December 2002

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27 December 2002 Jos Verstappen hinted that he is about to close a deal with Minardi for a drive in 2003.

27 December 2002 Leo Ress, who has worked for Suaber inninterruptedly since 1985, has left the team. Ress, who was Research and Development Chief, felt that the budget allocated for the expansion of his department was not up to standard.

24 December 2002 Toyota Team Principal Ove Andersson received the Motorprince Medal from Princess Lilian of Swededn at the weekend in recognition of his "successful establishment of Toyota’s F1 Team and for many years performing as a top driver and team leader in the world of rallying". 23 December 2002 Alex Zanardi, the former Formula 1 driver who lost both his legs in a CART accident in September 2001, drove a specially modified Kart at the recent Bologna motor show. The drive was his first appearance in a competition vehicle since the accident. Raptous applause from the public accompanied his drive.

23 December 2002 The MP4/17D, the car that McLaren will use the opening rounds of the 2003 season, will be an almost completely new machine, according to McLaren Managing Director Martin Whitmarsh. THe official 2003 contender, the MP4/18, will debut at the San MArino GP.

22 December 2002 David Richards said that the BAR team will not go ahead with the rumoured name change next year. Richards wanted to remove the "British American" part from the team's name, since British American Tobacco, which provided the capital to start up the team, will not be a sponsor of the team in the long run. The name change was expected to be part of the new corporate identity to be introduced in 2003.

21 December 2002 Niki Lauda has agreed to dissolve his contract with Jaguar. The Austrian also decided not to stay on in an advisory role, neither will he stay on Ford’s books until the end of 2004 season. The former Wolrd Champion told Austrian TV that he could see no reson to stay and that there was nothing for him to do. A condition of his contract termination is that he is not allowed to help another Formula 1 team in 2003.

21 December 2002 Jaguar will launch its 2003 Formula 1 contender, the R4-Cosworth on the 21st od January. The launch will take place online. The decision not to have a traditional launch was taken following the restructuration of the company, that lead to the cull of 70 staff. A spokesman for the team said that it would have been insensitive to waste large amount of money on a lauch.

20 December 2002 Alex Yoong is in talk with Minardi over a possible testing role in 2003. Yong has laready decided to drive in CART in 2003, but staying on at Minardi as a test driver would ensure that the team keeps the Malaysian sponsor.

18 December 2002 Takuma Sato has signed a three-year contract with BAR as reserve driver for 2003, with the option of becoming a race driver in 2004 and 2005. BAR Team Principal David Richards said that the team is delighted to have Sato on board and that he is the brightest talent to have emerged from Japan to date. Takuma Sato was at Jordan last season, but was forced to leave because of the team's sponsorship problems. Sato's departure from Jordan leaves the door open for Eddie Irvine. Jordan's sponsor Benson and Hedges have been unhappy about the lack of a British driver, but Irvine's arrival could mean an increase in sponsorship.

17 December 2002 Brazilian oil company Petrobras and Williams have extended until 2004 their technical and sponsorship association, that started in 1998. Petrobras provides the race fuels for both the Mecachrome/Supertec and the BMW powerplants.

17 December 2002 Former World Champion Mika Häkkinen may have left Formula 1, but he has not left motor racing altogether. In late January the Finn will take part in the Lapland rally, the opening round of the FIA European Rally Championship. Häkkinen stressed that he had always wanted to give rallying a go, but that he has no intention of starting a new career in rallying.

17 December 2002 During the Christmas press dinner Ferrari president Luca Cordero di Montezemolo warned Ecclestone that times are hard for Formula 1 and that if a compromise is not found with the car manufacturers by 2007, the alternative championship will become a reality. He also warned that an era has ended and that it ios necessary to start changing things from 2004. He also confirmed that Ferrari intends to stay with Bridgestone tyres.

16 December 2002 The FIA has announced today that the Friday morning test sessions will go ahead despite the announcement from Sauber announcing today the team would not take part. The FIA released a statement saying that because the minimum number of teams (three) have applied, a two hour test session will be run on the Friday of each event in the 2003 FIA Formula 1 World Championship. Teams taking advantage of the new two hour session will limit their other testing to 10 days during the F1 season (from March to October).

16 December 2002 Justin Wilson is one of Minardi's drivers for 2003, after agreeing a personal sponsorship package of 2 million pounds. Wilson was lined up for a drive at Minardi last year but missed out because he was too tall. However, he is able to fit inside the Minardi 2003 contender. Wilson has signed a driving contract with Minardi for three years.

16 December 2002 Jacques Villeneuve told British magazine Autosposrt that he might leave Formula 1 when his contract expires at the end of 2003, unless he receives an offer from a top team. The ex-World Champion is tired of being constantly at the end of the grid.

