Formula One News — July 2006

A year ago the Boy Scouts of America in Paris took on a number of Formula 1 teams in a Pinewood Derby competition at Magny-Cours. The competition was repeated this year with more teams getting involved.

Robert Kubica ended the second practice session for the French Grand Prix with the fastest time, repeating his performance in the morning session, setting a time that was six-tenths of a second faster than World Champion Fernando Alonso.

French GP - Friday Photos

French GP - Friday Press Conference

French GP - Friday Team Quotes

Renault-Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn has been a busy man of late with negotiations beginning with General Motors about a possible merger between the Renault-Nissan.

The word in the F1 paddock at Magny-Cours is that there are problems with the Japanese sponsor Direxiv, a McLaren backer and the funding behind the DPR GP2 team.

French GP - Practice 2 Results

Robert Kubica gave BMW a good start to the Magny-Cours weekend with the fastest lap in the Friday morning qualifying session, setting a lap time that was three-tenths of a second faster than the Honda of Anthony Davidson.

French GP - Practice 1 Results

The French Grand Prix is this year celebrating 100 years of Grand Prix racing, but there is a slight problem with the French law.

There are reports in the British newspapers that David Coulthard has signed a deal to race for Red Bull Racing again next year.

There are rumours coming out of Holland that former Minardi team owner Paul Stoddart is joining forces with his former sponsor Harry Muermans to run a Champ Car team.

French GP - Thursday Press Conference

Juan Pablo Montoya may think he is the fastest thing in NASCAR, but Russ Wicks knows he is after setting a new record for world stockcars at the Bonneville Salt Flats last week.

The return from the Americas is traditionally a time at which Formula 1 teams introduce major updates to their cars and, as a result, we often see a change in the hierarchy as a result.

With Nicolas Lapierre having been refused permission to race GP2 by his doctors, the Red Bull-sponsored Arden International team has once again called on Scuderia Toro Rosso third driver Neel Jani.

Franck Montagny will remain as the second Super Aguri F1 driver at the French Grand Prix. According to Japanese sources,

As we predicted yesterday, McLaren has announced that Juan Pablo Montoya is out of McLaren with immediate effect. Pedro de la Rosa will take over at Magny-Cours.

Ryan Briscoe was hanging out in the F1 paddock in Indianapolis, trying to talk his way into a drive but the sometime Toyota test driver has now reached an agreement with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing to race in three of the remaining six events this year.

Juan Pablo Montoya was a visitor to the NASCAR race at Chicagoland last weekend to announce his deal to race in the Nextel Cup next year, but also there in the background was TJ Patrick, father and manager of Indy Racing League driver Danica Patrick.

Toyota and Williams have yet to confirm their new relationship but there are signs that MF1 Racing is now busy looking for an alternative engine supplier for 2007. The team has shown some improvement in recent weeks but has yet to score any points and attention is turning to next year.

The Spanish TV station Tele 5, which broadcasts F1 races is reporting that Juan Pablo Montoya may be dropped by McLaren and replaced for the rest of the year by Pedro de la Rosa.

Markus Duesmann, formerly the head of Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines, will take over as head of BMW's F1 powertrain operations at the beginning of January next year. He will replace Heinz Paschen, the current engine designer who is leaving the company.

AJ Allmendinger can do no wrong at the moment, since leaving Rusport to join Forsythe Racing. The young American won his third consecutive victory in Champ Car at the weekend in Toronto, leading home his team mate Paul Tracy and championship leader Sebastien Bourdais.