May 2001

31 May 2001 Marc Gené surprised everybody as he set a new unofficial lap record at Magny Cours. The Williams test driver preceeded current World Champion M. Schumacher, Coulthard, Panis, Trulli and Barrichello.

The Magny Cours test times:

1. Gené Williams BMW 1m14.383s 2. M. Schumacher Ferrari 1m14.477s 3. Coulthard McLaren Mercedes 1m14.538s 4. Panis BAR Honda 1m14.680s 5. Trulli Jordan-Honda 1m14.806s 6. Barrichello Ferrari 1m15.127s 7. Zonta Jordan-Honda 1m15.129s 8. Verstappen Arrows Asiatech 1m15.376s 9. De La Rosa Jaguar 1m15.736s 10. Button Benetton Renault 1m15.962s 11. Bernoldi Arrows Asiatech 1m16.121s 12. Burti Prost Acer 1m16.266s 13. Lemarie BAR Honda 1m16.603s 14. Lotterer Jaguar 1m17.089s

31 May 2001 McLaren have denied that designer Adrian Newey is moving to Jaguar when his contracts expires in 2002. The Woking team said that they are negotiating a new contract with Newey for when his current contract expires.

30 May 2001 McLaren designer Adrian Newey is rumoured to be on his way to Jaguar for a 17.5 million pounds deal. Jaguar boss Bobby Rahal is a personal friend of Newey.

30 May 2001 R. Schumacher topped the tests at Magny Cours today, beating Ferrari's Barrichello and M. Schumacher. In Monza Räikkönen was fastest ahead of Montoya.

The Magny Cours test times:

1 R. SCHUMACHER Williams BMW 1m15.256s 2 BARRICHELLO Ferrari 1m15.393s 3 M. SCHUMACHER Ferrari 1m15.222s 4 IRVINE Jaguar 1m15.570s 5 PANIS BAR Honda 1m15.681s 6 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes 1m15.783s 7 ZONTA Jordan Honda 1m15.837s 8 DE LA ROSA Jaguar 1m15.897s 9 VILLENEUVE BAR Honda 1m16.018s 10 TRULLI Jordan Honda 1m16.423s 11 BURTI Prost Acer 1m16.795s 12 VERSTAPPEN Arrows Asiatech 1m16.820s 13 BUTTON Benetton Renault 1m17.036s 14 FRENTZEN Jordan Honda 1m17.196s 15 BERNOLDI Arrows Asiatech 1m17.349s

The Monza test times:

1 RAIKKONEN Sauber Petronas 1m26.159s 2 MONTOYA Williams BMW 1m27.128s 3 ALONSO Minardi European 1m29.081s 4 MARQUES Minardi European 1m30.234s

30 May 2001 Sauber, Williams and Minardi have started three days of testing at Monza. Montoya managed nine laps before the engine of his Williams broke down on the Ascari bend. The Colombian tried to get back to the pits, but the car spread a large amount of oil at the Parabolica, causing the tests to be suspended until the surface was cleaned.

29 May 2001 Ron Dennis has admitted that Coulthard's problem on the grid was caused by the launch control, not by the driver himslef. Dennis said that the proble, was the same that had already affected Häkkinen in Austria and Coulthard in Spain. Dennis admitted that the McLaren team had been optimising the system so much that they introduced too much complexity. The team suffered two more occurrences of the "stalling at the start" problem in Magny-Cours, where they are testing.

28 May 2001 Arrows boss Tom Walkinshaw said that Dennis' and Haug's threats to Enrique Bernoldi are outragious. He said that the two McLaren people should worry about sorting out the problems with their cars, not harass a young driver who did his job well. Coulthard himself said that he thought Bernoldi had run a good race.

27 May 2001 Barrichello revealed how he was in agony from cramps to his feet throughout the whole race due to severe pedal vibration. A physiotherapist tried to help him over the radio by tellling him to drink more water and move his feet and Ross Brawn kept on encouraging him not to give up.

27 May 2001 Bernoldi has complained that after the Monaco GP Ron Dennis and Norbert Haug threatened to end his career if he ever drives like he did in the Monaco GP again. Bernoldi held up Coulthard for some 40 laps, but he was in his right to do so because he was racing for position and the McLaren driver failed to overtake him.

