Updated: 28 January 1998, 20:30 GMT
Updated: 28 January 1998, 20:30 GMT |
All the information is (c) 1998 M-WEB and/or Reuters |
The launch of the 1998 Formula One cars, only on Auto Race Net
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Villeneuve calls for end to "childish word games"
©M-WEB 1998
20:30 GMT
Location : Silverstone, England
1997 Formula One world champion, Jacques Villeneuve called for an end to the "childish word games" between himself and rival Michael Schumacher on Wednesday.
Since their collision at the European Grand Prix in Jerez which led to the German being stripped of his second place in the championship, the pair have exchanged sharp words.
Both drivers met after the race to discuss the incident and since then they have communicated mainly through the press.
Villeneuve said at the launch of the new Williams FW20 that he always read it through the media. He said that people tell him Schumacher said this and so he answers that and it is just childish games.
Villeneuve said that everybody has already said a lot of things and usually what is written is not the positive thing because that's boring. He said that nobody wants to read the positive things and he guess that they'll be the focal point again because that's what everyone wants to see. Villeneuve asked why he should have a different attitude to Michael this year? He said that if Michael is fast, he'll fight against him and that's all.
The Canadian said that last year is behind them and as long as there are not too many word games, it should be OK.
Frentzen - Villeneuve's mian rival
©M-WEB 1998
20:30 GMT
1997 world champion, Jacques Villeneuve believes that team-mate Heinz-Harald Frentzen will be his main rival in the 1998 season.
Villeneuve said that he believes that Frentzen could be more of a danger to his crown than Michael Schumacher. He said that one's biggest threat is always your team-mate because you are working with the same car and same people.
The Canadian said that the only driver he is sure is going to be a competitor is Heinz-Harald because he is in the same car. He said that Frentzen should be as competitive as he was at the end of the 1997 season. He added that last season Frentzen did not start very well but then he picked it up and was very strong at the end of the season.
Villeneuve also added that Ferrari should be quick and McLaren should be competitive but as for all the others, they would have to wait and see. He said that he thinks new regulations always spread the field out a bit.
The new rules force the teams to have narrower cars and to use grooved tyres instead of slick tyres, changes which are thought to place more emphasis on the skill of the driver, rather than the car.
On the issue of the new regulations, Villeneuve said that he expects it to be more difficult to overtake because they now rely more on downforce but that any good driver in Formula One should be able to adapt to it or else they shouldn't be in Formula One.
HMG's 3 year deal to broadcast F1
©M-WEB 1998
20:30 GMT
The Holland Media Group's channels RTL4, RTL5 and Veronica agreed to a 3-year deal to broadcast Formula One in the Netherlands.
The RTL4 channel, who broadcasted the season last year with commentator Olav Mol and pit-reporter Alard Kalff, will continue to broadcast Formula One with live television-feed of the qualifying rounds, warm-up rounds and the race.
Mansell's returns to racing - on ice
©REUTERS
20:30 GMT
By Jonathan Noble
Location : Geneva
Ever since Nigel Mansell, former world champion in Formula One and IndyCar, walked away from McLaren after the 1995 Spanish Grand Prix, many people have suggested his racing career was on the slide.
Now it is -- literally -- as he tries to come to terms with the complexities of ice racing in preparation for this weekend's Chamonix 24 Hours of Racing.
On Wednesday, the 44-year-old Briton was allowed a special test session at the Flaine ice circuit, in the French Alps about 70 km from Geneva, so he could familiarise himself with the equipment and different driving technique before Thursday's opening practice session.
In spite of two punctures and a spin into the snow bank that lines the circuit, Mansell, who will team up with Finland's former rally champion Ari Vatenen, could not hide his delight at being back in a racing environment.
"It is better than I expected," he said. "You can get a little perturbed or freaked out when you turn into a corner and nothing happens, you hit the brakes and nothing happens, and you hit the power and nothing happens. It is quite an experience.
"The only strange thing about this is that because you are going sideways all the time you are driving looking through the side window instead of through the front windscreen. I am not used to that.
"And occasionally when you go off the track with the window open you get a mouthful of snow come in the car and hit you in the face," said Mansell who completed 40 laps of the 700 metres circuit under Vatenen's watchful eye.
Mansell, who received a six-month driving ban in Britain last week for speeding, also hinted that he may make a full-time racing comeback.
He revealed that he had not been allowed to race since leaving McLaren because of clauses in contracts he had signed.
