April 2002

30 April 2002 The signing of the deal to build a Formula 1-standard circuit in Moscow has been postponed after the project details were changed again, according to local politician Iosif Ordzhonikidze. The Russians have decided that the whole project must be fully financed privately and no public money will be used for it. Russian motorsport federation spokeperson Maria Lekukh said that she has no idea when the deal between Bernie Ecclestone and the local organisers will be signed. The cost of the project is estimated to be at leats one and a half billion dollars.

30 April 2002 Robert Ramsay Campbell Walker died today at the age of 84 of pneumonia. Rob Walker was the privateer team owner who gave Stirling Moss his chance in Formula 1. Moss decided to stay with Walker because he wanted to race for a British team. Walker's team won nine GPs between 1958 and 1968m, pitted against the likes of Ferrari.

30 April 2002 Eddie Jordan has held a crisis meeting after the disappointing Spanish GP, which followed the departure of 15% of the team's workforce. Henri Durand, who runs the technical side with Gary Anderson, said that their car's current performance is unaccetable and they are working hard on several fronts to improve it. Jordan is one of only two teams not to have scored any points yet.

30 April 2002 The wings problems that plagued Minardi in Spain were a 'one-off flaw', according to the team. The wimg failures have been investigated back at Faenza and the team is certain that the problem will not reoccur. The wings have been strenghtened 'just in case'.

29 April 2002 Jacques Villeneuve has denied speculations that he is due to leave BAr at the end of the current season. Though he admitted that he'd jump at the chance to join a competitive team, he is expecting to be at BAR in 2003. The Canadian is confident that BAR performance will improve soon.

28 April 2002 M. Schumacher took the lead of the Spanish GP from pole position and that was the end of the story. He stayed in the lead throughout, incuding the pit stops, and won. Barrichello, however, took upon himself the full share of Ferrari bad luck for the day, as his gearbox refused to let him select first gear at the start of the formation lap, throwing him out of the race before it even started. R. Schumacher was put out of the competition by asset problems caused by an excursion on the gravel, while his team mate Montoya managed to finish second despite running his lollypop man over in the second pit stop after a misunderstanding. Coultard took advantage of Button's problems to finish third, in front of Heidfeld, Massa and Frentzen. Several drivers retired for mechanical failures, including Räikkönen, who suffered a Minardi-style loss of rear wing.

The Spanish GP finishihng times:

1. M. SCHUMACHER Ferrari B 1h30'29"981 (average 203.751 Km/h) 2. MONTOYA Williams BMW M +35"630 3. COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes M +42"623 4. HEIDFELD Sauber Ferrari B +1'06"697 5. MASSA Sauber Ferrari B +1'18"973 6. FRENTZEN Arrows Cosworth B +1'20"430 7. VILLENEUVE BAR Honda B +1 lap 8. McNISH Toyota M +1 lap 9. SALO Toyota M +1 lap 10. TRULLI Renault M +2 laps 11. R. SCHUMACHER Williams BMW M +2 laps 12. BUTTON Renault M +5 laps

28 April 2002 The two Minardi drivers, Mark Webber and Alex Yoong, will not take part in the Spanish GP. The announcement was made by Paul Stoddart, following a series of accidents in which both the front and rear wings came detached from the cars. The decision to withdraw the cars from the race was taken by the whole Minardi team on the ground on safety, Stoddart said during a press conference. Minardi suffered the unexplained loss of two wings yesterday and one today during morning practice.

27 April 2002 Ferrari dominated the qualifying session of the Spanish GP, with Barrichello seeing his best time beaten by M. Schumacher at the last minute. The two Williams of R. Schumacher and Montoya will share the second row on the grid, with Räikkönen and Button on the third row. Coulthatd had to settled for seventh best time. Irvine was found to be using fuel different from the sample Jaguar had previously given and all his lap times were cancelled. The Jaguar driver, who would have started from 15th place, will start the Spanish GP from the back of the grid instead.

