August 2000

30 August 2000 Fisichella suffered a dreadful crash during the test session at Monza, but came out unscathed and will take part in the Italian GP. The brakes failed and the Benetton car crashed against the barrier at the Ascari chicane at 110mph. Fisichella laid on the ground for several minutes, until he was helped by track personnel. A spokeperson said later that he only suffered bruised elbows and knees. Fisichella had suffered another bad crash during the warm up to the Belgian GP.

29 August 2000 Max Mosley is considering a radical shake-up of Formula 1, reducing GP weekend from three to two days. Alternatively, the GP weekend could be kept as three days, but the Friday result will count towards qualifying to ensure that the public is not disappointed.

27 August 2000 Häkkinen was the winner of the Belgian GP after catching up and overtaking title rival M. Schumacher with only four laps to go. R. Schumacher was third, Coulthard fourth, Button fifth and Frentzen sixth.

The finishing times:

1 Mika Häkkinen McLaren Mercedes 1h28m14.494s 2 Michael Schumacher Ferrari + 1.103s 3 Ralf Schumacher BMW Williams + 38.096s 4 David Coulthard McLaren Mercedes +43.280s 5 Jenson Button BMW Williams +49.914s 6 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Jordan Mugen-Honda +55.984s 7 Jacques Villeneuve BAR Honda +1m12.380s 8 Johnny Herbert Jaguar Racing +1m27.808s 9 Mika Salo Sauber Petronas +1m28.670s 10 Eddie Irvine Jaguar Racing +1m31.555s 11 Pedro Diniz Sauber Petronas +1m34.123s 12 Ricardo Zonta BAR Honda + 1 lap 13 Alexander Wurz Benetton Playlife + 1 lap 14 Marc Gené Minardi Telefonica + 1 lap 15 Jos Verstappen Arrows Supertec + 1 lap 16 Pedro de la Rosa Arrows Supertec + 2 laps 17 Gaston Mazzacane Minardi Telefonica + 2 laps 18 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari +12 laps 19 Jean Alesi Prost Peugeot + 12 laps 20 Nick Heidfeld Prost Peugeot + 32 laps 21 Giancarlo Fisichella Benetton Playlife + 36 laps 22 Jarno Trulli Jordan Mugen-Honda + 40 laps

27 August 2000 Giancarlo Fisichella suffered a bad crash during the warm up. He was fine but his car was completely destroyed, so he will be starting the GP on the sapre car.

26 August 2000 Mika Häkkinen will start the Belgian GP from pole position. Jarno Trulli will start alongside him on the front row. The second row will be shared by Button and M. Schumacher, while Coulthard and R. Schumacher will start from the third row.

The qualifying times:

1. Mika Häkkinen (Fin/McLaren-Mercedes) 1:50.646 2. Jarno Trulli (Ita/Jordan-Mugen Honda) 1:51.419 3. Jenson Button (Gbr/Williams-BMW) 1:51.444 4. Michael Schumacher (Ger/Ferrari) 1:51.552 5. David Coulthard (Gbr/McLaren-Mercedes) 1:51.587 6. Ralf Schumacher (Ger/Williams-BMW) 1:51.743 7. Jacques Villeneuve (Can/BAR-Honda) 1:51.799 8. Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Ger/Jordan-Mugen Honda) 1:51.926 9. Johnny Herbert (Gbr/Jaguar-Cosworth) 1:52.242 10. Rubens Barrichello (Bra/Ferrari) 1:52.444 11. Giancarlo Fisichella (Ita/Benetton-Supertec) 1:52.756 12. Eddie Irvine (Gbr/Jaguar-Cosworth) 1:52.885 13. Ricardo Zonta (Bra/BAR-Honda) 1:53.002 14. Nick Heidfeld (Ger/Prost-Peugeot) 1:53.193 15. Pedro Paolo Diniz (Bra/Sauber-Petronas) 1:53.211 16. Pedro de la Rosa (Spa/Arrows-Supertec) 1:53.237 17. Jean Alesi (Fra/Prost-Peugeot) 1:53.309 18. Mika Salo (Fin/Sauber-Petronas) 1:53.357 19. Alexander Wurz (Aut/Benetton-Supertec) 1:53.403 20. Jos Verstappen (Ned/Arrows-Supertec) 1:53.912 21. Marc Gené (Spa/Minardi-Ford) 1:54.680 22. Gaston Mazzacane (Arg/Minardi-Ford) 1:54.784

25 August 2000 Coulthard maintained the fastest time after the second practice session. His team mate Häkkinen had the second best time, in front of a surprisingly fast Herbert. Villeneuve confirmed his good form by clocking the fourth best time, while M. Schumacher was relegated in fifth place, ahead of Wurz.

