Formula One News — February 2007

Jacques Villeneuve launched his first record the other day in Montreal and his manager Craig Pollock used the event to underline that Villeneuve's aim is to finish his racing career with success in as many different championships as possible.

Formula 1 knows how to make money but there is not much obvious creative thinking going on at at the centre of the sport as NASCAR continues to push the envelope and look for new ways to sell itself to new fans.

Tom Walkinshaw is a name that has drifted out of the F1 scene in recent years but Walkinshaw, the former owner of Arrows, has been busying himself with other things, notably in the V8 Supercar series in Australia.

There are still rumours knocking around about the future of McLaren, despite the fact that a large share of the company was recently sold to Mumtalakat, a Bahraini government-owned holding company.

The Shell Ferrari advertisement is not going quite as well as had been planned. Motorsport News (Australia) last week reported that the world's most expensive ad hit a hitch in Sydney.

Indycar star Dan Wheldon was spotted at the Daytona 500 doing the rounds of the pit garages chatting to teams about the future. Wheldon, who is racing for Target Chip Ganassi Racing this year, is keen to move into NASCAR in the future

Last week produced a bit of a mystery over why Renault decided to quit the GPMA rather than letting the now-redundant organisation fade away gracefully.

Kevin Harvick, driving a Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, passed Mark Martin on the outside on the final lap and crossed the finish line 2/100's of a second ahead to win his first Daytona 500.

Residents of Monaco might be excused for checking their calendars today, when they awoke to the sounds of a Ferrari F1 car in the streets of the principality.

The Grand Prix Manufacturers Association has had a serious problem in the last few weeks: there is no reason for it to exist.

The moves will not affect Formula 1 but it is interesting to note nonetheless that DaimlerChrysler is rumoured to be on the verge of announcing that it will be selling its unprofitable Chrysler unit.

These are difficult times for Formula 1 fans with lap times in testing sending out complicated, confusing and sometimes deliberately misleading results. One day the Red Bull-Renault is down the back of the time sheets, the next it is fastest.

Williams F1 has been named a member of a consortium that will provide computer technology to create a new generation of aerospace, automotive and marine transportation systems which will be more efficient and more environmentally-friendly.

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes has done a deal with the Kuortane Sports Institute in Finland in order to take a more scientific approach to the preparation of drivers in Formula 1.

For five years, the Renault Driver Development Programme has been trying to nurture new talent for Formula 1 and this year Heikki Kovalainen is racing with Renault F1, having been guided from 2002 in the RDD programme.

A big announcement is expected in the motorcycle world in the next couple of days, with FIAT becoming the title sponsor of the Yamaha MotoGP team. The deal is believed to be for several years and is rumoured to be worth as much as $50m.

Scuderia Toro Rosso has confirmed that Vitantonio Liuzzi will remain with the team this season, but Scott Speed is still waiting because of "contractual issues" that need to be sorted out.

Marc Gene has been having a taste of competitive diesel engines in recent weeks as he tests for the Peugeot Le Mans 24 Hours programme and the Ferrari test driver says that he cannot see any reason why the engines could not be used in Formula 1 in the future.

There have been discussions in recent days about a Formula 1 test at Spa and the word is that this has now been given the go-aheead with the teams heading to Belgium immediately after the British GP for three days of running.

This week sees the opening of the annual Retromobile show, the world's foremost classic car show, with much excitement planned including an exhibition of F1 fan Nick Mason's personal car collection, a celebration of 99 years on Peugeot in competition, plus a major auction hosted by Christie's.

After a few quiet days for Formula 1, the teams were back in action first thing on Monday morning with 10 teams in Barcelona for the next major test of the winter.

We don't do this very often but we highly recommend that you go to visit www.pitpass.com today in order to see what they make of Joe Saward's new book The Grand Prix Saboteurs.

The Formula One does not have the same imagination as those creative souls in NASCAR. The US stock car series may not have any races outside North America but they recognise an opportunity when it comes along and has offered members of the Royal Shakespeare Company the chance to experience the thrill of NASCAR.

Renault F1 sponsor ING has understood that for its size it is not well known around the world and it is planning to use F1 to fix that problem. Not content with having its livvery all over the two Renaults and the two drivers, the Dutch finance house is going to have a major presence on the trackside signage as well,

Russia's Sports Minister Viatcheslav Fetisov, once a celebrated ice hockey player with two Olympic gold medals to his name, has been heavily involved with plans to stage a Grand Prix in the city of St Petersburg.