The Spanish GP finishing times:

1. M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari B 1'16"364 (average 222.985 Km/h) 2. BARRICHELLO Ferrari B 1'16"690 3. R.SCHUMACHER Williams BMW M 1'17"277 4. MONTOYA Williams BMW M 1'17"425 5. RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes M 1'17"519 6. BUTTON Renault M 1'17"638 7. COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes M 1'17"662 8. HEIDFELD Sauber Ferrari B 1'17"851 9. TRULLI Renault M 1'17"929 10. FRENTZEN Arrows Cosworth B 1'18"121 11. MASSA Sauber Ferrari B 1'18"139 12. FISICHELLA Jordan Honda B 1'18"291 13. PANIS BAR Honda B 1'18"472 14. BERNOLDI Arrows Cosworth B 1'18"515 15. VILLENEUVE BAR Honda B 1'18"847 16. DE LA ROSA Jaguar Cosworth M 1'18"885 17. SALO Toyota M 1'18"897 18. SATO Jordan Honda B 1'19"002 19. MCNISH Toyota M 1'19"025 20. WEBBER Minardi Asiatech M 1'19"802 21. YOONG Minardi Asiatech M 1'21"415 22. IRVINE Jaguar Cosworth M No Time

26 April 2002 Not surprisingly M. Schumacher dominated the Spanish GP Friday practice. A surprise there was all the same, and it came from Frentzen who, having clocked the third best time in the first hour, firmly placed his Arrows behind the World Champion in second place. Button also showed off by clocking the third best time and relegating Barrichello in fourth. Panis and Bernoldi followed, while McLaren and Williams had to settle with positions low on the times table.

The Spanish GP Friday practice times:

1. M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari 1'20"380 (average 211.844 km/h) 2. FRENTZEN Arrows 1'20"450 3. BUTTON Renault 1'20"693 4. BARRICHELLO Ferrari 1'20"742 5. PANIS BAR 1'20"758 6. BERNOLDI Arrows 1'20"834 7. RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes 1'20"996 8. FISICHELLA Jordan Honda 1'21"169 9. MASSA Sauber 1'21"197 10. TRULLI Renault 1'21"278 11. IRVINE Jaguar 1'21"294 12. COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes 1'21"298 13. HEIDFELD Sauber 1'21"301 14. SATO Jordan Honda 1'21"351 15. R.SCHUMACHER Williams BMW 1'21"409 16. VILLENEUVE BAR 1'21"413 17. MONTOYA Williams BMW 1'21"623 18. SALO Toyota 1'22"082 19. DE LA ROSA Jaguar 1'22"094 20. WEBBER Minardi 1'22"459 21. MCNISH Toyota 1'22"564 22. YOONG Minardi 1'23"269

25 April 2002 The weather forecast for the Spanish GP weekend is for sun on Friday, but cool and overcast for Saturday and Sunday.

25 April 2002 According to M. Schumacher Ferrari currently has the best car. The German feels optimistic about the Spanish GP, but said that in Formula 1 you an not afford to lose your concentration.

25 April 2002 Eddie Jordan has warned that in his belief the Formula 1 circus is destined to disappear, unless drastic measures are taken to reduce costs. Small teamas have serious problems raising the budgets to carry on competing in Formula 1, while the large teams are not aware of the gravity of the situation. Flavio Briatore and Tom Walkinshaw both agree with Jordan. M. Schaumacher, however, said that the small teams must stop complaining about money and start trying harder. The teams would not be in financial trouble if they had attracted sponsors by scoring more points, he said. It's not up to the successful teams to sponsor the others.

25 April 2002 Bridgestone have denied favouring Ferrari over other teams. The accusation was made by Giancarlo Fisichella early this week. There are rumours that one reason McLaren chose to switch to Michelin was that they too felt that Bridgestone favoured Ferrari.

