October 2001

30 October 2001 Alex Zanardi has left hospital and has returned to his Monte carlo home. The Italian, who has had both legs amputated following the accident at Lausitz, said that he is not ruling out racing again in the future. He is very positive and says that he is making the most of life.

30 October 2001 WilliamsF1 have signed a sponsorship deal with Pepsi. The team will advertise the 7-up drink.

30 October 2001 The McLaren team have moved from Bridgestone to Michelin tyres from 2002. McLaren and Michelin have signed a contract for long-term cooperation.

30 October 2001 WilliamsF1's Managing Director, Frank Williams, and Technical Director, Patrick Head, have announced that the Chief Designer, Gavin Fisher, has signed a new long-term contract with the team. Geoff Willis, currently the team's Chief Aerodynamicist, is to take up the position of Technical Director with British American Racing Honda. Geoff Willis will remain with the team until the 1st March, 2002.

27 October 2001 Jordan Grand Prix has won its appeal to have Jarno Trulli's disqualification from the US GP overturned after the International Court of Appeal ruled in the Irish team's favour at a hearing in Paris. The Court's three judges accepted Jordan's appeal only on a technicality, because, contrary to the rules, a steward was not present during the team's hearing at the US Grand Prix. Following the decision Jordan has now surpassed BAR in the 2001 Constructors Chmapionship.

27 October 2001 According to the Italian sport magazine Auto Sprint, in 2003 Maserati will set up an Indy racing team with Jean Alesi as a driver.

25 October 2001 Red Bull have confirmed that they won't be sponsoring Sauber next year. Apparently Peter Sauber will buy off the shares that Red Bull boss Dietrich Mateschitz owns in the team.

22 October 2001 Ralf Schumacher's wife Cora has given birth to the couple's first child. The boy, named David, was born in Austria and both mother and child are doing well.

22 October 2001 The price for the British GP tickets for 2002 has been hiked up massively. The number of tickets available for sale has also been cut by 30,000. Both mkeasures were taken to limit the number of spectators after the organisers failed to sort out the traffic problems in the Silverstone area.

22 October 2001 Alan McNish has formally been named by the Panasonic Toyota Racing team as its second driver. The team had already announced that Mika Salo would be one of their drivers.

18 October 2001 According to Prost Acer internal source, the team is unable to sort out its financial trouble and is on the verge of going into receivership. Jean Alesi left the team after allegedly not having been paid for the 2001 season. Replacement driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen's contract included no salary and only a bonus for races finished in the points. Prost Acer also has problems in finding the money to pay for the Ferrari engines. Flavio Briatore is expected to attempt to buy the Prost team from the receivers for a fraction of its current value.

16 October 2001 The Kirch group is about to obtain 75% of SLEC. Kirch has offered Em.TV, that owns 16.7% of SLEC, 21.1% of Film production company Constantin Films in exchange for Em.TV's share of SLEC. Kirch already owns 58.3% of SLEC and acquiring the share of SLEC currently owned by Em.TV would take Kirch's share to 75%. The remaining 25% of SLEC is still owned by Bernie Ecclestone.

14 October 2001 The Japanese GP kept the spectators busy trying to work out what was happening as the positions continuously changed, several of the top drivers having opted for three stop strategies. R. Schumacher was given a 10 seconds stop-go penalty for gaining an advantage by cutting a chicane, but got off with only a warning after he overtook Barrichello still within the pit lanes. After R. Schumacher cut another chicane to prevent Barrichello from passing him, he finally decided to cool down. M. Schumacher was the undisputed leader of the race throughout the whole GP, despite dropping down a couple of places while he waited for the other drivers to pit and re-establish the correct order. The Ferrari driver, who had already sealed the Championship back in August, sailed on to win unchalleged in front of a very good Montoya. Coulthard was allowed into third place thanks to a position gift from team mate Häkkinen. The Finn, in his last Formula 1 GP for a while, finished fourth ahead of Barrichello and the unruly R. Schumacher. Alesi failed in his bid to finish every signle GP of the season by coming together with Räikkönen on lap six after the Finn lost control of his Sauber. Alesi made sure that Räikkönen was OK, then waived to the crowd and walked out of the last GP of his career, having announced only a few days ago that he intended to retire after the current season.

With today's win M. Schumacher won another record for himself, that of the most career points, with a staggering 801 so far.

According to the provisional calendar released by FIA last week, the first race of the 2002 Championship will take place in Melbourne, Australia, on 3rd March 2002.