The practice sessions combined times:

1 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes 1m53.398s 2 HAKKINEN McLaren Mercedes 1m53.919s 3 HERBERT Jaguar 1m53.945s 4 VILLENEUVE BAR Honda 1m54.136s 5 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari 1m54.226s 6 WURZ Benetton Playlife 1m54.266s 7 VERSTAPPEN Arrows Supertec 1m54.338s 8 FISICHELLA Benetton Playlife 1m54.350s 9 BARRICHELLO Ferrari 1m54.502s 10 TRULLI Jordan Mugen-Honda 1m54.666s 11 GENE Minardi Fondmetal 1m54.832s 12 R.SCHUMACHER Williams BMW 1m55.209s 13 BUTTON Williams BMW 1m55.270s 14 DINIZ Sauber Petronas 1m55.312s 15 ZONTA BAR Honda 1m55.546s 16 IRVINE Jaguar 1m55.645s 17 FRENTZEN Jordan Mugen-Honda 1m55.750s 18 SALO Sauber Petronas 1m55.847s 19 MAZZACANE Minardi Fondmetal 1m56.122s 20 DE LA ROSA Arrows Supertec 1m56.252s 21 ALESI Prost Peugeot 1m56.508s 22 HEIDFELD Prost Peugeot 1m56.857s

25 August 2000 David Coulthard was fastest in the first Friday session with a time of 1'53"398, preceeding M. Schumacher (+0"828), Häkkinen, Trulli, Barrichello and Villeneuve.

24 August 2000 Prost have denied having signed a deal with Ferrari over the supply of engines for next season. Prost also said that an engine deal will be announced shortly.

24 August 2000 Melbourne has signed an extended contract to host the Australian GP at Albert Park for the next 10 years. This is the longest GP deal currently in F1.

24 August 2000 Michelin was disappointed by FIA's refusal to introduce new rules regulating tyre wear in F1. The tyre manufaturer is set to join the f1 circus next year and has worries about the current regulations. In practice, it would be possible to design grooved tyres that wear out in a matter of laps turning them into slick. At present this does not happen because Bridgestone is the only tyre company present, but Michelin fear that they might do so to give the teams that use their tyres an advantage over the ones that use Michelin tyres. Perre Dupasquier, Michelin's competition boss, has threatened to question the result of every GP until FIA clarifies the rules. Michelin tyres will be sued by Jaguar, Williams, Benetton and Toyota, when it enters f1.

24 August 2000 Bridgestone will bring to Spa two new types of tyre compounds for wet races, an intermediate type for variable tarmac conditions and a "Heavy Wet" type for waterlogged conditions (like in 1998). High probability of rain is forecast for the Belgian GP.

23 August 2000 Mika Salo will leave Sauber and become Toyota's official test driver to help the team develop the car in view of their entry in F1 in 2002. Wurz and Zonta are possible replacements for Salo at Sauber.

22 August 2000 The Greek police has found the car stolen from David Coulthard a few months ago. The car was on the island of Chitera, in the garage of wealthy Greek-Australian businessman Dimitris Jim Veneris. Veneris denied any involvement with the theft and said that someone is trying to frame him.

22 August 2000 McLaren designer Adrian Newey has allegedly been head-hunted by Ferrari, who are supposed to have offered him a massive 36 million dollar three-year deal to join the team. Newey's contract with McLaren has not been renewed for next season yet. Ferrari's offer correponds to 12 million dollars a year, about four times what McLaren are currently paying him. Newey had said that if Ferrari made him an offer he would think about it very seriously, because it is obvious to him that anybody who is successful in F1 sooner or later ends up at Maranello.

21 August 2000 Frederic Dhainaut is to replace Cesare Fiorio as Minardi's sporting director. Dhainaut, who already has experience of working at Minardi, will hold the post until the end of the current season.

21 August 2000 Veteran F1 driver Jean Alesi might be racing for Jaguar next year. The Frenchman is disappointed with the poor performance of the Prost cars and has threatened to leave the team if his friend Alain Prost sells off. Jaguar test driver Luciano Burti, who replaced Irvine when the Irishman was in hospital, is another possibility for the second Jaguar seat. Dario Franchitti was ruled out after he failed to impress in a test drive.

