December 1999

31 December 1999 Jacques Villeneuve and Dannii Minogue have married in a private ceremony on a boat in Sydney harbour.

28 December 1999 Williams announced that their 2000 car will be launched on 10 January. They also confimed the driver line-up, Ralf Schumacher and Alessandro Zanardi.

24 December 1999 Spaniard Pedro Martinez De La Rosa has been confimed at Arrows for 2000. No news yet on who will be his team mate.

22 December 1999 Toyota has been given the formal authorisation to enter F1 in 2001. It is now up to the Japanese company to decide whether to start racing in 2001 or wait for the following season.

16 December 1999 Michelin have announced their intention of returning to F1 in 2001, supplying tyres to Williams-BMW. Before 2003 Michelin will also be a Toyota partner.

14 December 1999 Toyota have registered for the 2001 F1 Champhionship as twelfth team. Some critics have said that Toyota does not intend to take part in the 2001 season, thus incurring in the 12 million dollars fine. The fine would still be cheaper than buying a whole F1 team to rebrand. Toyota would then have a guaranteed place in the 2002 season, which would be their real intended entry date.

14 December 1999 The F1 commission in London has decided to forbid the use of engines of more than 10 cylinders starting immediately until the 2007 season (included). FIA is expected to confirm the decision in the forthcoming World Council. Another decision which seems to have gone through is the prohibition of testing in November and December, starting from 2000.

14 December 1999 Nelson Piquet said that Rubens Barrichello has no chance of winning the 2000 Championship since he is not used to driving in a top team and that in his first year in Ferrari he will learn a awful lot.

13 December 1999 Italian F3000 Champion Giorgio Vinella and Spaniard Fernando Alonso (winner of the Spanish EuroOpen by Nissan Championship) have tested the Minardi M01 in Jerez. Gabriele Rumi, Giancarlo Minardi and Cesare Fiorio were pleasantly surprised by the performance of the two young drivers. They even had to tell Alonso (18) to slow down during his first lap in the rain. Rumi said that they are happy to spend money to test new drivers and pointed out taht they are the only team that still tries out new drivers.

13 December 1999 Toyota senior managing director Akihiko Saito said that they would like to enter F1 in 2001 rather than the original date of 2003, if possible. It would be Toyota's biggest investment in motor sport.

12 December 1999 The Motorshow in Bologna (Italy) has opened a section containing 30 classic F1 cars, going from the Alfa Romeo 158 in which Giuseppe Farina won his first title to the McLaren-Mercedes MP4/14 in which Mika Hakkinen won this year's Drivers title and the Ferrari F399 winner of the Constructors title. Other cars on show are the Ferrari 500 F2 (1952 and 1953 titles with Alberto Ascari), the Mercedes W196 (Fangio 1955), the Maserati 250F (Fangio 1957), the Brabham BT14, the Tecno PA 123, the 1973 Ferrari B3 with the revolutionary nose design and the 1957 Williams-Ford. Also present is the 1979 Renault RS 10, which opened the turbo F1 era. The show also includes a photographic section depicting the most important F1 events of the last 50 years and a set of technical drawings from the archive of the Italian magazine Quattroruote (which sponsors the F1 section of the show). A selection of privately owned helmets and overalls is also included. A reproduction of a pit garage has also been built to allow the public to see what goes on behind the scene during a GP.

11 December 1999 Michelin is rumoured to have decided to return to F1 with Williams and Prost. The official announcement is expected early next year.

11 December 1999 Coulthard was fastest in the second day of testing in Spain, ahead of Trulli, Panis, Heidfield, Diniz and Alesi.

The test times at Montmeló (Friday):

1.Coulthard (McLaren) 1’21"640 (18 laps) 2. Panis (McLaren) 1’21"980 (37 laps) 3. Trulli (Jordan) 1’22"13 (35 laps) 4. R. Schumacher (Williams) 1’23"000 (22 laps) 5. Diniz (Sauber) 1’23"020 (47 laps) 6. Heidfeld (Prost) 1’23"720 (27 laps) 7. Alesi (Prost) 1’24"080 (2 laps) 8. De la Rosa (Arrows) 1’25"090 (52) laps 9. Webber (Arrows) 1’26"560 10 Henge (Jordan) 1’26"57 (11 laps)

The test times at Montmeló (Thursday):

1. Coulthard (Mclaren) 1’22"090 (47 laps) 2. Trulli (Jordan) 1’22"640 (47 laps) 3. Panis (McLaren) 1’22"970 (22 laps) 4. Heidfeld (Prost) 1’23"000 (57 laps) 5. Diniz (Sauber) 1’23"090 (54 laps) 6. Alesi (Prost) 1’23"660 (60 laps) 7. R. Schumacher (Williams) 1’24"380 (33 laps) 8. De La Rosa (Arrows) 1’24"490 9. Webber (Arrows) 1’27"960

10 December 1999 Minardi have called Brazilian Max Wilson and Argentine Norberto Fontana (both from F3000) to test the car next week in Jerez.