27 May 2001 Coulthard, who was in pole position, stalled his car on the grid at the start of the formation lap and had to start the Monaco GP from the back of the grid. After being stuck for half the race behind Bernoldi, the Scot managed to free himself as the Arrows driver had his pit stop and clawed his way up the field to finish in fifth place. The race was won by M. Schumacher, who led unchallenged from beginning to end, ahead of team mate Barrichello. Irvine enjoyed his (and Jaguar's) very first podium position since he left Ferrari when he finished third. Villeneuve was fourth and Alesi finished in sixth place to give Prost their first point this season.

The Monaco GP finishing times:

1. M. Schumacher (Ferrari) in 1h47'22"561 (average 146.881 km/h) 2. Barrichello (Ferrari) + 0"4 3. Irvine (Jaguar) + 30"6 4. Villeneuve (Bar-Honda) + 32"4 5. Coulthard (McLaren-Mercedes) +1 lap 6. Alesi (Prost-Ferrari) +1 lap 7. Button (Benetton-Renault) +1 lap 8. Verstappen (Arrows-Asiatech) +1 lap 9. Bernoldi (Arrows-Asiatech) +2 laps 10. Räikkönen (Sauber-Ferrari) +5 laps

26 May 2001 Former Formula 1 driver Vittorio Brambilla has died at the age of 63 of a hart attack while cutting the grass in his garden. After having raced in Formula 2 and Formula 3, Brambilla raced in Formula 1 for the first time in 1974 on a March-Ford in the South African GP. In 1975 he won the Austrian GP and, after crossing the finishing line, raised his hands as a sign of victory thus losing control of the car and crashing it into the guard-rail, damaging the front. He kept the damaged nosecone and hung it on a wall at home as a memory of his first (and only) Formula 1 victory. After March-Ford he raced for the Surtees team, until he was involved in the multiple acident that killed Ronnie Peterson in 1978. In that accident he was hit by a wheel and was in a coma for a few days but survived. In 1979 he came back to Formula 1 racing with Alfa Romeo until he retired in 1980.

26 May 2001 Coulthard clocked the fastest time in the Monaco GP qualifying session beating M. Schumacher to the pole in his very last lap. Häkkinen was happy with a second row starting place alongside Barrichello. R. Schumacher and Irvine will share the third row.

The Monaco GP qualifying times:

1. COULTHARD (McLaren-Mercedes) 1'17"430 (average 156.683 Km/h) 2. M.SCHUMACHER (Ferrari) 1'17"631 3. HAKKINEN (McLaren-Mercedes) 1'17"749 4. BARRICHELLO (Ferrari) 1'17"856 5. R.SCHUMACHER (Williams-BMW) 1'18"029 6. IRVINE (Jaguar) 1'18"432 7. MONTOYA (Williams-BMW) 1'18"751 8. TRULLI (Jordan-Honda) 1'18"921 9. VILLENEUVE (Bar-Honda) 1'19"086 10. FISICHELLA (Benetton-Renault) 1'19"220 11. ALESI (Prost-Ferrari) 1'19"245 12. PANIS (Bar-Honda) 1'19"294 13. FRENTZEN (Jordan-Honda) 1'19"316 14. DE LA ROSA (Jaguar) 1'20"033 15. RAIKKONEN (Sauber-Ferrari) 1'20"081 16. HEIDFELD (Sauber-Ferrari) 1'20"261 17. BUTTON (Benetton-Renault) 1'20"342 18. ALONSO (Minardi-European) 1'20"788 19. VERSTAPPEN (Arrows-Asiatech) 1'20"823 20. BERNOLDI (Arrows-Asiatech) 1'21"336 21. BURTI (Prost-Ferrari) 1'21"771 22. MARQUES (Minardi-European) 1'22"201

25 May 2001 Vodafone has signed a three-year sonsorship deal with Ferrari starting from next season. The sponsorship will apply both to the cars and to the drivers.

25 May 2001 The work required for the Italian GP at Monza will start next month. Ecclestone has asked for a new paddock for the Formula 3000 race and Porsche Cup that will take place on the same day as the Italian GP, on 16 September.

25 May 2001 Arrows have appealed against the race marshals' decision to ban the revolutionary high front wing the team used in the practice sessions. The ban will not be suspended pending the appeal, so Arrows will not be allowed to use the wing in qualifying.

