$10,000 fine for
Argentinian organisers
The stewards committee
for the Argentinian Grand Prix has decided to inflict
a fine of $10,000 on the event organisers, when the
red flag was shown instead of the yellow flag at post
2 signifying that the race has been interrupted due
to an accident involving Rubens Barichello, Michael
Schumacher and David Coulthard at the
first bend.
Schumacher runs
through the first corner incident in Argentina
"After a good
start I found myself behind Frentzen with oil over my
visor which made it difficult to see. I had a coming
together with Barrichello at the first corner, ending
up nose to nose with his car which was still
accelerating. This made the situation worse and that
was the end of my race. When I saw a red flag I ran
back to the pits as I thought I could start again the
race with the spare car. As I got back to the garage
I realised that the race had not been stopped. I am
very happy for Eddie who did a great job of picking
up points for the team. I am optimistic about the San
Marino race."
Irish flag causes
concern for Irvine
There was some
confusion as to the colour of the flag that was
raised above Eddie Irvine when he took the second
step of the podium in Buenos Aires. Eddie from Ulster
in Northern Ireland had asked the FIA to raise a
neutral flag, perhaps white and showing a shamrock.
The FIA allegedly agreed but raised instead the
Tricolour, the national flag of the Irish Republic.
Had regulations strictly been adhered to, the Union
Jack of Great Britain and Northern Ireland should in
fact have been raised. Should Irvine ever get to the
top step of the podium and the decision is taken to
fly the Tricolour again then we could also be greeted
with the strains of 'Oh Danny boy' or 'When
Irish eyes are smiling'.
John Barnard set to
deal with TWR
Maranello: Thursday
April 17, 1997
As reported in Speed
Motorsport News earlier, former designer for the
Scuderia Ferrari Team, John Barnard, has
finally signed a deal with bosses at Maranello to
take over FDD, Ferrari Design &
Development, the Guildford company they
had build up over a five year period together, in UK.
In a statement issued by Ferrari last week a
spokesman said "A final agreement has been
signed yesterday between Ferrari and John Barnard to
conclude the arrangements for the transfer of its
English facilities." The company will now be
called B3 Technologies Ltd. The
statement concluded, "The facility will continue
to operate, totally autonomously in respect of
Ferrari, in the field of specialist design and
manufacture." 50 year old Barnard who was
reluctant to leave England to work full time in
Italy, is said to have paid Ferrari £800,000 and it
is not thought that he will be involved in any future
development with the team.
Before Barnard's bed
gets too cold, it is expected that a fresh deal with Tom
Walkinshaws TWR team is in the offing, whereby
the Leafield company will pay Barnard a design fee of
3 million for development of the 1998 Arrows chassis.
Barnard's inovative design approach is said to be a
key factor in retaining the services of current
driver and World Champion Damon Hill. His
introduction of the semi-automatic gearbox to Ferrari
in the late 1980s was adopted by all the teams until FIA
rule changes outlawed 'driver aids' in 1994.
Meanwhile, rumours of
discussions with engine suppliers Mugen Honda
and Mecachrome Renault are rife and it is not
thought that the one year agreement with Yamaha
will be extended. Walkinshaw said, "talks are
still ongoing."
Jordan test fourth
chassis Ralf spins
The Total Jordan
Peugeot team tested the fourth JP 197
chassis at Silverstone on the 16th and 17th.
Both drivers concentrated on differential and
aerodynamic development and brake work in preparation
for Imola. Progress was delayed however, by oil
leaks, and steering problems and a spin at Club
Corner for Ralf Schumacher who will continue
to race in chassis number 03. Giancarlo Fisichella
will now race the new 04 version. The original
chassis will be used at the Jordan factory on the
'seven post' rig.
Whether or not the
grevous misunderstanding has been settled, over their
coming together at the Argentinian Grand Prix, has
yet to be determined. Schumacher Jr does not speak a
word of Italian whilst Fisichella speaks little or no
English and not a word of German. Schumacher
supposedly told the newspaper L'Equipe: "I'd
like to have a chat with him, but he(Fisichella)can't
string two words of English together." After
the Grand Prix however, things seemed to have
resolved themselves. Fisichella said: "Ralf
has apologised to me which implies he is admitting it
was his mistake."
