Formula One News — March 2006

It seems to be very clear that a solution is coming in the battle between the car manufacturers and the Formula One group and its ally the FIA. Everyone involved will be keen to seem to have done all right in the outcome.

There are reports in Australia that Foster's will soon end its various sponsorship deals in Formula 1. The Australian company has a five-year $3.7m annual deal to sponsor the Australian Grand Prix and also pays out around $18m a year for other F1 sponsorships, including pouring rights at events.

Josh Rehm, a talented racing driver, an enterprising businessman and one of the people who helped grandprix.com in its early years, has been killed in a road accident at the age of 27.

The Formula 1 system of stewards is to change significantly in 2006 with the announcement that one steward will be at every race.

There is always much positive PR flowing out of Bahrain at this time of day but that does not mean that the locals are paying much attention to the race, beyond making money from the racing people when they come to town.

Bernie Ecclestone is offering seats on the board of the sport's operating company to racing teams and carmakers to bring them into the fold. The Sunday Express in London reports that two non-executive directorships are on offer to representatives of the teams and manufacturers on the board of Formula One Administration.

Ferrari SpA has revealed its financial figures for 2005 which prove conclusively that it is an automobile manufacturer and not a small private racing team. The company said that it sold 5409 cars in 2005 (up 8.7% from the previous year) and had a turnover of $1.5bn.

Plans are afoot for former F1 drivers Antonio Pizzonia and Enrique Bernoldi to join forces to turn Paul Gentilozzi's Rocketsports Racing Champ Car team into Team Brazil.

German businessman Michael Ohoven, the man behind the Infinity Media film company is planning to make a film about the life of Mike Hailwood. Infinity has been in business for six years and is now a leading independent film maker and financier.

The future of the A1 Ring, the home of the Austrian Grand Prix, has been unclear for more than a year, following a decision by the Austrian authorities not to allow the development of the circuit by Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz.

The board of the British Racing Drivers' Club is facing a vote of no confidence over the question of what the club should do to preserve the future of the British Grand Prix.

Work has begun on a new racing circuit at La Palma del Condado, between Seville and Huelva in the south of Spain. The plan is for the local authorities to spend $35m on the construction of a 3.5-mile circuit in order to attract racing teams for winter testing.

There is an exciting new opportunity for a young British racing driver to race in the United States thanks to the efforts of GT racer Tim Sugden. Sugden currently runs the www.bearacingdriver.com website, aiming to help youngsters on their road to the top.

Red Bull has come up with a novel solution to its problem of having too many topline engineers in its Formula 1 operation and has posted Gunther Steiner to the United States where he will oversee the company's operations in NASCAR.

The European Union Competition Directorate has extended its inquiry into the acquisition of SLEC Holdings by CVC Capital Partners. The decision is now not due until March 21.

There are reports across Europe that Kimi Raikkonen has now inked a deal to join Ferrari in 2007, whether Michael Schumacher is there or not.

The FIA President Max Mosley says that the entry list for the 2008 Formula 1 World Championship will close at the end of March so that teams involved will have the chance to be involved in discussions to fine-tune the regulations by June 30 2006.

Prodrive has applied for planning permission to upgrade the company's 250-acre testing facility at Honiley, near Kenilworth. The application was made on February 22 to Warwick District Council by architects Stephen George & Partners of Solihull.

Over in India, the Hindustan Times is reporting that Narain Karthikeyan is working on the idea of starting a racing academy in India to help teach F1 hopefuls what it takes to make it to Formula 1.

Talks are already well-advanced about who drives where in 2007 with the announcement of Fernando Alonso's move to McLaren having thrown the cat amongst the pigeons.

The thing that is most difficult to judge in F1 at the moment is not the speed of the cars over a lap but rather how they will manage over the 25-lap stints which we are going to be seeing in races this year.

NASCAR will next week launch a new show on The Biography Channel with 13 half-hour episodes of a show called "NASCAR Driven to Win" planned. These will profile NASCAR's most popular young drivers led by Kasey Kahne and Kyle Busch in the first epsiode followed by Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle in the second.

Former Silverstone finance man Stephen Beattie has been jailed for three years and seven months after admitting in court that he conned the British Racing Drivers Club, which owns the UK's Silverstone racing circuit, using club cheques made out in his name.

British Minister of Culture Tessa Jowell is facing a government investigation into whether she breached the ministerial code of conduct by having her mortgage paid off with an alleged bribe to her husband from Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Ms Jowell denies that she did anything wrong.

Former F1 drivers turned broadcasters, Martin Brundle and Mark Blundell, are expanding their management company 2MB and have taken on McLaren test driver Gary Paffett as a new client. Paffett was previously managed by former kart champion Martin Hynes. Brundle also manages Red Bull Racing's David Coulthard.