24 May 2001 Trulli's Jordan and Verstappen's Arrows took part in the Monaco GP free practice sessions with a brand new vertical wing on the front of the car. The free sessions were both regularly completed, but the race marshals have now decided that the two teams will not be allowed to use the wing which, according to technicians and engineers, is used to charge the car aerodynamically at the front. According to the marshals the new wing is dangerous as the chances that it will hit the driver if it fails are very high. The wing raises almost 60cm up from the nose and it is a design that was first introduced in the 1960's. At the time the wings were banned because they kept on coming off.

24 May 2001 The Brazilian press revealed today that a new clause has been included in Rubens Barrichello's contract, prohibiting the driver from criticising Ferrari publicly. Apparently Barrichello accepted the clause saying that he needs to learn to talk less.

24 May 2001 Mika Häkkinen came back strong in the second free practice session of the Monaco GP. The Finn, who is considered out of the race for this season's Championship, clocked the fastest time ahead of M. Schumacher, who had dominated the first hour of the free practice session, R. Schumacher, Trulli and title contender Coulthard.

The Monaco GP combined free practice times:

1. HAKKINEN (McLaren-Mercedes) 1'19"853 (average 151.929 Km/h) 2. M.SCHUMACHER (Ferrari) 1'20"316 3. R.SCHUMACHER (Williams-BMW) 1'20"938 4. BARRICHELLO (Ferrari) 1'20"959 5. TRULLI (Jordan-Honda) 1'21"048 6. COULTHARD (McLaren-Mercedes) 1'21"091 7. FRENTZEN (Jordan-Honda) 1'21"505 8. ALESI (Prost-Ferrari) 1'21"935 9. VILLENEUVE (Bar-Honda) 1'22"010 10. MONTOYA (Williams-BMW) 1'22"035 11. FISICHELLA (Benetton-Renault) 1'22"214 12. IRVINE (Jaguar) 1'22"302 13. RAIKKONEN (Sauber-Ferrari) 1'22"800 14. HEIDFELD (Sauber-Ferrari) 1'22"807 15. VERSTAPPEN (Arrows-Asiatech) 1'23"409 16. PANIS (Bar-Honda) 1'23"662 17. BUTTON (Benetton-Renault) 1'24"026 18. BERNOLDI (Arrows-Asiatech) 1'24"105 19. BURTI (Prost-Ferrari) 1'24"857 20. MARQUES (Minardi-European) 1'25"920 21. ALONSO (Minardi-European) 1'26"393 22. DE LA ROSA (Jaguar) 1'27"316

24 May 2001 Jarno Trulli has been elected a director of the Drivers Association, replacing Alexander Wurz. The other two directors are Michael Schumacher and David Coulthard.

24 May 2001 M. Schumacher dominated the first hour of the Monaco GP free practice session, ahead of title contender Coulthard, Trulli, Frentzen, Häkkinen and Barrichello.

The Monaco GP first free practice session times:

1. M. SCHUMACHER (Ger-Ferrari) 1'21"577 (average 148.718 Km/h) 2. COULTHARD (GB-McLaren Mercedes) 1'22"404 3. TRULLI (Ita-Jordan Honda) 1'22"667 4. FRENTZEN (Ger-Jordan) 1'23"024 5. HAKKINEN (Fin-McLaren Mercedes) 1'23"337 6. BARRICHELLO (Bra-Ferrari) 1'23"347 7. PANIS (Fra-BAR Honda) 1'23"662 8. R.SCHUMACHER (Ger-Williams BMW) 1'23"678 9. IRVINE (GB-Jaguar) 1'23"930 10. ALESI (Fra-Prost) 1'24"019 11. RAIKKONEN (Fin-Sauber) 1'24"441 12. HEIDFELD (Ger-Sauber) 1'24"762 13. FISICHELLA (Ita-Benetton) 1'24"871 14. VILLENEUVE (Can-BAR Honda) 1'24"918 15. VERSTAPPEN (Ola-Arrows) 1'24"931 16. MONTOYA (Col-Williams BMW) 1'25"838 17. BERNOLDI (Bra-Arrows) 1'25"952 18. BUTTON (GB-Benetton) 1'26"702 19. ALONSO (Spa-Minardi) 1'26"759 20. BURTI (Bra-Prost) 1'26"905 21. DE LA ROSA (Spa-Jaguar) 1'27"316 22. MARQUES (Bra-Minardi) 1'30"230

23 May 2001 The Jordan team have announced that they will not use launch control in the Monaco GP. Both Jordan cars, as well as Häkkinen's McLaren and Heidfeld's Sauber, stalled on the grid in Austria because of problems with the launch control.

