July 2003

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31 July 2003 David Coulthard has denied rumours that he will have to move over to make room for Montoya next season. The Scot said that he is certain to be still driving for McLaren in 2004.

31 July 2003 The Belgian government has softened its tough stance on tobacco advertising. The move could mean a return to the Fomrula 1 calendar for Spa in 2004. The chance in attitude comes after the Green Party lost 16 seats in May's general election. The Belgian press claims that Ecclestone is keen to see Spa reinstated.

30 July 2003 The Daily Telegraph claims that Motnoya will replace Coulthard at McLaren as early as next season and that Mark Webber will take Montoya's seast at Williams. Coulthard will possibly move on to Jaguar. Frank Williams has indicated that Montoya's contract until the end of 2004 is very solid, meaning that Mclaren will have to pay through the nose to get hold of the Colombian before 2005.

29 July 2003 Flavio Briatore is unhappy with Villeneuve and said that he would not take on the Canadian at Renault after his contract with BAR expires at the end of the season even if he offered to drive for free. It now seems more and more likely that Villeneuve will stay at BAR for another season.

29 July 2003 The future of Heinz-Harald Frentzen at Sauber is in doubt. The German might not be in Formula 1 next year as his contract expires at the end of the current season and there is little chance that it will be renewed. Giancarlo Fisichella and Felipe Massa are both eyeing Frentzen's seat and Peter Sauber is apparently intentioned to change the team's line-up. Frentzen is currently in talks with several teams, but the influx of young drivers into Formula 1 is unwelcomed competition for him.

28 July 2003 According to BBC Sport, McLaren is after Montoya as a replacement for David Coulthard in 2004. The Colombian has recently renewed his contract with Williams, but is apparently unhappy about the difference in salary between him and team mate R. Schumacher.

27 July 2003 Mario Theissen said that in his opinion the Constructors Championship is more important than the Drivers Championship, but that BMW WilliamsF1 is not planning to use team orders.

26 July 2003 Outspoken ex-Formula 1 driver Eddie Irvine told The Sun that he knew from the word go that Pizzonia was a waste of space. He is puzzled that it took the team so long to get rid of him.

25 July 2003 The Shangsai FRD Grandtour Tyre team aims to become China's first ever Formula 1 team, according to China Daily. The team is planning to encourage Chinese drivers to have a go at Formula 1. SIC, set up last year to oversee the contruction of a Formula One circuit in Shanghai, has teamed up with Guangdong-based Formula Racing Development Ltd (FRD) and Singapore-based Grandtour Tyre to jointly operate the racing team. The agreement between the three companies was signed last Thursday.

25 July 2003 M. Schumacher is taking on a new role, as Ambassador of San Marino. A San Marino foreign affairs spokesman said that Ambassador Schumacher was bestowed the honour of Commendatore dell'Ordine Equestre di Sant'Agata on October 19 last year, Ferrari Day, and in September he will officially take on this new post.

24 July 2003 Mike Gascoyne has denied the rumours that have been circulating in the last few months that he is planning to leave Renault to join Toyota.

23 July 2003 The future of the British GP is still in doubt after motor racing officials failed to reach an agreement with government authorities on funding in a meeting called on Tuesday.

22 July 2003 European Minardi Cosworth has announced that, with immediate effect, Italian driver Giammaria Bruni has been signed by the team as official test and reserve driver for the remainder of the 2003 Formula 1 season.

22 July 2003 Sir Jackie Stewart has dismissed Bernie Ecclestone's ultimatum on the owners of Silverstone to find the 40 million pounds required to carry out essential improvements within four weeks as unrealistic.

22 July 2003 Rubens Barrichello has broken the trophy he had received for winning the British GP. The Ferrari driver was waiting to board a plane to Brazil when someone bumped into the trophy and broke it. The Brazilian said that he is disappointed and hopes to be able to get another trophy.

22 July 2003 Cornelius (Neil) Horan, the man who disrupted the British GP, is in jail. His defender described him as a man of strong and moral views on religion. Horan trespassed on the track during the British GP with signs encouraging people to read the Bible strapped to his body.

21 July 2003 Jaguar Racing released a statement saying that, to their great regret, Antonio Pizzonia has not been able to realise hi potential with the team. Jaguar Racing has therefore decided that it is neither in his best interests, nor in the team’s, for Antonio to continue to driving as full time race driver. Pizzonia has been offered the position of reserve and test driver with the team.