The cars depart for
San Marino on Sunday 20th after a very short turn
around time of only two days. "Now that the
European season has started we will begin the set
routine of a race every fortnight with testing in
between." Said Eddie Jordan,"It
means fewer hours spent travelling and therefore more
time spent working on the car, but with that comes
increased pressure. After our Podium finish in
Argentina we are all pushing for more good results. I
now want to see both our drivers on the podium."
Lola bows out
The official receivers
have been called in to wind up the affairs of the
Lola Ford Team. Despite earlier hopes of finding a
sponsor to enable them to compete at Imola it seems
that for this season Eric Broadley's dream of having
fully fledged Lola cars on the starting grid has been
shattered. Only last week Broadley was hopeful of
fresh finances, "I only know that things are
looking good," he said. "The company
had a spot of financial difficulty, but there is no
real problem." It is understood that only
the F1 arm of the company is involved. Production of
chassis for the US CART and Indy series
remain unaffected.
'Skinny' Williams
slowest of all in Barcelona...
new regulations
desputed
April 16th 1997:
Barcelona will see the Williams prototype 'narrow
track' car run for the first time. This is in
preparation for the new FIA rulings expected to come
into force next year in a further attempt to slow the
cars by reducing effective downforce areas. Nicknamed
"Skinny Lizzy", it is a modified '96 FW18D
and will be driven by test driver Jean-Christophe
Boullion. At 180cm, and 20 centimetres narrower
on the rear width than the current specifications, it
proved predictably slower than any of the other teams
testing there. Williams are expected to run the new Goodyear
grooved tyres which will drastically reduce the speed
for next season.
Meanwhile.... it is
rumoured that Flavio Briatore, boss of Benetton
is opposed to the idea of these technical changes
despite having signed the agreement under the
'Concorde arrangement' and is set to try and convince
other teams to stop the revisions. Both Ferrari and
Williams have invested considerable time and money
into the '98 specifications and Ferrari Team Director
Jean Todt is understandably reticent about the
possible consequences. "I don't know if the
new rules will make for more overtaking or better
racing, but it is the principle," he
explained. "The decision was taken months
ago, and nobody complained. You can't keep changing
your mind." Eddie Jordan surmised that at
the end of the day, "The designers will come
up with a quicker car automatically. It is a Catch-22
situation." Ken Tyrell, acknowledging
the safety factor of the new regulations spoke for
the smaller and often underfunded teams when he
stated, "The cost is huge and at the end of
the year, all the cars on the grid will be
scrap."
Another packet of
Rothmans for Williams
Villeneuve set for
1998 ..... probably
Despite Frank
William's denial, it is now more than likely that Jacques
Villeneuve will drive for the Team in 1998. He
was quoted as saying in a London Newspaper last week
that, "Jacques will be staying here in 1998,
after which, he will be a free agent." When
asked to comment, he said, "It was not
precisely what I said. At this stage in the season I
do not discuss drivers for 1998." A deal
with Reynard F1 and British American Tobacco brand
555 was widely circulated in Argentina but it is
thought that Williams has in fact exercised its
option on the young French-Canadian.
A senior BAT executive
however, did comment that: "We have had
discussions with four potential partners, who will
make presentations to us during the next four
weeks." Williams were thought to be linked
to the 555 brand-who also sponsor the Prodrive
Subaru Rally team-prior to their renewal of
sponsorship with Rothmans.
Schumacher happy in
Barcelona
Barcelona, 18th
April - Amongst several teams testing,
Michael Schumacher drove a grand prix simulation in a
Ferrari F 310 B fitted with the 046/2 engine. The
long run, carried out in four 16 lap stints, was
successfully completed without problem. The German
driver, who during the warm up had done further work
on improving the set-up of his car, covered a total
of 94 laps, equivalent to around 444 kilometres, with
a best time of 1m 19.96s. "I am happy with
the work we have done today. The balance of the car
is better than yesterday," he said
afterwards. "I like the engine, not just
because of its power curve but also because of its
driveability. I certainly want to use it for
qualifying in Imola. As for the race, the engineers
will have to decide as to its reliability, not just
for the engine but for all the other components as
well." Yesterday in testing, Schumacher
worked on improving the set-up, and different types
of Goodyear tyre, including those already used this
season. "We need to do a lot of work to find
a good set-up as it is difficult to find a good
balance on a track like this." He said. The
shakedown of the the cars which will be used at Imola
for the San Marino Grand Prix, will take place
next Tuesday at Fiorano with Eddie Irvine
doing the driving.