16 December 2002 Paul Stoddart said that he has no intention of shutting down the Faenza facility and move the Minardi HQ to the UK. The workforce, based mainly in Faenza, came as part of his purchase of the team in 2001 and Stoddard, speaking to the BBC, said that he quickly discovered that the biggest asset he bought was the actual workforce.

16 December 2002 The final day of the "Thunder in China" spectacular organised by the Minardi team and alloy wheel maker BSA at the Goldenport circuit in Beijing had to be ended early due to snow. Minardi made history by becoming the first team ever to run a Formula 1 display in China. A similar event is planned for May 2003.

15 December 2002 Test results from Jerez:

1. A. Davidson BAR Honda BAR004 B 1:21.254 78 laps 2. M. Webber Jaguar Cosworth R3B M 1:21.549 53 laps 3. F. Alonso Renault Renault R202B M 1:21.635 19 laps 4. S. Bourdais Renault Renault R202 M 1:21.754 47 laps 5. F. Montagny Renault Renault R202 M 1:22.159 33 laps 6. K. Matsuura BAR Honda BAR004 B 1:23.154 44 laps 7. A. Pizzonia Jaguar Cosworth R3B M 1:23.624 17 laps

14 December 2002 Test results from Jerez:

1. K. Räikkönen McLaren Mercedes MP4/17B M 1:19.774 49 laps 2. M. Webber Jaguar Cosworth R3B M 1:20.304 95 laps 3. A. Davidson BAR Honda 003B B 1:20.657 54 laps 4. A. Wurz McLaren Mercedes MP4/17B M 1:20.905 76 laps 5. R. Schumacher Williams BMW FW24B M 1:21.352 75 laps 6. F. Alonso Renault Renault R202B M 1:22.076 70 laps 7. M. Gené Williams BMW FW24B M 1:22.228 62 laps 8. J. Button BAR Honda 003B B 1:22.652 72 laps 9. S. Bourdais Renault Renault R202 M 1:23.700 22 laps 10. F. Montagny Renault Renault R202 M 1:24.480 48 laps

14 December 2002 The World Council has unanimously authorised the FIA President Max Mosley to send a strong-worded letter, which was released to the press, to EU Health Commissioner David Byrne. The letter concerns the issue of tobacco advertising inside the EU. The letter condemns the European Union for its decision to bring forward the tobacco advertising ban to July 2005 rather than 2006, a decision that will probably prompt the FIA to drop the self-imposed tobacco ban.

14 December 2002 The FIA World Council yesterday rubber-stamped the rule changes passed by the F1 Commission in October, clearing the way for them to be introduced in 2003.

13 December 2002 Despite earlier reports, free-to-air (FTA) channels will not carry pictures from the digital Formula One service. Bernie Ecclestone has decided to stop the service altogether. The company running digital is due to shut down, putting over 200 people out of a job. The reason behind the decision is purely financial. The cost of shipping the digital equipment to each GP venue would only make sense if enough revenue was generated through pay-per-view. With FTA channels the revenue would be nil. While the FTA service is going ahead as planned in 2003, with the feed being provided by the host country broadcast service, Ecclestone is planning to make changes to it in 2004.

13 December 2002 British motorsport magazine Autosport has reported that Renault has been testing a revolutionary suspension system aimed at maximising tyre grip and reducing wear. The system, called OPT (Optimal Contact Patch) has been tested in Spain in alliance with tyre supplier Michelin. Not enough details of OPT are known to assess whether the it complies with the FIA regulations about active suspensions. Jaguar are rumoured to be developing a similar system for the R4, though the car has been designed to run both vario-camber suspension and a conventional set-up.

12 December 2002 Holland Media Group’s (HMG) sealed a personal sponsorship deal with Jos Verstappen, increasing his chances of landing the Minardi seat in 2003. Christijan Albers, who has secured 5 million US dollars in backing , has already reached a verbal agreement with Stoddart, so Minardi could have two Dutch drivers next season.

12 December 2002 Test results from Jerez:

1. F. Alonso Renault Renault R202B M 1:21.782 71 laps 2. A. Wurz McLaren Mercedes MP4/17B M 1:21.868 48 laps 3. R. Schumacher Williams BMW FW24B M 1:21.872 81 laps 4. K. Räikkönen McLaren Mercedes MP4/17B M 1:22.424 44 laps 5. A. Pizzonia Jaguar Cosworth R3B M 1:23.035 87 laps 6. J. Trulli Renault Renault R202 M 1:23.401 46 laps 7. M. Gené Williams BMW FW24B M 1:23.811 60 laps 8. M. Webber Jaguar Cosworth R3C M 1:24.276 24 laps

12 December 2002 Gerhard Berger will decide before Christmas whether to stay on in mototrsport after his contract with BMW expires in 2003, or wehther to move on to other activities.