21 July 2003 Justin Wilson's move to Jaguar has been confirmed by the Minardi team. The young Briton is part of the Jaguar outfit with immediate effect and will race for them in the German GP and for the remainer of the season, with an option for next year. His place at Minardi will be taken by Danish driver Nicolas Kiesa. Paul Stoddart spoke of his mixed feeelings about Wilson's departure from the team. He said that he is sad to see Wilson leave, but he is proud of the fact that the yound driver was able to prove himself at Minardi so that Jaguar decided to recruit him. He then pointed out the invaluable role of smaller teams in giving new drivers an opportunity to showcase their talent in Formula 1.

21 July 2003 BBC Radio 5 has said that Just Wilson is set to leave Minardi and replace Pizzonia at Jaguar from the next race, the German GP. Denmark's Nicholas Kiesa, who won the F3000 race at Monaco, is being mentioned as the possible replacement of Wilson at MinardiCurrently there is no confirmation of the rumours.

20 July 2003 David Heynes, a 56-year-old man from Oxfordshire who partecipated in the Historic Sportscar Challenge, one of the British GP support races, has died after crashing his Lotus in the tyre wall at the Becketts corner.

20 July 2003 A 56-year-old man has been arrested following the track invasion incident during the British GP. He was charged with charged with aggravated trespass and is being interrogated at Northampton police station. Silverstone's managing director Andrew Weller said that the organisers will be supporting the police investigation into the matter but denied any knowledge of how the protested could have got onto the track.

20 July 2003 Well, what a race. It's not a question of what happened, as much as of what did NOT happen. Overtakings, challenges, duels and even a kilt-wearing spectator trespassing on the track in front of the speeding cars made for one of the best GPs in a long time. Barrichello made a poor start from pole and ended up in third place behind Trulli and Räikkönen. David Coulthard was struck by his legendary bad luck early on, when his head-rest came detached and shattered onto the track, sending carbon fibre splinters all over the place. This meant yellow flags, safety car and an extra-long unscheduled pit stop for the Scot while the mechanics struggled to fit a new head-rest in the McLaren and the stewards cleared up the debris. Coulthard rejoined the race towards the back of the field, but the situation was not to last long. On lap 11 a kilt-wearing protester with signs strapped to his body ran across the track at Chapel corner, putting the drivers' sudden hobstacle avoidance skills to test. He managed not to get hit by any car, not for lack of trying on his part, and finally a beefy and not very amused steward succeeded in getting hold of him and dragged him back behind the barrier. The incident sent the field in disarray and also caused possibly the worst damage to the organisers of the British GP, who are fighting to keep the race and now have to explain to the FIA why and how such a security breach was allowed to happen. Seeing the commotion taking place on the track, nearly all of the teams decided to call their drivers in for a pit stop, with the result that 14 cars wrestled for space in the pit lanes. The end result was a brand new provisional classification, with M. Schumacher down in 14th place, Coulthard back up in fifth place and Da Matta, who had pitted just before the track invasion, unexpectedly in the lead of the British GP. When Da Matta had another pit stop, Räikkönen took the lead ahead of Barrichello, who had fought his ground back from the seventh place he had ended up in thanks to the protestor, staging breath-taking battles and overtaking manoeuvres. A pit stop by the Finn meant that the Brazilian was then put into temporary lead. Räikkönen did rejoin behind Barrichello but made a mistake and allowed Montoya to overtake him for second place, almost at the same time as M. Schumacher, who had been slowly moving up the field, overtook a fast and battling Trulli for fourth place. The situation of a few laps earlier, that would have seen Räikkönen overtake M. Schumacher for the lead of the Drivers Championship, was reversed and the Finn had to content himself with simply reducing the gap. Coulthard managed to finish in sixth place, while Fisichella made a spectacular flight over the gravel following a rear supsension failure, his car bouncing across like a flat stone on water. Alonso failed to finish his race when his car decided to give up the ghost on the finishing straight with only a few laps to go, but the Spaniard did manage to park it off the racing line and the safety car did not have to come out again. Barrichello went on to win the GP, having truly deserved his victory with a series of daring, but always correct, manoeuvres and overtakings. Montoya finished second, ahead of Räikkönen and M. Schumacher. Coulthard, Trulli, Da Matta and Button also brought points home.

