Formula One News — November 2005

Katherine Legge gave a very decent account of herself yesterday at Vallelunga, making up for her unfortunate incident on Tuesday. Legge did 27 laps and set a sensible lap time, prompting departing team boss Paul Stoddart to remark that "she's definitely got what it takes to be a Formula 1 driver."

The MF1 team has named James Key as its new technical director. The 33-year-old Englishman has been working in motor racing since he graduated from university in 1996, initially joining the Lotus Esprit GT1 programme.

There are rumours in Japan that Robert Doornbos is soon to be named as the third driver of one of the two Red Bull teams. The suggestion we have heard is that this will be with the main team, where his experience will be more valuable.

The Asahi Shimbun newspaper in Japan is reporting that Toyota has won the deal to host the Japanese Grand Prix at Mount Fuji in 2007. The race is currently held at Honda's track at Suzuka. Toyota bought Fuji in 2000 and has since invested $168m to bring the track up to Formula 1 specifications.

General Motors has finally bitten the bullet and is to take what the company boss Rick Wagoner calls "tough medicine" to reduce its costs and return to profitability. The company is to close eight plants in North America and reduce its workforce by 30,000. The aim is to cut costs by $7bn over the next three years.

The Coca-Cola Company has signed to be a partner of the international soccer federation FIFA until the year 2022.

Katherine Legge made her F1 testing debut for Minardi in Vallelunga but crashed out on just her second full lap. The British driver shrugged off the mishap and will be given a full day of running tomorrow at the track in the hills above Rome.

Katherine Legge may be the one in the newspapers this week because of her first Formula 1 test but Danica Patrick has scooped her even then by getting secretly married in Scottsdale, Arizona.

The GP2 series has announced that a 13th team, called Trident Racing, will join the series in 2006. This is a new team established by Gimmi Bruni's manager Maurizio Salvadori. Bruni will drive one of the cars but there is no word yet on the second driver.

Formula 1 might be in a quiet period at the moment but racing is still going on here and there with the FIA World Touring Car Championship being decided at the weekend in Macau.

There has been talk in recent days of the name of the new Honda-owned BAR team with suggestions, coming from a presentation made by Nick Fry in Monaco at last week's sponsorship forum that the team will be known as Honda Racing F1 Team.

Formula 1 is all about markets these days and this may help to explain why the Midland F1 team has made much of getting a Russian racing licence for the team. Midland (or rather MF1) boss Alex Shnaider came originally from St Petersburg but grew up in Israel and later in Canada.

Willi Weber has had his fair share of legal action in recent years.

Gerard "Jabby" Crombac has died in Paris. The most experienced Formula 1 journalist of them all, Jabby reported on Formula 1 before the World Championship began in 1950. As an indication of his standing, although everyone knew him as Jabby, in recent years his friends had taken to calling him Legend.

The Race of Champion event in Paris in December will feature a Benelux team featuring Midland F1 driver Christijan Albers from Holland and Belgian rally star Francois Duval.

The word on the street in Monaco was that the decision over the second BMW Formula 1 drive will be taken within the next few days and that Jacques Villeneuve was on his way to Munich for discussions with team boss Mario Theissen.

It is no secret that some of the Formula 1 race promoters are less than enthused by the demands placed upon them by Formula One Management.

Things have been quiet in Formula 1 in recent days - or at least that is how it seems. However, those who were present at the Formula 1 Sponsorship Forum in Monaco were curious about the movement of some of the Formula 1 team bosses in the course of Wednesday.

The Autodromo Nazionale in Monza has been there since 1922 and so anyone who is old enough to remember the place without the speedway is going to be well into his or her eighties and probably not having quite as good hearing as younger folk.

The F1 Sponsorship Forum is happening in Monte Carlo and there have been some interesting observations on the sport.

The Bahrain International Circuit has until recently been a rather lonely and desolate place but on December 2 work will begin on the construction of Sakhir City, a business park next to the circuit.

Ferrari's head of brand development and partnerships Giulio Zambeletti has revealed at the F1 Sponsorship Forum that Ferrari's income from merchandising and licensing deals is now worth $700m a year.

BAR-Honda boss Nick Fry has revealed that the team has had a secret test driver in Japan in recent seasons.

Andy Priaulx says he would like to be the Williams Formula 1 test driver in 2006.

Midland F1 has added Belgian Jeffrey van Hooydonk to the list of drivers that will test with the team next month in Spain.