25 April 2002 Computer firm Acer is a new major sponsor of BAR. The announcement was made today. Acer moved into Formula 1 last year with the now defunct Prost team.

24 April 2002 Fiat are rumoured to be thinking about floating Ferrari on the stock market to help the struggling Fiat empire, which is six billion Euros in debt. The move, however, could put Ferrari at risk of a hostile takeover.

24 April 2002 Jordan have finally officially announced that they have split company with technical director Eghbal Hamidy, who has been on gardening leave for months. Neither Hamidy nor Jordan gave any more details. Hamidy has already been linked with a job at McLaren.

24 April 2002 New BAR tech boss Geoffrey Willis has come clean saying that parts of the team’s car are ‘frankly awful’, while others are 'competent'. He believes that there are many areas in which the team needs to improve. WIllis is staked with designing the new 005 chassis for next season. He also believes that the engineering and development work are crying out for direction.

23 April 2002 Jordan is to slash the team's workforce by 15%, including a number of senior staff. Joint Managing Director Trevor Foster, Head of Engineering Tim Holloway and Chief Operating Officer John Putt are all leaving the team. Trevor Foster has been with the team since its beginning in Formula 3 and Formula 3000 in the Eighties, but has been rumoured to be wanting to leave for a while. Apparently Eddie Jordan wants to regain more control over how the team is run. The team will retain a workforce of just over 200 employees. In the new organisation, Eddie Jordan will personally oversee the sporting and commercial side of the team, while Director of Design and Development Henri Durand and Director of Race and Test Engineering Gary Anderson will run the technical department.

23 April 2002 Mark Gillian from McLaren and Pete Matchin from Arrows are Jaguar's latest recruits. The pair have joined the team with the task of sorting out the R3 chassis, which is suffering from serious aerodynamic problems. The two will be working in Jaguars new wind tunnel, which went on line barely two weeks ago. Team boss Niki Lauda said that the only way the team can improve this year is in the aerodynamics, though no improvement will be visible in Spain.

22 April 2002 Ferrari's underbody is likely to be under scrutiny in Barcelona after the F1 Racing magazine claimed that it flexes in a way that increases downforce. The technology used is apparently based on that employed to design combat helicopter blades in the USA. The blades use a form of carbon-fibre which can be controlled and made to flex very precisely on command. If this is proved to be the case, the floor of the F2002 could be constructed as a moveable aerodynamic device, which is banned. Engineers from rival teams have reported that the Ferrari's bargeboards move because they are connected to the car’s underfloor.

21 April 2002 German paper Bild has claimed that M. Schumacher is evading taxes. According to Bild, M. Schumacher registered a company, "MS Tracy", on 5 August, to which he gave his own personal marketing rights. The company has no employees or contact details. If the company, which is based in M. Schumacher's villa in Vufflens le Chateau in Switzerland, signs contracts with German companies, the German govermnet cannot claim any taxes on the deals. The same is true for deals with Italian and French companies. According to Swiss law, M. Schumacher is considered unemployed because the lack of racing circuits in the country prevents him from exercising his stated profession as a racing driver. M. Schumacher's personal manager, Willi Weber, said that this is all M. Schumacher's private business, while his Swiss lawyer, Bertrand Gros, said that he wil not reveal any information on the company. A prominent member of the Swiss National Council, Hans Strahm, has accused the Ferrrai driver of bein a tax cheat. He also stated that his activities are re morally and ethically wrong and that he cheats the tax payers in Germany and in Switzerland. Schumacher must only pay a one-off fee of 1 million euros for all the money his company MS Tracy receives. His yearly earnigns are estimated to be between 50 and 75 million euros.

20 April 2002 Eddie Jordan is gearing up to reorganise his team in the attempt of making it more competitive. Things will have to change, said Jordan, and if this means redundancies, then the team will make redundancies.