British GP finishing times:

1. 2 BARRICHELLO Ferrari B 1h28'34"554 208.875 Km/h 2. 3 MONTOYA Williams BMW M +0'05"462 208.661 Km/h 3. 6 RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes M +0'10"656 208.457 Km/h 4. 1 M. SCHUMACHER Ferrari B +0'25"648 207.872 Km/h 5. 5 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes M +0'36"827 207.438 Km/h 6. 7 TRULLI Renault M +0'43"067 207.196 Km/h 7. 21 DA MATTA Toyota M +0'45"085 207.118 Km/h 8. 17 BUTTON BAR Honda B +0'45"478 207.103 Km/h 9. 4 R. SCHUMACHER Williams BMW M +0'58"032 206.619 Km/h 10. 16 VILLENEUVE BAR Honda B +1'03"569 206.406 Km/h 11. 20 PANIS Toyota M +1'05"207 206.343 Km/h 12. 10 FRENTZEN Sauber Petronas B +1'05"564 206.330 Km/h 13. 12 FIRMAN Jordan Ford B 1 lap 14. 14 WEBBER Jaguar Cosworth M 1 lap 15. 19 VERSTAPPEN Minardi Cosworth B 2 laps 16. 18 WILSON Minardi Cosworth B 2 laps 17. 9 HEIDFELD Sauber Petronas B 2 laps 18. 8 ALONSO Renault M 8 laps 19. 11 FISICHELLA Jordan Ford B 16 laps 20. 15 PIZZONIA Jaguar Cosworth M 28 laps

20 July 2003 Ron Dennis has declared his backing to plans of hosting a second GP in the US, preferably on the west coast. He did, however, dismissed calls to extend the number of races to 18 to accomodate new GPs.

19 July 2003 Barrichello recovered from his bad first qualifying session by clinching pole position in the second qualifying, beating Trulii, Räikkönen, Ralf and Michael Schumacher, Da Matta, Montoya and Alonso. M. Schumacher made a mistake during his fast lap and could only manage to salvage fifth place on the grid. Jenson Button suffered from a power failure and had to park his car before setting a time. His car had already suffered problems during the morning practice session.

British GP second qualifying times (starting positions):

1. 2 BARRICHELLO Ferrari B 1'21"209 227.901 Km/h 2. 7 TRULLI Renault M 1'21"381 +0'00"172 3. 6 RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes M 1'21"695 +0'00"486 4. 4 R. SCHUMACHER Williams BMW M 1'21"727 +0'00"518 5. 1 M. SCHUMACHER Ferrari B 1'21"867 +0'00"658 6. 21 DA MATTA Toyota M 1'22"081 +0'00"872 7. 3 MONTOYA Williams BMW M 1'22"214 +0'01"005 8. 8 ALONSO Renault M 1'22"404 +0'01"195 9. 16 VILLENEUVE BAR Honda B 1'22"591 +0'01"382 10. 15 PIZZONIA Jaguar Cosworth M 1'22"634 +0'01"425 11. 14 WEBBER Jaguar Cosworth M 1'22"647 +0'01"438 12. 5 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes M 1'22"811 +0'01"602 13. 20 PANIS Toyota M 1'23"042 +0'01"833 14. 10 FRENTZEN Sauber Petronas B 1'23"187 +0'01"978 15. 11 FISICHELLA Jordan Ford B 1'23"574 +0'02"365 16. 9 HEIDFELD Sauber Petronas B 1'23"844 +0'02"635 17. 12 FIRMAN Jordan Ford B 1'24"385 +0'03"176 18. 18 WILSON Minardi Cosworth B 1'25"468 +0'04"259 19. 19 VERSTAPPEN Minardi Cosworth B 1'25"759 +0'04"550 20. 17 BUTTON BAR Honda B 2'00"000 +0'38"791

19 July 2003 Giancarlo Fisichella is so disillusioned with the poor performance of the Jordan team that he is considering moving to Sauber next season. Chief engineer Gary Anderson has admitted that the team has no grip on the car.

18 July 2003 Rick Gorne has joined Jordan Grand Prix in a consultancy role on new business acquisition. Gorne will continue to run his Goman driver management business in parallel with his consultancy role at Jordan.

