News from the Paddock - Hungarian GP

Ricardo Zonta stopped practice on Friday for a rather curious reason. He had spun off and managed to get his car back onto the track again. But as he got going again, his engineer emphasised over the radio that he must come into the pits to have his car checked out. Zonta was unable to hear the instruction clearly, so the engineer repeated: "You must stop, you must stop." So Zonta pulled off onto the grass and ... stopped.

All the drivers at the Hungaroring are using Bridgestone extra soft tyres apart from Pedro de la Rosa who chose to use the softer tyre. The extra soft probably means two pit stops. Bridgestone say that new tyres are very quick for the first one or two laps but then give understeer for the next seven or eight laps. Then cars get oversteer as the rear tyres wear because of the traction that they've given early on. It is a very difficult compromise, say Bridgestone, and not easy for teams to set up their cars.

The days of the throw-away Formula One engine may be upon us. Asian Motor Technologies, who are building the former Peugeot engine for Arrows, reckon to build some 200 engines next year. They will be very light, and AMT expect them to wear out. Currently, teams use around 40 engines per season. Technical director Enrique Scalabroni was in Hungary but refused to give interviews. He is being wary of upsetting Peugeot, from whom they are taking over the Velizy technical department. A press conference is expected at the two Asian Grands Prix at the end of the season. However Scalabroni did reveal that the AMT plan has been under way since September last year. Originally AMT wanted to come in by buying an existing team. However, they have been convinced that there is always a need for engines, and for that reason they were persuaded to go that route. AMT has been working with Peugeot since July but won't be fully in control until January, 2001. The main aim is to try to keep the 190 engineers currently working at Velizy. Some are working on the development of this year's Peugeot, and some on next year's AMT unit. Scalabroni would not divulge details of the engine.

Among the celebrities at the Hungaroring are World snooker champion Stephen Hendry and Emma Parker-Bowles, daughter of the consort of the Prince of Wales. Hendry was a guest of Jordan, as was TV presenter Chris Evans. Parker-Bowles is doing a diary piece for Tatler magazine. Also guests of Jordan were two member of SuperGroup Toto, former Formula Ford driver Simon Phillips, drummer, and Jeff Babko, keyboards player.

The Hungarians are apparently quite superstitious. Instead of the number 13, thought to be unlucky in Europe, a joker is painted on the grid. Pedro Diniz starts 13th on Sunday.

The departure of veteran sporting director Cesare Fiorio from Minardi is said to be following a disagreement with team owner Gabriele Rumi. He telephoned to say that he wouldn't be working for the team any longer and was not with the team in Hungary. No one in the team wants to discuss the situation but it is rumoured that Fiorio was heading a buy-out of the team but that it has now been sold to PSN, the TV network. Fiorio does not want to be included in that deal, so has had to leave. It is further rumoured that he might now join Bernie Ecclestone's TV company.

Ferrari has asked the FIA to investigate the potential situation of there being 'two car' pits stops and how much room may be available in the pit lane for this. It follows the Ferrari decision at the Nurburgring to bring in both cars at the same time. "There is no point in leaving a car out on a wet track on slick tyres," said technical director Ross Brawn. "You might as well bring the car in and even if the driver has to wait for 10 seconds, it is better than perhaps going off the track or struggling around for another lap. The problem is that there is not enough room and you can't have two pit crews. So we are asking the FIA for a ruling."

Spanish teenager Fernando Alonso tested for Minardi at Fiorano last week, completing 35 laps. He had already tested for the team last year but now he has F3000 mileage under his belt, impressed the team with his speed and feedback. His best lap was just 0.1s slower than team regular Gaston Mazzacane. However, Minardi may have to sign a Brazilian for next year if they are bought out by the PSN TV network. The South American company, rumoured to be buying the team, want to have South American drivers in order to widen their audience. The team already has Argentine Gaston Mazzacane on its books; it needs another driver from South America and preferably another country, so Brazil would be ideal.

Is Prost for sale and might it become Team Lotus? There are several suggestions that Prost will be for sale but others say that Prost wants to hold onto his team. The latest rumour is that David Hunt, younger brother of the late James Hunt, is bidding on behalf of Candover Properties. There is some doubt whether Hunt still owns the rights to the Team Lotus name, or whether it has reverted to the Chapman family. He pulled out F1 at the end of 1994 but the Lotus Group was then sold to General Motors before Malaysian manufacturer Proton bought it. But there are also suggestions that it has been sold to Canadian Marc Bourdeau of Vector, or American Tony Johnson of Hidden Creak Industries.

Eddie Irvine has admitted that he wasn't fully recovered in Hockenheim, still suffering from the viral infection that prevented him from racing in Austria. "I didn't feel my best, 100 per cent, in Hockenheim but I've been training hard since then and I feel better now. "They still don't really know what it was. It was strange because there was a girl in Paris who telephoned me one night and said that she had appendicitis and then she rang me back about an hour later and said 'it's not, but they keeping me in'. So maybe it was just something going around." The Jaguar driver did not test last week, and was on a planned holiday. "I went running, cycling, swimming and jet-skiing. I had lost a lot of weight. I was down to 68 kilos - about four kilos off my normal, so I needed to put that back on."

Weekend Milestones: This will be the 140th Grand Prix for both Mika Hakkinen and Michael Schumacher. The latter was on his 28th career pole position and draws level with Juan Manuel Fangio. Again, Michael Schumacher has the possibility to become the all-time record-holder for fastest laps. He currently equals Alain Prost's tally of 41.