Formula One News — October 2005

On Tuesday Christijan Albers is due to make an announcement in Holland and there is speculation that this is to be a two-year deal with the Midland F1 team to race for the team for the next two seasons.

The banks involved in the Formula One group have been rather slow to understand that there is a busy media in Formula 1 but BayernLB's chief risk officer Dr Gerhard Gribkowsky has recently given an interview to formula1.com, which is owned by the Formula One group, about his bank's intentions in the sport.

There will be a press conference at Honda headquarters in Tokyo tomorrow announcing that Aguri Suzuki will enter a Honda second team in next year's Formula 1 World Championship. It is expected that this will confirm the involvement of the Softbank company and that Honda has acquired Menard Engineering Ltd.

As we suggested last week, it seems that Roger Penske's Indy Racing league team will be moving to Honda power in 2006. The team has been using Toyota engines in recent years but with Toyota withdrawing from the series at the end of next year Penske is switching early.

Softbank, Japan's biggest IT business, is rumoured to be the funding behind the rumoured Honda B team. The company is controlled by 48-year-old billionaire Masayoshi Son, who has been using sports to promote his business in the past few years, buying the naming rights to the Green Stadium in Kobe.

Sebastien Loeb's 10th victory of the season on the Rally de Catalunya at the weekend secured Citroen Sport its third consecutive World Rally Championship for Manufacturers - and Michelin's 38th WRC title.

As we suggested a month ago Dan Wheldon had been busy trying to get into F1 and there are reports from America - from the extremely well-connected journalist Robin Miller that Wheldon is about to sign an F1 deal that will see him testing in 2006 and racing in 2007.

There are stories circulating in the United States suggesting that General Motors has been approached about an American-based Formula 1 team. Given the company's financial situation they have not been very enthusiastic.

The first test for the Grand Prix Masters race took place at Silverstone. There was no sign of Alain Prost, who will now not be contesting the race in Kyalami. The fastest time of the two-day test went to Andrea de Cesaris, who was a fraction faster than Nigel Mansell.

The world of karting has a new head and Ferrari will no doubt be thankful for it. Luigi "Gino" Macaluso is a highly successful entrepreneur from the watch industry, with a passion for Ferraris.

Sixteen of the 23 members of the World Motor Sport Council remain unchanged with President Max Mosley, Deputy President Marco Piccinini (the former sporting director of Ferrari) and three of the seven Vice-Presidents - Michel Boeri (Monaco), Nazir Hoosein (India) and Jacques Regis (France) - all retaining their former roles.

Bernie Ecclestone's Paul Ricard High Tech Test Track in Le Castellet, has been appointed as the FIA Institute's first Centre for Motor Sport Excellence.

Ferrari, the styling firm Pininfarina and Alcoa, the aluminium company which produces frames for Ferrari have been sponsoring a contest this year at design schools around the world - hoping to find the Ferrari of the future.

The oil companies of the world are currently making vast profits as demand for oil soars.

Michelin has issued a press release which attacks the FIA for being "incoherent" in its rule-making. The release comes on the day when FIA President Max Mosley will be elected for another four-year term.

Max Mosley has been re-elected president of the International Automobile Federation (FIA), a spokesman for motorsport's world governing body told the Reuters newsagency on Friday morning.

Celebrated British TV commentator Murray Walker is returning to the commentary box with Grand Prix Masters. Walker is to commentate of the Altech Grand Prix Masters South Africa race in Kyalami on November 11-13.

The provincial government of the state of San Luis in central Argentina are saying that they want to host a Formula 1 Grand Prix in 2007. They are currently in the process of revamping a local racing circuit which is known as the Circuito Rosendo Hernandez.

Sebastien Bourdais is staying in Champ Car next year with Newman Haas Racing. The Frenchman has won the last two Champ Car titles and is now aiming for a third consecutive win in 2006.

Silverstone was hoping to keep its traditional mid-July date for the British Grand Prix but the race organisers now accept that in order to minimise the impact of TV scheduling clashes with the soccer World Cup in Germany the race has had to be moved to June 11.

DDGP, the company that has been the promoter of the Belgian Grand Prix for the last couple of years, has been declared bankrupt by commercial court of Liege. The company has losses amounting to $11.75m and is in dispute with the local authorities over other payments.

Katherine Legge will be joined by four other drivers in the forthcoming Minardi test at Vallelunga.

The World Council decisions included the decision to switch rallying from its current all-year calendar to a new format in 2007.

There have been a number of minor changes to the rules and regulations of racing with one new rule which will not go down very well with celebrating teams. In future team personnel and spectators will be prohibited from climbing on the pit wall debris fence during or after any circuit race.

The FIA World Motor Sport Council met in Rome and confirmed rule changes for the 2006 season. The tyre regulations in F1 at the moment will be forgotten and drivers will be permitted to use seven sets of dry-weather tyres for each event. All tyres used for qualifying and race must be of the same specification.