20 April 2002 Ferrari have offered M. Schumacher a contract for life. The current World Champion said that he wants to stay at Ferrari after he stops racing. Luca di Montezemolo is quoted as saying that if M. Schumacher wants to continue racing until he's 100 years old, that's OK with the team.

20 April 2002 Jenson Button is due to replace Barrichello at Ferrari next season, according to paddock rumours. British tabloid The Sunday Mirror has claimed that Williams do not intend to take up their option on Button next season.

19 April 2002 Honda have hinted that they might concentrate on BAR next season and stop providing engines to other teams (Jordan). Honda boss Takeo Fukui told Autosport magazine that the company has signed a three-year deal with Jordan, but that they review the deal every year and that they have to rethink the whole situation. Fukui said he was embarrassed by the engine’s lack of performance so far this season, but he is hoping that Villeneuve will make a break through in Barcelona. He also said that Honda intends to pull out of CART at the end of the season and concentrate all its efforts on Formula 1.

18 April 2002 Artist Damien Hirst has been given an unpainted Jaguar Formula 1 car to paint for an exhibition. Nav Sidhu of Jaguar said that it was a unique deal. The artwork, which wil not be used in racing, is expected to be finished by early summer. Though this is the first time a Formula 1 car is involved, it is not the first time a famous artist is asked to do a car's paintwork. In the early 1980s Andy Warhol painted a a BMW, which is now part of an exhibition on the artist's life and art.

18 April 2002 Jacques Villeneuve and BAR may be on the verge of parting company. The Canadian ex-World Champion said that he dislikes being uncompetitive, so he is going to assess how things go in the next two months and make up his mind whether to stay or not. His contract with BAR expires at the end of 2003, but it could be severed before that date if both parties agree. Villeneuve said that he knew that going to BAR was a risk and that it didn't pay off. His personal manager, Craig Pollock, was axed from the team and replaced by David Richards after two years of poor results. Yesterday BAR boss David Richards had hinted that Villeneuve might leave the team because he is too expensive (the second highest paid Formula 1 driver afer M. Schumacher) and his wage money would be better spent trying to improve the car.

17 April 2002 An official complaint has been brought against Arrows for a breach of sporting regulations in the Australian GP. Today Minardi team boss Paul Stoddard confirmed that the complaint against Arrows had been made, but did not say what team lodged it with FIA. Both Arrows stalled on the starting grid and had to be pushed into the pit lanes at the start of the Australian GP in Melbourne earlier this year. Bernoldi then rejoined the race from the pits during he confusion caused by the shunt at the start, which is not allowed by the regulations, so he was black-flagged. The other Arrows driver, Frentzen, was black-flagged too for leaving the pits under red lights. The complaint brought against the Arrows team states that teams must be acquainted with the sporting code, which both Arrows drivers broke in Australia. The penalty is to lose the license to compete in Formula 1. It is unlikely that Arrows will lose the right to race this time round, but they will be kept under observation. There are strong suspicions that the complaint against Arrows was lodged by Minardi, whose boss Paul Stoddart has been very upset with Arrows boss Tom Walkinshaw for trying to get another team (Phoenix) into Formula 1 on the cheap.

17 April 2002 Paul Stoddart aid that Yoong failed to qualify in San Marino because of brake problems. He is confident that the Malaysian driver will bounce back.

17 April 2002 The car manufacturers have been offered a part of Kirch's share in Formula 1 commercial rights, in the attempt to avert a rival Championship being set up.

16 April 2002 Jean Alesi, who is currently involved with Touring Cars in Germany, will test for McLaren at Mugello this week alongside Alexander Wurz. Alesi is one of the few drivers with experience of both Michelin and Bridgestone tyres.

16 April 2002 Tiago Monteiro, the 25-year-old Portoguese driver currently competing in F3000 for the Super Nove team, has been taken on by Renault for their driver development programme.

16 April 2002 R. Schumacher, who has been heavily criticised for not trying to overtake his brother Michael in Brazil, has denied having made a pact with him not to fight him for the title.

