Formula One News — January 2006

The Williams team will have a new team manager this season with the news that Dickie Stanford, who has been in the job for the last 11 years, is to take a sabbatical and assume a factory-based role rather than travelling all the time.

The Breckland Council, which oversees a large area of Norfolk, is planning a major investment to establish a Rural Enterprise Valley, a 44-acre site near Thetford designed to house hi-tech motorsport and engineering businesses to bolster the area's motorsport industry.

The Daily Telegraph is reporting that Formula One commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone has signed a deal with sports book publisher Kraken Media for the publication of an authorised account of his role in the development of F1 since 1971.

Tom Walkinshaw is planning to return to motor racing with a new company called the Tom Walkinshaw Group Ltd. The company is registered in Hertford in England. Walkinshaw intends to announce two new projects shortly: one in racing and one in the automotive sector.

Bernie Ecclestone was in Athens over the weekend for talks with the Greek authorities about the possibilities of a Grand Prix in Greece. There are plans, which we reported in September, for a race to be held on the old airport at Helliniko, which was transformed into a sporting venue for the Olympic Games.

A new deal between Formula One Management and the Wallonian regional government should see the Belgian Grand Prix back on the F1 calendar but while the government may not have to pay the fees for the event there is still a big payment to be made to upgrade the track.

The British government is currently in the process of defining what uses money from the National Lottery should be put to after 2009 and motorsport, which has been largely ignored to date, has the opportunity to get in on the action.

The Formula 1 teams have not been testing over the Christmas period but the action starts again in earnest on Tuesday in Jerez de la Frontera in southern Spain where most of the big players will be in action next week, getting ready for the 2006 season, which kicks off in mid-March in Bahrain.

Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and the Emir of Dubai has died. He will be replaced as ruler of Dubai by his brother Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum.

A sign of Renault's attitude towards the value of F1 came in a press statement this morning giving details of the firm's sales figures in the last 12 months. The results show that the firm dropped 4.1% in Europe but made up for this with a 21% hike in international sales

Formula 1 teams rarely make decisions based on economics or demographics. They decide on what will give them the most chance of winning. And thus Williams has decided that Alexander Wurz is a better bet as a third driver than Narain Karthikeyan.

Sakon Yamamoto impressed the Jordan team when he acted as the team's third driver at Suzuka last year and it seems that the Japanese youngster is being talked about in Japan as a possible candidate for the team's second drive, alongside Takuma Sato.

The Dutch newsagency ANP is reporting that the Walloon government has signed a new contract with Formula One Management to preserve the Belgian Grand Prix.

GP2 may have made a mark in 2005 but it is worth noting that there are signs that Formula Nippon is reviving over in Japan with rule changes aimed at giving the series the kind of relevance it had back in the 1990s when many aspiring drivers cut their teeth in Japan before moving into F1.

NASCAR continues to romp away from Formula 1 is terms of promotional activities with yet another NASCAR-linked movie now in the planning stages.

There is a good sign for all Formula 1 fans out there with the news that Williams has decided not to go down the route of taking on a test driver with money and will be paying Alexander Wurz in 2006.

Williams F1 HAS signed a contract with Austrian Alexander Wurz for him to become the team's test and reserve driver in 2006.

The news over the Christmas holidays that Hockenheim is struggling to avoid bankruptcy has led to murmurs of discontent amongst the F1 circuits around the world.

Although there is no official word at all on the subject there is much speculation that the De Beers diamond company is to replace the Vodafone sponsorship in 2007. If this is confirmed it will mean that De Beers is investing at least $50m a year in Ferrari.

Korea has cancelled its plans to hold a Formula 1 race in the Chinhae area, which designated as a free economic zone by the government. The Koreans did a feasibility study for a race track and decided that it was not such a good idea and the plan was cancelled.