Formula One News — April 2006

The FIA Institute has announced that it is planning a series of tests this summer to learn more about wheel over wheel accidents.

The British Racing Drivers' Club, the owner of Silverstone, has elected Damon Hill to be its new chairman.

If Formula 1 is really serious about going to Las Vegas (and we do not believe this to be the case), things are going to need to move quickly.

Budweiser brewer Anheuser-Busch has become the first company to sign up as a FIFA World Cup sponsor for the period spanning 2007 to 2014.

It is great news that the FIA has issued what amounts to a sensible entry list for the 2008 Formula 1 World Championship and has not tried to force matters along by excluding any of the existing teams. There will, no doubt, be sighs of relief across the F1 world that this has happened.

Prodrive boss David Richards says that it is wonderful news that the company has been granted the 12th entry in the 2008 FIA Formula One World Championship.

The FIA has confirmed the 12 teams that it will have in its Formula 1 World Championship in 2008.

Some of the teams competing at Imola were rather surprised to see the speed of the Ferrari 248 at the recent San Marino Grand Prix and there are reports that at least one has written to the FIA, on an informal basis, claiming that the rear wing of the Ferrari is flexing rather too much, creating less drag at very high speed.

David Richards is not the only one with planning permission worries at the moment. Down in Devon, Nigel Mansell has been getting in the newspapers with his plans to expand the facilities at the Dunkeswell kart track near Honiton, which Mansell is rumoured to have bought last year.

The Greek alphabet is always a useful thing for companies that cannot think of good names for its businesses while they are sorting out company structures during an acquisition phase.

Yuji Ide has not had a great Formula 1 season to date. He did not get much time in the Super Aguri before the season began and he does not know the race tracks and in Imola he blotted his copybook by tipping Christijan Albers into a fairly nasty crash on the first lap of the San Marino Grand Prix.

Red Bull Racing has struck again and is hiring McLaren's Team Leader of Operational Research, Neil Martin. Martin will become RBR's head of strategic operations at Milton Keynes.

It can only be a matter of time before nanotechnology arrives in Formula 1 with a whole range of exciting new materials which can outperform the existing products. Progress in developing these new super-materials has been very rapid in recent years but it is continuing apace.

Honda is not very keen on the current discussions about the curbing of technology in Formula 1. The company has always used the sport to help its engineers create new ideas and to learn how to react quickly to change.

The Motorsport Industry Association is to bring a group of politicians to the British Grand Prix in June to underline the importance of the sport to Britain.

Tonio Liuzzi walked away from a sizeable accident at Silverstone yesterday, after the car went out of control at Becketts at 275kph. The car spun and hit the wall on the right side of the track.

There are some who think that motor racing has become so safe that the issue is no longer important, but racing at the Pukekohe Park Raceway in New Zealand over the weekend gave a clear reminder that safety cannot be taken for granted.

Although Formula 1 continues to suck in most of the money around the world that is available for the sport, depriving up and coming stars of funding unless they have rich families and friends or show exceptional talent, it is nice to be able to report that the sport is growing in various places, notably in Asia.

There are widespread reports that Ferrari is offering Michael Schumacher a new two-year deal worth $45m a year, with a clause which would allow him to leave if he wins the World Championship. This makes sense although everyone involved is dismissing it as pure speculation.

Formula 1 records long since ceased to have much importance, if only because of Michael Schumacher's domination of the sport in recent years which has made all previous records fade into insignificance.

The A1 Grand Prix series is due to kick off this year in October at Zandvoort but already there are signs that the series will be stronger next year than it has been this year.

Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Tonio Liuzzi will be back in a Red Bull-Ferrari this week in the testing at Silverstone and that must be sending worrying messages to regular driver Christian Klien.

The ever-excitable Formula 1 Internet media - most of whom have never set foot in a Formula 1 paddock and make it up as they go along by putting their own spin on other people's stories - decided over the weekend that a deal was close between the GPMA teams and CVC Capital Partners, the F1 commercial rights holders.

Max Mosley has lost his second major ally within a couple of weeks with the death of John Large, a man who played a key role in Mosley's control of the FIA through his influence in the Asia-Pacific region. Large was 67.

Jorg Zander has been hired by BMW Sauber to be the Swiss-based team's chief designer. The 42-year-old German will start work in Hinwil in July and will report to BMW Sauber technical director Willy Rampf.