18 July 2003 M. Schumacher topped the time sheet of the first qualifying session for the British GP, leading Montoya, R. Schumacher, Alonso, Panis, Trulli and Coulthard. With the British weather being its usual self, Barrichello seemed to be the only driver able to challenge team mate M. Schumacher. The Brazilian, however, hit the track just as the drizzle intensified and ran wide over the kerb at the Brooklands left hand corner. His rear wheels got stuck in the gravel and the Brazilian failed to set a time. Minardi's Wilson also failed to set a qualifying time when an ignition problem caused his engine to cut off just as he was exiting the pit lane.

British GP first qualifying times:

1. 1 M. SCHUMACHER Ferrari B 1'19"474 232.876 Km/h 2. 3 MONTOYA Williams BMW M 1'19"749 +0'00"275 3. 4 R. SCHUMACHER Williams BMW M 1'19"788 +0'00"314 4. 8 ALONSO Renault M 1'19"907 +0'00"433 5. 20 PANIS Toyota M 1'19"959 +0'00"485 6. 7 TRULLI Renault M 1'19"963 +0'00"489 7. 5 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes M 1'19"968 +0'00"494 8. 14 WEBBER Jaguar Cosworth M 1'20"171 +0'00"697 9. 17 BUTTON BAR Honda B 1'20"569 +0'01"095 10. 21 DA MATTA Toyota M 1'20"765 +0'01"291 11. 15 PIZZONIA Jaguar Cosworth M 1'20"877 +0'01"403 12. 6 RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes M 1'21"065 +0'01"591 13. 16 VILLENEUVE BAR Honda B 1'21"084 +0'01"610 14. 9 HEIDFELD Sauber Petronas B 1'21"211 +0'01"737 15. 10 FRENTZEN Sauber Petronas B 1'21"363 +0'01"889 16. 11 FISICHELLA Jordan Ford B 1'21"500 +0'02"026 17. 12 FIRMAN Jordan Ford B 1'22"335 +0'02"861 18. 19 VERSTAPPEN Minardi Cosworth B 1'23"418 +0'03"944 19. 2 BARRICHELLO Ferrari B 2'00"000 +0'40"526 20. 18 WILSON Minardi Cosworth B 2'00"000 +0'40"526

18 July 2003 Following last year's success, the Renault F1 team is again joining forces with Oxfam to raise money for its campaign to provide water for poor rural communities in North Eastern Brazil. The charity auction is being being hosted by eBay and can be reached through the Renault F1 Team’s official website. The auction starts today (18th of July) and will run until the 1st of September 2003. Among the objects up for auction are race overalls from Fernando Alonso and Jarno Trulli, other articles of team clothing, parts from the team’s cars and a VIP visit for two to the Renault F1 Team Technical Centre in Enstone, hosted by Deputy Technical Director Bob Bell. 18 July 2003 Ford’s Richard Parry Jones, director of the GPWC Holdings, said in a statement that the GPWC wants to reach an agreement that benefits all parties. The GPWC will continue negotiation until the end of 2003. If an agreement is not reached by then, all efforts will be focused on setting up the new series.

18 July 2003 David Coulthard has received the Mike Hawthorn Memorial Trophy, which is presented every year to the most successful British or commonwealth driver on the grid. It is the fourth time that Coulthard is awarded the trophy.

18 July 2003 Minardi driver Jos Verstappen took advantage of his being in Britain for the British GP to have a seat fitting session at Minardi's British facility. The session was necessary to allow the team to fit a seat in one of the Arrows A23's that Paul Stoddart recently purchased. The team wants to run comparison tests between the Arrows A23 and the Minardi PS03, possibly with a view of utilising the A23 chassis on the PS03 frame. The problem facing the Minardi team is that the summer testing ban is now in effect until the end of August. Stoddart must decide whether to bring an Arrows chassis to a GP and use it during Friday morning's private testing session, or defy the testing ban by claiming that the Arrows A23 is not a Minardi so the regulation does not apply to it.

