Formula One News — April 2005

Dan Wheldon scored his third win in four races in the Indy Racing League this year with victory in Motegi in Japan. The Andretti Green driver won in Miami and St Petersburg. The only other driver to win this year is Sam Hornish Jr, who was the winner in Phoenix.

Imola may have signed a new deal for the San Marino Grand Prix to go on until 2009 but the race organisers need to face up to the fact that spectator numbers are not great.

Retailers in Bahrain say that they are not making money from the Grand Prix. With two races gone they are reporting that that while Formula 1 may have brought a lot of money and business into the country in general, very little has reached them.

Media reports about a new Grand Prix venue in Russia are wide of the mark. There is a plan for a new racing circuit to be built around 50 miles out of Moscow but the track is being designed for Russian national competitions rather than with any international ambitions.

Toyota has decided that it is wisest to withdraw its appeal for Ralf Schumacher's penalty of 25 seconds given at the end of the San Marino Grand Prix. The penalty dropped him from eighth place to 11th and meant that Nick Heidfeld moves up and gets a point for eighth place.

Mercedes-Benz posted its first loss in 15 years when it announced its figures for the first quarter of 2005. The group recorded an operating loss of $1.2bn having taken a $1bn restructuring charge on its Smart small car brand.

Danica Patrick has qualified on the front row of the Indy Racing League grid for the race on Saturday at Motegi in Japan. Pole position went to Sam Hornish Jr at 204.740mph with Patrick clocking 204.502mph.

Many years ago propaganda was delivered in leaflet form from aeroplanes, telling the people on the ground about how bad the authorities in their country were and how things would be much better with a different person in charge.

Minardi is a team that can do without additional problems but yesterday's test at Mugello was spoiled somewhat when Christijan Albers collided with Chanoch Nissany while the two cars were running around the Florence circuit. It seems that there was a misunderstanding as the Dutchman went past the Israeli driver.

The company which runs the Magny-Cours racing circuit in France is to sell shares to private investors - if anyone is interested.

The art of promotion is something which has got lost in the megabytes, interfaces and political intrigue of modern Formula 1 and it is perhaps worth the sport taking a look at what the new World Touring Car Championship is doing in its efforts to woo new spectators and new interest.

As we exclusively reported, there is to be a new technical boss at Mercedes-Ilmor with the confirmation from Stuttgart that Markus Duesmann will become engineering director at Mercedes Ilmor from May 1.

Adrian Newey has extended his contract with McLaren. The details of the contract are private information although a spokesperson for the team says that "we believe that his long-term future is with McLaren."

Our spies in Mercedes-Benz circles tell us that there is about to be a major restructuring in the technical management of Mercedes-Ilmor in Brixworth - the organisation that designs and builds the Mercedes-Benz F1 engines - with a new engineering director taking control of the entire technical operation of the business.

Adrian Newey has been saying for a while now that he would like to have a more normal life, or at least time to discover what it is like when you are not involved in motor racing.

Former Grand Prix driver John Love has died at the age 80. Born in Bulawayo in Southern Rhodesia just after it became a self-governing colony of Britain, Love fought in World War II and in the 1950s began racing bikes and was one of a group of fairly wild racers which included his business partner Jim Redman.

There are reports in the Turkish media that the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce is looking for money to be able to finish construction work at the Istanbul Otodrom, which is scheduled to host the Turkish Grand Prix in August.

The Formula 1 banks are considering making changes in the management of the Formula One Group. A spokesman for the leading bank Bayerische Landesbank told Bloomberg that the three banks would appoint new directors "in due course".

The troubled Italian industrial company Fiat SpA is in talks with India's Tata Motors to enter into some form of joint venture, which it is hoped will save the indebted Italian firm.

Former F1 driver Alex Zanardi may be seen testing a Williams-BMW at Indianapolis Motor Speedway at this year's United States Grand Prix.

There has been a lot of rubbish written in the last 24 hours about cheating in Formula 1.

The news that Red Bull Racing is to use Ferrari engines in 2006 and 2007 will move speculation about engine supply on to Jordan F1, which has a deal with Toyota for this year but is shopping around for the future.

Lord Trotman of Osmotherly, the man who took the Ford Motor Company into Formula 1 in a serious way back in 1996 when he joined forces with Stewart Grand Prix, has died at the age of 71.

British American Racing was cleared of allegedly running its cars underweight at Imola. The FIA stewards took six hours to come up with a decision. For the moment, however, the team is innocent and all the talk about possible penalties is irrelevant.

At the end of the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola, as Fernando Alonso crossed the finishing line just inches ahead of Michael Schumacher's Ferrari, the Media Centre erupted into cheering. It has been a long time since we heard that kind of reaction because the race was so exciting.