News from the Paddock - Italian GP

Honda were celebrating their 200th Grand Prix at the Italian Grand Prix, a suitable setting as that is where they scored their first pole position in 1968 and second win in Grand Prix racing in 1967. The 200 Grand Prix of course cover three separate periods: from their debut in 1964 to their retirements from Grand Prix racing at the end of 1968. That first era was with their own self-built car. The next period was with Spirit, then Lotus, Tyrrell, Williams and McLaren from 1983 to 1992 and then their return this year with BAR. During that time, they have scored 71 wins.

Both Ferrari and McLaren have been trying cooled fuel in recent races. This is not illegal, providing it is only ten degrees lower than the ambient temperature. It cannot, for instance, be virtually frozen, as some fuel was in the seventies and eighties. The advantages of fuel at a cooler temperature is that it is more efficient and takes up less space. At Monza, for instance, it is thought that whoever goes longest in the race will win, so expect both McLaren and Ferrari to be filling their cars on the grid to get in as much fuel as possible. The only danger, as discovered by teams in the eighties, is that a car might retire on the first lap and is then sitting in hot sun with a full fuel load.

Mika Hakkinen was in Lithuania the weekend before the Italian Grand Prix as part of a West promotion and was particularly impressed with a spectacular aerobatic air display by Jurgis Kairys who first of all flew under a bridge on which Hakkinen was standing, then did the same thing upside down. Hakkinen was reported to being relieved that whatever he does, he does with all four wheels on the ground.

ChampCar team owner Barry Green has said that he is not doing a deal to take over the running of British American Racing. He runs Team Kool Green which is sponsored by tobacco giant BAT and it had been rumoured that he is being asked to take over the BAR. He admitted that discussions had taken place regarding a possible job running the team, but that these weren’t anything new. He says that he hasn’t even seen the facility and hasn’t thought much about the prospect. BAR are said to be unhappy with current chief executive Craig Pollock. It is said that they haven’t been impressed with his management of the team, nor the fact that he has frequently gone over budget.

The Minardi team is "almost sure" that it will use Supertec engines in 2001. The engine deal "hasn’t been signed" says Gabriele Rumi, chief executive of the team, but it’s the team’s only option and he reckons it’s a good engine and further advanced than the one being used by the team currently. Giancarlo Minardi says that a major manufacturer could still buy into the team but last week the team issued a release that a South African called Riccardo Ferrari was unlikely to be buying into the team and taking control.

Giancarlo Fisichella is still suffering a sore ankle after the two accidents that he has suffered at the Belgian Grand Prix and in testing at Monza. He is suffering an inflamed tendon, but the bruising suffered in the team accidents has subsided. Fisichella had a big accident at Stavelot on the morning of the Belgian Grand Prix, and then crashed at the Ascari chicane three days later in testing when he suffered brake failure. His Benetton was destroyed in the second accident and his testing programme had to be aborted.

Ralf Schumacher set new records of speeding when he was fined $6250 for doing 84.2 kph n the Monza pit lane on Saturday morning. He had already been fined for a similar offence in both Brazil and Canada, which meant that his penalty was multiplied several times. Marc Gene also hit the high spots in a way in which he probably wouldn’t want to when he was fined $3750 for speeding in the pit lane, more than anyone else so far this year. The previous highest fine was $2500 suffered by Luciano Burti in Austria, while the $2000 imposed on Coulthard and Heidfeld is next up.

It took them 24 hours, but on Saturday morning, McLaren admitted that David Coulthard had gone off the previous day at the first Lesmo due to broken rear suspension. The driver actually reported over the radio immediately after the accident that his left rear wishbone had broken but the team said that they were “investigating the cause.” They said in a statement on Saturday morning that the suspension had broken due to a manufacturing fault. Eddie Irvine suffered a similar problem at the end of Saturday morning’s practice.