17 July 2003 Ex Formula 1 driver Alex Zanardi, who lost both legs in n accident at Lausitzring in 2001, has gone back behind the wheel of a race car earlier this week. The Italian drove a modified BMW 320i at Misano, with the goal of adjusting the car set up in order to take part in the last round of the European Touring Car Championship on 17-19 October. Zanardi completed 27 laps with a fastest time of 1'42"90, around 3 seconds slower than that of the fastest driver of the day, Giovanardi.

17 July 2003 BAR has agreed a long-term partnership agreement with Chinese internet portal SINA, one of the leading online media information service providers for China and global Chinese communities. The BAR 005 will sport the SINA logo and SINA will maintain a Chinese version of the BAR website.

17 July 2003 The Jordan team has acquired a new sponsor. Tiger Telematicshas agreed to sponsor the team to advertise its new product Gametrac, a pocket sized device offering SMS text capability, games and GPS tracking. The Jordan cars will carry the Gametrac logo from the British GP to the end of the season.

16 July 2003 Beer producer Budweiser and the BMW Williams F1 team have announced a new multi-year sponsorship deal. The Williams team has been moving away from receiving sponsorship from tobacco companies in view of the ban that will come into effect soon.

16 July 2003 Pioneer GB Ltd will support Jaguar at the British GP by providing the latest In-Car and Home Entertainment technology to showcase in their pit-lane garage and hospitality areas at Silverstone this weekend. Pioneer USA is a sponsor of the Jaguar Racing team.

15 July 2003 Bernie Ecclestone was quoted in Indian magazine The Week as saying that the country could host a Formula 1 GP.

13 July 2003 Fernando Alonso has been voted the most impressive driver from Melbourne to Montreal by a jury of 20 experts. Gary Anderson (Jordan Director of Race and Test Engineering), Adrian Newey (McLaren Technical Director), Sam Michael (Williams Chief Engineer), Mike Gascoyne (Renault F1 Team Technical Director) and Ove Andersson (Toyota F1 Managing Director) are some of the experts who voted. Alonso took 369 points, three more than Räikkönen and four more than M. Schumacher.

13 July 2003 Piero Ferrari has invited moto GP Champion Valentino Rossi to try out a Ferrari Formula 1 car. Rossi, who had received a similar invitation from BAR's David Richards a few months ago (though it was only a publicity stunt anfd nothing came of it), is waiting until he can talk to Piero Ferrari in person before giving an answer.

12 July 2003 Norbert Haug said that the McLaren MP4/18 will not make its debut before the Italian GP, though it is not yet certain that the car will actually be at Monza. He cited reliability problems as reason for the new delay. Haug is still optimist that the MP4/18 will race in a GP before the end of the season.

11 July 2003 Paul Stoddart has called off a protest that could have brought chaos to the British GP. The Minardi boss had theratened to run his team's cars without driver aids and then protest the result by claiming that the other cars had used illegal aids in the GP. The protest was based on an earlier agreement to ban traction control by the time of the British Grand Prix, which had subsequently been revoked. Stoddart had said at the French GP that he was planning the protest because of his frustration at the large Formula 1 teams' delay in setting up a promised fighting fund and affordable engine deal for the smaller teams. Minardi has apparently been guaranteed around five million pounds by the other teams to ensure the future of the cash-strapped outfit for the rest of the season.

11 July 2003 Max Mosley has refused to guarantee Silverstone's status as a Formula One venue beyond this season. About 60 million pounds have been spent improving the Silverstone facilities and the access routes around the area, but the FIA believe that there is much more left to be done. Mosley refused to give a defiunitive answer as to whether Silverstone will host a British GP in 2004, but said that the problems are solvable.

11 July 2003 Bernie Ecclestone is planning a Vatican City GP. Should the Vatican refuse, a Malta GP could be introduced instead. The article in Italian magazine "Il Mondo" reports that Ecclestone would use either the Imola facility (traditionally used for the San Marino GP) or the one at Vallelunga. Ecclestone has allegedly made an offer of 10 million Euros for the control of Sagis, owner of the Imola circuit, following problems that could prevent Sagis from keeping its commitment to organise the San Marino GP. The Vallelunga circuit has not hosted a GP since 1963 and would require extensive work to be brought up to standard.

10 July 2003 Bridgestone, the tyre supplier to Ferrari, Sauber, Jordan, Bar and Minardi, has denied the rumours recently reported by some newspapers that the firm intends to leave Formula 1 at the end of 2004.

