November 2000

30 November 2000 Pedro Diniz's father, who owns a chain of supermarkets in Brazil, has bought a 30-40 percent share of the Prost Grand Prix team. It is tought that Pedro might work in the Prost team as a manager, rather than as a driver. That would leave the door open for Gaston Mazzacane to drive alongside Jean Alesi next season, bringing sponsorship from South American cable network PSN to the team. Prost lost the sponsorship of Gauloises at the end of last season. Mazzacane is actually due to shake down the Arrows A21 at Silverstone in december, so he might actually end up replacing Verstappen or De La Rosa at Arrows instead of going to Prost.

29 November 2000 F3 racer Narain Karthikeyan, who is due to become the first Indian ever to drive a Formula 1 car, will have a to wait a little bit longer. Jaguar cancelled the test Karthikeyan was supposed to have at Silverstone on the 1st of December because the team wants to concentrate on the tests at Jerez instead. The Silverstone tests will take place later in December, though no definitive date has been given yet.

28 November 2000 Prost have cancelled the tests planned at Jerez next week because they have too few engines available at the moment. They decided to save the test days and use them at Barcelona later in December instead. Prost signed a new engine deal with Ferrari for custom engines for next season after Peugeot's departure from Formula 1.

28 November 2000 M. Schumacher said that he finds himself at home at Ferrari and has no reasons to want to move to another team. He intends to see his contract to completion (two more years) and, if the atmosphere stays the same, he would like to stay with Ferrari longer.

27 November 2000 Jean Alesi escaped unhurt from a 120 mph crash at the Monza rally. Alesi, who was driving a Subaru Impreza, crashed into a guard-rail, span through the air and into a ditch. The Frenchman was upset about not finishing the race because he was hoping for a good result.

25 November 2000 Frentzen has given support to Wurz's statements by saying that some Formula 1 teams have used traction control and got away with it. The Jordan driver added that now that traction control is legal again, all teams will be able to compete at the same level.

24 November 2000 Tom Wilkinshaw has signed a contract with Moscow city officials to help devise a plan to build a Formula 1 circuit in the Russian capital. TWR, Arrows' parent company, are consultants to the project.

24 November 2000 The latest rumour about the Minardi situation is that the chairman of Red Bull might be interested in buying the team. Minardi currently lacks a sponsor, engines and drivers and is in danger of folding. Red Bull are currently sponsoring the Sauber team.

24 November 2000 In an interview to Autorevue, Wurz said that last year all teams have been using banned traction control.

22 November 2000 Fernado Alonso's personal manager, Adrian Campos, denied that the young Spaniard is leaving Minardi to join Benetton, despite yesterday's report that Alonso had already signed with Benetton. Campos said that Alonso's first priority is to respect his contract with Minardi and he will wait and see what happens with his current team.

21 November 2000 Spaniard Fernando Alonso has signed a contract with Benetton, who beat Ferrari to it. Alonso (19), who impressed in testing earlier in the year, had a five-years contract with Minardi but the Faenza team had to let him go following the troubles they are in with the lack of engine and sponsorship.

20 November 2000 Marc Gené is leaving Minardi to join Williams as test driver. The Spaniard signed a one-year contract with the option of extending for another year.

20 November 2000 Johnny Herbert is still undregoing physiotherapy following the accident in his last ever Formula 1 GP, when he damaged his knee.

16 November 2000 Joan Villadelprat announced that the sponsorship deal between Prost and Telefonica never got off the ground and that the Spanish telecommunication giant has decided to stop all sport sponsorship. This leaves the Prost team in trouble, as they lost the support of Gauloises and must find the money to pay for the Ferrari engines for next season.

15 November 2000 The Minardi team is rumoured to be in danger of folding according to Spanish paper Sport. Minardi lacks a sponsor and an engine deal for next season.

15 November 2000 Jaguar have received planning permission to build a new base by the Silverstone circuit. Work will begin as soon as the environmental impact report is ready.

14 November 2000 Mark Webber has signed a contract with Benetton for next season as test driver. As well as testing for Benetton, he will compete in the F3000 season.

13 November 2000 Prost will unveil their new car in late January, despite the delay in finalising the two-year engine deal with Ferrari.

12 November 2000 Fernando Alonso, 19 year old driver from Oviedo (spain), has been linked with Ferrari as probable replacement for Luca Badoer in 2001. He is also rumoured to be in line to replace Barrichello as second driver in 2002 when the Brazilian's contract expires. Alonso currently is the test driver for Minardi and race driver for the F3000 Astromega team. He is sponsored by Telefonica.