"I have always enjoyed racing and it really wasn't my doing not to race these last couple of years because I had contracts which paid me for not racing. "But I am a free agent this year, so we will see what happens."
Practice for the Chamonix 24 Hours takes place on Thursday evening with the heats starting on Friday and running through until Sunday.
The event features a number of past and present Formula One drivers including Jean Alesi, Jacques Laffitte and Rene Arnoux as well as former French tennis player Henri Leconte.
90% chance for Fontana at Tyrrell
©M-WEB 1998
20:30 GMT
Norberto Fontana's manager, Felipe McGouph said that the Argentine has a 90% chance to drive for the Tyrrell Formula One team this year.
A pre-contract has already been signed, according to reports on Wednesday. It is rumoured that Fontana have a $5 million sponsorship deal, which is enough for the British American Racing management to give their approval of the deal.
Fontana's manager said that the chances of Marques driving for Tyrrell are very slim.
Williams' success
©M-WEB 1998
17:30 GMT
The Williams Formula One team has been the unofficial team of the nineties, winning every constructors title since 1992. The team also carried four drivers to the title of world champion.
The cornerstone of the team's dominance has always been their technical continuity. This may change this season as aerodynamic guru, Adrian Newey left the team to join the McLaren team, or not? According to sources, Newey hasn't worked at the team's Grove base since the end of 1996.
Ken Tyrrell said he thinks that the early partnership that Frank Williams established with Patrick head has been critical to Frank's success. He said that Head has been there ever since the team regrouped, which was in 1977, and that this was a vital point.
Tyrrell added that the other teams have won the world championship with the best driver in the world, but that Frank Williams has not always done it like that. He said that Frank and his team puts together a car that is capable of winning without the best driver.
Wilson part of Williams test programme
©M-WEB 1998
17:30 GMT
Max Wilson,a Formula 3000 driver, may take part in the Williams Formula One team's test programme this season.
The Brazilian was one of the four who took part in the Williams' young driver shoot-out in Spain last month. Another driver who participated in the shoot-out was Colombian, Juan Pablo Montoya who was eventually snapped up by the team as their official test driver.
According to sources, it is expected that Wilson may join Montoya in the testing role for the Williams team. Wilson, like Montoya, will dovetail his testing for the team with a full FIA Formula 3000 campaign.
The Williams Formula One team would not confirm Wilson's position on Monday.
Ferrari's problems solved
©M-WEB 1998
17:30 GMT
According to a Ferrari spokesman, the team's plans are on schedule. He said that the problem with the exhaust was a simple modification which have to be fixed at Maranello. He added that the car in general is good and that all the electronic strategies are now in hand.
Eddie Irvine, who haven't drove the new F300 yet, said that they were going about testing in a very constructive way, and that he has no worries at all about the car nor the engine. He added that unlike 1996, when they had teething problems with the new car, they now got time available and they are much better organised technically.
The team will be testing at Fiorano on Wednesday according to reports.
Sauber aiming to win by 2000
©M-WEB 1998
17:30 GMT
Peter Sauber, team boss of the Sauber Formula One team announced at the launch of the new Sauber C17 that they hope to be nearer to their next goal which is to win races on their own merits by the year 2000.
Thus setting a three-year target for their drivers, Johnny Herbert and Jean Alesi to embark upon with the C17-Petronas. The Leo Ress-penned C17 , which is visually similar to the team's 1997 car, features a narrow longitudinal gearbox aimed at improving rear end airflow.
According to sources, Jörg Muller, the team's test driver is likely to get more mileage as the team expands its testing operation to include two cars.
Herbert's first empressions of C17
©M-WEB 1998
17:30 GMT
Johnny Herbert was impressed by the Sauber C17's initial runs at Fiorano last week.
Even though some teething problems restricted his progress to just a few laps on Sunday and Monday morning, he said that it is too early to make any judgements, but that it is promising.
Herbert said that the first impressions of the chassis are nice and that they already came within about a second of Nicola Larini's time after two days in the new Ferrari.
Johnny Herbert and Jean Alesi will begin serious running of the C17 in Barcelona's major Formula One test next week.
Nakano may head Minardi's line-up
©M-WEB 1998
17:30 GMT
According to sources, Shinji Nakano may head Minardi's driver line-up this season.
Sources said that the Japanese driver has backing which could prove attractive to the Faenza team. The new Ford powered Minardi M198 ran unliveried at Mugello last week with Argentinian teenager Esteban Tuero at the wheel. Tuero is Minardi's only confirmed driver at the moment.