9 July 2003 The Malaysian Minister of Youth and Sports has requested that all parties inolved in the Minardi and Alex Yoong salary dispute try and sort out the issues and has offered to act as a mediator. Yoong said that at the time of his departure from Minardi he had taken legal advice not to sue the team because the outfit was in dire finacial difficulties. The Minister also cleared the GO-KL consortium and Magnum as not being the defaulting Malaysian sponsor Stoddart complained about. Yoong cleared PanGlobal Insurance.

8 July 2003 At a team owner's meeting in Magny-Cours Paul Stoddart has suggested the idea of running "celebrity races" using two-seater Formula 1 cars before the main weekend event. The event would cover the spot formerly occupied by the race day warm-up, which has been scrapped under the new regulations.

8 July 2003 The US GP could take place in June or early July next season. The Canadian GP is scheduled for mid-June and having the US GP held near that time would ensure a smooth transition between the two North-American venues, reducing costs for the teams.

8 July 2003 Heinz-Harald Frentzen's 14-year-old sister Nicole-Nadine was stopped by the police for driving without a license. Nicole-Nadine took her mother's car while her parents watched the French GP in which her older brother was taking part. She had her 11-year-old sister and a 12-year-old friend with her as passengers. The police was alerted after another driver spotted a young girl driving a car on the roads of Moenchengladbach. She was letr released without charges. Her father, Heinrich-Harald Frentzen, later commented that his daughter was born to race and cannot wait to be old enough to get her license. She is apparently very good on the go-kart tracks.

6 July 2003 There was no competition for Williams in today's French GP. The younger Schumacher took the lead from pole position and held onto it, unchallenged and far away in the distance, throughout the race to win. Team mate Montoya made some feeble attempts at keeping up, but then decided not to bother and happily settled for second place. M. Schumacher failed to take advantage of his starting position on the clean side of the track on the second row and Räikkönen leapt into third place while the German tried to keep Coulthard and Trulli at bay. Barrichello, who was on a two-stop strategy while everybody else went for a three-stopper, lost a couple of positions at the start, but caused himself a much bigger headache at the end of the first lap when he lost control of the car and span, ending at the back of the field. From there on he spent the rest of the race playing catch-up, managing nonetheless to finish in the points. The change of situation for M. Schumacher came when problems with the refuelling rig and a misunderstanding with the lollypop-man caused Coulthard, then in fourth place ahead of the Ferrari, to waste precious time and part of the bodywork. M. Schumacher thanked and took fourth place. At the next round of pit stops Ferrari showed off its famous flair for strategy by calculating exactly when to get the current World Champion in to allow him to go ahead of Räikkönen in third place. The Renault appeared dangerous all the way, until double trouble struck. A few moments after Trulli had radioed in that he was coming to the pits for an unscheduled stop because of fuel problems, Alonso's engine went up in smoke. Trulli failed to reach the pit lane and stopped by the side, out of juice. Another fuelling rig problem had delivered too little fuel into his car during the previous stop. Despite managing to solve the legal trouble and putting the cars out on track for the race, BAR had to watch Button be the first retairee of the GP when his engine gave up the ghost. All in all, Williams proved that they, and not McLaren, are the team Ferrari needs to worry about this season. The Italian outfit was nowehere near the pace of the dominant Williams all weekend and will need to work hard if M. Schumacher really is to put a record sixth Championship to his name this season.

French GP finishing times:

1. 4 R. SCHUMACHER Williams BMW M 1h30'49"213 203.866 Km/h 2. 3 MONTOYA Williams BMW M +0'13"813 203.351 Km/h 3. 1 M. SCHUMACHER Ferrari B +0'19"568 203.137 Km/h 4. 6 RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes M +0'38"047 202.453 Km/h 5. 5 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes M +0'40"289 202.370 Km/h 6. 14 WEBBER Jaguar Cosworth M +1'06"380 201.413 Km/h 7. 2 BARRICHELLO Ferrari B +1 lap 8. 20 PANIS Toyota M +1 lap 9. 16 VILLENEUVE BAR Honda B +1 lap 10. 15 PIZZONIA Jaguar Cosworth M +1 lap 11. 21 DA MATTA Toyota M +1 lap 12. 10 FRENTZEN Sauber Petronas B +2 laps 13. 9 HEIDFELD Sauber Petronas B +2 laps 14. 18 WILSON Minardi Cosworth B +3 laps 15. 12 FIRMAN Jordan Ford B +3 laps 16. 19 VERSTAPPEN Minardi Cosworth B +4 laps 17. 7 TRULLI Renault M +25 laps 18. 8 ALONSO Renault M +27 laps 19. 11 FISICHELLA Jordan Ford B +28 laps 20. 17 BUTTON BAR Honda B +49 laps