The Japanese GP finishing times

1. M. Schumacher (Ferrari) in 1h27'33"298 (average 212.664 km/h) 2. Montoya (Williams) + 3"153 3. Coulthard (McLaren) + 23"261 4. Hakkinen (McLaren) + 35"539 5. Barrichello (Ferrari) + 36"544 6. R. Schumacher (Williams) + 37"122 7. Button (Benetton) + 1'37"102 8. Trulli (Jordan) + 1 lap 9. Heidfeld (Sauber) + 1 lap 10. Villeneuve (Bar) + 1 lap 11. Alonso (Minardi) + 1 lap 12. Frentzen (Prost) + 1 lap 13. Panis (Bar) + 2 laps 14. Bernoldi (Arrows) + 2 laps 15. Verstappen (Arrows) + 2 laps 16. Yoong (Minardi) + 2 lapsi 17. Fisichella (Benetton) + 6 laps (retired but classified)

13 October 2001 M. Schumacher had no real competition for the pole position of the Japanese GP. The current World Champion beat Montoya, R. Schumacher, Barrichello, Häkkinen and Fisichella. Coultahrd, who is hoping to finish the season in second position, clocked only a disappoiting seventh qualifying time.

The Japanese GP qualifying times

1. M.SCHUMACHER (Ger-Ferrari) 1'32"484 (average 228.260 km/h) 2. MONTOYA (Col-Williams) 1'33"184 3. R.SCHUMACHER (Ger-Williams) 1'33"297 4. BARRICHELLO (Bra-Ferrari) 1'33"323 5. HAKKINEN (Fin-McLaren) 1'33"662 6. FISICHELLA (Ita-Benetton) 1'33"830 7. COULTHARD (GB-McLaren) 1'33"916 8. TRULLI (Ita-Jordan) 1'34"002 9. BUTTON (GB-Benetton) 1'34"375 10. HEIDFELD (Ger-Sauber) 1'34"386 11. ALESI (Fra-Jordan) 1'34"420 12. RAIKKONEN (Fin-Sauber) 1'34"581 13. IRVINE (GB-Jaguar) 1'34"851 14. VILLENEUVE (Can-BAR) 1'35"109 15. FRENTZEN (Ger-Prost) 1'35"132 16. DE LA ROSA (Spa-Jaguar) 1'35"639 17. PANIS (Fra-BAR) 1'35"766 18. ALONSO (Spa-Minardi) 1'36"410 19. ENGE (Cz.R.-Prost) 1'36"446 20. BERNOLDI (Bra-Arrows) 1'36"885 21. VERSTAPPEN (Hol-Arrows) 1'36"973 22. YOONG (Mal-Minardi) 1'38"246

12 October 2001 Ron Dennis has said that due to the international crisis the wealthiest teams should reduce costs, starting from testing. He then went on to attack an unnamed team that insists on testing in the week before a GP, despite the fact that all the other teams want to abolish that type of testing. Claudio Berro of Ferrari said that if Dennis is talking about them, he is wrong because the current regulations allow all teams to try out a car for 50 km before a GP, which is different from testing. Ron Dennis also denied that he put pressure on Häkkinen to leave. He maintains that the Finn made up his mind after the Monaco GP and told him, but they chose to keep the matter secret.

12 October 2001 A serious accident marred the second Friday free practice session of the Japanese GP. Heidfeld lost control of his Sauber, hit the barrier and the car was lost the nose, the front wheels and part of the rear wheels too, but the driver was unharmed. The session was interrupted for ten minutes, but then concluded regularly with Alesi, in his last GP, putting in a great performance to clock the fastest lap time ahead of Montoya, De La Rosa, Häkkinen, Frentzen and Irvine.

The Japanese GP practice session combined times

1. ALESI (Jordan-Honda) 1'35"454 (average 221.158 Km/h) 2. MONTOYA (Williams-BMW) 1'35"977 3. DE LA ROSA (Jaguar-Ford) 1'36"225 4. HAKKINEN (McLaren-Mercedes) 1'36"430 5. FRENTZEN (Prost-Ferrari) 1'36"439 6. IRVINE (Jaguar-Ford) 1'36"589 7. COULTHARD (McLaren-Mercedes) 1'36"638 8. M.SCHUMACHER (Ferrari) 1'36"727 9. R.SCHUMACHER (Williams-BMW) 1'36"874 10. BARRICHELLO (Ferrari) 1'36"994 11. TRULLI (Jordan-Honda) 1'37"564 12. BUTTON (Benetton-Renault) 1'37"645 13. HEIDFELD (Sauber-Ferrari) 1'37"665 14. VILLENEUVE (Bar-Honda) 1'38"312 15. RAIKKONEN (Sauber-Ferrari) 1'38"315 16. FISICHELLA (Benetton-Renault) 1'38"398 17. ALONSO (Minardi-European) 1'38"961 18. PANIS (Bar-Honda) 1'39"108 19. VERSTAPPEN (Arrows-Asiatech) 1'39"511 20. BERNOLDI (Arrows-Asiatech) 1'39"744 21. YOONG (Minardi-European) 1'39"952 22. ENGE (Prost-Ferrari) 1'41"216

