Formula One News — May 2006

If the current commercial deal on the table for Formula 1 teams goes ahead, it will mean a significant increase in revenues for the teams. At the moment the top 10 teams share 47% of the money that is generated from the TV coverage and a smaller percentage from the fees paid by the race promoters.

Former Cosworth executives Brendan Connor and Graham Shemeld have been appointed to leading roles in Cenex, an industry-led public-private partnership which is the UK's first Centre of Excellence for low carbon and fuel cell technologies.

The rather dull Spanish Grand Prix has led to rumblings that Formula 1 would like to see some changes made to the track to facilitate overtaking in order that the track puts on a better show in the future.

Red Bull Racing is due to use Ferrari V8 engines in 2007 and Scuderia Toro Rosso will presumably switch over to Cosworth V8s, the two Red Bull teams will not go on leading separate lives forever, particularly when the rules for 2008 will allow them to share chassis and engines.

Nelson Piquet Jr has kept the lead of the 2006 GP2 series after taking pole position, a third and a fourth in Barcelona.

For 131,000 Spaniards at Montmelo on Sunday there was much to cheer about by the end of the race and, no doubt, across the country millions were busy dancing in the streets but around the world millions more were probably enjoying a little shut-eye as the excitements of recent races were not repeated.

When he was writing the rules for 2008 and beyond, FIA President Max Mosley said that he wanted all the Formula 1 teams to have an equal voice in decision-making. The result of this desire was a new body called the Sporting Working Group that would decide on rule changes with the majority winning the day.

Spanish GP - Sunday Photos

Spanish GP - Race Notes

Spanish GP - Sunday Press Conference

Spanish GP - Sunday Team Quotes

Spanish GP - Race Incidents

Spanish GP - Race Results

Alain Dassas, the boss of Renault F1, has taken the opportunity of the GPMA-FOA settlement to give more details about Renault's future in F1.

As we exclusively predicted last week, the GPMA and the Formula One group have agreed a document that they hope will form the basis of a wide-ranging treaty for Formula 1.

Renault has committed to the Formula 1 World Championship for 2008 and beyond following an agreement to sign a contract with Formula One Administration.

Formula 1 is on the verge of announcing a commercial agreement to take the sport from now until 2012. The deal is expected to give the teams 50% of all revenues from F1, a settlement that will, in effect, double the money that the teams get from the commercial rights holder.

The Formula 1 world is getting into bed with the movies in the next couple of weeks as the film world gathers at Cannes between May 17-28 and will be a big presence at the forthcoming Monaco Grand Prix with Red Bull Racing expected to do a deal to promote one of the movies at the festival.

We want to remind all American television viewers that the Spanish GP this Sunday will be broadcast on tape delay at Noon on CBS.

The Spaniards headed out of the Barcelona circuit on Saturday afternoon happy with what they had seen. Their hero Fernando Alonso was on pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix.

The latest whisper in the paddock in Barcelona is that McLaren is offering some interesting deals to a number of Renault engineers.

The stories about Kimi Raikkonen moving to Ferrari in 2007 have been knocking around for months in Formula 1 circles but there are increasing signs that the deal has been done and that the announcement is being delayed to allow Michael Schumacher to make up his mind about what he wants to do.

Spanish GP - Saturday Photos

Spanish GP - Saturday Press Conference

Spanish GP - Saturday Team Quotes