5 July 2003 The starting row of the French GP will be a all-Williams affair tomorrow. R. Schumacher, the winner of last weekend's European GP, clocked the fastest qualifying time to take pole position ahead of team mate Montoya. Older brother Michael managed to stay ahead of the McLaren and will start from the second row, alongside Räikkönen, who beat team mate Coulthard by only a fraction of a second. The Scot will be sharing the third row with Trulli, who outqualified team mate Alonso. Barrichello on the second Ferrari could not do better than eighth place. Verstappen, who lead the first qualifying session and was the last driver out, managed to stay ahead of team mate WIlson, but both Minardi were well off the pace of the front runners.

French GP second qualifying session times (starting grid):

1. 4 R. SCHUMACHER Williams BMW M 1'15"019 211.674 Km/h 2. 3 MONTOYA Williams BMW M 1'15"136 +0'00"117 3. 1 M. SCHUMACHER Ferrari B 1'15"480 +0'00"461 4. 6 RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes M 1'15"533 +0'00"514 5. 5 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes M 1'15"628 +0'00"609 6. 7 TRULLI Renault M 1'15"967 +0'00"948 7. 8 ALONSO Renault M 1'16"087 +0'01"068 8. 2 BARRICHELLO Ferrari B 1'16"166 +0'01"147 9. 14 WEBBER Jaguar Cosworth M 1'16"308 +0'01"289 10. 20 PANIS Toyota M 1'16"345 +0'01"326 11. 15 PIZZONIA Jaguar Cosworth M 1'16"965 +0'01"946 12. 16 VILLENEUVE BAR Honda B 1'16"990 +0'01"971 13. 21 DA MATTA Toyota M 1'17"068 +0'02"049 14. 17 BUTTON BAR Honda B 1'17"077 +0'02"058 15. 9 HEIDFELD Sauber Petronas B 1'17"445 +0'02"426 16. 10 FRENTZEN Sauber Petronas B 1'17"562 +0'02"543 17. 11 FISICHELLA Jordan Ford B 1'18"431 +0'03"412 18. 12 FIRMAN Jordan Ford B 1'18"514 +0'03"495 19. 19 VERSTAPPEN Minardi Cosworth B 1'18"709 +0'03"690 20. 18 WILSON Minardi Cosworth B 1'19"619 +0'04"600

4 July 2003 Justin Wilson's time has been cancelled because the weight of his car was found to be 2.5 kg below the minimum required weight of 605 kg. He will be the first out on track tomorrow instead of the penultimate.

4 July 2003 The Bahrein GP will take place on the 4th of April next year. The announcement was made in Beirut by Sheik Fawaz ben Mohammad al-Khalifa, the Kingdom's Sports Minister. The new Formula 1 complex, large enough to accommodate 70,000 spectators and containing five separate racing tracks, is currently being built at Sakhir (about 30 km from the capital Manama). According to Fawaz ben Mohammad al-Khalifa the complex will be completed on the 7th of March at the cost of 150 million US dollars.

4 July 2003 The changing weather played havoc with the first qualifying session. The session started damp but, as the track dried, the batch of drivers who came out in the second half leapfrogged the usual suspects to create an "inverted" timesheet. The later someone went out on track, the better the track conditions, resulting in a all-Minardi provisional pole position! As a result of the changing track conditions and the new one-lap qualifying, tomorrow the drivers lowest down on the Championship table will be the last to go out.

