October 2000

31 October 2000 Massimo Marchignoli, mayor of Imola, said that Bernie Ecclestone has told him that the 2001 GP is not at risk and that he would like to have GPs at Imola for a few years after 2001.

31 October 2000 Paul Stewart has resigned from his position as Executive Director of Jaguar Racing. Stewart was treated for colon cancer at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, earlier in the year and, though the treatment is working, he will have to visit the clinic on a regular basis for the next two years. Paul Stewart feels that he will not be able to carry out his repsonsibilities at Jaguar Racing because of his health circumstances. Neil Ressler, chairman of Jaguar Racing, said that he fully understands Paul Stewart's position and that he will receive all the support he needs from Jaguar Racing.

30 October 2000 Jos Verstappen was found guilty of assaulting a 45-year old man at a kart track in Belgium two years ago and given a five years jail term. The jail term was suspended because Verstappen had sought a settlement with the man before the trial.

30 October 2000 The steering wheel of M. Schumacher's Ferrari F1 2000, his helmet and Barrichello's and Badoer's racing suits have been given by Ferrari to the Society for Cancer Research. The items will be auctioned to raise money for the Society. The Ferrari drivers and Ferrari president Luca Cordero di Montezemolo have also filmed a TV spot supporting the Society.

28 October 2000 Arrows have confirmed that De La Rosa will drive for them next season.

26 October 2000 Craig Pollock denied that Adrian Reynard can buy British American Tobacco's 50 percent share of the BAR team. BAT needs Pollock's approval to sell their shares, just like Pollock needs BAT's approval to sell his own. As an extra blow to Reynard, the talks with Prodrive over the sale of his Reynard Motorspot business have collapsed. Reynard needs to sell the business in order to finance the BAR takeover.

25 October 2000 Finn Kimi Raikkonen (21), Formula Renault champion, is rumoured to be in line to sign for Sauber next year, replacing Pedro Paolo Diniz who will probably go to Prost. Sauber have already signed Nick Heidfeld to replace Mika Salo, who chose to move to Toyota to help prepare their car for their entry in Formula 1 in 2002.

25 October 2000 The latest rumour about Gené's future sees him as a test driver at Williams, though he says he would rather stay in active racing. Gené is likely to lose his seat at Minardi after his sponsor Telefonica pulled out of the sponsorship deal with the Faenza team.

24 October 2000 According to recent rumours, Adrian Raynard is to try and gain a controlling interest in the BAR team in a 65 million dollars bid. BAR joint boss Craig Pollock has responded to the rumours denying that there will be any change in the ownership of the team. Pollock and Raynard are not the best of friends and Pollock will probably have to leave if Raynard manages to take control. Raynard will sell his car engineering company Raynard Engineering to finance the deal, possibly to Subaru rally team boss David Richards. Pollock is Villenueve's manager and personal friend and the Canadian has threatened to leave the team if Pollock is ousted.

24 October 2000 Juan Montoya has accused R. Schumacher of playing mind games with him when the German criticised the decision of letting Jenson Button go in favour of the Colombian. R. Schumacher, who has a very good working relation with Button, said that he thinks Montoya will fail to do the transition from ChampCars to Formula 1, like Alessandro Zanardi before him. Montoya replied saying that Europeans need to play mind games because they are mentally weak and that he will not be affected by his new team mate's opinion.

23 October 2000 Jean Todt said that he is not sure what he will do after his contcat with Ferrari expires at the end of 2001. Todt said that motorsport is his life, but that he does not want to work as hard as he has done in the last few years.

22 October 2000 Coulthard apologised to M. Schumacher for his attacks to the German's style of driving. Coulthard admitted that he had sometimes said things "too publicly" rather than talk directly to the new World Champion. He then added that he looks forwards to battling the Ferrari driver next year. As a gesture of reconciliation the Scot wore one of the red wigs donned by the Ferrari crew to celebrate the double title.