12 October 2001 Felipe Massa will race for Sauber in 2002. The official announcement was made today.

11 October 2001 Ralf Schumacher has called for team orders next season at Williams to try and beat Ferrari and McLaren.

10 October 2001 During a press conference in Tokyo this morning, veteran Formula 1 driver Jean Alesi announced his retirement from the sport as a racing driver. The Japanese GP, last date of the 2001 season, will be the French-Sicilian's very last race. Alesi, who recently competed in his 200th GP, was told yesterday that he would not have a driving seat at Jordan next year. There is still the possibility that he might be working for the Jordan team as test driver next year.

9 October 2001 Takuma Sato was the winner in the competition for the Jordan seat in 2002. The 24-year-old Japanese will partner Giancoarlo Fisichella next season. The arrival of Sato at Jordan leaves Jean Alesi out in the cold. Before leaving for the last GP of the season the French-Sicilian had served Eddie Jordan an ultimatum, asking for a decision before the Japanese GP. Alesi has not talked to any other team yet, but he does not intend to retire. He will most loikely end up racing for Arrows next year.

8 October 2001 The Kirch group has acquired the majority share of SLEC, the company that manages Formula 1 broadcast rights. Until today Kirch owned 38% of SLEC, while a further 37% was owned by Em.TV. Today Em.TV sold 20.3% of SLEC to Kirch as reimbursement for a billion euros that Em.TV received at the beginning of the year. Em.TV is now left with 16.7% of SLEC, while Kirch now owns 58.3% and the remaining 25% is still in Ecclestone's hands.

8 October 2001 Despite recent rumours to the opposite effect, FIA have stated that the Japanese GP will go ahead as scheduled.

6 October 2001 Formula 3000 champion Justin Wilson from britain was the fastest in the tests at Mugello, reinforcing his hopes of being offered a driver seat at Jordan next season. The other contenders for the position of Fisichella's team mate for 2002 are Japanese Takuma Sato, Indian Narain Karthikeyan and French-Sicilian Jean Alesi.

5 October 2001 European Minardi has signed a co-operation contract with 3D Systems of Valencia (California), who will provide the technological support to the team. 3D Systems will create model scale reproductions of the cars for wind tunnel test, help with rapid prototyping and components production.

5 October 2001 R. Schumacher and Cora Brinkmann got married today in Salzburg in a private ceremony. Cora is expected to give birth to the couple's first child in November. M. Schumacher will be the child's godfather.

5 October 2001 Max Mosley has been unanomously re-elected as president of FIA for the next four years during a meeting of the sport's World Council. Mosley, who has held the position of president of FIA since 1991, was the only candidate for the job, like it had already happened in 1997. According to FIA's regulations this is the last time Mosley can be re-elected as president. The mandate ends in October 2005. Mosley said that his main concern is safety in Formula 1.

3 October 2001 FIA have released the provisional 2002 Formula 1 calendar. The only change from 2001 is that the French and British GPs have swapped places. The Australian GP date is subject to the Coroner's inquiry into the death of a marshal in 2001. The San Marino GP date is subject to the conclusion of a new commercial agreement and the British GP date is subject to the result of the inquiry into traffic improvement measures at Silverstone.

March 3 - Australia, Melbourne March 17 - Malaysia, Sepang March 31 - Brazil, Interlagos April 14 - San Marino, Imola April 28 - Spain, Barcelona May 12 - Austria, A1-Ring May 26 - Monaco, Monte Carlo June 9 - Canada, Montreal June 23 - European, Nurburgring July 7 - Britain, Silverstone July 21 - France, Magny-Cours July 28 - Germany, Hockenheim August 18 - Hungary, Budapest September 1 - Belgium, Spa-Francorchamps September 15 - Italy, Monza September 29 - USA, Indianapolis October 13 - Japan, Suzuka

1 October 2001 Jarno Trulli, who finished the US GP in fourth place, has been disqualified. Jo Bauer found that the skid block, the plank that runs the length of the underside of a car, was worn below the approved minimum tickness in Trulli's Jordan. The problem was caused by the loss of two fasteners that were supposed to keep the sid block into place. Trulli managed to see the positive side despite his disqualification and said that the dragging skid block did not give him any advantage, so he had got to fourth place on his own merit. Jordan have lodged an appeal to have the decision overturned.

Last updated on by Federica Massagrande