Latest Formula One News

Brazilian GP - Race Notes

Brazilian GP - Sunday Photos

Brazilian GP - Sunday Press Conference

Brazilian GP - Race incidents from Interlagos

Brazilian GP - Race Results

Brazilian GP - Qualifying Report

Paul Stoddart announced in Brazil on Saturday evening that nine of the 10 Formula 1 teams have agreed to what he calls "a significant step forward" in cost-cutting with a proposal to have a control tyre and reduce testing dramatically.

With five minutes to go before Paul Stoddart broke the news about the agreement of all the teams to cut costs with control tyres and reduced testing, Peter Sauber decided that he had to sign the document, giving the proposal nine votes out of 10 and leaving Ferrari, Sauber's engine supplier, completely isolated

The Formula 1 team principals have been going from meeting to meeting all weekend but on Saturday afternoon the future of the sport suddenly began to look rosy again as the majority of the teams decided that enough is enough and that things need to change for the good of the sport.

Brazilian GP - Saturday Photos

Brazilian GP - Saturday Press Conference

Brazilian GP - Qualifying Results

Formula 1 has now had the chance of a few hours to digest Max Mosley's new rules for 2005, 2006 and 2007 and the implications that come with them, and while some remain convinced that it is not the right thing for the sport to be doing, others are looking at the situation in a more positive way.

Brazilian GP - Practice Session 4 Results

Brazilian GP - Practice Session 3 Results

There may come a day when historians look back on Formula 1 and say that it all went wrong on October 22, 2004 when the FIA issued its regulations for 2005 and 2006.

Brazilian GP - Practice Session 2 Report

Brazilian GP - Friday Photos

Brazilian GP - Friday Press Conference

Brazilian GP - Practice Session 2 Results

The engine manufacturers who are opposed to Max Mosley's plans to introduce 2.4-litre V8 engines in 2006 say that they are going to push ahead with the arbitration claim and that the FIA's latest engine rules do nothing to change the situation.

The FIA has finally issued the Formula 1 regulations for 2005. The teams have been unable to stop the FIA imposing its changes because they have been unable to agree on any package.

Brazilian GP - Practice Session 1 Results

British American Racing has agreed to drop its innovative front differential next year having caused rival teams a certain amount of disruption this year by running various different versions of the system.

Bernie Ecclestone will be in Brazil this weekend for the latest round of negotiations over the future of the sport (and for the Grand Prix) and will then be heading off on Sunday evening to fly north to Mexico for the official launch of the new Mexican Grand Prix at Cancun.

We hear that the FIA will be insisting on tyre companies doing puncture resistance tests on their tyres in the future. It seems that any thought of a control tyre has been binned because of the problems associated with sponsorhip deals between teams and tyre companies.

We are getting conflicting reports about the seriousness of the deal between Team Dubai F1 and McLaren Mercedes-Benz, with some sources suggesting that the deal has been put together at a very high level.

Jenson Button and David Richards had breakfast together yesterday in Brazil and then faced the Formula 1 media, explaining that all was well, despite the recent kerfuffle over whether or not Button drives for the team in 2005.

The West McLaren Mercedes F1 team has signed a deal with Nescafe Express, which will see the brand appearing on the helmets and drink bottles.

With just three weeks remaining until entries for the 2005 Formula 1 World Championship must be completed and filed with the FIA, there is a great deal of hustle and bustle on the Formula 1 market.

Bernie Ecclestone's lawyers say they are to sue Sir Jackie Stewart, the president of the British Racing Drivers' Club, for alleging on BBC radio on Wednesday that Ecclestone had broken his word to Richard Caborn, the Minister of Sport.

Brazilian GP - Preview

The Kumho Tire Co. Inc. has announced its plans to enter Formula 1 by 2007. The company has announced that it is investing $25m in order to put together what is needed for the programme and will begin testing tyres in 2005 and will then be testing with an F1 team in 2006 and 2007.

Joaquin Hendricks, the governor of the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico has announced that it will be hosting a Grand Prix from October 2006. The news will be officially announced on Monday.

The next few days will be critical for Jordan Grand Prix and its 200 employees as team boss Eddie Jordan and his staff try to find ways to keep the team going.

The Korean tyre company Kumho is rumoured to be on the verge of announcing a plan to enter F1 to improve the company's worlwide visibility.

The FIA's deadline for establishing new rules runs out today and it is expected that there will be an announcement, following a fax vote by the Formula 1 Commission.

The failure of BMW Williams to sign Jenson Button has not been greeted with dismay at Grove. It was a good try and the team believe that it had a good case. In the end, after a lengthy deliberation, the Contract Recognition Board concluded that BAR had a marginally better case than Williams.

Jenson Button will be staying at BAR next season after a ruling by the Contract Recognition Board in favor of the team. But our sources have confirmed that Williams will not be appealing the decision with the board.