22 October 2000 M. Schumacher won the Malaysian GP to give Ferrari the Constructors Championship as well as the Drivers Championship. Second was Coulthard, who challenged for the lead in the final stages of the race but failed to overtake the German. Barrichello finished third in front of Häkkinen who had received a 10-seconds stop-go penalty for jumping the start. Villeneuve was fifth and Irvine sixth. Herbert, in his farewell race to Formula 1, suffered from a broken suspention and had to be carried out of the track, but X-rays showed that he only suffered a bruised knee. The full report of the race is available from the Race Reports section.

The finishing times:

1 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari 1h35m54.235s 2 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes +0.732s 3 BARRICHELLO Ferrari +18.444s 4 HAKKINEN McLaren Mercedes +35.269s 5 VILLENEUVE BAR Honda +1m10.692s 6 IRVINE Jaguar +1m12.568s 7 WURZ Benetton Playlife +1m39.314s 8 SALO Sauber Petronas +1 lap 9 FISICHELLA Benetton Playlife +1 lap 10 VERSTAPPEN Arrows Supertec +1 lap 11 ALESI Prost Peugeot +1 lap 12 TRULLI Jordan Mugen-Honda +1 lap 13 MAZZACANE Minardi Fondmetal +6 laps 14 HERBERT Jaguar +8 laps 15 ZONTA BAR Honda +10 laps 16 R.SCHUMACHER Williams BMW +13 laps 17 GENE Minardi Fondmetal +20 laps 18 BUTTON Williams BMW +38 laps 19 FRENTZEN Jordan Mugen-Honda +49 laps 20 HEIDFELD Prost Peugeot +56 laps 21 DINIZ Sauber Petronas +56 laps 22 DE LA ROSA Arrows Supertec +56 laps

21 October 2000 Ron Dennis replied to Max Mosley's letter with another public letter, saying that he had no intention of causing any damage to a sport to which he has dedicated most of his working life. He added that he is sorry that some of his statements could have been interpreted as being anti-Italian or offensive to Roberto Causo. In fact, he had been very careful to point out that he was sure that Dr. Causo had behaved correctly in his role of race steward. Dennis said that journalists misunderstood his meaning and caused his statements to sound critical of Dr. Causo when published. He then openly apologised to Roberto Causo.

As for his comments about the new regulations, Dennis said that he hopes he will be able to understand their complexity and that he is sure that Formula 1 is a well-governed sport. He concluded by saying that he would like to meet Max Mosley in person to discuss the matter.

21 October 2000 In a letter made public in Sepang, Max Mosley has attacked Ron Dennis for his outspoken views against the way Formula 1 is being run. Dennis had complained about the nationality of one of the stewards at the Japanese GP, Italian lawyer Roberto Causo, who had represented Ferrari last year when they had their disqualification from the Malaysian GP overturned. Dennis said that Causo would have nationalistic tendencies and be biased towards helping Ferrari win the title. He also complained that Ferrari and McLaren were not being treated equally.

In his letter to Dennis, Mosley said: "You do a lot of damage when, as a team principal, you constantly suggest that the Formula 1 World Championship is not properly or fairly run."

"Although I am sure you would not intend such a thing, your actions might also be seen as an attempt to intimidate our officials, something which is a recognised problem in other sports."

In the letter, Mosley also added that Dennis' comments about Causo were very insulting and he should think issuing an apology.

Since Dennis had also been unhappy about Charlie Whiting's ruling that other drivers should not get in the way of Häkkinen's and M. Schumacher's fight for the title (a ruling seen by McLaren as intended to prevent Coulthard from helping his team mate), Mosley said that Dennis should be happy that the FIA's governing body tries to prevent trouble instead of having to deal with it after it happens. He then went on to suggest that, if he really is unhappy, Dennis should start his own series with its own technical and sporting regulations. FIA would sanction the new series provided that they were satisfied that it were safe.

"What you should not do, however, is enter our championship, on whose rule-making body you sit and whose regulations and procedures have been known to you for more than 30 years, and then undermine it by constantly complaining to anyone in the media who will listen." Mosley concluded.

21 October 2000 Bridgestone have denied that hay are planning to leave Formula 1 at the end of 2002 follwing the recent legal action against Firestone.