Subsequent to their meeting at Heathrow to discuss a number off issues, the team owners met again at the Italian Grand Prix in the hope of agreeing certain measures. The only one which is nearing agreement is that of a three week break from racing and testing in August in order to allow all those involved in Formula One to take a holiday. This comes in the light of the intensive calendar of races every two weeks for 34 weeks this year. However, the one team that is currently holding up this legislation and it would have to go before the Formula One Commission as well as the World Council before it became part of the rules is Ferrari, who would want to shake down their cars prior to the next Grand Prix, and insist that they do. Meanwhile there is strong possibility that agreement has also been reached to use an extra set of tyres on the Friday of each Grand Prix, but the only stumbling point regarding that legislation is when the tyres have to be return to the tyre company, as the FIA doesn’t want the extra set to become part of a team’s supply for the weekend.

Modifications to Brands Hatch are now unlikely to be made in time for a possible British Grand Prix at the circuit in 2002 after the plans were sent to public enquiry on Friday. The circuit was hoping that the plans would be agreed in the near future, and initially it was down to the British Secretary of State, John Prescott, to agree them. However, we understand that they then passed to the British Prime Minister’s office and it was there that it was decided that the plans should be subject to public inquiry. The objections include destruction of woodland and also the proximity of the circuit to nearby housing. A public inquiry is a lengthy process, which means that it will be at least 18 months or so before the case is heard, and then there are several more months of construction work, if agreement is given. This would mean that the circuit wouldn’t be ready until after the proposed Grand Prix in 2002, which means that the circuit would break its contract with the FIA. Consequently, Brands Hatch may wish to sub-contract the Grand Prix to either Silverstone or Donington and may be heaving a huge sigh of relief, because some suggest that the circuit modifications were not financially viable anyway.

All the cars in the Italian Grand Prix will be running on Bridgestone’s medium compound tyre, even though they run the risk of blistering. Bridgestone have brought two compounds of tyre as usual, which are a stage softer than used in last year’s Italian Grand Prix. However, the harder of the two compounds of tyre is about 0.3s slower over a lap in qualifying than the medium compound, which is why all teams have gone for that tyre. However, the harder compound would have been quicker in the race.

A Bridgestone technician said that the blistering could be cured by set-up changes, and that drivers will have to look after their tyres more than ever. Tyre blistering is more crucial than it has been for many years at this race.

One of the reasons that they have all gone for the softer tyre is that Formula One teams and drivers are perennial risk-takers. During the four day test, none of the teams bothered to do back to back tests with the tyres on low fuel loads, nor did they run much on hard tyres at all. Even though they then suffered blisters, the drivers have opted for the softer tyres. Heavy braking for the first chicane is adding to the tyres danger.

The engineer merry-go-round in Formula One continues with the recent signing by Jordan of former Williams and McLaren engineer David Brown as chief race engineer. Brown has been something of a wasted talent at McLaren where he has run the Formula 3000 team. He has been race engineer to Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost among others in his previous careers, but won the F3000 title last year with Nick Heidfeld. This year’s campaign has been much less successful.

Jordan has seen a number of its technical staff poached by other teams over the last few months, with Mike Gascoyne recruited by Benetton and race engineer Sam Michael moving to Williams. Gascoyne will probably remain with the team until January, even though his contract lasts longer, and Michael will leave at the end of the year. Now Jordan has hit back by recruiting Egbal Hamidy as technical director from Arrows, and Brown from McLaren, where he ran the Formula 3000 team. Hamidy is very much an aerodynamicist and while being technical director, will concentrate on his creative talents, while Tim Holloway will run the drawing office. Brown will become Heinz-Harald Frentzen’s race engineer as well as chief race engineer. There are several other talented engineer waiting to graduate to become race engineers.

Milestones: This was Michael Schumacher’s 29th pole position, which means he pulls ahead of Juan Manuel Fangio and is fifth in the all-time rankings. The Grand Prix will be Marc Gene’s 30th, Eddie Irvine’s 110th and Jean Alesi’s 180th