Formula One News — December 2008

It is a sign of the times in NASCAR that Petty Enterprises is to close its doors, laying off its remaining staff. The team is the oldest and most successful Cup team in NASCAR, with a history going back 60 years.

Penske Performance president Tim Cindric has told the St Petersburg Times that the Indycar team has yet to make a decision about the future of Helio Castroneves. The Brazilian could get a prison time if convicted of charges of tax evasion, and his scheduled March trial would leave the Indy Racing League team little time to find a suitable team mate for Ryan Briscoe.

Red Bull has announced that Eric Silbermann will relinquish his role as Head of Communications at Red Bull Racing.

Lewis Hamilton has been appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the New Year's Honours List.

With the departure from Scuderia Toro Rosso of team manager Massimo Rivola, the Faenza team is restructuring and has announced that Gianfranco Fantuzzi is to take over.

Maurizio Flammini was a winning Formula 2 driver in his day, finishing sixth in the European Formula 2 Championship in 1975 and 1976. He even drove a Formula 1 car for Frank Williams, although he crashed heavily in practice for the Race of Champions and was not seen again. He then turned his attention to promoting sporting events and since 1990 has been the leading architect of the success of the FIM World Superbike Championship.

There has been much speculation in recent days about the Mexican entrepreneur Carlos Slim making a move to buy the assets of the Honda Racing F1 operation. The telecommunications billionaire has now decided that enough is enough and he has issued a statement saying that he is not even in negotiation for the team, let alone buying it.

Everyone at grandprix.com would like to wish our readers a very merry Christmas and we hope that you will be back with us when F1 kicks into action again after the holidays. At the moment F1 is VERY quiet.

Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro knows that it lost the Drivers' World Championship this year, despite having a faster car than rival McLaren at most races. In an effort to improve the team there have been a number of changes with the primary alteration to the team's structure being the disappearance of operations division of the team, which had been headed by Mario Almondo.

There are reports that Carlos Slim, the 68-year-old Mexican telecommunications billionaire, may be interested in buying the Honda Racing F1 team, as a means of growing his business in Latin America.

There is much talk of David Richards taking over the Honda F1 team, and there are clear signs that is his intention. The big question is where he will find the money to run the team for the next two-three years as F1 restructures and downsizes to balance its books.

Bernie Ecclestone and Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo are usually singing from the same songsheet. It is in their interest to work together, but last week Montezemolo questioned the way F1 is run - and Ecclestone responded waspishly by saying that Ferrari gets $80m more for winning the World Championship than McLaren would have done.

There are persistent rumours in Japan that Jarno Trulli may be replaced at Panasonic Toyota Racing next year by Kamui Kobayashi and that Toyota is on the verge of disassembling its young driver programme because of the need to cut costs.

The stories that Williams F1 might test Formula 3 driver Ricardo Teixeira have been denied by the team, which seems a little confused as to how they started.

As we exclusively predicted last week, Lenovo has joined forces with Vodafone McLaren Mercedes. The US-based, Chinese-owned company will provide the team™s mission-critical computing solutions, both at the race track and at the team™s headquarters.

Panasonic Toyota Racing finished off its 2008 testing programme by introducing Italian youngster Andrea Caldarelli to Formula 1. The test took place behind closed doors at the Bahrain International Circuit, and finished off the remaining kilometres left in the team's testing allowance of 30,000km.

The GP2 Series organisation will hold the fourth round of its Asian Series in Qatar instead of Dubai as previously scheduled. The series will visit the Losail International Circuit on February 6-7. Qatar is not only a new addition to the calendar, but will also be a night race, providing a new challenge for the 13 teams.

Amid rumours that its Acura ALMS programme may be under threat, the Honda Motor Company in Japan has issued a rather depressing end-of-year statement, in which it lays out a series of plans for the company.

The Isle of Man is to celebrate Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton™s 2008 F1 World Championship with the issue of a set of six postage stamps, featuring images of his championship year. The Isle of Man Post Office will issue a first day cover, presentation pack and special sheet folder on Thursday January 15.

Sources at PSA Peugeot Citroen say that rumours suggesting that the French company might buy the assets of Honda Racing F1 are not going to become a reality.

Subaru has joined Suzuki in withdrawing from the FIA World Rally Championship, blaming the global financial crisis.

Flavio Briatore says he will leave Formula 1 in two years. The news is no surprise as the Italian is now closing on 60 years of age and has been spending more and more time involved in soccer.

Simon Gillett was at the Motorsport Business Forum in Monte Carlo last week and gave more details of the plans for the 2010 British Grand Prix. Gillett said that he has been working on the idea for five or six years.

Public documents which have come to light in France give more details of the plans to build a Formula 1 circuit in the Seine Valley. The project at Flins, close to one of the major Renault factories, has the support of Prime Minister Francois Fillon.

The Suzuki Motor Corporation has decided to suspend its FIA World Rally Championship activities from 2009. The company made the 2008 season entry with two SX4 WRCs.