16 April 2002 Williams test driver Marc Gené suffered a major accident at Bridge corner in Silverstone during testing. The Spaniard walked out of his car's wreck unaided and was taken to the medical center. It is not known what caused the crash.

15 April 2002 R. Schumacher has admitted of being depressed about Ferrari's superiority on Williams. According to the German, the Williams team had a good package, strategy and team work in San Marino, but they simply were not strong enough. He is nonetheless hopeful that Williams will improve before the end of the season, especially on aerodynamics. Gerhard Berger too revised his expectations for the Championship. Originally the Austrian had said that the team was aiming to win the Constructors Championship, but now he has settled back for second place.

15 April 2002 Max Mosley said that the Phoneix consortium have gone to court in England in their bid to race in the Formula 1 season. The team is aiming to debut in the Monaco GP. According to Mosley Phoenix dont have "a snowball in hell's chance of getting an entry."

14 April 2002 There was no story to the San Marino GP: M. Schumacher took the lead from pole position and kept it unchallenged until victory. R. Schumacher went ahead of Barrichello at the start and for a while it looked like the Williams driver could endanger a Ferrari one-two, but the first round of pit stops put the Brazilian firmly into second place, where he stayed until the end despite a slight mishap wit the rear left tyre in the second pit stop. The Williams drivers had to settle for third and fourth places, with Montoya failing to shine today and finishing behind team mate R. Schumacher. Jenson Button enjoyed what he later described as the best race of his Formula 1 career so far, finishing on merit in fifth place ahead of Coulthard, sixth. Several drivers had to retire because of car problems, including Räikkönen and Fisichella.

The San Marino GP finishing times:

1. M. SCHUMACHER Ferrari B in 1h29'10"789 2. BARRICHELLO Ferrari B + 17"9 3. R. SCHUMACHER Williams-BMW M + 19"7 4. MONTOYA Williams-BMW M + 44"7 5. BUTTON Renault M + 1'23"3 6. COULTHARD McLaren-Mercedes M +1 lap 7. VILLENEUVE BAR-Honda B +1 lap 8. MASSA Sauber-Ferrari B +1 lap 9. TRULLI Renault M +1 lap 10. HEIDFELD Sauber-Ferrari B +1 lap 11. WEBBER Minardi-Asiatech M +2 laps

13 April 2002 M. Schumacher waited until the very end of the qualifying session to take pole position from team mate Barrichello, who had stormed to the top of the times table in his new F2002 and had held on to his position throughout the hour. The two Williams of R. Schumacher and Montoya failed to beat the Ferrari times and settled for the second row on the grid, while the third row was all McLaren's, with Räikkönen in front of Coulthard. The rain that had marred the Friday practice made way for drier weather for the qualifying, but this was not enough for Yoong, who failed to qualify within the 107% time despite not having any obvious problem with the car. Fisichella, who had clocked the third best time in the Friday practice, had to settle for a disappointing fifteenth place after suffering from hydraulic problems.

The San Marino GP qualifying session times:

1. M. SCHUMACHER Ferrari B 1'21"091 (average 218.998 Km/h) 2. BARRICHELLO Ferrari B 1'21"155 3. R. SCHUMACHER Williams-BMW M 1'21"473 4. MONTOYA Williams-BMW M 1'21"605 5. RAIKKONEN McLaren-Mercedes M 1'22"104 6. COULTHARD McLaren-Mercedes M 1'22"490 7. HEIDFELD Sauber-Ferrari B 1'22"767 8. TRULLI Renault M 1'22"833 9. BUTTON Renault M 1'22"857 10. VILLENEUVE Bar-Honda B 1'23"116 11. MASSA Sauber-Ferrari B 1'23"681 12. PANIS Bar-Honda B 1'23"821 13. FRENTZEN Arrows-Cosworth B 1'23"862 14. SATO Jordan-Honda B 1'24"050 15. FISICHELLA Jordan-Honda B 1'24"253 16. SALO Toyota M 1'24"328 17. MCNISH Toyota M 1'24"331 18. IRVINE Jaguar-Cosworth M 1'24"579 19. WEBBER Minardi-Asiatech M 1'24"790 20. BERNOLDI Arrows-Cosworth B 1'24"808 21. DE LA ROSA Jaguar-Cosworth M 1'24"852 NOT QUALIFIED (107% of pole time: 1'26"767) 22. YOONG Minardi-Asiatech M 1'27"241