22 May 2001 Ferrari have announced in a press release that Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello have both signed new contracts for next season. Current World Champion M. Schumacher will stay at Ferrari until 2004. Barrichello, whose future in the team had been put in doubt by his relunctance to make way for his team mate in Austria, will stay at Ferrari until the end of the 2002 season. According to rumours, M. Schumacher's new contract is worth 30 million US dollars a year, Barrichello's eight million US dollars a year.

22 May 2001 Former Minardi owner Gabriele Rumi has died of cancer at the age of 61, leaving his wife Maria Carla and two children Stefano and Alessandra. Rumi, who was active in Formula 1 for 20 years, had sold Minardi to Australian Paul Stoddart at the beginning of the year.

A memorial service will be held tomorrow in the Church of Santa Maria Assunta in Palazzolo sull'Oglio, near Brescia. Rumi's family have asked people not to send flowers. Instead, a donation can be made to the charity "Associazione Ok ci sono anch'io" of Palosco which is taking care of handicapped children (C/c 4526 ABI 5437 CAB 53310 to BANCA BIPOP/CARIRE - PALOSCO BRANCH).

21 May 2001 A spokeperson for Kirch confirmed that the group intends to take complete control of Slec, currently still majority owned by Ecclestone and his wife Slavica. No statements were made about the manufacturers' intention of setting up a parallel Championship.

19 May 2001 Hartmut Schultz, spokeperson for the Kirch Group, said that Kirch is treating Acea's treat of setting up a parallel championship seriously. Slec's owners and Ecclestone will have a meeting to discuss the issue in the next few days. They are still prepared to talk to the manufacturers and offer a participation in Slec. Schultz also denied that the Kirch Group is planning to have Formula 1 broadcast only on encrypted channels.

18 May 2001 M. Schumacher has given his backing to Barrichello and said that he wants the Brazilian to stay on at Ferrari as his team mate next season. Barrichello's contract is due to expire at the end of this year.

18 May 2001 BAR's appeal against Räikkönen's overtake on Burti, allegedly under yellow flag, will be discussed in Paris on 1st of June by the FIA appeal court. Räikkönen finished the Austrian GP in fourth position.

18 May 2001 The members of Acea (the European association of car manufacturers) have signed an agreement for the creation of a new society aimed at starting a new World Championship parallel to Formula 1. The new Championship is scheduled to start no later than 1 January 2008 and Paolo Cantarella of Fiat will be the first president of the new society. Manufacturers other than the members of Acea (currently BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Fiat, Ford and Renault) will be allowed to take part in the new Championship. The money generated by the new Championship will go primarily to the manufacturers and the teams. The decision to set up a parallel Championship stems from the sale of the Formula 1 TV broadcast rights to Leo Kirch, who might choose to limit the broadcast to pay TV only.

17 May 2001 Coulthard was top of the pack again in the last day of tests at Valencia, also breaking the lap record. Frentzen, Villeneuve, Irvine, Turner and Räikkönen followed.

The Valencia test times:

1 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes 1m12.742s 2 FRENTZEN Jordan Honda 1m14.136s 3 VILLENEUVE BAR Honda 1m14.225s 4 IRVINE Jaguar 1m14.339s 5 TURNER McLaren Mercedes 1m14.636s 6 RAIKKONEN Sauber Petronas 1m14.721s 7 PANIS BAR Honda 1m14.772s 8 MONTOYA Williams BMW 1m14.775s 9 BERNOLDI Arrows Asiatech 1m14.777s 10 TRULLI Jordan Honda 1m14.853s 11 DE LA ROSA Jaguar 1m15.051s 12 ALESI Prost Acer 1m15.090s 13 GENE Williams BMW 1m15.394s 14 VERSTAPPEN Arrows Asiatech 1m15.697s

17 May 2001 Silverstone is to undergo a complete revamp, if the British government agrees to contribute to its redevelopment. The bosses of the British GP are unveiling a 45m pounds plan next month for phase one of a complete facelift of the site, aimed at making Silverstone one of the top five tracks in the world. The cost of the plan is to be split between British GP rights' owners Octagon, track owners the British racing Drivers Club and Ecclestone's Formula 1 management group. The British GP bosses are expecting the British goverment to come up with an equivalent amount for the completion of the project. The governemnt contribution could make Silverstone the best circuit in the world. Even if the British government choose not to contribute to the project, they have already committed to build a by-pass linking the Silverstone site to major motorways.

