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Formula 1 news, results and statistics when you need it |
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Pace car
Villeneuve strikes again! Issue 17 - The Heretic June 21 - 28 News |
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Download the NewsOnF1.com | French Grand Prix Schedule 28-June: The voice of Formula 1, Murray Walker will miss commentating on the French Grand Prix after being ordered to rest by his doctors. Murray dislocated his hip on Sunday. The 75 year old replacement will be James Allen who usually reports from the pits during the event. It will be the first time in 50 years that Murray will miss a race and he wasn't too happy about that when he said "I am extremely disappointed, but I have to accept that I cannot be there but I will be back for the Austrian Grand Prix in a fortnight". Murray Walker is heard in most of the English speaking countries around the world with the exception of the USA. Luca Badoer shookdown the 3 Ferrari's to be used at the French Grand Prix. He completed a total of 14 laps in all three cars with a best time of 1:02.174. The team also carried out 5 practice pit stops and tried out the new top mounted side pod air exists that improve efficiency without losing any engine cooling. The cars ran without any problem. Johnny Herbert was recently quoted as saying that Jaguar have not made progress this season and the car is basically the same as the Stewart of last year. Johnny was very disappointed that he has been misquoted and strongly denied saying such comments. He indicated that he is 100% behind the team and while the whole team was disappointed from the performance in Canada, they all have to work as a team to move forward. He added that he is looking forward to the French Grand Prix as it usually is an exciting race and weather usually plays a big factor in the outcome. Jac Nasser, Ford's CEO earlier defended
the Jaguar team and indicated that while it has been an unhappy start, they are expecting
far more in the second half of the season but asked everyone to remember that this is a
new project and it takes time to get results. He also asked for Jaguar not to be compared
with Stewart as this is a completely new team. He finished by saying "we need time
and space and I am convinced the results will come". 27-June: Jacques Villeneuve has admitted that it would be tough leaving BAR given that the team accepts his character and the way he lives his life and don't try to change him. He did add though that being in a competitive team is an absolute priority. Is McLaren still an option given their PR machine or is Benetton the only choice remaining ! Jos Verstappen is confident that he will drive in the French Grand Prix despite having a damaged neck muscle following his heavy crash during testing at Magny Cours last week. Jos added that while his back and neck are still sore, he will definitely be driving at the French GP. 26-June: Should Montoya replace Button ? is the topic of the week. Have Your Say. 26-June: Who is going where? is a new section that looks at all the possible driver and team movements for the 2001 season. Check it out here. 25-June: Will McLaren fight back? The French Grand Prix preview is now available ... Race Preview. French Formula 1 Grand Prix schedule:
24-June: Mika Hakkinen has indicated that he is prepared to do all what he can to help David Coulthard win the Driver's title if David gets too far ahead of him in the points. Hakkinen is still hoping though that his fortunes will turn around and that he will be able to challenge Michael Schumacher for the championship when he said "But half the season still remains and let's see what happens". David Coulthard believes that Rubens
Barrichello is experiencing a very bad time at Ferrari and that is mainly due to the
Ferrari team being centred around Michael Schumacher. He pointed out the number of
failures and the pit stop mistakes that Barrichello experienced this season. There has been talk of both Juan Pablo Montoya and Dario Franchitti driving head to head in Formula 1 next year. Montoya appears set to take Jenson Button's place at Williams in 2001 while Franchitti is rumoured to be in line for a Jaguar test this year which could see him drive for the team in 2001 replacing Johnny Herbert. There is also talk about him joining BAR next year due to his close ties with Honda, Reynard and British American Tobacco. Keep in mind, nothing has been confirmed. 23-June: Mika Hakkinen sets the fastest time on the final day of testing at Magny Cours just 5 thousandths of a second ahead of Rubens Barrichello and Olivier Panis. 19 drivers and 10 teams were present today with Heinz Harald Frentzen doing the most number of laps (98) followed by Rubens Barrichello, Pedro de la Rosa and Olivier Panis all doing over 80 laps each. Eddie Irvine did the least suffering several problems with his Jaguar doing only 10 laps. The final day of testing saw Mika Hakkinen set the fastest time and beating last year's fastest by under half a second as most teams concentrated of race setup and tyre evaluation. For the third day in a row, Ferrari have suffered problems, this time Michael Schumacher had an engine problem requiring it to be replaced, this follows Barrichello's transmission problem yesterday and Schumacher's engine problems on the first day. Alexander Wurz also had engine problems in his Benetton while Eddie Irvine ran into ran into multiple problems running only 10 laps and finishing in 18th place. The Prost team have shown promising results on their home track, lets hope their reliability holds ... Timed Results. 23-June: "Pace car Villeneuve strikes again!" is the title of the 17th issue from the Diagnosis and Prognosis Series for the 2000 season. In this issue, the Heretic looks at the aftermath of the Canadian Grand Prix - Check it out here !! 22-June: David Coulthard sets the fastest time on the second day of testing at Magny Cours in preparation for the French GP. Michael Schumacher was second and Jean Alesi third. 18 drivers and 10 teams were present today with Michael Schumacher doing the most number of laps (71) which included a race simulation while Pedro de la Rosa did the least (9). It was raining overnight and in the morning at the circuit so the track was wet for most of the morning. Most of the teams concentrated on race setup and David Coulthard's time set today is just 0.06 seconds slower than the fastest time set last year. Rubens Barrichello had a transmission problem interrupting his test as he only managed 43 laps. Giancarlo Fisichella ran wide over the kerbs damaging the underside of his car, he only did 23 laps. Pedro de la Rosa had to wait for his car to arrive after the test car was badly damaged yesterday. He only managed to run 9 laps and then suffered an oil leak ... Timed Results. 21-June: David Coulthard sets the fastest time on the first day of testing at Magny Cours in preparation for the French GP on the 2nd of July. Olivier Panis was second and Rubens Barrichello third. With the exception of Minardi, all the teams were present and 14 drivers set competitive lap times. David Coulthard also did the most laps (74) while Rubens Barrichello did the least (26). Most teams are testing various setups for the upcoming race. Coulthard's time is less than a second slower than the fastest time set here last year and that will certainly drop further unless it rains. Jos Verstappen had a mechanical failure that caused him to crash heavily. He walked away unhurt apart from a stiff neck but the team is investigating the incident and pending the result, Pedro de la Rosa will take over testing. Michael Schumacher's Ferrari suffered an engine problem and the team had to suspend his testing. Antonio Pizzonia testing for Benetton suffered an engine problem although he did return to the track in the afternoon. This was the first time David Coulthard has participated in a test session since his plane crash in early May. Several drivers will join the testing session tomorrow including Eddie Irvine, Jacques Villeneuve and Giancarlo Fisichella ... Timed Results. 21-June: Silverstone has escaped a heavy fine for the incidents at this year's Grand Prix. Instead, the organisers have been asked to ensure that they implement measures that will prevent those incidents from happening again next year and detailing how spectators who missed out on this year's race due to traffic problems have been compensated. The World Motor Sports Council has given the Silverstone organisers until the 4th of October for such measures to be implemented, otherwise the event will be excluded from next year's calendar. The provisional calendar has the Malaysian Grand Prix moved to the 2nd race of the season, the British Grand Prix moved from April to May and the European Grand Prix from May to June. No new circuits have been added to the calendar ... Provisional Calendar. |
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