9 December 1999 In an interview at the Motor Show in Bologna, Irvine was asked what was different for him at Suzuka that caused his performance to be worse that earlier in the year. Irvine explained that at Nürburgring and Sepang he had had a new bottom for the car that was very good. In Suzuka Ross Brawn decided not to use it, but to go back to the one used previously, reducing the performance of Irvine's car. Irvine added that despite the changes in the car for the last race, he had not lost the title in Japan but in the preceeding races: France, Great Britain, Germany and Italy.

9 December 1999 Zanardi will not take part in Saturday's tests with Williams as scheduled. His place will be taken by German driver Jörg Müller.

6 December 1999 BAR is the first team to have completed the 2000 car, which will debut tomorrow at Silverstone with Zonta. The first tests will take place next week at Jerez. The day after Jaguar will carry out aerodynamic tests at Danielson (France) with Burti.

5 December 1999 Interlagos has won a contract to continue hosting the Brazilian GP until 2004, provided that works on the escape routes and pits are completed by the start of the season.

5 December 1999 Despite having been reassured about his future at Williams, Zanardi said he believes his 2000 drive might still be in doubt.

4 December 1999 BAR have confirmed their management lineup for 2000. Pollock will stay on as president, while Reynard will supervise the technical development.

4 December 1999 M. Schumacher said that he is still having problems with his leg and still can not run or undergo his normal training programme. He is not going to test until the new car is ready. Barrichello and Badoer will carry out all the testing for Ferrari until next year.

3 December 1999 In his second day of testing at Fiorano, Barrichello has improved on his time from the day before. He managed to get his lap time down to 1'01"235, very close to the track record for that car of 1'00"881 achieved by Luca Badoer on 19 October.

2 December 1999 Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica today took over privately-owner Italian team Minardi after months of negotiations. Telefonica had sponsored Minardi Spanish driver Marc Gené in his first season in Formula 1. The money from the deal is expected to be used by Minardi to buy 99-specification CR-1 Ford engines (used by Stewart in 99) for next season. Apparently Bernie Ecclestone intervened personally with Ford after SuperTec said they did not want to supply Minardi with the engines. It is not yet known whether Gabriele Rumi and Giancarlo Minardi will stay in the management of the team, or whether Telefonica will set up their own management team. Following the deal it is possible that the second Minardi driver will be Spanish too.

2 December 1999 The Williams team has denied rumours that Zanardi is leaving the team. A Williams spokeswoman said the current situation is that Zanardi is still under contract.

1 December 1999 The very first session of tests at Jerez before the 2000 season saw Coulthard clock the fastest time. Trulli tested for the first time in the Jordan and Alesi in the Prost. The test session also represented the debut in F1 of Nick Heidfield. R. Schumacher with the new BMW engine was the slowest. Barrichello tested the Ferrari F399 at Fiorano, clocking a best time of 1m9s, despite having problems with the brakes. He said: "It's a great emotion to see my name written on the red car. I'm delighted to be here. I feel like I have driven this car for longer because I feel very much at ease in it. It seems to be okay. I have a small problem with the brakes because I have to brake with my left foot, which I'm not used to. But I'm doing fine."

The test times at Jerez:

COULTHARD, D. McLaren Mercedes 1m24.74s TRULLI, J. Jordan Mugen-Honda 1m26.99s ALESI, J. Prost Peugeot 1m27.04s HEIDFELD, N. Prost Peugeot 1m27.63s SCHUMACHER, R. Williams BMW 1m29.30s

1 December 1999 After a long phone call between Ferrari's Claudio Berro and Stewart's Cameron Kelleher the situation regarding Barrichello's presence at the press conference was clarified. Stewart agreed that a quick exchange between Barrichello donning a Ferrari overall and the journalists did not break the terms of the agreement.

1 December 1999 Stewart rang Ferrari just before Rubens Barrichello was due to take part in a press conference asking for the conference to be cancelled. Ferrari decided to go ahead with the press conference, but not to allow the journalists to ask Barrichello any questions. Instead, the Brazilian gave a greeting in Italian, Portoguese and English. Ferrari spokeperson Claudio Berro said that Ferrari and Stewart (soon to become Jaguar) have an agreement that have allowed the two teams to exchange drivers (Barrichello and Irvine) before the end of their respective contracts, with the proviso that they would not be involved in promotion activities. Ferrari did not consider a meeting with the press a promotion of their sponsors, but an information-exchanging activity.

1 December 1999 Ferrari are expected to present the car for 2000, the F320, at Maranello on 25 January.

Last updated on by Federica Massagrande