17 May 2001 Ferrari's official website has been hacked by a group calling itself Insanity Zine Corp. According to Ferrari the hackers managed to get into one of the pages hosted on www.ferrari.com and left a message saying that the site was hacked. The message was removed after a few minutes. It is believed that the attack was carried out by Brazilian hackers and that it was meant as "revenge" for the team order given to Barrichello to let M. Schumacher overtake him in the final stages of the Austrian GP. Ferrari have specified that the hackers failed to get into the www.ferrari.com homepage and that the police has been alerted.

17 May 2001 Following the rumour that Coulthard was in talks with Jordan about joining the team next season, Ron Dennis has hinted that McLaren could keep both current drivers next year. Coulthard and Häkkinen are the longest-running drivers pair in Formula 1 and, if they stay on, will make it a record seven-year partnership.

17 May 2001 BAR has until Sunday the 20th of May to appeal against the rejection of their complaint about Räikkönen overtaking Burti on Prost under yellow flag.

16 May 2001 Coulthard came out on top at the Valencia tests, ahead of Frentzen, R. Schumacher, Zonta, Gené and Bernoldi.

The Valencia test times:

1 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes 1m13.524s 2 FRENTZEN Jordan Honda 1m14.383s 3 R. SCHUMACHER Williams BMW 1m14.825s 4 ZONTA Jordan Honda 1m15.028s 5 GENE Williams BMW 1m15.036s 6 BERNOLDI Arrows Asiatech 1m15.108s 7 IRVINE Jaguar 1m15.109s 8 DE LA ROSA Jaguar 1m15.272s 9 HEIDFELD Sauber Petronas 1m15.534s 10 BURTI Prost ACER 1m15.562s 11 TURNER McLaren Mercedes 1m15.639s 12 VILLENEUVE BAR Honda 1m15.786s 13 HERBERT Arrows Asiatech 1m15.795s 14 PANIS BAR Honda 1m15.964s

16 May 2001 Sauber will look for a new engine provider when the contract with Ferrari expires at the end of the current season. Sauber say that they cannot compete at the top level if they keep on using the previous year's engines.

16 May 2001 Paul Stoddart has put forward a plan to stop teams trying to poach staff from their competitiors. Recently Toyota lured Minardi technical director Gustav Brunner with a eight million pounds offer for a three-year deal. Stoddart wants key staff's contracts to be treated the same as drivers', that is, lodged with the FIA Contracts Recognition Board.

16 May 2001 Max Mosley will hold a press conference on Saturday 26 May at 11.30am, during the Monaco GP weekend. The focus of the press conference will be the current problems of Formula 1, from the sale of TV broadcast rights to the use of certain types of tyre.

15 May 2001 Ferrari and Maserati president Luca di Montezemolo officially announced that he will not become a minister in the newly-elected Italian government of Silvio Berlusconi. Ferrari and Maserati had raised a petition to convince him not to leave the presidency of the two companies.

15 May 2001 Häkkinen showed off what he could have done in Austria if he had managed to get off the grid by clocking the fastest time in the tests in Valencia. Heidfeld, Gené, Frentzen, Zonta and Wurz followed.

The Valencia test times:

1 HAKKINEN McLaren Mercedes 1m13.211s 2 HEIDFELD Sauber Petronas 1m14.839s 3 GENE Williams BMW 1m14.868s 4 FRENTZEN Jordan Honda 1m15.033s 5 ZONTA Jordan Honda 1m15.587s 6 WURZ McLaren Mercedes 1m15.791s 7 HERBERT Arrows Asiatech 1m16.228s 8 BERNOLDI Arrows Asiatech 1m16.560s 9 BURTI Prost Acer 1m16.589s

15 May 2001 Häkkinen's failure to start from his gridline in Austria was due to human error, according to McLaren. Adrian Newey said that the problem was related to launch control and that Häkkinen made a mistake in using the interface to the system. Newey refused to put the blame on the Finn, saying that it is difficult for a driver who has done normal starts all his career to move to an electronic system.

