February 2001

28 February 2001 Patrick Faure, the patron of Renault Sport, said in an interview to newspaper Les Echos that the Benetton-Renault team will start the 2002 season with the aim to beat McLaren and Ferrari and win the Championship as early as possible.

28 February 2001 According to the Financial Times, Em.TV is to increse its own partecipation in SLEC from 50 percent to 75 percent today. Em.TV is currently in the process of being taken over by the Kirch Gruppe. Some car manufacturers involved in Formula 1 have threatened to start a parallel Championship if the transaction went ahead.

28 February 2001 The new Prost AP04 was unveiled today in Melbourne.

28 February 2001 The new Minardi PS01 was presented in Melbourne today. The car will use in 2001 the same Ford Zetec engine the team used last season, rebranded "European", though Stoddart said that all links with Cosworth have been severed.

27 February 2001 Luca Cordero di Montezemolo said that Ferrari is not fully prepared for the new Formula 1 season, just like their rivals McLaren. The team dedicated less time than desirable to the new F2001 car because all energies had been devoted to the title winning F2000 thoughout the whole of last year. Luca di Montezemolo said that he derives some comfort from the news that McLaren are not completely ready either.

27 February 2001 Mika Häkkinen said that he does not expect his car to be faster than M. Schumacher's Ferrari in the first GP of the 2001 season, scheduled for this weekend at Melbourne. The Finn reckons that there are still too many problems with his McLaren, but he also has lots of faith in the team and he is sure that he will soon be fighting for the title. He is not worried about losing points in Australia.

27 February 2001 Ferrari will never accept the situation in which one pay TV holds the exclusive rights to Formula 1 broadscat, according to Ferrari president Luca Cordero di Montezemolo.

27 February 2001 Juergen Hubbert, a manager of the DaimlerChrysler group, said that car manufacturers involved in Formula 1 want one third of SLEC, the company that controls Formula 1 commercial rights.

27 February 2001 Pedro De La Rosa has denied doing anything wrong by walking out on Prost. The Spaniard claims that he never signed a contract with Prost and that the team had announced the deal before the paperwork was completed.

26 February 2001 The court session scheduled for today in Bruxelles, where M. Schumacher was supposed to appear after having been sued by Bell Helmets, has been postponed to next Wednesday. Belgian company Bell Helmets maintains that M. Schumacher has signed a contract with them to use only their helmets in all motoring events he would take part in for the whole of 2001, with an option for 2002. M. Schumacher has recently started using a different helmet produced by a German firm.

25 February 2001 Minardi was the first team to arrive in Melbourne for the start of the 2001 Formula 1 Championship. All the other teams are expected to arrive tomorrow.

25 February 2001 M. Schumacher will appear in a Bruxelles court tomorrow, having been sued by the Belgian company that produces the helmet that the current World Champion used up until a few weeks ago. Sports Europe says that M. Schumacher has signed a contract that ties him to using a "Bell" brand helmet for the whole of 2001 in every signle motoring event he takes part in. In a note the company says that they found out from a newspaper article that M. Schumacher has been using a helmet of a different make in several events. M. Schumacher risks having to pay up to 250 million Italian lire for every day he appears with his new helmet produced in Germany.

25 February 2001 A spokeperson for Kirch said that the group has received a guarantee for a loan of 550 million US dollars to buy 25 percent of the share of SLEC owned by Em.TV, and another 987 million US dollars for an option to buy a further 25 percent. Currently Em.TV owns 50 percent of Formula 1 broadcast rights, with the rest in the hands of Bernie Ecclestone. If the Kirch Group decided to take up the option, they would gain control of 75 percent of SLEC.

24 February 2001 Dutch driver Christijan Albers has signed a contract with Minardi as test driver for the coming season.

24 February 2001 The Ferrari V10 engines that Prost Grand Prix will use in the 2001 season will be badged ACER. The new AP04 car will enter the Formula 1 Championship under the name Prost ACER.

23 February 2001 The FIA World Council has approved the liberalisation of electronics in Formula 1, only a few days after the teams all agreed to it unanimously. The new regulations will come into effect on the 18th of April, a few days before the Spanish GP.

22 February 2001 Ferrari have renewed the sponsorship contract with Philip Morris until the end of the 2006 season. The announcement proves wrong the recent rumours that Philip Morris were planning to leave Formula 1 at the end of 2001.

22 February 2001 Only 35 percent of the tickets for the Malaysian GP have been sold so far. The circuit management is expecting the peak of the sale to happen after the Australian GP.

