February 2000

28 February 2000 Arrows have postponed the launch of their new car (scheduled for today), to mid week in order to redesign the livery to accomodate a new major sponsor.

25 February 2000 Benetton has entered talks with Renault over selling part of the company to the French engine manufacturer.

23 February 2000 After the trouble with getting his superlicense, Jenson Button suffered more bad luck when he pulled a muscle in his back during training. The doctors advised him to rest but it is believed that the injury will not prevent him from partecipating in the Australian GP.

21 February 2000 Arrows continue to surprise with their performance during the private tests in Montmelo (though it is likely that the cars are running light). Verstappen today ran a best lap of 1'20"36, while De La Rosa had managed 1'20"24 a few days ago.

20 February 2000 Ecclestone has threatened to take all GPs except two or three out of Europe over the anti-trust action the EU is taking against him.

17 February 2000 Arrows will launch their 2000 car on 28 February in Leasfield.

16 February 2000 Minardi will present their 2000 contender, the M02, this evening at the Guggenheim Museum of Modern Art in Bilbao. The choice of location was determined by Minardi's main sponsor, Telefonica. The car will be powered by the Ford 99 engine (Fondmetal). Preview photographs of the car are already available from the Teams pages.

15 February 2000 FIA president Max Mosley has warned Jenson Button and Williams that the young driver might not be able to compete in 2000 because he still does not have a driver super-license. Button must drive 300 km in two days and receive the official approval of 18 of the 26 members of the F1 commission before he can take part in the Australian GP on 12 March.

15 February 2000 Bernie Ecclestone's plan of floating FOA hit problems when Morgan Grenfell (owned by the Deutsche Bank), refused to buy 37.5 percent of the society. According to the Financial Times the fiasco was caused by the refusal by other potential pertners (such as the Benetton family and German TV station EM.TV) to take part in the operation. The sale of 50 percent of FOA was included in the agreement of 26 October, when Ecclestone announced the sale of 12.5 percent of FOA to Morgan Grenfell for 640 billion lire, with the option to sell the remaining 37.5 percnet for another 200 billion lire. The agreement was meant to be the first step towards floating FOA in either the London or the Frankfurt Exchange. The main source of the problems is the controversy about the monopoly of the F1 TV broadcast rights, which break European anti-trust laws according to the European Commission.

15 February 2000 German paper Bild published an article yesterday alleging that FIA is investigating the new Ferrari F1 2000 because the two wings by the side of the cockpit, despite complying with the rules, would not offer any protection to the driver in case of accident. Apparently the Jordan cars also suffer from the same design fault. A Ferrari spokeperson said that they do not intend to comment on news that are not verified and lack any grounds, published by "a certain type of press" and also available on the Internet. According to Bild, one of the investigators is Jo Bauer, the same one who denounced the perceived irregularity of Ferrari's bargeboards in Malayasia in 1999.

14 February 2000 Gaston Mazzacane (2000) is Minardi's new driver. The Argentinian has just signed a contract with the team for 2000 with an option for the following year.

14 February 2000 Ecclestone and German TV group EM.TV Merchandising have denied being in talks about buying FOA, the society that manages F1 TV broadcast rights.

10 February 2000 Jordan driver Frentzen is rumoured to have signed a letter of interest over moving to the Jaguar team in 2001.

7 February 2000 Ferrari's 2000 contender, the F1-2000, has been presented today. The car is powered by a new V10-90 degrees engine, the 049. Photographs of the car are available from the Teams pages.

4 February 2000 The lawyer of ex-model Marcella Prado has asked for Ayrton Senna's body to be exhumed to take a DNA sample. The sample is to be used to prove that the driver was the father of Prado's six year old daughter, Vittoria.

4 February 2000 Eddie Jordan is gathering the money required to ensure that Ireland can host a GP in the future. The Jordan team owner said that he cannot imagine anything better than having a GP in Dublin. Irish industrialist Jim Mansfield is a possible partner in the project and would like to build a race track to the south-west of Dublin.

3 February 2000 Todat at the presentation of McLaren's 2000 car, the MP4/15, Ron Dennis announced that Daimler-Chrysler has bought 40 percent of TAG McLaren shares. Photographs of the car are available from the Teams pages.

2 February 2000 The FIA has accused European Commission representatives of creating a "hopeless muddle of facts" during their investigation into the organisation's competitive practices. FIA has contacted the EU Commissioner for Competition, Professor Monti, asking for an independent inquiry into the FIA investigation, and to have the results of such inquiry published. FIA also asked for the EU officials working on the case to be removed, and replaced with "objective" personnel. FIA also wants the EU to give them "immediate access to all documents on file which are being improperly witheld" and to agree to an oral hearing open to the press. Last year the EU had had to apologise to FIA over leaked prejudicial documents. EU had started proceedings against FIA in June 1999 on the ground that FIA was "abusing its dominant position and restricting competition".

1 February 2000 Prost presented their 2000 contender, the AP03, in Barcelona. The AP03 is not an evolution of last year's car, but a new development. It was designed mainly by John Barnard with help from Prost technical director Alan Jenkins. The AP03 features a very low and tapered 'coke bottle' rear-end with no central wing mounting and is powered by Peugeot's new ultra-compact A20 engine. Internet company Yahoo joined the team as secondary sponsor in a three-year deal though to be worth 25 million dollars, while Gauloises remains the title sponsor. Photographs of the car are available from the Teams pages.

Last updated on by Federica Massagrande