Formula One News — June 2005

Benoit Treluyer emerged from a rain-sodden Formula Nippon race at the new Fuji Speedway with his first victory of the year. The rain was so bad at one point that the race had to be red-flagged at half distance. The race was then restarted in the rain and the result was declared on aggregate.

Bernie Ecclestone has been answering critics in Turkey who say that the Turkish Grand Prix is costing the country too much money. Ecclestone said that Turkey had "the best deal in F1" and that the sport is not going to Turkey because of the money but rather because "we came here to embrace Turkey into Europe".

Paul Tracy won the Champ Car race at Milwaukee on Saturday ahead of AJ Allmendinger, Oriol Servia and Justin Wilson. Sebastien Bourdais regained the lead in the series with a sixth-placed finish. Tracy took the lead on lap 17 and dominated the event, despite the usual string of crashes on the short oval.

As we predicted last week Scott Speed has been named as Red Bull Racing's third driver for the Canadian Grand Prix.

There has been talk for a long time now about the return of Formula 1 to South Africa but the money has always been a problem. However there is good news for the company which is bidding for the event, following the announcement that an investment firm called African Renaissance Holdings is going to be involved.

The United Kingdom has won an important battle in the European Union over the "opt-out" clause of the European Working Time Directive. The European Parliament voted in May to get rid of the clause by 2012, forcing British workers to adhere to rigid working hours rather than allowing the workforce to be more flexible.

The FIA has sent a letter to the two Formula 1 tyre companies with a copy to each team principal, which reminds all concerned of their responsibilities in relation to tyres. The note says that the FIA does not want to feed what is calls "hysteria" on this matter.

Mercedes-Ilmor Ltd is to be rebranded and in future the Mercedes-Benz F1 engines will be built by Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines Ltd. The change has come about following the splitting up of the old Ilmor company.

The French Grand Prix continues on its path to attract a crowd of at least 75,000 people to this year's event. The race attracted 70,000 last year and the Federation Francaise du Sport Automobile took the decision last winter to bring down prices to attract more people.

BMW has won this year's International Engine of the Year awards with its 5.0-litre V10 unit from the new BMW M5. The 507bhp engine, which will also be seen in the forthcoming M6 Coupe, was picked by a panel of judges from around the world, who praised the engine's flexibility and high power output.

Spain is to get a chance to have a winner in Champ Car racing, as well as in Formula. Oriol Servia has been named to replace the injured Bruno Junqueira at Newman Haas Racing.

There are signs of increased interest in Formula 1 in the United States with Sports Illustrated magazine this week running a story about Scott Speed's drive to be the first American driver in Formula 1 since 1993.

Paul Newman and Carl Haas are going to need a new driver for the rest of the season in Champ Car racing because Bruno Junqueira's back injuries are unlikely to give the Brazilian much chance of a comeback this year.

Even before he won the Indianapolis 500 Dan Wheldon was looking to a future in Formula 1 racing. His manager Julian Jakobi has been trying to find him a ride in F1 for some weeks as it has been clear since the start of the IRL season that Wheldon is going to be a major player in the series this year.

These are exciting times for Formula 1 racing with the prospect of an exciting new era just around the corner. The sport may be caught up in its own political battles for commercial control of the sport, but the clock is ticking and there will be change.

It has been 20 years since the Indianapolis 500 made it to the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine, following Danny Sullivan's famous spin and win victory in 1985. And the last time a driver was the main cover story was back in 1981 when AJ Foyt stole the front page.