11 November 2000 Traction control is set to come back to Formula 1 next season. FIA considers the traction control ban "unworkable". The F1 Technical Working Group voted unanimously for the ban to be overturned last Thursday. Traction control was banned eight years ago as part of FIA's attempt to reduce the number of electronically controlled aids. At the meeting a letter from Jo Bauer was given to the delegates, in which the FIA's technical delegate says that he is satisfied that at least one team has been using traction control in the period up to and including the 1998 season. The F1 Commission will approve the measure in Monaco on December the 7th. Max Mosley strongly opposes electronic aids to drivers, but he is prepared to go along with the majority on this instance.

10 November 2000 Nigel Stepney, Ferrari's chief mechanic is rumoured to be preparing to join Jaguar, as new boss Bobby Rahal wants to improve pit stop performance. Stepney, considered one of the unsung heroes of Ferrari's success, came to the public's attention when he was hit by M. Schumacher's car during a pit stop in Barcelona and thrown into the air. He only suffered bruising to his ankle in that occasion.

9 November 2000 M. Schumacher has had the metal pin removed from his leg. The pin was put in after the accident at Silverstone last year. The newly-crowned World Champion will have to rest for a few week. He will not do any testing until the new year.

9 November 2000 Peter Sauber confirmed that they are hoping to have 21 year old Kimi Raikkonen as their second driver alongside Nick Heidfeld next year. The young Finn is the British Formula Renault Champion but has run only 23 races since his graduation from karting, so he does not have a super-license. Current regulations say that he couold get a super-license if he completes 300km of testing in two days.

8 November 2000 Tunisia is planning to ask FIA to host a GP, according to the president of the Tunisian Automobil Club, Karim Azuz. A city track has been built at Berge Du Lac, near Tunis, and some FIA observers have already been there to inspect it.

8 November 2000 New rules have been introduced by FIA for the 2001 Formula 1 season. The front wing will is to raised 10 millimetres from the ground (currently 5 millimetres). The rear wing will be limited to three downforce profiles. The resistance to vertical and lateral impact of the roll bar over the driver's head will have to be increased by over four times the current levels. Tyres will have to be tied with two tethers in order to stop them from coming loose in the even of an impact. Cockpit dimensions will be increased slightly in order to accommodate the new fully removable seat. The nose area of the car will have to be strengthened vertically and laterally in order to withstand impacts of twice the force currently indicated by regulaions. The risk of aquaplaning will be minimised by increasing rain tyres by 1 centimetre in diameter. The loads applied to the rear roll structure have been increased to 50 KN laterally (previously 12 KN), 60 KN longitudinally (previously 45 KN) and 90 KN vertically (previously 60 KN). A new side intrusion test of the monocoque has been introduced.

7 November 2000 Häkkinen warned M. Schumacher that he intends to retake the title next year.

6 November 2000 Mercedes boss Jurgen Hubber said that M. Schumacher will never race for them. With his Drivers' title with Ferrari after 21 years, he has achieved cult status in Italy and will honor his contract until 2002. M. Schumacher's fame would obscure McLaren's own achievements and victories against him are better than with him.

6 November 2000 M. Schumacher will not be able to take part in the Ferrari tests until next year due to the surgery he needs to undergo to remove a metal pin from his leg. Most of the test work will be done by Luca Badoer.

6 November 2000 Mugen-Honda president Hirotoshi Honda announced that they are pulling out of Formula 1 after nine years. Last season Mugen-Honda provided engines to Jordan.

6 November 2000 Ferrari have told Michelin that they are worrying to much about supplying tyres to Prost next season. Ferrari will have more important things to think about, such as retaining the titles, than spying on Prost's telemetry.

4 November 2000 Pedro De La Rosa intends to stay at Arrows next year. The Spaniard was rumoured to be considering a move to Prost.

3 November 2000 Current World Champion M. Schumacher is to undergo an operation next week to remove a metal pin from his leg. The pin was put in after the accident during the British GP in 1999. M. Schumacher will combine the surgery recovery time with a three weeks holiday and will be back on the eighth of December to receive the WC trophy at the annual FIA prize giving in Monaco. M. Schumacher is not expected to be back in action until January 2001, when he will test the car for next season.

3 November 2000 McLaren's electronics expert Anton Sitpinovic is joining Ferrari after Maranello lured him by offering him double his current salary. The South African, who knows all the software secrets of McLaren, is to replace Ferrari's Tad Czapski, who is quitting Formula 1.

2 November 2000 Former Benetton team manager Joan Villadelprat has joined Prost for the 2001 season. The Spaniard also had a short spell working for Minardi.

1 November 2000 Michelin, who are to supply 60 percent of Formula 1 teams next year, are worried about having to supply tyres to the Prost team. Prost will use Ferrari engines in 2001, which means that Ferrari will have access to the car setup information. Michelin fears that this information will be passed on to Bridgestone, who will provide Ferrari with tyres.

1 November 2000 Toyota have officially announced that they have bought the circuit at Fuji. Toyota, who are returning to formula 1 in 2002, would like to modernise the circuit and host the Japanese GP. The circuit at Suzuka is owned by their rival Honda.

Last updated on by Federica Massagrande