20 August 2000 BAR have announced a change of livery for next season. Since in 2000 they concentrated on the Lucky Strike colours, next season the new livery will be the light blue colour of the 555 cigarette brand.

17 August 2000 Panis has officially signed with BAR for next year. He will replace Zonta, who will stay with BAR until the end of the current season despite earlier rumours implying that he might leave before the end of 2000. Panis has refused to replace Zonta for the last races of the current season because he wants to complete his contracted time as Mclaren test driver.

17 August 2000 Williams has suspended Jenson Button's contract for two years, loaning him to Benetton for 2001 and 2002. Benetton have confirmed the deal. Button's replacement at Williams is almost certainly Juan Pablo Montoya.

16 August 2000 Ricardo Zonta has admitted that there are no chances of him staying on at BAR next year and that he is in talks with Sauber. The Brazilian fears he might not even finish the season with BAR, as after the Germany GP he had long discussions with the team to decide whether he should drive in Hungary. Sauber are in danger of losing Salo to Toyota and are unhappy with Diniz's performance, so there is scope for Zonta to come on board.

15 August 2000 David Coulthard has questioned Ron Dennis' statement that the two McLaren drivers are given identical equipment. The Scot said that both he and Häkkinen had been struggling with the car setup for the whole weekend, then the Finn suddently started flying.

14 August 2000 A new rumour about Prost is that they are about to strike an agreement with Ferrari for the supply of engines next season. Prost would be using the same engines as Sauber, though without the Petronas rebranding. Last month Peugeot, current supplier of engines to the Prost team, announced that they are leaving F1 at the end of the season.

14 August 2000 F3000 driver Mark Webber has signed a contract with Benetton to be the team's test driver next year.

13 August 2000 Mika Häkkinen was the winner of an uneventful Hungarian GP ahead of M. Schumacher, Coulthard, Barrichello, R. Schumacher and Frentzen. Following today's result, Häkkinen is the new leader of the Drivers Championship and McLaren has overtaken Ferrari in the Constructors Championship.

The Hungarian GP finishing times:

1. M Häkkinen (Fin, McLaren) 1h45m33.689 2. M Schumacher (Ger, Ferrari) + 7.9 3. D Coulthard (Gbr, McLaren) + 8.4 4. R Barrichello (Bra, Ferrari) + 44.1 5. R Schumacher (Ger, Williams) + 50.4 6. HH Frentzen (Ger, Jordan) + 68.0 7. J Trulli (Ita, Jordan) + 1 lap 8. E Irvine (Gbr, Jaguar) + 1 lap 9. J Button (Gbr, Williams) + 1 lap 10. M Salo (Fin, Sauber) + 1 lap 11. A Wurz (Aut, Benetton) + 1 lap 12. J Villeneuve (Can, BAR) + 2 laps 13. J Verstappen (Ned, Arrows) + 2 laps 14. R Zonta (Bra, BAR) + 2 laps 15. M Gené (Spa, Minardi) + 3 laps 16. P de la Rosa (Spa, Arrows) + 4 laps

12 August 2000 Jenson Button has officially signed a contract with Benetton for next season. His team mate will be Giancarlo Fisichella, who has been officially confirmed. Panis has signed to drive for BAR alongside Villeneuve next year, replacing Zonta.

12 August 2000 DNA testing showed that the father of Victoria, daughter of model Edilaine de Barros (also known as Marcella Praddo), was not Ayrton Senna. De Barros had asked for the DNA testing after the Senna family had refused to recognise Victoria as the daughter of the late F1 driver.

12 August 2000 M. Schumacher will start the Hungarian GP from pole position, alongside title contender Coulthard. Current World Champion Häkkinen and R. Schumacher will start from the second row, while Barrichello and Frentzen will share the third row.