Jacques Villeneuve
topped the overall times with a best time of 1m
17.82s. on the final day. Gerhard Berger set
second fastest time on the previous day, with a 1m
17.94s. The Benetton team working on aerodynamic and
suspension setups. "You have to make all the
small advatages to a big plus." Said Berger.
Heinz Harald Frentzen's Williams was third
quickest with a time of 1m 18.26s. whilst Jean
Alesi in the second Benetton, came in at 1m
18.44s.
Stewart-Ford look
forward to an easier time in Europe
David Stubbs
Stewart-Ford's Team Manager admits to being very
relieved that the long haul races are over in this,
the teams first year in Formula 1. "Those
fly-away tracks are great places to go to, but for a
new team, in terms of sheer hard work, it's a
nightmare." He said last week. "My
concern from day one was how we would come together
as a team. On the people side, the car and the
equipment, everything was new. The whole thing just
had to gel, and Australia was one of the hardest
races I've ever done. For a start, none of the
packing cases arrived on time, and when they did they
weren't finished! In the end, though, Australia
proved that all the planning we had done could
actually deliver the goods. It was bloody dIfficult,
and we only managed a very few hours' sleep, but we
got there."
"Since then
we've made a massive leap forward: parts are coming
through faster, we're used to the cars now, and we're
working well as a team - we must be, because we're
finishing at midnight instead of six in the morning!
Now, getting back into Europe, with our own trucks to
work from, things should improve even further - it's
like working from an extension of your
workshop."
"Having said
that, Imola won't be easy: the paddock's a strange
shape, a bit pointy at one end. which puts space at a
premium, so we need to be there early to get our
trucks in! Otherwise it shouldn't be a problem. We'll
fly a few people out on the Wednesday to set the
garage up, and the bulk of the team will follow on
Thursday. The way race weekends are structured right
now suits us very well, I must say; there are many
circuits we've never been to, so having a whole day
of free practice to get things up and running
properly is very helpful. Two-day Grand Prix weekends
would be fine, as long as it's from next year!"
Also new to the
circuit at Imola is rookie Stewart driver Jan
Magnussen. "I haven't driven a Formula 1
car at Imola, though I did an Opel-Lotus race there
in '93. But the track's changed since then and it's
mostly the corners they've changed that I remember!
It's quite long, so it will be another physical test,
but if I can avoid misfortune in practice and get
lots of laps in again, we should be okay."
In brief......
TWR arrows have
scheduled two days of testing at Silverstone in
preparation for Imola with a major test to follow the
San Marino Grand Prix in Barcelona to test revised
rear suspension and the new Yamaha engine.
Sauber have
been testing brakes at Ferrari's Fiorano track and on
traction improvement in readiness for the tight
corners at Monaco.
Stewart Ford
will use new rear wing end plates on the SF1
cars for Imola and a new low downforce wing will also
be evaluated.
Johnny Herbert
will celebrate his 100th Grand Prix in Monaco
next month. However due to space restrictions in the
pit area, the celebrations will take place a
fortnight earlier at Imola, where the Champagne corks
are less likely to do any damage.
Gerhard Berger will
also be celebrating 200 Grand Prix just to make
Herbert seem like a rookie.
McLaren
estimates that because of width restrictions and the
introduction of grooved tyres, next year's cars will
have 50 per cent of the downforce generated by the
current 1997chassis.
Rumours have it that Tyrell
driver Mika Salo has already been signed to
drive for Ferrari next year in Eddie Irvine's place.
This has been denied by Race Director Jean Todt who
said, "It has never been the intention of
Ferrari to destabilise Eddie. We must be pragmatic. I
was criticised for keeping him this year, but last
season we did not give him enough support. He
deserves to be judged in the normal way, but the
season has just started. He has seven or eight races
in which to prove himself before we can talk about
the future."
Williams Technical
Director Patrick Head and former designer and
aerodynamicist Adrian Newey were present at
the Senna trial for the first time. They were not
required to give evidence but listened to other
witnesses regarding the subject of the faulty weld in
the steering column that allegedly caused the drivers
death.
Chris Richardson
21.04.97