21 October 2000 The first two rows of the starting grid for the last GP of the 2001 season are again shared between Ferrari and McLaren. M. Schumacher took his ninth pole position this year ahead of rival Häkkinen, Coulthard and Barrichello. Wurz and Villeneuve will start from the third row. To win the Constructors Championship, McLaren need to score a one-two in Malaysia and hope that Ferrari do not finish in eirther third or fourth place. Ferrari have had at least one car finish in the top three places in every single race this season.

The qualifying times:

1 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari 1m37.397s 2 HAKKINEN McLaren Mercedes 1m37.860s 3 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes 1m37.889s 4 BARRICHELLO Ferrari 1m37.896s 5 WURZ Benetton Playlife 1m38.644s 6 VILLENEUVE BAR Honda 1m38.653s 7 IRVINE Jaguar 1m38.696s 8 R.SCHUMACHER Williams BMW 1m38.739s 9 TRULLI Jordan Mugen-Honda 1m38.909s 10 FRENTZEN Jordan Mugen-Honda 1m38.988s 11 ZONTA BAR Honda 1m39.158s 12 HERBERT Jaguar 1m39.331s 13 FISICHELLA Benetton Playlife 1m39.387s 14 DE LA ROSA Arrows Supertec 1m39.443s 15 VERSTAPPEN Arrows Supertec 1m39.489s 16 BUTTON Williams BMW 1m39.563s 17 SALO Sauber Petronas 1m39.591s 18 ALESI Prost Peugeot 1m40.065s 19 HEIDFELD Prost Peugeot 1m40.148s 20 DINIZ Sauber Petronas 1m40.521s 21 GENE Minardi Fondmetal 1m40.662s 22 MAZZACANE Minardi Fondmetal 1m42.078s

20 October 2000 Wurz has signed a contract with McLaren-Mercedes to be their test driver next season, replacing Oliver Panis who chose to partner Villeneuve at BAR.

20 October 2000 Pedro Diniz has announced that he is currently talking to Alain Prost over driving for the Prost team alongside Alesi next season.

20 October 2000 Häkkinen clocked the fastes time in the Friday practice at Sepang, in front of new World Champion M. Schumacher, Coulthard, Barrichello, Trulli and R. Schumacher. M. Schumacher had dominated the whole of the first session, then the Finn came back in the second session to steal the advantage from him.

The Friday practice times:

1 HAKKINEN McLaren Mercedes 1m40.262s 2 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari 1m40.276s 3 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes 1m40.498s 4 BARRICHELLO Ferrari 1m40.877s 5 TRULLI Jordan Mugen-Honda 1m41.304s 6 R.SCHUMACHER Williams BMW 1m41.493s 7 ZONTA BAR Honda 1m41.497s 8 FISICHELLA Benetton Playlife 1m41.593s 9 WURZ Benetton Playlife 1m41.679s 10 FRENTZEN Jordan Mugen-Honda 1m41.751s 11 VERSTAPPEN Arrows Supertec 1m41.914s 12 BUTTON Williams BMW 1m42.012s 13 HERBERT Jaguar 1m42.113s 14 IRVINE Jaguar 1m42.141s 15 DE LA ROSA Arrows Supertec 1m42.254s 16 DINIZ Sauber Petronas 1m42.457s 17 VILLENEUVE BAR Honda 1m42.649s 18 ALESI Prost Peugeot 1m42.868s 19 SALO Sauber Petronas 1m43.284s 20 MAZZACANE Minardi Fondmetal 1m43.424s 21 GENE Minardi Fondmetal 1m43.655s 22 HEIDFELD Prost Peugeot 1m43.786s

19 October 2000 M. Schumacher has firmly denied rumours that he ever thought about retiring from Formula 1. The newly-crowned World Champion said that he would be mad to retire now, after he has helped to build Ferrari to what it is today. M. Schumacher needs only another eight wins to equal Prost's record of 51 GP victories.

18 October 2000 According to some reports, Briatore is planning to claim Trulli when the driver's contract with the Jordan team expires at the end of 2001. Benetton have an option on Trulli and will take it up as soon as his contract ends.