22 February 2001 Patrick Faure, of Renault Sport, said in an interview to a French newspaper that they will refuse to participate in any competition broadcast solely via pay TV. Renault are set to return to Formula 1 next year after completing the acquisition of Benetton.

21 February 2001 Fiat, DaimlerChrysler, Ford, BMW and Renault are threatening to create a Championship parallel to the FIA Formula 1 Championship, after the Kirch Group entered the management of SLEC. The car manufacturers are worried that from 2004 the races will be broadcast only through Leo Kirch's pay TV channels. The manufacturers have apparently already asked Bernie Ecclestone to organise the parallel Championship.

21 February 2001 Prost Grand Prix have released an official statement saying that Pedro De La Rosa had signed an agreement giving the team exclusive rights on his test driver's services. The team intends to exercise its rights against him as well as against his representatives and agents and if necessary against the team's competitor.

21 February 2001 Tarso Marques has signed a one-year contract with Minardi to take the second driving seat, with the option ot extend for another year.

20 February 2001 The police department in Aachen (Germany) has official started an enquiry into M. Schumacher's involvement with the theft of documents relating to Frank Saasen, a M. Schumacher impersonator. The enquiry is standard procedure following the complaint made to the police by the talent agency that employs Frank Saasen. M. Schumacher has denied any involvement with the break-in into the agency offices.

19 February 2001 Pedro De La Rosa has unexpectedly pulled out of the Prost Grand Prix deal to join Jaguar Racing as test driver. The Spaniard, who was dropped by Arrows in favour of Enrique Bernoldi, had outpaced Prost's driver Mazzacane, fuelling speculation that he might replace the Argetinian. De La rosa is expected to be a driver at Jaguar in 2002.

19 February 2001 Jaguar Racing have denied that Pedro De La Rosa will replace Eddie Irvine in 2001. The statement follows rumours in the Spanish press that Irvine was due to be replaced after he raised criticism of the new Jaguar R2.

18 February 2001 M. Schumacher has expressed concern over the Kirch group's aquisition of 75% os SLEC. According to the current World Champion in an interview to German TV, there is a risk that Kirch will confine Formula 1 broadcast to pay per view TV only, drastically reducing the audience of the sport.

15 February 2001 Johnny Herbert has joined the Arrows team as a test driver for a year after failing to get a CART drive for the coming season.

14 February 2001 Bernie Ecclestone vetoed Leo Kirch's entry into the management of the Em.TV F1 broadcast rights, according to economics paper "Handelsblatt". Ecclestone claimed that the reason is that the society's rules prohibit any TV channel from joining SLEC. Kirch could only join as a passive investor. Ecclestone fears that if Kirch gains control of 49% of Em.TV, he could ally himself with his partner Thomas Haffa, who holds 26% of SLEC.

14 February 2001 Wolfgang Reitzle, president of Jaguar, said to weekly paper "Bunte" that 51-year-old Niki Lauda could work as a test driver for the team. Reitzle said that the idea comes from Jaguar's financial department, to help the ex-World Champion to increase his earnings but, he added, Lauda has not yet let his decision on the matter be known.

14 February 2001 Minardi have denied the rumour that Nigel Mansell might take the second driver seat. The English driver is a good friend of Minardi's new owner, Paul Stoddart, and could become involved with the team by driving guests around a circuit on Minardi's two seater.

13 February 2001 Rio de Janeiro paper "O Globo" published in the gossip column the news that Rubens Barrichello's wife, Silvana Giaffone, is expecting their first child.

13 February 2001 Ferrari have denied reports in the German press that sponsor Marlboro is planning to leave Formula 1 at the end of 2002, after 30 years. All tobacco advertising in Formula 1 is due to stop by 2006.

13 February 2001 Max Mosley has offered to drop his opposition to traction control if the Formula 1 teams agree to introduce the HANS system. HANS was developed by McLaren and Mercedes and it is intended to prevent serious neck injuries in case of heavy crashes. Mosley will make his peace offer to FIA tomorrow during a meeting. Some drivers are against the HANS system on the ground that it reduces their ability to lean into corners.

