Formula One News — October 2005

The first Formula SAE Italia competition, which gives universities the opportunity to build their own racing cars, has been won by a team from the Graz University of Technology in Austria.

Holland should be basking in the fact that it has two Grand Prix drivers at the moment. There are many countries in the racing world which cannot claim such a thing and thus it is rather sad that the two men in question seem to spend most of their time taking pot-shots at one another rather than looking at the bigger picture

Former Ferrari driver Stefan Johansson used to be a Formula 1 regular back in the days when the Australian Grand Prix took place on the streets of Adelaide. This year he will return to the South Australian city driving in the Classic Adelaide Rally, which takes place between November 16-20.

Minardi driver Christijan Albers is one man who is going to be severely affected by the purchase of Minardi by Red Bull. This means that the only pay-drives available in the future will be with the Midland F1 team.

The Shanghai's city authorities have announced plans to develop their automobile industry so that it becomes less dependent on foreign partners. The automobile industry is seen as being at the centre of the city's five-year plan.

Cheever Racing, the Indy Racing League team run by former Formula 1 driver Eddie Cheever, has lost its sponsorship from Red Bull after four years. In the course of the partnership the team has won only one race, at Michigan in 2002, the first year of the partnership.

Chip Ganassi says that he is not planning to switch his team from the Indy Racing League into the rival Champ Car World Series next year. There had been speculation that Ganassi might change camps because Toyota is pulling out of the series.

Coca-Cola has no plans to sponsor Formula 1, according to the company's Director of Communications Philipp Bodzenta.

The Australian Grand Prix is a major economic bonus for the city of Melbourne, according to the findings of a new report, published by Australia's National Institute of Economic and Industry Research.

As exclusively revealed by grandprix.com, Katherine Legge is to test for the team at Vallelunga at the end of November.

The McLaren Technology Centre in Woking has failed to win the Stirling Prize, Europe's biggest annual award for architectural design, presented by the Royal Institute of Architects.

Midland F1 team owner Alex Shnaider should have known when he entered Formula 1 that it was going to be expensive - even for a Ukrainian steel baron.

Red Bull has announced that it is stopping its Driver Search programme in the United States of America.

Some time ago the FIA asked Formula 1 teams to accept rules which rev-limited V10 engines. The federation argued that this would slow the cars and cut costs. As early as 1996 FIA President Max Mosley proposed an engine rev limiter to be introduced in 2001.

All the talk about Kimi Raikkonen going to Ferrari has thus far been predicated on the idea that the Finn will not want to be at Maranello with Michael Schumacher but the latest word we are hearing is that Kimi is actually keen to go up against Michael and beat him, and by doing so prove who is the dop dog in the F1 circus.

Fernando Alonso won his seventh victory of the year in Shanghai and by doing so ensured that Renault would finally win its first proper Constructors' World Championship, a goal the company has been chasing since it first entered Formula 1 back in the summer of 1977.

Our spies in Japan are reporting that the much-vaunted second Honda team will be based at the old Arrows factory in Leafield, Oxfordshire. The 30-acre site was acquired in May 2003 by Menard Inc, the company run by home-improvement billionaire John Menard,

Chinese GP - Race Notes

Chinese GP - Sunday Photos

Chinese GP - Sunday Press Conference

Chinese GP - Sunday Team Quotes

Chinese GP - Race Incidents

Chinese GP - Race Results

Michael Schumacher and Christijan Albers collided at speed as they were driving their cars to the grid before the start of the Chinese Grand Prix. Both cars were seriously damaged and both men will now switch to spare cars but will have to start the race from the pitlane.

Britain's top female racer Katherine Legge is to test for the Minardi team at Vallelunga at the end of next month. The 25-year-old from Northampton will be the first woman to have a meaningful F1 test since the days of Giovanna Amati back 1991.