17 October 2000 Telefonica decided not to renew the sponsorship deal with Minardi for next season. Gené might now leave the Faenza team, though he had said in the past that he is not obliged to follow Telefonica if they left.

17 October 2000 Diniz has not yet decided what he will do next year, but he will definitely not go to Minardi. Both Prost and Sauber have their eyes on him because of the 8 million dollars sponsorship he carries thanks to his father's supermarket chain. Prost is in desperate need of money because of the Ferrari engine deal.

15 October 2000 Jacques Villeneuve has finally joined the Grand Prix Drivers Association. The Canadian had often been criticised for refusing to join the association in the past. He said that he has realised that joining up is the best way for him to have his opinion heard by the other drivers.

14 October 2000 Johnny Herbert might stay in Formula 1 next year as Williams' test driver, instead of moving to ChampCar in 2001. Williams are after him because of his experience as a Formula 1 driver and the Briton might take up the offer if he can not find a competitive drive in ChampCar.

14 October 2000 In an interview with the F1 Racing magazine Bernie Ecclestone reiterated the point that he will stay in charge of Formula 1 even if major manufacturers buy shares into the business.

13 October 2000 A group of BAR team members appear to be plotting to get rid of Craig Pollock. A letter in which Raynard and others say that they will 'render certain financial advisory services to the management team in connection with the possible acquisition of British America Racing' has been found. Raynard refused to comment on the letter, but Pollock said that he thought something like that was going on and that it is against the terms of their joint venture.

13 October 2000 Marc Gené has denied that he is thinking about leaving Minardi to go to Prost taking his Telefonica sponsorship with him. The Spaniard said that he would like to stay at Minardi because the team is improving.

13 October 2000 Safety measures have been improved at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia following the accident that killed fire marshal Paolo Gislimberti in Monza. A safety shield has been built along the pit wall, the gravel trap at the first bend has been extended and drainage has been improved because of the seasonal heavy rains.

12 October 2000 Bridgestone might leave Formula 1 at the end of the 2002 season, following the lawsuits against its sister company Firestone over the death of 88 people attributed to defects to Firestone tyres.

11 October 2000 Toranosuke Takagi, who lost his Arrows seat to Verstappen last season, could come back to Formula 1 as part of a deal between Minardi and Mugen-Honda, probably replacing Gené who is almost certainly going to Prost.

11 October 2000 Honda have threatened to pull out of Formula 1 unless BAR and Jordan improve their performance next season. Part of the Honda organisation feel that they do not get enough publicity for all the effort they put into Formula 1.

9 October 2000 M. Schumacher is to undergo an operation to remove a metal pin from his leg after the current F1 season is over. The 30cm-long pin was inserted in his bone after he broke his right leg at Silverstone last year. The operation is very straightforward, but the newly crowned World Champion will have to rest for two months following the surgery, preventing him from starting to work on next year's car immediately.

9 October 2000 Joan Villadelprat, formerly of Benetton and Minardi, is rumoured to be joining the Prost team as new team manager.

9 October 2000 M. Schumacher received criticism as well as congratulations after his victory at Suzuka. Former Italian president Francesco Cossiga complained at the Ferrari driver's behavious while the Italian anthem was being played. While on the podium, M. Schumacher stood respectfully throughtout the German anthem, but then pretended to conduct an orchestra while the Italian anthem was being played.

9 October 2000 Despite his emotion and happiness, Jean Todt has reminded the fans that there still is the Constructors title to fight for in Malaysia, and that it is time to start thinking about next year's car.

9 October 2000 Most of the Italian newspapers have dedicated several pages to M. Schumacher's achievement of the Drivers Championship title with one race to go. The German press too have dedicated several pages to the news. In almost all Italian cities and towns people have been out on the streets celebrating the first Drivers title in 21 years.

8 october 2000 German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder sent a personal message of congratulation to M. Schumacher while Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi said that now Ferrari has really become a national symbol. Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo said that today is the best day of his life from a profesional point of view. Jody Scheckter, the last driver to win a Drivers title with Ferrari in 1979, expressed his happiness at M. Schumacher's victory, and his sadness at having lost his own record.