Jenson Button will stay at British American Racing in 2005, following a decison by the Contract Recognition Board.

The F1 Commission is being asked to vote through a new qualifying system for next year.

Bernie Ecclestone and Melbourne Grand Prix boss Ron Walker are big mates and whenever Bernie has a new street venue up his sleeve, he tends to give Ron a call.

Bernie Ecclestone told The Times newspaper that he has to end talks over the British Grand Prix because he has to give a commitment to a new promoter.

Sebastien Bourdais hopes this weekend to leave Australia as the winner of the Vanderbilt Cup, the prize for the winner of the Champ Car World Series.

World Champion Alain Prost says he is considering returning to Formula 1 as a team manager and it looks pretty clear that he is hoping to be picked up by Renault when Flavio Briatore departs at the end of 2005.

Bernie Ecclestone says the British Grand Prix is dead - but we will have to wait and see if that is actually a reality. Cancelling the British Grand Prix would be a major step for Ecclestone as he is sure to upset the Formula 1 teams.

Formula 1 does not often get much coverage in scientific journals but the latest edition of Nature magazine featured a lengthy article about Grand Prix racing.

Toyota F1 boss Tsutomu Tomita says that the company is "disappointed and frustrated" with its Formula 1 programme to date.

There are clear signals that the world's stock markets are now losing interest in sport after burning their fingers with a series of flotations at the end of the 1990s. This has not stopped people in F1 talking about their desire to float companies, despite the experiences of some of those who did go to the markets.

The Formula 1 community continues to blithely ignore the fact that on July 31 2005 all Formula 1 teams with any link to the United Kingdom will have to stop running their cars with tobacco sponsorship, no matter where in the world the races are taking place.

Sportel, the international sports television convention, took place last week in Monaco with broadcasters from all over the world meeting with sports marketing companies to do deals for the future.

With Dubai having stolen all the headlines in recent weeks rival Bahrain is trying to keep up and has announced that it is intending to push up attendance at its Grand Prix next year by 20%.

The planned Team Dubai F1 operation is to be funded with money from Dubai but what is probably going to happen is that the team will fund the set-up costs with a bond issue on the Dubai Financial Market.

Jacques Villeneuve goes to Brazil this week with a mission. The French-Canadian needs to re-establish his reputation in his third race for Renault F1 or he faces a winter of rumour, despite the fact that he has a two-year contract with Sauber.

Renault Development Driver Heikki Kovalainen wrapped up the Nissan World Series at the weekend in Valencia. The Pons Racing driver finished 10th and fifth in the two races at the Ricardo Tormo circuit but with his title rival Tiago Monteiro needing to win the two races the Finn took the title.

Former Jordan title sponsor DHL Worldwide Express is currently pushing hard into the US market with a series of TV advertisements and now it seems a plan to run a car in the Indy Racing League in 2005.

The Formula 1 Contract Recognition Board exists to make legal rulings on whether or not contracts are valid. In the past however it has sometimes acted an arbitration service in disputes over drivers and has come up with compromise solutions to complex contractual problems.

The idea that the Formula 1 teams will have to run three cars is not one which is greeted with any enthusiasm by those involved as, according to the Concorde Agreement, these cars cannot score World Championship points and have little value for the teams or for the drivers.

France has not had many FIA World Champions over the years but this year Sebastien Loeb has clinched the World Rally Championship at his home event in Corsica. The Citroen driver finished second in Corsica but only needed to be fifth to guarantee the title with two events still to come.

The new Team Dubai F1 operation is going to be a nice little earner for McLaren - but at the expense of Jordan Grand Prix, which had hoped that the Dubai group would buy into the team. There are still some potential buyers left for Jordan but time is running out.

There is not much logic in Formula 1 circles these days but it seems that outside the sport there are a similar number of illogical people. There are at the moment at least three F1 teams for sale: Jaguar Racing, Jordan and Minardi.

Jacques Villeneuve goes to Brazil with his Formula 1 future in question because of his poor performances in China and Japan.

Tomorrow in Milan the Formula 1 Contract Recognition Board will examine whether or not Jenson Button should drive for BMW Williams or for BAR in 2005.

Brand Synergy, the consortium which is supposed to be bidding for the rights to hold the British GP, has not given up, despite having been largely written-off by Formula 1 observers.

Renault F1 finds itself in a quandary over drivers having ditched Jarno Trulli and replaced him with Jacques Villeneuve for the last two races.

The United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis will be held on June 19 next year, despite the doubt created by the Formula 1 calendar issued by the FIA

The FIA is expected to summon Juan Pablo Montoya to the next World Motor Sport Council meeting to explain his conduct in relation to a road safety campaign in Costa Rica.

It is a fortnight since Eckhard Cordes took over from Jurgen Hubbert as the head of the Mercedes-Benz Car Group, the luxury car division of the DaimlerChrysler empire.