The team's drivers are expected to be announced within the next week, but the M198 is said to only be officially launched in the middle of February.
The season ahead for Mansell
©M-WEB 1998
17:30 GMT
According to several high-level series sources, Nigel Mansell will race a Ford in the BTCC this season, if its new car proves competitive.
Ford's recent signing of Craig Baird as Will Hoy's team-mate for 1998 failed to quell the rumour that Mansell would return to tin-top racing this season. The 1992 Formula One champion drove a Mondeo in the 1993 TOCA Shoot Out at Donington Park.
According to sources will Mansell wait and see how Reynard's latest offering fares before any programme is confirmed. Sources suggest that Ford may run a third car, or that either Will Hoy or Craig Baird will be asked to step down at strategic points during the season.
Mansell's rivals said that the ice rookie will need all the practice he can get before this weekend's Chamonix 24 Hours. Twice ice racing champion, Yvan Muller said that it is not impossible to master the necessary skills straight away.
On Wednesday, Nigel Mansell tested his SDA Sport Escort at Flaine in the French Alps, before sharing it with rally legend Ari Vatanen at Chamonix.
Villeneuve out to prove superiority
©REUTERS
12:40 GMT
By Timothy Collings
Location: LONDON
Williams technical chief Patrick Head unveiled the team's new 1998 car on Wednesday and claimed that world champion Jacques Villeneuve was determined to grab a second title.
The British team's technical director said the Canadian was motivated by a generally held view that he was inferior on the track to disgraced double champion Michael Schumacher of Germany.
Schumacher, in a Ferrari, lost out in last year's title showdown when he collided with Villeneuve's Williams in the European Grand Prix at Jerez in Spain.
Head said: "Jacques has come into this new season, or the preparations for it, in a positive and confident frame of mind.
"He very much wants to win the championship again and that is motivating him, but he is also aware that a lot of people think Michael Schumacher is the best driver in the field.
"I think Jacques wants to prove that that idea is wrong and I expect to see him tackle the task this year in a very calm and determined way."
Villeneuve and German team-mate Heinz-Harald Frentzen took the covers off the impressive new FW20 in a garage at Silverstone. A massed posse of photographers burst into action to grab the first images of the car in its new red livery.
The car carried a number one for the first time in 15 years, since Keke Rosberg defended his 1982 title.
Since then a series of champions have taken the title for Williams and then departed.
These have included Brazilian Nelson Piquet, Briton Nigel Mansell, Frenchman Alain Prost and 1996 champion, Briton Damon Hill.
Williams launch first car after breakup.
©M-WEB 1998
12:10 GMT
Location: Silvertsone, England
The Williams Formula One team launched their new car, the FW20, at the Silverstone track in England. It is the first car after the aerodynamic guru Adrian Newey left the team for McLaren.
The partnership between Newey and Patrick Head steered the team to ten titles in the last six years. Observers belief the breakup between the two could cause a shift in F1's balance of power.
Head admitted on Monday that Newey's absence was a loss - but that it was too early to say what the precise affect would be. "It wouldn't be fair to say the new FW20 gives a decisive indication of whether or not Williams is at a disadvantage without Adrian, in the sense that any car is a snapshot in time," he said. "But there is no way that our situation was not going to change in losing him. "The design decision-making process has now passed to a younger, less experienced group. We obviously don't know whether they will be as good or better than Adrian. But if they aren't, it doesn't mean that will always be the case - because the new group is at a lower point in the learning curve than he was."
Two-expereicened employee at Williams designed the FW20. Gavin Fisher and aerodynamicist Geoff Willis both work under Head and Newey.
World champion Villeneuve was already quicker in an adopted FW19 than rivals Benetton, Jordan and Prost. Williams' other driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen was outright fastest - but his FW19 was still running in 1997 wide-track configuration on new grooved tyres.
Ferrari to restart test.
©M-WEB 1998
05:30 GMT
Location: Maranello, Italy
The Ferrari Formula One team could restart their test session on Wednesday according to a source close to the team. The source said Ferrari solved the problem with the exhaust.
Double world champion Michael Schumacher is expected to continue his tests on the F300 at Fiorano on Wednesday. He will concentrate on the problem areas.
The team's second driver Eddie Irvine will continue with the tyre test he started on Monday at Jerez. He drove an F 310B according to reports. No details are available at this time.
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