French GP first qualifying session times:

1. 19 VERSTAPPEN Minardi Cosworth B 1'20"817 196.488 Km/h 2. 18 WILSON Minardi Cosworth B 1'20"968 +0'00"151 3. 12 FIRMAN Jordan Ford B 1'23"496 +0'02"679 4. 9 HEIDFELD Sauber Petronas B 1'24"042 +0'03"225 5. 20 PANIS Toyota M 1'24"175 +0'03"358 6. 15 PIZZONIA Jaguar Cosworth M 1'24"642 +0'03"825 7. 16 VILLENEUVE BAR Honda B 1'24"651 +0'03"834 8. 14 WEBBER Jaguar Cosworth M 1'25"178 +0'04"361 9. 10 FRENTZEN Sauber Petronas B 1'26"151 +0'05"334 10. 21 DA MATTA Toyota M 1'26"975 +0'06"158 11. 2 BARRICHELLO Ferrari B 1'27"095 +0'06"278 12. 1 M. SCHUMACHER Ferrari B 1'27"929 +0'07"112 13. 11 FISICHELLA Jordan Ford B 1'28"502 +0'07"685 14. 5 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes M 1'28"937 +0'08"120 15. 3 MONTOYA Williams BMW M 1'28"988 +0'08"171 16. 7 TRULLI Renault M 1'29"024 +0'08"207 17. 6 RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes M 1'29"120 +0'08"303 18. 4 R. SCHUMACHER Williams BMW M 1'29"327 +0'08"510 19. 8 ALONSO Renault M 1'29"455 +0'08"638 20. 17 BUTTON BAR Honda B 1'30"731 +0'09"914

4 July 2003 BAR will take place in the French GP. The court order obtained by PPGI was successfully overturned in court this morning in Nevers, France. BAR's argument that that the original seizure order was invalid because the judge had no jurisdiction in this matter won the case for te time being. In a procedural error, the case was heard by a commercial court rather than a civil court, and presided over by Monsieur Girard, who is a lay justice of the peace rather than a professional judge. David Richard may counter-sue for damages.

4 July 2003 BAR missed the first free practice session because of the legal problems that led to the team's cars being impounded. The rainy practice session was dominated by Webber, who went right to top of the timesheet despite a pitlanes collision with M. Schumacher's Ferrari. M. Schumacher was released too early by the lollypop man after changing tyres and pulled out in front of the Jaguar, that lost its front wing in the low-speed impact. The Ferrari team was fined 10,000 euros for the shunt.

French GP first free practice session times:

1. 14 WEBBER Jaguar Cosworth M 1'26"915 182.703 Km/h 27 laps 2. 4 R. SCHUMACHER Williams BMW M 1'28"082 +0'01"167 24 laps 3. 8 ALONSO Renault M 1'28"260 +0'01"345 20 laps 4. 7 TRULLI Renault M 1'28"296 +0'01"381 19 laps 5. 15 PIZZONIA Jaguar Cosworth M 1'28"442 +0'01"527 30 laps 6. 1 M. SCHUMACHER Ferrari B 1'28"681 +0'01"766 16 laps 7. 5 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes M 1'28"718 +0'01"803 21 laps 8. 20 PANIS Toyota M 1'28"773 +0'01"858 20 laps 9. 11 FISICHELLA Jordan Ford B 1'28"782 +0'01"867 16 laps 10. 10 FRENTZEN Sauber Petronas B 1'28"803 +0'01"888 21 laps 11. 6 RAIKKONEN McLaren Mercedes M 1'28"846 +0'01"931 22 laps 12. 9 HEIDFELD Sauber Petronas B 1'29"317 +0'02"402 23 laps 13. 3 MONTOYA Williams BMW M 1'29"608 +0'02"693 21 laps 14. 12 FIRMAN Jordan Ford B 1'29"640 +0'02"725 22 laps 15. 2 BARRICHELLO Ferrari B 1'29"813 +0'02"898 18 laps 16. 21 DA MATTA Toyota M 1'30"791 +0'03"876 25 laps 17. 19 VERSTAPPEN Minardi Cosworth B 1'32"091 +0'05"176 19 laps 18. 18 WILSON Minardi Cosworth B 1'32"535 +0'05"620 17 laps

3 July 2003 The legal problems for BAR are not over yet. The cars have been impounded by the police and bailiff with warrant over an alleged five-year-old unpaid debt with former sponsor Teleglobe. The issue appears to related to the problems the team already suffered before the Monaco GP, when its partecipation in the race was in doubt for a while due to a similar situation. A polie sokesman reported that a court will rule on the case in an emergency session tomorrow and decide whether the cars are allowed to race or not.

Last updated on by Federica Massagrande