Formula One News — October 2006

Red Bull has announced that Red Bull Racing will switch from Ferrari engines to Renault starting in 2007, while the Toro Rosso team will now use the supply of Ferrari engines.

The World Rally Championship was settled in Australia with Sebastien Loeb winning his third title, despite being on the sidelines because of a broken arm. His title rival Marcus Gronholm needed to finish in the top three to keep his hopes alive but rolled early in the event and struggled through the remainder of the event.

Juan Pablo Montoya finished 11th in his first NASCAR Busch Series race in Memphis, after qualifying ninth. He spent the first part of the race running in the top 10 but eventually got into a wobble and was bumped into a spin by Jason Keller.

Red Bull has denied stories circulating in F1 circles that there may be a change at Scuderia Toro Rosso next year with Scott Speed being replaced by Robert Doornbos - but that does not mean that it is not going to happen.

At the start of the year Spyker Cars was trading on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange at a price of $12 a share. Today the shares are valued at $25 and the trend has been an upward drift since the announcement that the company had acquired the Midland F1 team in September.

The San Marino Grand Prix has been dropped from the Formula 1 calendar for 2007 - and there is now no hope of a reprieve. But that does not mean that the circuit could not make a new bid for a race in 2008, once work on the circuit has been completed.

London's controversial mayor Ken Livingstone has given a clear signal about the city's discussions regarding the hosting of a Formula 1 race. In July 2004 there was a successful F1 demonstration on the streets of the West End with around 200,000 people watching the cars in action - at very reduced speeds.

High oil prices have caused spectacular results for the major oil companies in the last quarter with ExxonMobil reporting an astonishing profit of $10.48bn in the last three months, a figure which equates to $114m a day.

The DaimlerChrysler Group will this weekend open a new "brand experience centre" at Brooklands, in Weybridge, Surrey. The 155-acre Mercedes-Benz World will offer customers the chance to drive on a 1.5-mile road course and on a 10-acre off-road area.

Buddy Rice is to replace AJ Allmendinger in the Forsythe Racing Champ Car team, with immediate effect.

The new head of the engine department at Ferrari is a Frenchman, 48-year-old Gilles Simon, who studied at the Ecole des Mines, one of France's top engineering schools.

The new technical dirfector of Ferrari is 42-year-old Italian engineer Mario Almondo, who has been with Ferrari since he joined the team in 1991. Prior to that he had studied engineering and industrial management at the celebrated Politecnico di Milano.

Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro has announced some major changes in the line-up of personnel, following the news yesterday that Jean Todt is becoming Ferrari SpA's chief executive officer.

The Penske IRL team will continue to be sponsored by Philip Morris USA but the tobacco company says it will remove the Marlboro name from the cars, uniforms, support equipment and promotional materials visible to the public.

McLaren Mercedes has done a deal with Spanish insurance group Mutua Madrilena, a sponsor of Fernando Alonso at Renault in recent seasons. The insurer clearly wishes to continue its connection with the double World Champion.

Five years after he lost both legs in an accident in Champ Car racing, Alex Zanardi is to get back behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car with a test of a BMW Sauber being planned at the forthcoming BMW World Finals in Valencia on November 26.

Sebastien Bourdais, who last weekend wrapped up his third consecutive Champ Car title, admits that he is frustrated that none of the F1 teams will offer him more than a testing role with no guarantees beyond that.

Up until yesterday, Luca di Montezemolo was chairman and chief executive officer of Ferrari SpA. It was obviously not a hugely taxing role as he also found time to run the FIAT empire. He left the running of the business to his General Manager Jean Todt, who has also been running the sporting department at Ferrari.

It is reported in Britain that Renault boss Carlos Ghosn is to be appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire although, as a foreigner, he will not be able to use the title "Sir Carlos".

It is expected that later today Ferrari will announce management changes for the future. There has been much speculation about what is going to happen with the most common suggestion being that Ross Brawn will stand down as technical director and will go off for a year away before returning in 12 months time,

Michael Schumacher is to have his own island off the coast of Dubai - the result of a very clever publicity stunt by Dubai's crown prince - Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

The Turkish motorsport federation is to withdraw its appeal against a $2.5m fine for using the podium of the Grand Prix to make a political gesture. In theory at least, therefore, the Turks must now pay the money to the FIA.

Spyker wants to change the name MF1 Racing to Spyker F1 next year - a logical choice rather than the Spyker MF1 Racing that was used after the team was bought by the Dutch car manufacturer six weeks ago.

Single-seater people tend to be rather arrogant, believing that open-wheeler drivers are the elite and that all other forms of the sport are somehow less important. This is a great weakness because it means that they can become blind to realities.

Fernando Alonso is the 2006 Formula 1 World Champion - and deservedly so, for he fought back through much adversity to retain his World title with dignity and authority. And that is how it should be...