Formula One News — May 2006

Spanish GP - Qualifying Results

The Formula One group has launched a new range of official watches, as part of a global license agreement with the Swiss watch manufacturer, Jacques Lemans.

Formula 1 is in a state of flux at the moment as the teams take tentative steps into the complex world of flexible wings which are now legal if the cars meet the requirements demanded in the scrutineering bay.

Spanish GP - Practice 3 Results

Formula 1 folk like to look at the Toyota team as an organisation that is not making the most of the investment being made by the company and some of the spin merchants in the paddock would have you believe that Toyota worries about the costs of F1.

Team bosses Nick Fry and Ron Dennis have reacted to the meeting on Wednesday of the Formula 1 Sportring Working Group, that decided to propose the abolition of the idea of engine homologation.

The Friday practice sessions were a chance once again for the test drivers to have their moments of glory as the main runners kept down their mileage, particularly given the fact that the track was damp in the morning.

Spanish GP - Friday Photos

Spanish GP - Friday Press Conference

Spanish GP - Friday Team Quotes

Spanish GP - Practice 2 Results

The first meeting of the FIA's new sporting working group took place on Wednesday in Barcelona with the meeting involving Charlie Whiting and representatives from the various teams.

Spanish GP - Practice 1 Results

It appears that moves are afoot to push Bruno Senna, the 22-year-old nephew of the late Ayrton, into Formula 1 for 2007.

Spanish GP - Thursday Press Conference

A few days ago Bernie Ecclestone said that the Formula 1 drivers do not do enough to promote Formula 1 and specifically complained that Fernando Alonso does not do much.

Jacques Villeneuve will have to drop 10 places on the grid in Spain this weekend after BMW damaged his engine in transportation from the Nurburgring to Barcelona.

There are stories knocking around that Lola might want to get back into the business of building Formula 1 chassis for teams in the brave new world of F1 in 2008.

The Honda Racing F1 team has promoted Mariano Alperin to be its new chief aerodynamicist. The 40-year-old Argentine engineer has been with the team since it was established as BAR in 1998.

The French magazine Autohebdo ran story in this week's issue suggesting that McLaren has debts of $675m as result of the construction costs of the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking.

The Permanent Bureau of the Formula 1 Commission has decided to withdraw Yuji Ide's Superlicence with immediate effect.

Social observers sometimes remark that F1 is not a truly global sport because it features no black drivers and no Chinese but the fact is that it does not matter if you are an eskimo or a Navajo as long as you are one of the fastest men in the world.

There has been a little bit of tweaking going on at Ferrari and Toyota as the two teams shuffle people around to fit the new circumstances in which they find themselves.

Formula 1 teams like to leave race meetings with something positive to say about their performance. There are times when that involves a lot of imagination and public relations "spin". But at the Nurburgring almost everyone had a good hard luck story.

Many sponsors these days are looking for more than just exposure from their racing involvements and hope to engage with the public so that they feel good about the product and thus go out and buy more.