12 February 2001

The Valencia test times:

1 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes 1m13.40s 2 WURZ McLaren Mercedes 1m13.42s 3 FRENTZEN Jordan Honda 1m14.16s 4 BURTI Jaguar 1m14.42s 5 BERNOLDI Arrows AMT 1m14.48s 6 TRULLI Jordan Honda 1m14.77s 7 RAIKKONEN Sauber Petronas 1m15.64s 8 VERSTAPPEN Arrows AMT 1m15.76s 9 HEIDFELD Sauber Petronas 1m15.83s 10 IRVINE Jaguar 1m15.94s

The Kyalami test times:

1 SCHUMACHER Williams BMW 1m19.517s 2 MONTOYA Williams BMW 1m19.526s 3 VILLENEUVE BAR Honda 1m21.184s

The Estoril test times:

BUTTON Benetton Renault 1m21.097s

The Fiorano test times:

BARRICHELLO Ferrari 1m01.077s

12 February 2001 According to the Bild am Sonntag German newspaper, papers relating to M. Schumacher impersonator Frank Saasen have been stolen from a talent agency. Marc Schroder, the talent agency boss, believes that M. Schumacher and some of the people who manage him are responsible for the break-in and is threatening to sue the driver. M. Schumacher's lawyers have admitted to collecting papers about the agency, but have denied any involvement with the break-in.

11 February 2001 M. Schumacher said that he might stay tied to Ferrari after he stops racing through a contract with Fiat, the owner of Ferrari.

11 February 2001 Minardi have announced that they will use Michelin tyres in 2001. The team, that is still to name its second driver, also hopes to sign a new engine contract by mid-season.

9 February 2001 Tom Walkinshaw must pay Pedro Diniz half a million pounds after a court decided against the Arrows boss. Walkinshaw had started legal action against Diniz after he and his sponsor Parmalat cancelled their contract with Arrows at the end of 1998. Diniz, who joined Sauber, said that he had the right to leave since Arrows had failed to reach the performance targets specified in his contract. Walkinshaw claimed that Diniz's departure was a breach of contract and sued the driver to recover the sponsorship money he had lost. Walkinshaw argued that the team's failure to meet the tragets was due to Diniz's and Salo's inadequacies as drivers, but the Commercial High Court found in Diniz's favour.

9 February 2001 Prost Grand Prix have announced a partnership with British team RC Motorsport, involved with Formula 3000, for 2001. Prost Grand Prix also agreed a partnership with Italian team Cram Competition for Formula Renault.

9 February 2001 Italian Formula 3000 driver Andrea Piccini (22) has joined Minardi as test driver. Piccini will also race for the European Minardi team, also owned by Stoddart.

9 February 2001 Michael Birnbaum of EM.TV replied to Ecclestone's statements in the Wall Street Journal, saying that the talks with the Kirch group are proceeding. He added that Ecclestone could only veto a decision to sell the majority of EM.TV's interest in Formula 1, but the current talks with Kirch do not relate to a majority.

8 February 2001 Gianni Morbidelli's name has been mentioned as a possible second driver at Minardi. Morbidelli's last race in Formula 1 was in 1997 with the Sauber team.

8 February 2001 Bernie Ecclestone has said in an interview to the Wall Street Journal that he wants to veto the selling of 50 percent of EM.TV's interest in Formula 1 to the Kirch group.

8 February 2001 Jaguar's ex-technical director, Gary Anderson, who was recently "let go" by Bobby Rahal, has joined Reynard’s ChampCar operation.

7 February 2001 Bernie Ecclestone has denied defaulting on the payment agreed with FIA for the sole concession of Formula 1 TV broadcast rights to his family trust, SLEC. Ecclestone said that SLEC had complied with an agreement that had been fully approved by FIA in June. Ecclestone accepts that the agreement has not been finalised, but says that it has not been possible to do so, because EU competition commissioner Mario Monti has not signed the final settlement over the FIA's existing rights contract with SLEC.

7 February 2001 McLaren have launched their 2001 contender, the MP4-16. The car was completed early and David Coulthard has already tested it.

6 February 2001 The Prost Grand Prix team announced that Pedro De La Rosa has joined the team as test driver for the 2001 season. The Spaniard was recently "released" by Arrows in favour of Enrique Bernoldi and of his financial backers.

6 February 2001 The new Benetton-Renault, the B201, has been launched in San Marco Square in Venice, Italy.

6 February 2001 Formula 3000 driver Fernando Alonso will be one of the Minardi drivers in 2001, on loan from Benetton-Renault.

6 February 2001 Niki Lauda has been officially nominated responsible for the Racing Division of Jaguar Racing.

6 February 2001 According to the Financial Times, Bernie Ecclestone has not paid the 360 million dollars that he was due to pay by June in order to retain the Formula 1 TV broadcast rights. As a result, FIA is planning to sell the broadcast rights to The European Association of Manufacturers (Acea), led by Paolo Cantarella. Ecclestone has time until the 22nd of March, date of FIA's next meeting, to pay the debt.