15 May 2001 According to the Brazilian media, Barrichello had been told to move over and let M. Schumacher through on lap 69 but had ignored the order until the end of the race. The statement is supported by transcripts of the communication between the Brazilian and the Ferrari crew. Jean Todt had said that Barrichello is an employee of Ferrari and must follow the team's decisions.

14 May 2001 Ferrari and Maserati are preparing a letter to be signed by all managers and employees to ask Luca di Montezemolo not to leave his role of president of the two companies. Montezemolo has been offered a position in the Italian newly-elected government of Silvio Berlusconi.

14 May 2001 Jean Todt has replied to the complaints about Ferrari's team tactics in yesterday's Austrian GP. Todt said that all teams have, have had and will have team orders. Every team has its own way of managing a race and Ferrari's decision was to let M. Schumacher finish ahead of Barrichello even if it was only the sixth GP. He added that, as long as they thought that there was hope that Barrichello might challenge for the lead, they let him carry on until the very last lap. Only when it became clear that he could not win the race they decided to tell him to let his team mate through.

13 May 2001 Coulthard kept his Championship challenge going by winning the Austrian GP against all odds after starting from seventh on the grid. Second McLaren driver Häkkinen's race was over before it started when his car was one of four that stalled on the grid. An unhappy Barrichello made way for team mate M. Schumacher to allow him to get six precious Championship points on the final straight. Räikkönen, Panis and Verstappen completed the list of points finishers. The full race report is available from the Reports page.

The Austrian GP finishing times:

1. David Coulthard (GB/McLaren-Mercedes) 1h27'45"927 2. Michael Schumacher (Ger/Ferrari) +2"191 3. Rubens Barrichello (Bra/Ferrari) +2"528 4. Kimi Räikkönen (Fin/Sauber-Petronas) +41"594 5. Olivier Panis (Fra/BAR-Honda) +53"776 6. Jos Verstappen (Ola/Arrows-Asiatech) +1 lap 7. Eddie Irvine (GB/Jaguar) +1 lap 8. Jacques Villeneuve (Can/BAR-Honda) +1 lap 9. Nick Heidfeld (Ger/Sauber-Petronas) +2 laps 10. Jean Alesi (Fra/Prost-Acer) +2 laps 11. Luciano Burti (Bra/Prost-Acer) +2 laps

13 May 2001 Paul Morgan, managing director of Ilmor Engineering, lost his life yesterday at 3.00pm in the crash of the vintage plane he was piloting. The World War Two propeller-driver South African Naval Fury plane flipped as it landed at the Northamptonshire Sywell Airport and Morgan, who was flying solo, was pronounced dead on the scene. Ilmor Engineering supplies engines to the McLaren Formula 1 team.

12 May 2001 M. Schumacher came back from yesterday's bad performance to take pole position, in front of the two excellent Montoya and R. Schumacher on Williams. Second Ferrari driver Barrichello will start from fourth place, Trulli on Jordan from fifth and Heidfeld of Sauber from sixth. McLaren had a cold shower wake-up call after yesterday's free practice performance, as Coulthard and Häkkinen never managed to achieve an appropiate car set-up, went on the grass far too often and had to settle for the fourth row.

The Austrian GP qualifying times:

1 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari 1m09.562s 2 MONTOYA Williams BMW 1m09.686s 3 R.SCHUMACHER Williams BMW 1m09.769s 4 BARRICHELLO Ferrari 1m09.786s 5 TRULLI Jordan Honda 1m10.202s 6 HEIDFELD Sauber Petronas 1m10.211s 7 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes 1m10.331s 8 HAKKINEN McLaren Mercedes 1m10.342s 9 RAIKKONEN Sauber Petronas 1m10.396s 10 PANIS BAR Honda 1m10.435s 11 FRENTZEN Jordan Honda 1m10.923s 12 VILLENEUVE BAR Honda 1m11.058s 13 IRVINE Jaguar 1m11.632s 14 DE LA ROSA Jaguar 1m11.752s 15 BERNOLDI Arrows Asiatech 1m11.823s 16 VERSTAPPEN Arrows Asiatech 1m12.187s 17 BURTI Prost Acer 1m12.206s 18 ALONSO Minardi European 1m12.640s 19 FISICHELLA Benetton Renault 1m12.644s 20 ALESI Prost Acer 1m12.910s 21 BUTTON Benetton Renault 1m13.459s 22 MARQUES Minardi European 1m13.585s

12 May 2001 Coulthard clocked the fastest time in the morning free practice session before the qualifying session for the Austrian GP. M. Schumacher massively improved on yesterday's bad show to take second best time, ahead of team mate Barrichello, second Mclaren driver Häkkinen and the two Williams drivers Montoya and R. Schumacher. The surprise of the session came not from one of the drivers but from a member of the local wildlife: a deer came inside the circuit enclosure, ran on the grass on a bend then performed a spectacular jump over the high guard-rail to go back into the woods.

