Formula One News — December 2004

Tom Walkinshaw has signed a contract to be a manager of Australia's Holden Motorsport in 2005.

Red Bull Racing has dropped plans to reconstruct Austria's A1-Ring because of environmental problems. An Austrian government environmental panel on Monday ruled that objections raised by a local citizens' group were valid and that the track would create noise and air pollution.

As we predicted several days ago, Red Bull Racing has announced that David Coulthard will join the team for testing this week at Jerez.

Sir Stirling Moss yesterday urged men to shake off taboos and seek medical advice for erection difficulties.

The latest version of the Formula 1 calendar is expected to be different from the one published by the FIA back in October. The teams discussed the calendar during yesterday's meeting in London but it seems that they are currently sworn to secrecy over the dates - for reasons which are not entirely obvious.

Bernie Ecclestone has responded to the defeat in the High Court by telling journalists that he has a new offer for the Formula 1 teams, if they agree to sign up to a new Concorde Agreement beginning at the start of 2008.

Nine of the 10 Formula 1 teams met in London yesterday and invited members of the media to join them for a part of the meeting, presumably to demonstrate their solidarity in the fight against Ferrari over the question of control tyres and the reduction of testing.

Mr Justice Park dismissed the arguments of Formula One Holdings in its case against Speed Investments and he did so in a fashion that sent a clear message that the defendants did not have a case at all.

The fact that Bernie Ecclestone has lost his case with the Formula 1 banks is not really a surprise. There were months of wrangling over jurisdiction after Mr Justice Lewison decided in July that the British courts could rule on the matter.

The Formula 1 banks are planning at least three more claims against Bernie Ecclestone, according to sources in Germany. These include two which will win them control of Formula One Administration and Formula One Management and there is rumoured to be a third which will seek damages.

Mr Justice Park has ruled that he accepts the case put forward by the banks involved in Formula 1 and says that he intends to rule in favour of them. However the actual details of his judgement are still being read out so it is not yet clear what the judgement will include.

The Renault F1 team has launched a collection of luxury jewellery, in collaboration with designer Mary Kaczor. The range of jewellery is to be called Bijoux Racing and will feature items for both men and women in what the team calls "an exciting fusion of glamour and technology".

The European Touring Car Champion Andy Priaulx is to get a run with the BMW Williams F1 team. The news was announced at the weekend by BMW Motorsport Director Mario Theissen in the course of the BMW Motorsport Party, at Zell am See in Austria.

The Shanghai International Circuit has landed a deal to hold a MotoGP race for seven years. The first event will take place in Shanghai on May 1. The deal has been put together by the promotional company Dorna Sports, which runs the series.

The legal firms Linklaters and Baker & McKenzie are facing claims of negligence from McLaren and Williams, resulting from a deal in 1997 between the two teams and Bernie Ecclestone.

David Coulthard has had a seat fitting with Red Bull Racing and will appear at the test later this week in Jerez de la Frontera and we believe that the team will announce before that the Scotsman has signed a deal with the team.

We tend to avoid writing stories about drivers attacking one another verbally but it is worth mentioning an apparent spat that has been going on in recent days between Mark Webber and Antonio Pizzonia, the man who is tipped to join him at BMW Williams in 2005.

In the middle of last week the Grand Prix World Championship made a presentation to a group of Formula 1 circuit owners, to give them an indication as to what the new series will have to offer if Formula One is split.

Bernie Ecclestone will have to use all his famed juggling skills in the months ahead as he has to keep not only the Formula 1 racing promoters happy but also try to win over the teams.

Win or lose today in the High Court, Bernie Ecclestone is not going to let his grip on Formula 1 slip that much. The commercial boss of Formula 1 is expected to fight again if he loses the case against the three creditor banks.

Jenson Button admitted that he was embarrassed to win an award as International Racing Driver of the Year from the readers of Autosport magazine.

India's Tata conglomerate is to become involved with Ferrari by way of its Tata Consultancy Services.

Sebastien Loeb and Jean Alesi gave France the Nations Cup at the Race of Champions event in Paris, beating the Finnish team of Heikki Kovalainen and Marcus Gronholm in the final showdown.

The Race of Champions in Paris has been won by Heikki Kovalainen.

Former Formula 1 driver Jan Lammers has been named as one of the people involved in the consortium which will field an entry for Holland in the new A1 Grand Prix series.