Formula One News — December 2005

David Richards has run two Formula 1 teams to date: Benetton back in 1997-1998 and then British American Racing from 2002-2004. He has gone away to do other things but keeps coming back, despite saying that F1 is not the be-all-and-end-all of his existence.

Our spies tell us that a deal has been struck to allow Super Aguri F1 to get its entry in the World Championship. There are no details of the deal but clearly pressure has been applied (one might say pressure and/or enticement) to MF1 Racing, which was not keen to sign.

Our spies in Cologne have confirmed that chief designer Gustav Brunner has left the team but there is no indication why he has gone nor where, if anywhere, he is going.

There are reports in Germany that Gustav Brunner has left Toyota. The 55-year-old Austrian has been with the team since 2002 when he joined the team from Minardi, having walked out in the middle of 2001. The dispute had to be settled with a large payment from Toyota to Minardi.

Germany's Marco Holzer has won a BMW Sauber Formula 1 test with his victory in the Formula BMW World Final in Bahrain. Holzer, who comes from a wellknown German racing family, which is involved in DTM, Formula 3 and Formula BMW, dominated the event.

The Istanbul Chamber of Commerce has announced that it is to put the operation of the Istanbul Park racing circuit out to tender. The organisation has invested $160m in the facility.

Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro needs to find a big new sponsor to replace Vodafone in 2007 and there are whispers in Italy that the team is already well on its way to a big new deal with Alice, the broadband service of Telecom Italia.

The word in America is that Andretti Green Racing is about to announce that Marco Andretti will be hired by his father Michael to replace Dan Wheldon in the Andretti Green Racing line-up in the Indy Racing League.

McLaren's Martin Whitmarsh is a man who knows how to talk the corporate talk but at a media lunch yesterday he took the prize for one of the best remarks for months in F1 circles when discussing whether or not Super Aguri F1 will be granted the right to race in F1 in 2006.

There is a sound argument for control tyres in Formula 1, even if it may ultimately have a detrimental effect on the quality of the F1 show, removing a key element of uncertainty.

As we exclusively predicted yesterday, Intel has signed a major deal with the American chip-making firm Intel. The deal will include a technology partnership to develop BMW's worldwide IT infrastructure.

The news that Vodafone has signed a long-term title sponsorship deal with McLaren, starting in 2007, came as a surprise in F1 circles. It was widely know that Vodafone was not entirely happy in its relationship with Ferrari but all the signs were that a deal was in the wind with Honda.

McLaren has moved to kill stories that it is to lose Nick Tombazis. "At the moment he is staying here," said the team's Martin Whitmarsh, "although some of our engineers have been receiving amazing offers from other teams." Ron Dennis added that Tombazis "has not asked to leave".

Alexander Wurz, Gary Paffett and Lewis Hamilton are all in line for the second testing role at McLaren, alongside Pedro de la Rosa, who already has a contract for 2006.

McLaren boss Ron Dennis says that the deal with Vodafone is for 10 years although there is the possibility that the company will not continue after five. This has been included because Vodafone is a public company

Intel is expected to sign a title sponsorship deal with BMW Sauber.

Tyre giant Michelin has announced that it will quit Formula One at the end of the upcoming season.

Vodefone has announced today a long-term deal to be the title sponsor of the McLaren-Mercedes team beginning in 2007.

Jurgen Dilk, the man who funded much of the early career of Michael Schumacher and has been head of the official Schumacher fan club, has been found guilty of tax evasion and given a one-year suspended jail sentence and a fine of $36,000.

Allsport Management exists to make life easier for Bernie Ecclestone. The company looks after commercial aspects of Formula 1 that Formula One Management does not have time to deal with and pays FOM an annual fee for the privilege.

One has to feel a little sorry for the British Grand Prix. First of all it has been kicked off its traditional date because the French wanted it, having been kicked out of their traditional date by the United States Grand Prix, and now the soccer World Cup draw has made life all the more difficult.

Fisichella Motor Sport is to join forces with Coloni Motorsport for an assault on the 2006 GP2 title. FMS International is to be the name of the new team which combines Fisichella Motor Sport and Coloni Motorsport.

Tomorrow in Paris Volkswagen subsidiary Audi will announce the new R10 prototype which the company will use in the years ahead at Le Mans. Our spies tell us that the new car will be a twin-turbo diesel device and it will be the major thrust for Audi in competition for the next couple of years.

The only other point worthy of note from the FIA World Council is that SRW Events, a subsidiary of the Eurosport Group, has been awarded the media and marketing rights for the 2006 CIK-FIA karting championships. The contract is being finalised. Tghis should guarantee that top line kart racing is shown on Eurosport.

The Formula 1 world may have been very lovey-dovey in recent months (at least in public) but the FIA World Council gave a reminder that chaos is still standing in the wings, waiting to leap in if either the FIA or the manufacturers throw their toys out of the pram.