12 December 2002 Oliver Behring of prospective Arrows investor German Grand Prix Racing has annulled its agreement to buy a stake in the team. Behring told the the DPA agency that all contracts with Arrows have been cancelled.

12 December 2002 Ross Brawn has confirmed that Ferrari will start the 2003 season with the F2002, the 2002 contender. The F2003 will probably debut at the San Marino GP on 20 April 2003.

11 December 2002 The Belgian parliament rejected a proposal to delay the tobacco adevrtising ban in order to try and get the Belgian GP back into the 2003 calendar. it is now certain that the Belgian GP will not be included in next season's schedule.

10 December 2002 The Jordan team and H.-H. Frentzen have agreed a settlement, ending their legal dispute. Frentzen was sacked by the Jordan team by fax just before the German GP in July 2001. Frentzen, who got a driving seat at Prost after leaving Jordan, had brought legal action against the team for breach of contract.

10 December 2002 German media company EM.TV has won a court order in Jersey to prevent the German banks overseeing the SLEC shares from taking control of its 16.7% stake in the Formula One commercial trust.

9 December 2002 R. Schumacher is expected to receive a road ban and a 1,000 pounds fine after being stopped for peeding for the third time. The German was stopped by the police while he was driving to a BMW Christmas party in Kitzbuehel (Austria) travelling at 130 kmh instead of the 80 kmh limit. In 1996 he was banned from driving for a month and last year he received a 14 days ban for speeding.

8 December 2002 Dutch driver Christijan Albers is rumoured to be close to a driving deal with Minardi. According to Dutch newspaper De Limburger Albers, who has test driven for Minardi before and participated in its two-seater open days, has apparently managed to put together a 5 million US dollars personal sponsorship package and has reached a verbal agreement with Paul Stoddart.

7 December 2002 The investors behind the Arrows team are going to have a meeting with FIA in a last-ditch attempt to gain entry to the 2003 Championship. Oliver Behring, the group’s leader, will attempt to reach an agreement with FIA, which did not give a reason for the team's exclusion from next season's Championship.

7 December 2002 The FIA has warned the major car manufacturers that it will not sanction a rival Championship to Formula 1. Max Mosley said that FIA would authorise a manufacturer series, but not a replacement to Formula 1. Bernie Ecclestone called off an important upcoming meeting with the firms in Germany after the manufacturers failed to respond to plans to give them more control over how Formula 1 is run. The meeting was to be held at the headquarters of DaimlerChrysler in Stuttgart.

7 December 2002 Minardi will be the first team to give China a taste of Formula 1. On Sunday the 15th of December the team will run a two-seater display at a circuit near Beijing. The event has been named "Thunder in China" and is aimed at increasing interest in Formula 1 in China.

6 December 2002 The remaining Arrows staff based at Leafield has been made redundant after the team was excluded from the 2003 Championship. The reason given for the redundancy is that the promised investors money has not materialised. A number of employees had resigned last month, but it is believed that about 160 people had stayed with the team. Employees of team principal Tom Walkinshaw's TWR engineering group were not included in the redundancy run.

5 December 2002 British American Racing will launch their 2003 contender, the 005, at Barcelona on the 14th of January.

5 December 2002 The Jordan team has denied that driver Takuma Sato has been dropped by the team, despite his name not being included in the official list of drivers for 2003. A spokeperson for the team said that whoever drives for Jordan alongside Fisichella next season will have to bring a considerable personal sponsorship. Jordan recently lost its main sponsor, Deutsche Post.

5 December 2002 There are reports that Charlie Whiting could be the replacement for Niki Lauda at Jaguar.

5 December 2002 Jaguar technical director, Guenther Steiner, has been replaced by David Pitchforth as part of the ongoing team restructuration. Aerodynamicist Mark Handford is another casualty of the Jaguar streamline exercise.