The word on the street in F1 circles is that Panasonic Toyota Racing will switch to Bridgestone tyres next year, after a year which has been spent struggling on Michelins.

The FIA World Motor Sport Council did not, on the face of it, announce very much after its meeting in Paris on Wednesday. There was the makings of a Formula 1 calendar and that was about it, at least in relation to Grand Prix racing.

It has been an open secret for sometime that British American Racing has been courting the Chinese oil company Sinopec

The FIA used its 100th anniversary celebrations to institute a Gold Medal for Motor Sport and a World Prize for Road Safety, the Environment and Mobility. The first winner of the Gold Medal His Serene Highness Prince Rainier of Monte Carlo.

Trevor Carlin has confirmed that he will be heading the recently-announced Midland F1 team in 2006, although speculation has been rife for several weeks. Carlin is one of the stars of the British motor racing industry outside Formula 1.

This is an important week in the life of BAR test driver Anthony Davidson as he waits to see what will happen at the Contract Recognition Board on Saturday in Milan.

Formula 1 has long wanted to go back to Africa and the obvious choice for a race remains South Africa where racing interest and tradition remain high.

The switch of the French Grand Prix to April is not some Machiavellian plot by Bernie Ecclestone to ensure that the race takes place in mud-soaked splendour but rather in response to a request from the Federation Francaise du Sport Automobile.

Audi AG has decided that it wants to sell Cosworth Technology, its high technology drivetrain company. This is now unrelated to Cosworth Racing, the racing division having been old to Ford by Audi for $150m back in 1998.

The FIA World Motor Sport Council met in Paris today to discuss the matters of the moment and voted to fine the Hyundai Motor Company $1m for missing four events of the 2003 FIA World Rally Championship and then failing to pay the required financial penalty.

The US Senate has just passed the new Corporate Tax Bill which cuts taxes for a number of industry sectors including the race track owners who will benefit from tax breaks.

Today the FIA issued what could be a very drafty draft of the Formula 1 calendar for next season and the British Grand Prix is on it, albeit with a provisional status, pending an agreement between the parties involved.

The FIA World Council has voted through a Formula 1 calendar for next year, but there are no guarantees that things will not change again.

The Indy Racing League champion Tony Kanaan was like many other young Brazilians and left his home country to build up his racing career in Europe. In 1995 he finished fifth in the Italian Formula 3 series, a period in during which he would often visit Grands Prix with his friend Rubens Barrichello.

Marc Gene seems to be on the move after four year with the BMW Williams team. The 30-year-old from Sabadell is rumoured to be on his way to Ferrari although the team is not believed to be planning to split with Luca Badoer, the 33-year-old who has been testing for Ferrari for five seasons.

Former double World Champion Mika Hakkinen decided some time ago that he wanted to get back into racing but the Formula 1 circus showed only lukewarm interest in the idea.

The Federation Internationale de l'Automobile this evening celebrates its 100th anniversary with a gala dinner in the Louvre museum in Paris with the federation having invited as many World Champions as it can gather in addition to all the major personalities in the sport.

Alexander Shnaider is the man behind the recently-announced Midland F1 team. Born in St Petersburg in Russia, the 36-year-old left the country almost immediately with his parents and settled in Israel where he grew up.

Paul Stoddart made the point quite well in Suzuka. There are a lot of peple who talk about buying Formula 1 teams but there are not many who are really serious when they fnd out the figures.

Mark Webber will begin testing for the Williams team in November as a deal has been struck between the team and Webber's current employer Jaguar Racing.

The passage of Typhoon Ma-on in Japan was an amusement for most of Formula 1 but it may have handed Bernie Ecclestone the ammunition he needs to increase the Formula 1 calendar by reducing the number of days spent at each event.

Bernie Ecclestone's desire to squeeze more and more money out of the race promoters is something of a mystery and many people see it simply as greed. However, there are more logical explanations for Ecclestone's unwillingness to compromise. One can argue, for example, that Formula 1 is underpriced.

The games over the British Grand Prix have continued with FIA President Max Mosley saying that he wants Silverstone on the Formula 1 calendar.

Toyota motorsport boss Tsutomu Tomita took the opportunity at Suzuka to gently warn Benie Ecclestone that the fees he is trying to charge race promoters are too high. Toyota is currently redeveloping the Fuji International Speedway and will be challenging Suzuka for the Japanese Grand Prix in 2007.

Japanese GP - Race Report

Japanese GP - Race Notes

Japanese GP - Sunday Photos

Japanese GP - Sunday Press Conference

Japanese GP - Race incidents from Suzuka

Japanese GP - Race Results

Sherlock Holmes, Philip Marlowe, Lord Peter Wimsey, Miss Marple, Hercules Poirot, Inspector Jules Maigret and even Endeavour Morse would have failed to unravel the truth about qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix. It was simply beyond even the best detectives to know what was going on.

Japanese GP - Qualifying Press Conference