5 February 2001 According to German paper Bild, former F1 driver and champion Niki Lauda has signed a two-year contract with Jaguar. Jaguar's patron, Wolfgang Reitzle, is a personal friend of Lauda.

5 February 2001 At the end of March Toyota will test their prototype for the 2002 season in their facilities in Germany. The official announcement was made today in Tokyo by Toyota, who said that, like Ferrari, they will produce the chassis and the engine in-house. The two Toyota drivers this year are Mika Salo and Alan McNish. The prototype will run on Michelin tyres and use Esso fuel and lubricants.

5 February 2001 It has emerged that Arrows decided to get rid of Pedro De La Rosa after the driver's personal backer, Repsol, proposed to base their 2001 sponsorship of the team on Arrows' achievements. According to Repsol at that point Arrows unilaterally abandoned the negotiations. Repsol are keeping options open to make sure that De La rosa continues working as a Formula 1 driver. Meanwhile, fellow Spaniard Marc Gené has criticised Arrows for their behaviour towards De La rosa.

3 February 2001 Rubens Barrichello beat Jean Alesi's record in Barcelona, by lapping in 1'18"62s in a 2000-spec car.

The Barcelona test times:

1. BARRICHELLO Ferrari 1m18.62s 2. HEIDFELD Sauber Petronas 1m19.15s 3. BERNOLDI Arrows AMT 1m19.57s 4. FRENTZEN Jordan Honda 1m20.07s 5. PANIS BAR Honda 1m20.98s 6. RAIKKONEN Sauber Petronas 1m21.21s 7. BUTTON Benetton Renault 1m21.76s 8. MANNING BAR Honda 1m22.11s 9. FISICHELLA Benetton Renault 1m22.56s

3 February 2001 Bernie Ecclestone has denied reports that he will relinquish control of the sport into the hands of a consortium of car manufacturers formed by Fiat, Renault, BMW, Ford and Mercedes. A deal is indeed being made and it is close to completion, but Ecclestone has denied that the consortium wants outright control of the sport, they simply want to ensure their own future and protect their investment in Formula 1. Bernie Ecclestone believes himslef to be the best qualified person in the world to run the sport.

3 February 2001 M. Schumacher has recorded a new fastest time at Fiorano with the new F2001. He completed a lap in 58"890, beating the previous track record lap time of 59"007, which he had achieved in 1997 on slick tyres.

2 February 2001 Pedro de La Rosa has refused a driving offer from Minardi. the Spaniard thanked the Minardi team for their interest, but said that even if he does not have a drive for 2001 yet, he is not going to accept blindly the first offer made to him. He believes he has something to offer and wants to see what else is available. He said to Spanish press that he is prepared to work as a test driver in the coming season, provided that he is guaranteed a drive for 2002.

1 February 2001 Panis topped the tests in Barcelona today, lapping faster than Barrichello, Trulli and Heidfeld.

The Barcelona test times:

1. Panis BAR-Honda 1:19.772 2. Barrichello Ferrar 1:20.294 3. Trulli Jordan-Honda 1:20.393 4. Heidfeld Sauber-Petronas 1:20.416 5. Raikkonen Sauber-Petronas 1:20.718 6. Bernoldi Arrows-AMT 1:21.001 7. Villeneuve BAR-Honda 1:21.175 8. Montoya Williams-BMW 1:21.581 9. Fisichella Benetton-Renault 1:21.679 10. Button Benetton-Renault 1:22.254

1 February 2001 Pedro De La Rosa has accused the Arrows team of having chosen quantity over quality by replacing him with Bernoldi. The Spaniard said that he respects the team's decision, but that he believes that they have chosen to sacrify quality.

1 February 2001 A cartel formed by Renault, BMW, Ferrari, Jaguar and Mercedes is about to buy a partnership with SLEC, the family trust through which Bernie Ecclestone holds the reins of power of Formula 1. Ecclestone, who underwent heart surgery two years ago, was granted exclusive commercial rights to Formula One for the next century late last year by FIA for 260 million pounds. The car manufacturers' cartel intends to smooth the transition from Ecclestone's control to an organised structure. The chief executive of Fiat, Paolo Canterella, is the committee chairman and a meeting between the committee and Bernie Ecclestone has already taken place to draw up terms. Bernie Ecclestone has declared that he intends to stay on as long as possible.

1 February 2001 Ferrari has renewed the contract of Jean Todt, Rory Byrne and Ross Brawn on long-term deals. Jean Todt had been thinking about retirement after the 2001 season. It is thought that the new contracts' duration is linked to M. Schumacher's stay at Maranello.

Last updated on by Federica Massagrande