 chief Bernie Ecclestone.

DaimlerChrysler affiliate, Mercedes-Ilmor is to have a new managing-director. The German company has appointed Ola Kaellenius to the job.

Sauber has a new supercomputer built for the firm by the Swiss technology company Dalco.