The Austrian Saturday free practice times:

1. COULTHARD (McLaren-Mercedes) 1'10"010 (average 222.448 km/h) 2. M.SCHUMACHER (Ferrari) 1'10"039 3. BARRICHELLO (Ferrari) 1'10"103 4. HAKKINEN (McLaren-Mercedes) 1'10"148 5. MONTOYA (Williams-BMW) 1'10"391 6. R.SCHUMACHER (Williams-BMW) 1'10"397 7. FRENTZEN (Jordan-Honda) 1'10"434 8. TRULLI (Jordan-Honda) 1'10"751 9. HEIDFELD (Sauber-Ferrari) 1'10"863 10. VILLENEUVE (Bar-Honda) 1'10"935 11. PANIS (Bar-Honda) 1'11"351 12. RAIKKONEN (Sauber-Ferrari) 1'11"382 13. IRVINE (Jaguar-Cosworth) 1'11"543 14. VERSTAPPEN (Arrows-Asiatech) 1'11"831 15. DE LA ROSA (Jaguar-Cosworth) 1'11"994 16. BERNOLDI (Arrows-Asiatech) 1'12"029 17. BURTI (Prost-Ferrari) 1'12"714 18. ALONSO (Minardi-European) 1'13"333 19. FISICHELLA (Benetton-Renault) 1'13"345 20. MARQUES (Minardi-European) 1'13"368 21. ALESI (Prost-Ferrari) 1'13"485 22. BUTTON (Benetton-Renault) 1'13"969

11 May 2001 McLaren kept up the performance in the second free practice session for the Austrian GP. Coulthard and Häkkinen both clocked new fastest times and so did Barrichello, who retained his third time. R. Schumacher was again faster than brother Michael, while Räikkönen lost four places compared to this morning.

The Austrian GP combined free practice times:

1. COULTHARD (McLaren-Mercedes) 1'11"245 (average 218.592 km/h) 2. HAKKINEN (McLaren-Mercedes) 1'11"272 3. BARRICHELLO (Ferrari) 1'11"401 4. R.SCHUMACHER (Williams-BMW) 1'11"555 5. M.SCHUMACHER (Ferrari) 1'11"647 6. HEIDFELD (Sauber-Ferrari) 1'11"776 7. FRENTZEN (Jordan-Honda) 1'11"977 8. RAIKKONEN (Sauber-Ferrari) 1'12"189 9. PANIS (Bar-Honda) 1'12"259 10. VILLENEUVE (Bar-Honda) 1'12"290 11. MONTOYA (Williams-BMW) 1'12"299 12. IRVINE (Jaguar-Cosworth) 1'12"346 13. TRULLI (Jordan-Honda) 1'12"555 14. VERSTAPPEN (Arrows-Asiatech) 1'12"705 15. DE LA ROSA (Jaguar-Cosworth) 1'12"847 16. BERNOLDI (Arrows-Asiatech) 1'12"853 17. BURTI (Prost-Ferrari) 1'13"169 18. ALESI (Prost-Ferrari) 1'13"288 19. MARQUES (Minardi-European) 1'14"314 20. ALONSO (Minardi-European) 1'14"523 21. FISICHELLA (Benetton-Renault) 1'14"833 21. BUTTON (Benetton-Renault) 1'15"570

11 May 2001 McLaren dominated the first Austrian GP free practice session. Häkkinen, who is suffering from flu, clocked the fastest time ahead of team mate Coulthard, Barrichello, Räikkönen and the two Schumacher brothers, with Ralf ahead of Michael. Several drivers, including the current World Champion, span on the slippery track.

