Dear ,

The 2005 Season Preview is the last weekly issue to be published on Atlas F1. From next week, Autosport.com and Atlas F1 will be merged, and a new website will be launched: Autosport-Atlas. It is the end of an era, and a beginning of a new one.

For the past decade, the Atlas F1 team pioneered in online publishing and we understand the special needs of an Internet website; Autosport has more than fifty years' experience of being the leader in motor racing coverage. Together, Autosport-Atlas has an extraordinary strength that cannot be matched by any other website.

As of next week, you will receive a better and more integrated coverage of motor racing, primarily Formula One. A news service that has more exclusive and breaking stories than any other online; a weekly journal that has more features, analysis and interviews than any other website; a gallery that offers high resolution photos; and much more.

We will continue to offer the same content - only better, more in depth, and in more quantities. We will continue to explore, dissect, analyse and insist on accuracy. We will continue to set the benchmark for Formula One coverage on the Internet.

When Paul Kaizar launched Atlas F1 exactly a decade ago, he wrote in his welcome message: "as time passes and races are completed, we hope that competition becomes fierce for space on the page. As a result, we hope to supply some sort of pride for the authors of pieces selected for 'publishing'."

Ten years on, with dozens of professional writers having contributed to Atlas F1, dozens more honing their skills and learning the trade on Atlas F1, and many, many more vying to become a part of the Atlas F1 team - Paul's mission has been accomplished. And every single person involved in Atlas F1 feels nothing but pride.

Make no mistake about it: Atlas is not dead. It just got, in fact, a lot stronger. And the union of Autosport-Atlas gives us pure joy.

The launch of the new website gave us a chance to review some of our past mistakes - for both services - and improve upon them. We will offer a far better user experience, a more reader-friendly website, and an unmatched wealth of information and tools. Some changes may not be evident immediately, some will be added within the following weeks. But as soon as you visit the new website, you will see a marked change for the better.

For two months, we have worked intensively on building the new website, and this has no doubt taken some toll on the day to day coverage. We apologise for that, but be assured that this is merely a passing phase. Such a major re-organisation requires a lot of hard work, and it has been close to impossible to put so much effort into both day-to-day work and the long term overhaul.

But this phase will soon be over. Come the Australian Grand Prix, all attention will be put on the 20 men and machines at Melbourne, and our efforts will once again be focused primarily on quality coverage of the sport.

For now, though, relish the final hours of bachelorhood. Raise a glass to Atlas F1's journey so far, and be proud that you have been a part of that era. Together, we changed the face of Formula One coverage on the Internet. Together, we set the benchmark.

And we're about to raise it even higher...

Yours,                            

Biranit Goren, la redattrice