The Hungarian GP qualifying times:

1 M. SCHUMACHER Ferrari 1m17.514s 2 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes 1m17.886s 3 HAKKINEN McLaren Mercedes 1m17.922s 4 R. SCHUMACHER Williams BMW 1m18.321s 5 BARRICHELLO Ferrari 1m18.330s 6 FRENTZEN Jordan Mugen-Honda 1m18.523s 7 FISICHELLA Benetton Playlife 1m18.607s 8 BUTTON Williams BMW 1m18.699s 9 SALO Sauber Petronas 1m18.748s 10 IRVINE Jaguar 1m19.008s 11 WURZ Benetton Playlife 1m19.259s 12 TRULLI Jordan Mugen-Honda 1m19.266s 13 DINIZ Sauber Petronas 1m19.451s 14 ALESI Prost Peugeot 1m19.626s 15 DE LA ROSA Arrows Supertec 1m19.897s 16 VILLENEUVE BAR Honda 1m19.937s 17 HERBERT Jaguar 1m19.956s 18 ZONTA BAR Honda 1m20.272s 19 HEIDFELD Prost Peugeot 1m20.481s 20 VERSTAPPEN Arrows Supertec 1m20.609s 21 GENE Minardi Fondmetal 1m20.654s 22 MAZZACANE Minardi Fondmetal 1m20.905s

11 August 2000 McLaren dominated the afternoon practice session with Coulthard clocking a best time of 1'18"792 ahead of Häkkinen, M. Schumacher and Barrichello. Trulli and Fisichella clocked the fifth and sixth best times.

The Hungarian GP Friday afternoon practice session times:

1 M. SCHUMACHER Ferrari 1m20.198s 2 BARRICHELLO Ferrari 1m20.674s 3 IRVINE Jaguar 1m21.308s 4 R. SCHUMACHER Williams BMW 1m21.496s 5 FISICHELLA Benetton Playlife 1m21.730s 6 VILLENEUVE BAR Honda 1m22.219s 7 TRULLI Jordan Mugen-Honda 1m22.268s 8 DINIZ Sauber Petronas 1m22.408s 9 SALO Sauber Petronas 1m22.483s 10 BUTTON Williams BMW 1m22.518s 11 HERBERT Jaguar 1m22.700s 12 WURZ Benetton Playlife 1m22.887s 13 ALESI Prost Peugeot 1m22.954s 14 DE LA ROSA Arrows Supertec 1m22.991s 15 HEIDFELD Prost Peugeot 1m23.142s 16 VERSTAPPEN Arrows Supertec 1m23.146s 17 GENE Minardi Fondmetal 1m23.277s 18 ZONTA BAR Honda 1m23.676s 19 MAZZACANE Minardi Fondmetal 1m24.774s 20 FRENTZEN Jordan Mugen-Honda 1m37.923s

11 August 2000 M. Schumacher and Barrichello clocked the fastest time in the friday morning practice session. Häkkinen and Coulthard decided to wait for the afternoon session and did not come out.

The Hungarian GP Friday morning practice session times:

1 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes 1m18.792s 2 HAKKINEN McLaren Mercedes 1m18.943s 3 M. SCHUMACHER Ferrari 1m19.138s 4 BARRICHELLO Ferrari 1m19.896s 5 TRULLI Jordan Mugen-Honda 1m20.104s 6 FISICHELLA Benetton Playlife 1m20.304s 7 R. SCHUMACHER Williams BMW 1m20.307s 8 BUTTON Williams BMW 1m20.343s 9 FRENTZEN Jordan Mugen-Honda 1m20.443s 10 IRVINE Jaguar 1m20.713s 11 HEIDFELD Prost Peugeot 1m20.803s 12 SALO Sauber Petronas 1m20.872s 13 ALESI Prost Peugeot 1m20.878s 14 VILLENEUVE BAR Honda 1m21.243s 15 DINIZ Sauber Petronas 1m21.323s 16 WURZ Benetton Playlife 1m21.381s 17 DE LA ROSA Arrows Supertec 1m21.400s 18 VERSTAPPEN Arrows Supertec 1m21.803s 19 GENE Minardi Fondmetal 1m21.972s 20 HERBERT Jaguar 1m22.015s 21 ZONTA BAR Honda 1m22.169s 22 MAZZACANE Minardi Fondmetal 1m24.529s

11 August 2000 Paul Stewart has completed his chemotherapy treatment for the rare form of colon cancer he was diagnosed with after the Brazilian GP and is on his way to recovery. He believs that the stress from overworking might have brought the desease on and from now on he will make time for the important things in life.

10 August 2000 Bernie Shrosbree, who manages the Sport Center of the Benetton team and also is Fisichella's personal trainer, established today a new record in swimming across the Channel. He swam from coast to coast in 14 hours and 31 minues. He was one of a group of six people who tried the crossing.