8 October 2000 Ferrari mechanic Luca Baldisseri has had his hair shaven. He had promised to do so when Ferrari won the Drivers Championship again.

8 October 2000 M. Schumacher gratified the Italian Ferrari fans by thanking them and the team in Italian for their support.

8 October 2000 The long wait for the Ferrari fans is over. After 21 years M. Schumacher crossed the finishing line first to bring the Drivers title home to Maranello one race early in front of rival Häkkinen and the other McLaren driver Coulthard. His team mate Barrichello finished in fourth place, ahead of Button and Villeneuve. The full report of the race is available from the Race Reports section.

The finishing times:

1 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari 1h29m53.435s 2 HAKKINEN McLaren Mercedes +1.837s 3 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes +1m09.914s 4 BARRICHELLO Ferrari +1m19.190s 5 BUTTON Williams BMW +1m25.694s 6 VILLENEUVE BAR Honda +1 lap 7 HERBERT Jaguar +1 lap 8 IRVINE Jaguar +1 lap 9 ZONTA BAR Honda +1 lap 10 SALO Sauber Petronas +1 lap 11 DINIZ Sauber Petronas +1 lap 12 DE LA ROSA Arrows Supertec +1 lap 13 TRULLI Jordan Mugen-Honda +1 lap 14 FISICHELLA Benetton Playlife +1 lap 15 MAZZACANE Minardi Fondmetal +2 laps 16 GENE Minardi Fondmetal +7 laps 17 R.SCHUMACHER Williams BMW +12 laps 18 HEIDFELD Prost Peugeot +12 laps 19 WURZ Benetton Supertec +16 laps 20 FRENTZEN Jordan Mugen-Honda +24 laps 21 ALESI Prost Peugeot +34 laps 22 VERSTAPPEN Arrows Supertec +44 laps

7 October 2000 Ron Dennis is unhappy with the new ruling that drivers could be banned if they interfere with the title battle between Schumacher and Häkkinen. According to the ruling, the race director will decide whether a driver is behaving in an unsporting manner. This measure could prevent Coulthard and Barrichello from helping their team mates by blocking their rival, as Coulthard did in Indianapolis and M. Schumacher did in Malaysia last year. Ron Dennis reckons that this goes against Formula 1 being a team sport, where the two drivers work together for a goal and sees the decision as "arbitrary", as it s not clear how the rule would apply. He is also unhappy about the fact that one of the stewards, layer Roberto Causo, is Italian, as he could have "nationalistic tendencies".

7 October 2000 M. Schumacher grabbed pole position for the Japanese GP from title rival Mika Häkkinen after a much fought qualifying battle between the two. As soon as one of the two took pole, the other would lap fractionally quicker and retake the lead. At the very end of the session M. Schumacher went ahead with a nine-thousandths of a second lead over the Finn. Coulthard and Barrichello will start from the second row, while Button outpaced team mate R. Schumacher again for fifth place. Diniz was penalised and stripped of his two best lap times because, during the free practice session on Saturday, he stayed out on the track with a blown engine, spraying oil all over the racing surface.

The qualifying times:

1 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari 1m35.825s 2 HAKKINEN McLaren Mercedes 1m35.834s 3 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes 1m36.236s 4 BARRICHELLO Ferrari 1m36.330s 5 BUTTON Williams BMW 1m36.628s 6 R.SCHUMACHER Williams BMW 1m36.788s 7 IRVINE Jaguar 1m36.899s 8 FRENTZEN Jordan Mugen-Honda 1m37.243s 9 VILLENEUVE BAR Honda 1m37.267s 10 HERBERT Jaguar 1m37.329s 11 WURZ Benetton Playlife 1m37.348s 12 FISICHELLA Benetton Playlife 1m37.479s 13 DE LA ROSA Arrows Supertec 1m37.652s 14 VERSTAPPEN Arrows Supertec 1m37.674s 15 TRULLI Jordan Mugen-Honda 1m37.679s 16 HEIDFELD Prost Peugeot 1m38.141s 17 ALESI Prost Peugeot 1m38.209s 18 ZONTA BAR Honda 1m38.269s 19 SALO Sauber Petronas 1m38.490s 20 DINIZ Sauber Petronas 1m38.576s 21 GENE Minardi Fondmetal 1m39.972s 22 MAZZACANE Minardi Fondmetal 1m40.462s

7 October 2000 Ricardo Zonta has signed to be Jordan's test driver next season. The Brazialian chose to stay in Formula 1 as a test driver rather than go to CART as a race driver.

