NEWS ARCHIVE
...BUT HONDA WANTS IN
A leading Japanese sports newspaper has reported that Honda is aiming to be back in F1 officially in the year 2000.
BERNIE PRESSURES MERCEDES
FORMULA 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone wants Mercedes-Benz to supply a second team with its V10 engines next year - but the German car-maker (which has an exclusive arrangement with McLaren) is refusing to give way.
BMW BIDDING FOR COSWORTH?
THERE are rumors in F1 business circles that BMW may be bidding to buy Cosworth Engineering from its current parent company Vickers PLC.
DRIVERS IN THE DOLDRUMS
AS the F1 world continues to ruminate over engine supplies the driver market remains rather quiet, despite the recent moves involving Giancarlo Fisichella and Gerhard Berger.
FISICHELLA IN AT BENETTON - BERGER OUT
BENETTON has announced that it has taken up its option with Italian Giancarlo Fisichella for next season.
LOTUS AND F1
DAVID HUNT may not be the only man trying to get the name Lotus back into Formula 1 racing.
MICHELIN POSSIBILITIES
BERNIE ECCLESTONE recently told journalists that he reckons there will be four tire companies involved in F1 by 1999 but some F1 insiders continue to believe that Europe's top tiremaker Michelin cannot afford to wait that long and must enter F1 next year - in order to go head to head with rivals Goodyear and Bridgestone.
PORTUGAL IS OFF!
THE Portuguese Grand Prix - which had been tentatively scheduled for November 9 - is not going to take place and the F1 calendar will remain with only 17 races.
PROST WINS RELOCATION BATTLE
ALAIN PROST has won his battle with the French authorities to move his F1 team from Magny-Cours to Paris.
STEWART NEW FACTORY SOON
STEWART GRAND PRIX is in final negotiation on the site of a new factory - and the Milton Keynes team may cut corners by moving to an existing building rather than following the original policy of funding a purpose-built facility.
YAMAHA ON THE WAY OUT?
THERE is increasing speculation that the Yamaha Motor Company may be about to decide to end its involvement in FormulaÊ1 after seven difficult seasons.
BERGER BACK IN BUSINESS
GERHARD BERGER will be back with Benetton at the German Grand Prix in Hockenheim next weekend.
BRANSON AND FORMULA 1
BRITISH music and airline mogul Richard Branson said last week that his Virgin empire would be willing to fund a British Grand Prix free of tobacco sponsorship if F1 bosses decided not to visit Silverstone because of impending tobacco bans.
LAST WEEK AT MONZA
FORMULA 1's non-stop testing program continued last week at the Autodromo Nazionale at Monza in Italy with Jordan-Peugeot driver Ralf Schumacher setting the fastest time of the week, highlighting a leap forward in the competitiveness of the Jordan thanks to new rear bodywork which has helped the team improve its straight-line speed figures.
MOORE FOR MCLAREN?
ONE rumor which has been doing the rounds in recent weeks is that 22-year-old Canadian CART racer Greg Moore is on the verge of signing up with the West McLaren Mercedes team for the 1998 season - as team mate to David Coulthard.
PORTUGAL STILL IN DOUBT
THE Portuguese Grand Prix could happen on November 9 if F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone can convince McLaren and Ferrari that they should take part in an 18th race.
PROST THREATENS TO QUIT FRANCE
ALAIN PROST says that he will move his Grand Prix team to England if there is too much political interference in its activities from the French authorities.
STALLONE TO MAKE F1 FILM
IT has been announced in Los Angeles that film star Sylvester Stallone has bought the rights to produce a film called "FormulaÊOne" from Bernie Ecclestone, the man who controls the commercial rights to the sport .
THE BIZARRE BENETTONS
THE Benetton Family has a long history of curious outbursts and last week Luciano Benetton gave further evidence of his mercurial character when he told pressmen in Milan that they could expect big changes in the organization of the BenettonÊF1 team in 1998.
JORDAN CONFIRMS MUGEN, B&H AND MASTERCARD
EDDIE JORDAN had a good week before the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, tying up not only his engine supply for the next couple of years but also re-signing with Benson & Hedges until the end of 1999 and picking up some more money from credit card company Mastercard.
KOREA WILL HAPPEN IN 1998
OUR sources insist that there will be a Korean Grand Prix in 1998 - as announced a year ago at the British GP.
LOTUS HUNTING FOR CASH
TEAM LOTUS is hunting for money to enable it to return to Formula 1 racing in 1999.
PIRELLI CONSIDERS A COMEBACK
THE Italian tire company Pirelli is understood to be evaluating a possible return to Formula 1 racing to try to boost its share of the world tire market against Goodyear, Bridgestone/Firestone and Michelin.
PROST GOING IT ALONE
HAVING lost a lot of political clout in the recent French elections we hear that Alain Prost has decided not to rely on any government help for the time being and is now looking at building his own windtunnel at his new factory at Satory, near Versailles.
THE FINANCIAL HAWKS GATHER
THE delays over the flotation of Bernie Ecclestone's Formula One Holdings company has created more interest in F1 in financial circles than might have been the case if it had gone ahead without drama.
THE TOM AND DAMON SHOW
TOM WALKINSHAW used the British media to deliver a message to Damon Hill at the British GP.
WALKINSHAW AND FORD
THE announcement that Jordan has secured the Mugen Honda V10 engine supply should have come as a setback to TomÊWalkinshaw - but the Scotsman did not seem to be too bothered at Silverstone.
WURZ FOR SAUBER?
THE Sauber team ran Norberto Fontana again at the British Grand Prix after British racer Martin Brundle turned down a last-minute offer to be Johnny Herbert's partner.
A BIG BOOST FOR BERNIE
THE long-term stability of Formula One Holdings received a major boost last week when German television magnate LeoÊKirch announced a restructuring of his TV empire.
BERGER'S FUTURE
GERHARD BERGER says he will probably move on from Benetton at the end of this season after a disappointing couple of years with the Enstone team.
BRITISH AMERICAN TOBACCO AND MINARDI
HAVING failed in its bid to buy Tyrrell, the new F1 team to be funded by British American Tobacco is now being widely tipped to buy the Minardi team.
ENGINE DEALS IN PLACE
JORDAN and Benetton are both expected to announce their 1998-99 engine deals at Silverstone this weekend.
ESTORIL IS NATIONALIZED!
WORK has begun to upgrade the Estoril racing circuit after a showdown between the circuit owners and the Portuguese government.
SILVERSTONE TESTING
THERE were three days of testing last week at Silverstone with all 11 Formula 1 teams making an appearance at the track which will host the British GP next weekend.
SO WHERE DOES DAMON GO?
WITH Tom Walkinshaw yet to find a competitive engine package for 1998 Damon Hill's future with the Arrows team has to be seen as limited with other front-running teams already offering Damon more competitive machinery if he defects.
WILLIAMS ENGINEERS TESTIFY IN IMOLA
FOR the last couple of weeks members of the Williams team have been testifying in Italy that Ayrton Senna's steering column did not fail before his accident at Imola in 1994.