Grapevine: Daily Grapevine Round Up

Toyota Made the Wrong Decision - Dennis

The Toyota Formula One team, who are due to make their Grand Prix debut in 2002, made the wrong decision when they decided to build their base at Germany, according to McLaren boss Ron Dennis.

Dennis believes Toyota will regret having set their base near Cologne instead of England, where most Formula One teams have theirs bases.

"In effect, they have said that they are going to produce the biggest orchestra in the world â€" and then decided to play it in a tent," Dennis was quoted as saying in Motoring News.

Caracciola's Trophy Collection At Mercedes Museum

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway will provide fans in Europe with a glimpse of one of the sport's most prized trophy collections, fifty-four pieces of the Speedway's Rudolph Caracciola collection.

The trophies will be on display until mid-April in the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, Germany, the birthplace of the Mercedes-Benz brand and the late Caracciola himself. After that, they will be returned to Indianapolis and placed back on display in the Hall of Fame Museum.

Caracciola, a native of Remagen, won numerous races for Mercedes-Benz over a 30-year career in the early 20th century, plus three European driving championships (the equivalent to today's Formula One World Championship) in 1935, 1937 and 1938.

Petrobas to Continue with Williams

Petrobras, the biggest Brazilian oil company, will continue sponsoring Williams-BMW team and Petrobras F-3000 Junior Team in 2001. The announcement was made this week by Mr. Claudio Thompson, who coordinates Petrobras' sponsorship program.

With a budget of around $10 million, Petrobas will also support other forms of motorsports, such as Stock Car, Formula Chevrolet, South-American Formula 3, Go-kart and Mini Baja. Petrobras also has a team taking part at the Rally Paris-Dakar.

This season, Petrobras will supply Williams with 160.000 liters fuel. To Petrobras Junior Team, the company will give about 600 liters fuel during the year.

Allen Confident of Replacing Walker

Following the announcement of Murray Walker's retirement, James Allen has been tipped as the favourite to replace the legendary commentator, and he confessed he is confident about getting the job.

"If I play my cards right and no scientist manages to generate a clone of Murray, I might be the one to take over from him," Allen was quoted as saying. "ITV are giving me the first opportunity with the races he misses this year. Let's see what happens."

Allen will fill in for Murray for next season's the Brazilian, Canadian and European Grand Prix.