6 October 2000 FIA safety boss Charles Whiting has threatened to hand over a three-race ban for next season to any driver who deliberately interferes with the battle between M. Schumacher and Häkkinen. Both Coulathrd and Barrichello are expected to have received precise team orders to help their team mates win.

6 October 2000 Marc Gené will partner Alesi at Prost next year. Alain Prost has stolen the Telefonica (personal sponsors of Gené) sponsorship deal from Minardi.

6 October 2000 M. Schumacher was fastest in the Friday practice session at Suzuka, clocking a best lap over half a second faster than rival Häkkinen, despite being out on the track when a earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale truck the area. The quake did not cause damage to the Suzuka circuit and structures. Barrichello clocked the third best time, Coukthard the fourth, Button the fifth and trulli the sixth.

The Friday practice times:

1 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari 1m37.728s 2 HAKKINEN McLaren Mercedes 1m38.339s 3 BARRICHELLO Ferrari 1m38.537s 4 COULTHARD McLaren Mercedes 1m39.010s 5 BUTTON Williams BMW 1m39.111s 6 TRULLI Jordan Mugen-Honda 1m39.261s 7 FRENTZEN Jordan Mugen-Honda 1m39.529s 8 DE LA ROSA Arrows Supertec 1m39.547s 9 VILLENEUVE BAR Honda 1m39.669s 10 ZONTA BAR Honda 1m39.887s 11 IRVINE Jaguar 1m40.014s 12 R.SCHUMACHER Williams BMW 1m40.166s 13 DINIZ Sauber Petronas 1m40.328s 14 HEIDFELD Prost Peugeot 1m40.403s 15 SALO Sauber Petronas 1m40.431s 16 FISICHELLA Benetton Playlife 1m40.520s 17 VERSTAPPEN Arrows Supertec 1m40.523s 18 HERBERT Jaguar 1m40.824s 19 WURZ Benetton Playlife 1m40.985s 20 ALESI Prost Peugeot 1m41.014s 21 GENE Minardi Fondmetal 1m41.670s 22 MAZZACANE Minardi Fondmetal 1m45.238s

6 October 2000 Chief Designer Mike Gascoyne has been released by Jordan to join Benetton after having been on "gardening leave" for the last few months. Gascoyne had fallen out with the Jordan team after signing a deal with Benetton for 2001 earlier this season. He was released early because Honda does not want him involved with the design of the car for next year.

6 October 2000 Bernie Ecclestone has warned that the threat to axe the British GP, despite Silverstone having been reinstated in its July spot for 2001, is very real. Ecclestone said that despite all that Great Britain has done for Formula 1, there is no support whatsoever from the British government. britain will retain its GP only if a world-class circuit is built.

6 October 2000 Toyota are in talks to buy a 80 percent share in the Fuji International Speedway Circuit, the former home of the Japanese GP. By doing so Toyota is showing that they intend to fight at the same level as Honda (who own Suzuka) when they join Formula 1 in 2002. The Fuji International Speedway Circuit hosted the Japanese GP in 1976 and 1977 and is close to the Toyota headquarters. It is expected to be used for testing and Toyota will possibly try to bring the Japanese GP back there. Toyota is thought to have already allocated 10 million yen to the improvement of the Fuji circuit.

5 October 2000 Mugen-Honda, current engine supplier to the Jordan team, could stay in F1 next season according to their chief manager Hirotoshi Honda. Mugen-Honda had seemed to be out of the picture after Jordan's decision to get engine directly from Mugen-Honda's motherhouse Honda, but now Mugen-Honda is discussing the issue directly with Honda.