The Austrian GP first free practice times:

1. HAKKINEN (McLaren-Mercedes) 1'11"751 (average 217.051 km/h) 2. COULTHARD (McLaren-Mercedes) 1'12"036 3. BARRICHELLO (Ferrari) 1'12"222 4. RAIKKONEN (Sauber-Ferrari) 1'12"617 5. R.SCHUMACHER (Williams-BMW) 1'12"668 6. M.SCHUMACHER (Ferrari) 1'12"851 7. BERNOLDI (Arrows-Asiatech) 1'12"853 8. PANIS (Bar-Honda) 1'12"954 9. VERSTAPPEN (Arrows-Asiatech) 1'13"024 10. HEIDFELD (Sauber-Ferrari) 1'13"259 11. TRULLI (Jordan-Honda) 1'13"315 12. MONTOYA (Williams-BMW) 1'13"366 13. VILLENEUVE (Bar-Honda) 1'13"492 14. IRVINE (Jaguar-Cosworth) 1'14"027 15. DE LA ROSA (Jaguar-Cosworth) 1'14"636 16. ALESI (Prost-Ferrari) 1'14"742 17. BURTI (Prost-Ferrari) 1'15"086 18. FISICHELLA (Benetton-Renault) 1'15"256 19. BUTTON (Benetton-Renault) 1'15"570 20. ALONSO (Minardi-European) 1'15"945 21. MARQUES (Minardi-European) 1'15"965 22. FRENTZEN (Jordan-Honda) 1'21"728

11 May 2001 Goodyear is rumoured to be planning a return to Formula 1 after a three-year absence. Goodyear's Director of World Wide Racing, Stu Grant, will be in Zeltweg this weekend. The most likely return year would be the 2003 season.

11 May 2001 The possibility of having a GP in Russia has gained some more credibility. Bernie Ecclestone said that of the eight venues that would like to host a GP, Moscow is where he believes the event should take place. The Moscow GP could be included in the Formula 1 calendar as early as 2003. Ecclestone said that no new races will be added, which means that one of the existing GPs will be moved to Nagatino, south Moscow. The circuit complex is currently still at the proposal stage and is expected to take two years to be completed, at an estimated cost of 100m US dollars.

11 May 2001 M. Schumacher is the new testimonial of the Piaggio Aero Industries. The announcement was made in Zeltweg because from the Austrian GP M. Schumacher's helmet will sport the Piaggio Aero logo.

10 May 2001 The decision about the renewal of the contract for Zeltweg to host a Formula 1 GP will be announced on the evening of 13 May, just after this year's race.

8 May 2001 Minardi will take legal action to stop Brunner from joining Toyota, according to team owner Paul Stoddart. The Australian said that the Minardi team is saddened and surprised by the fact that Toyota is trying to hire Brunner, who has a contract with Minardi until 2003. He added that Brunner was one of the most trustworthy members of the team and the way he acted was incomprehensible. Minardi have appointed Gabriele Tredozi as technical director.

7 May 2001 Toyota has hired Austrian Gustav Brunner (50) as chief designer. Brunner, who left Minardi to join Toyota, had also worked for Arrows, Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and March in the past.

5 May 2001 Jaguar test driver Tomas Scheckter has been sacked by the team after he had to appear in a Northampton (UK) court over a charge of kerb crawling. Scheckter's departure leaves the Jaguar team with no test driver, after De La Rosa was recently promoted to race driver.

3 May 2001 Toyota, which will take part in the 2002 Formula 1 season, has sacked technical director André de Cortanze. His place has been taken by Tmg (Toyota Motorsport Gmbh) president Ove Andersson.

3 May 2001 Norbert Haug called the rumours that Häkkinen is considering leaving Formula 1 racing pure nonsense. Both McLaren drivers' contracts will expiry at the end of the current season and the team is not even starting to worry about the contract issue at the moment. On the other hand Keke Rosberg, Häkkinen's manager, has refused to confirm that the Finn will be racing in Formula 1 next season.

2 May 2001 FIA has declared illegal the diffuser used by both Williams and BAR, allegedly following complaints from other teams. Both teams are thought to have found a loophole in the rules which has now been closed.

2 May 2001 Williams have been accused of using diffusers that are legal but "against the spirit of the rules". The team have denied that they have done anything wrong.

2 May 2001 Ross Brawn has admitted that he had instructed M. Schumacher to slow down in the final phases of the Spanish GP because of the risk of a suspension failure, not because of the alleged wheel vibration. Barrichello retired after his rear suspension collapsed.

Last updated on by Federica Massagrande