9 August 2000 Minardi announced with a very short press release (seven lines) that Cesare Fiorio has left his position with the team, starting immediately. Fiorio had joineed Minardi in January 1999 and, according to the announcement, the decision was taken jointly by Fiorio and the team, on the ground that their opinions on the strategic development had become unreconcilable. Fiorio's place at Minardi has been taken by technical co-ordinator Gabriele Tredozi.

8 August 2000 Alexander Wurz, who is almost certain to be kicked out of Benetton at the end of the current season, could be going to Toyota next year. Toyota is planning to spend 2001 building the car, in order to join F1 in 2002, and need an experience driver to help them with the development. They had already approached Mika Salo, but the Finn does not want to spend a whole year without racing.

6 August 2000 During yesterday's tests in Valencia Wurz was the victim of a nasty accident. The Austrian lost control of his car and hit the tyre barrier, causing the arm of the front right suspention to break into the cockpit and hit his leg. Wurz was diagnosed on the circuit with a muscle laceration but no bone breakage and the taken to the hospital in Valencia. Later scans did not find any more problems, therefore Wurz should not miss the Hungarian GP. Despite Wurz's accident, Benetton clocked the best times in all three test days in Valencia.

5 August 2000 Six days after having accused Fisichella of causing the accident that took both drivers out of the German GP at the start, M. Schumacher has apologised to the Benetton driver. M. Schumacher said in an interview to German weekly magazine Focus that it was a racing accident and admitted to having unjustly put the responsability of it on Fisichella. He added that in the heat of the moment it was a normal reaction to think that the fault laid with the person who had hit from behind, but looking back, it was just one of those things that can happen.

5 August 2000 The Lotus brand could make a surprise return to F1 next season. David Hunt (brother of the late World Champion James Hunt) holds the rights to the Lotus name and has been trying for a while to bring the Lotus name back to F1. A business group is allegedly talking to Alain Prost to buy the F1 team, move its headquarters to the UK and relaunch it under the Lotus brand. The engines could be either SuperTec or Mugen. One of the people involved is Mike Earle, formerly of Onyx F1. Lotus originally made its F1 debut in 1958, taking part in 491 GPs, winning 79 race, obtaining 107 pole positions, six Drivers Championships and seven Constructors Championships. Lotus made its exit from F1 in 1994, after the death of its founder Colin Chapman.

4 August 2000 Coca-Cola are planning to enter F1 with a 35 million pounds sponsorship deal. F1 is one of the few sports the drinks giants have not tried to get into, but the departure of the tobacco companies because of the new anti-advertising rules mean that there is new huge sponsorship potential in the sport. F1 is also returning to the US for the first time in nine years. Coca-Cola have been talking to Jordan and Benetton.

4 August 2000 Jean Alesi will very likely race in Hungary. The Prost driver has been seen by doctors and has been given the all-clear.

3 August 2000 Wiliams test driver Bruno Junqueira has been linked with a move to Arrows next season.

3 August 2000 Jenson Button has signed a deal to drive in Formula 1 next year, but it is not known which team with. The two possibilities are Benetton alongside Fisichella, or BAR partnering Villeneuve. the decision will be made public only after Montoya's move to Williams is a done deal.

3 August 2000 Teleglobe, main secondary sponsor to BAR, announced today that they will end the partnership at the end of the current season.

2 August 2000 Udo Zücker from TAG-Electronics told Motor Sport Aktuell that the seal on the electronic box in Häkkinen's car had been missing for seven races, since the very day it was installed, without either the FIA or Mclaren people noticing. The electronic box was installed at the British GP, when the rules changed and all the boxes had to be taken apart. The seal was left out because of human error from the two technicicans (one from Mclaren, one from FIA) and nobody paid any attention to it, since getting into even unsealed electronic boxes is extremely difficult.

2 August 2000 Alesi is still suffering from the accident he was involved in with Diniz in Germany. The Prost driver hopes to be able to race in Hungary, but it is possible that he might have to be sobstituted for the day.

1 August 2000 The man who disrupted the German GP with his protest against McLaren is 47-year-old Robert Sehli, from France. He has been released by the police after his wife paid a 2,000 German marks fine. Sehli has gone back home to Eurre, near Le Mans, awaiting a possible trial in Germany.

Last updated on by Federica Massagrande