5 October 2000 During a press conference in Suzuka Norbert Haug apologised to Mika Häkkinen for the engine problem that took the Finn out of the US GP. Haug said that it started as a little problem with the pneumatic valve system. He added that he does not think that this will happen again in the Japanese GP, but he cannot guarantee it. Earlier Häkkinen had said that he feels optimistic about the Japanese GP and that what happened to him in Indianapolis could happen to M. Schumacher at Suzuka.

5 October 2000 Following yesterday's meeting in Seville, FIA has announced that in 2001 testing will not be allowed in the three weeks between the German GP (29 July) and the Hungarian GP (19 August). Also, testing will not be allowed on the four circuits officially designated for race simulation (Silverstone, Magny Cours, Monza and Barcelona), in the 28 days preceeding the GP. Testing will also not be allowed on a Monday on any circuit where a GP has been run on the previous day. Another decision taken in Seville is the number of sets of tyres allowed for the Friday practice, that has been increased from eight to 10. Of these, three will have to be used for the Friday practice only and one will have to be of a different specification. Wet-weather tyres will have 5 percent less contact area than in 2000. The rule that 15 minutes of testing just before a race are allowed in case that weather conditions are different from practice has been scrapped. From the safety front, the loads a chassis will have to be able withstand in case of impact have been increased and will be increased further for 2002. A new push-off test of the rear structure has been introduced.

5 October 2000 Alain Prost is to auction one of the cars (without the Peugeot engine) taking part in the current Championship for charity. The money raised will be given to UNICEF.

4 October 2000 FIA has released the official F1 calendar for 2001. The British GP is retained, despite earlier fear that it might be scrapped, and moved back to its traditional July date. The 2001 season will start on 4 March in Melbourne, end on 14 October in Japan and consist of 17 races.

4 October 2000 FIA has announced that any tobacco advertising in motorsport will be forbidden starting from the end of the 2006 season.

4 October 2000 The FIA has asked for gauarantees that this year's "disaster" at Silverstone will not be repeated. Following heavy rains, the car parks in Silverstone turned into mudfiedls, the access roads were gridlocked and the fans were told not to turn up, even if they had tickets. If Silverstone does not satisfy FIA that the conditions have been inproved, Great Britain might not host a GP next season, as Brand Hatch will not be ready until 2002 and Donnington Park does not have F1 circuit status. The FIA World Council is currently discussing next year's F1 calendar in Seville.

3 October 2000 Donington Park's hopes of hosting the British GP were dealt a blow when the circuit owners' bid to extend the lease was rejected. US entertainment group SFX will only invest the money to renovate the circuit if their lease is extended from 25 years to 50. Magnate Tom Wheatcroft rejected SFX's bid on the ground that it was too low. SFX had planned to spend 25 million pounds bringing the track up to F1 standard.

3 October 2000 The FIA World Council will meet tomorrow in Seville, Spain, to finalise the season 2001 F1 calendar. The season is expected to start in Melbourne on 4 March and end at Suzuka on 14 October. The Council will also discuss some technical and sporting regulations, including the number of sets of tyres allowed to each team for the Friday practice and a reduction in private testing.

2 October 2000 Jos Verstappen is standing trial for assault after causing a head wound to a 45 year old man during a fight at a kart track two years ago, triggered by a racing accident. The Arrows driver was expected to make a court appearance in Belgium, where the accident happened, but he has already left for Japan. Verstappen's solicitors (also acting for the driver's father, who was involved in the fight too) rejected the accusation. If Verstappen is found guilty, he could face a jail term of up to five years. The accident took place in the town of Lanaken on the night between 18 and 19 May 1998. Several drivers were involved in the accident that sparked the fight. The man who is taking Verstappen and his father to court suffered a fractured skull.

1 October 2000 The supporters of Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia's jailed opposition leader, will not attempt to disrupt the GP. They are happy of the international coverage that their protest will receive thanks to the media attention to the GP.

Last updated on by Federica Massagrande