Formula One News — March 2008

Giacomo Caliri was a celebrated engineer in the racing department at Maranello in the 1960s, working initially on sports cars. Moving into Formula 1 for a period, he headed off to start his own design company in the mid 1970s, working for Ferrari on road car projects.

The change of ownership at Super Aguri was always going to result in some serious reshuffling and the latest indications are that Daniele Audetto, who has been the managing director of Super Aguri since its inception, will not be part of the new structure.

The Malaysian government has been a big supporter of Formula 1 in recent years, funding the Grand Prix as a means of showing the world that Malaysia is a technically-advanced economy.

errari has announced a new sponsorship deal from Etihad Airways, the United Arab Emirates national airline.

The first round of the French municipal elections took place last weekend and the results in Versailles suggest that unless there is a huge upset in the second round this weekend, there is little chance that the French Grand Prix will take place there in 2010.

The Formula 1 season got underway in Melbourne with Kimi Raikkonen setting the fastest time of the Friday morning session. The World Champion set a time that was four-tenths of a second ahead of Lewis Hamilton's McLaren.

Australian GP - Practice 1 Results

Australian GP - Thursday Press Conference

As Bernie Ecclestone and the Melbourne authorities continue their negotiations about the future of the Australian Grand Prix, the city of Sydney - Melbourne's constant rival - has been stirring up the situation by suggesting that it could hold a race under floodlights at the Eastern Creek circuit.

Scuderia Toro Rosso will have its new cars this year in Turkey. The team will use an updated version of the STR2 for the first few races of the year and hopes that the team's knowledge of the car will bring good results before the team switches to newer machinery.

Paul Stoddart, formerly the team boss of the Minardi F1 team, is in Melbourne this week to work as a radio commentator and says he would like to get back into F1, but only if there are some changes at the FIA.

McLaren has announced a deal with Olympus, which was previously a sponsor of the rival Ferrari team. It is the second Ferrari sponsor to jump to McLaren in the last couple of years, the other being the team's title sponsor Vodafone.

Ron Dennis is not going to change his role at McLaren, at least not in the immediate future. There have been many rumours suggesting that Dennis was going to stand down from his role as F1 team principal but Dennis told the staff at McLaren that he will stay on to oversee this year's activities.

Grandprix.com's Joe Saward has been taking part in an International Herald Tribune Global Sports Forum in recent days. This a Web-based talk show that brings together sports writers from different countries to analyze the big events during the year.

Super Aguri had announced that it has reached agreement with Magma Group regarding the acquisition of the team. Magma has also reached agreement with Honda regarding technical cooperation and engine supply to Super Aguri F1 Team. It is expected that the acquisition process will be completed over the next few weeks.

Bernie Ecclestone is a man who likes numbers. They are the way in which he can measure progress. His chief aim is to expand the Formula 1 circus year after year, pushing up the number of viewers, and reaching the widest possible audience around the world.

The Australian Grand Prix says that it could be asking Formula One Management for a start time of 1700 in 2009. This will mean that the number of people watching the race on TV should increase significantly as the event will begin at 0700 in Europe and 0600 in Britain. In Asia the race will be televised in the afternoon.

It has emerged that the Champ Car World Series has officially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and has sought protection from its creditors.

Kyle Busch scored Toyota's first NASCAR Cup victory at the weekend in Atlanta. It was the first victory for a foreign car manufacturer since 1954, when Al Keller won a race at Linden Airport, New Jersey, at the wheel of a British-built Jaguar.

The FIA announced on Friday night that it has concluded its investigations into Nigel Stepney, regarding "the unauthorised use of intellectual property within Formula 1". This was odd and raised more questions than it answered.

Tobacco advertising on billboards relating to the Formula 1 Grand Prix have been banned in Bahrain. The move is reported to be part of an anti-smoking campaign by government health officials.

Nigel Stepney has responded to an FIA recommendation that licence holders "do not professionally collaborate with Mr. Stepney without conducting appropriate due diligence regarding his suitability for involvement in international motor sport" until July 1, 2009.

The FIA announced very late on Friday night that it has concluded its investigations into Nigel Stepney, regarding "the unauthorised use of intellectual property within Formula 1".

For the last eight years, Yasuhiro Wada has been a key player in Honda's motorsports activities, initially in the United States, where he was head of Honda Performance Development and oversaw the company's Indy Racing League programme from 2003.

Damon Hill, the head of the British Racing Drivers' Club, says that Formula 1 needs to retain its traditional venues, such as Silverstone, "to provide a history and prestige" for the sport.