4 December 2002 Test results from Barcelona:

1. O. Panis Toyota Toyota TF102 M 1:17.196 74 laps 2. A. Wurz McLaren Mercedes MP4/17D M 1:17.445 75 laps 3. D. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes MP4/17D M 1:17.641 48 laps 4. M. Webber Jaguar Cosworth R3 M 1:17.812 55 laps 5. R. Schumacher Williams BMW FW24 M 1:17.835 53 laps 6. J. P Montoya Williams BMW FW24 M 1:17.980 47 laps 7. M. Gene Williams BMW FW24 M 1:18.016 69 laps 8. A. Davidson BAR Honda BAR 004 B 1:19.423 77 laps 9. A. Pizzonia Jaguar Cosworth R3 M 1:20.133 48 laps 10. F. Alonso Renault Renault R202 M 1:20.863 65 laps 11. R. Dumas Renault Renault R202 M 1:21.277 41 laps 12. T. Monteiro Renault Renault R202 M 1:25.064 19 laps

3 December 2002 Renault will hold a dopuble launch next year. The first launch will take place at the Lucerne Culture and Convention Centre in Lucerne Switzerland on the 20th January. In this occasion the R23 and its new livery with the logos of the new backers will be unveiled. Drivers Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso will be present. The second launch will take place on the 23rd of January at the Paul Ricard facility in France and it will be held in order to enable the press to see the new car running on a former Formula 1 circuit.

3 December 2002 Antonio Pizzonia has suffered a second crash at Barcelona within a week. Pizzonia wrote off a Jaguar S-Type road car last week during promotional work. This morning the Brazilian crashed a R3c. Apparently only the right hand side of the car is mildly damaged. The mechanics are working to get the car ready for more testing.

3 December 2002 Niki Lauda has hinted that he could accept the advisor role at Ford offered to him when he was removed form his post at Jaguar.

3 December 2002 Daniele Audetto, commercial director of the TWR group, said that the Arrows team intend to take legal action in a bid to get their 2003 Formula 1 Championship entry accepted. The team is set to ask for the intervention of the F1 commission in the matter.

2 December 2002 US marketing and promotion giant Interpublic, parent company to Octagon Motorsports, has issued a profit warning. This is bad news for Octagon Motorsports, which owns the rights to the British Grand Prix and the lease to the Silverstone circuit, because the funds needed for the crucial redevelopment of the Silverstone circuit are now in doubt. The first stage of the Silvertone upgrade was carried out this year but much more needs to be done to turn the circuit into a world-class facility. Bernie Ecclestone, who had agreed to share the 92 million US dollars upgrade cost with the British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC), said that he would be sad to lose the British GP, but that there are plenty of other country queuing for the chance to host a Formula 1 GP.

2 December 2002 Rupert Manwaring, Minardi's Commercial Director, has reportedly left the team after two years. The reasons of his departure are not known, but he is rumoured to have taken up a job with racing car constructor Lola.

2 December 2002 Arrows will not partecipate in the 2003 Formula 1 Championship. The team claims to have submitted its entry form on time and to have paid the deposit, but FIA declined the application for reasons that have been communicated to Arrows but not made public. The FIA has issued the official entry list for the 2003 Formula 1 World Championship, which includes only 10 teams and not Arrows.

The 2003 entry list for the FIA Formula 1 World Championship:

1. Michael Schumacher Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro FERRARI 2. Rubens Barrichello Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro FERRARI 3. Juan Pablo Montoya BMW WilliamsF1 Team WILLIAMS BMW 4. Ralf Schumacher BMW WilliamsF1 Team WILLIAMS BMW 5. David Coulthard West McLaren Mercedes MCLAREN MERCEDES 6. Kimi Raikkonen West McLaren Mercedes MCLAREN MERCEDES 7. Jarno Trulli Mild Seven Renault F1 Team RENAULT 8. Fernando Alonso Mild Seven Renault F1 Team RENAULT 9. Nick Heidfeld Sauber Petronas SAUBER PETRONAS 10. Heinz-Harald Frentzen Sauber Petronas SAUBER PETRONAS 11. Giancarlo Fisichella Jordan Ford JORDAN FORD 12. TBA Jordan Ford JORDAN FORD 14. Mark Webber Jaguar Racing JAGUAR COSWORTH 15. Antonio Pizzonia Jaguar Racing JAGUAR COSWORTH 16. Jacques Villeneuve Lucky Strike BAR Honda BAR HONDA 17. Jenson Button Lucky Strike BAR Honda BAR HONDA 18. TBA TBA Minardi TBA MINARDI COSWORTH 19. TBA TBA Minardi TBA MINARDI COSWORTH 20. Olivier Panis Panasonic Toyota Racing TOYOTA 21. Cristiano da Matta Panasonic Toyota Racing TOYOTA

2 December 2002 Minardi has signed a one-year deal with engine supplier Cosworth. The deal is for the V10 engine, with an option to extend the deal in the future.

1 December 2002 Villeneuve will again have exclusive use of the BAR t-car in 2003, according to David Richards. The privilege is apparently part of Jacques' deal with the team.

Last updated on by Federica Massagrande