12 April 2002 Ferrari dominated the San Marino GP Friday free practice session, with M. Schumacher clocking the fastest lap in front of his team mate under heavy downpours. Fisichella surprised by placing his Jordan in third place, ahead of the McLaren of Coulthard and Räikkönen. Frentzen clocked the sixth best time. Williams had to content themselves with the ninth (Montoya) and 10th places (R. Schumacher).

The San Marino GP Friday free practice session times:

1. M. SCHUMACHER Ferrari B 1'36"898 (average 183.273 Km/h) 2. BARRICHELLO Ferrari B 1'37"094 3. FISICHELLA Jordan-Honda B 1'38"093 4. COULTHARD McLaren-Mercedes M 1'38"747 5. RAIKKONEN McLaren-Mercedes M 1'38"773 6. FRENTZEN Arrows-Cosworth B 1'39"158 7. TRULLI Renault M 1'39"204 8. MASSA Sauber-Ferrari B 1'39"253 9. MONTOYA Williams-BMW M 1'39"480 10. R.SCHUMACHER Williams-BMW M 1'39"518 11. SATO Jordan-Honda B 1'39"764 12. HEIDFELD Sauber-Ferrari B 1'39"971 13. IRVINE Jaguar-Cosworth M 1'40"551 14. BUTTON Renault M 1'40"601 15. VILLENEUVE Bar-Honda B 1'40"787 16. DE LA ROSA Jaguar-Cosworth M 1'40"809 17. PANIS Bar-Honda B 1'41"565 18. BERNOLDI Arrows-Cosworth B 1'41"730 19. WEBBER Minardi-Asiatech M 1'41"969 20. SALO Toyota M 1'42"261 21. YOONG Minardi-Asiatech M 1'43"986 22. MCNISH Toyota M 1'43"986

8 April 2002 The Kirch Group, which controls 75% of Slec, has filed for insolvency after succumbing to massive debt. The company got into trouble when it had to borrow large amounts of money to buy the broadcast rights to Formula 1 and the World Cup. Kirch's collapse means that the Formula 1 broadcast rights will probably be put up for sale again, but their value has been questioned by the car manufacturers, who argue that they are entitled to a larger share of the rights. The manufacturers have threatened setting up an alternative Championship at the end of the current Concorde agreement in 2008.

6 April 2002 Craig Pollock, who was replaced as BAR team principal by David Richards last December, is apparently thinking of selling up his interest in the team. Pollock gave an interview to Autosport magazine in which he said that he wants to put his time at BAR behind and get on with his life, so he would consider offers.

2 April 2002 Rubens Barrichello might be treated to a new-season F2002 in San Marino, after the car enjoyed a winning debut with M. Schumacher in Brazil, while Barrichello had to retire with reliability problems. Ferrari said that they could not have prepared two F2002 for last weekend, but rumours suggest that there will be two F2002 at Imola.

2 April 2002 Montoya has accused M. Schumacher of causing the shunt at the start of the Brazilian GP and getting away with it because of double standards. The Colombian has made it clear that he intends to seek revenge, while M. Schumacher has refused to be drawn into a war of words with the Williams driver.

2 April 2002 Rumours that microchip company Infineon has cancelled their sponsorship contract with Jordan because of poor performance have been denied by the team. Jordan said in a released statement that Infineon have reduced sponsorship of the team because of the current economic climate.

Last updated on by Federica Massagrande