News from the Paddock - Brazilian GP
Saturday March 25th, 2000
The Brazilian Grand Prix promoter, Tamas Rohonyi, came out today with accusations that the three Marlboro banners, which fell onto the track during qualifying, had been sabotaged. He said that the nylon ties had been cut in an attempt to discredit the Grand Prix and the city of Sao Paulo, following a mayoral dispute. Rohonyi said that a dog which had been let loose in the circuit the previous day had been part of the same plot. He said that security would be stepped up prior to the race, but that he was anxious not to promote any panic among the huge crowd that is expected to be at the circuit on race day. Drivers refused to condemn the organisers. "No one did it deliberately," said David Coulthard before he heard of the 'conspiracy theory'. "I am sure it is something that will be sorted out in time for tomorrow."
Rumours abounded at Sao Paulo that FIA president Max Mosley may now have asked all the Formula One teams to make their engine and gearbox electronic systems less complex, so that they can be more easily checked by the governing body. Mosley had spoken about this during the winter, and now it seems that it may become a mandatory requirement as early as the San Marino Grand Prix, the next race on the calendar after Brazil. Mosley is concerned that the latest advances in sophisticated on-board control technology may have allowed some teams to deploy a type of traction control, which is banned under the Technical Regulations as a so-called 'driver aid'.
Rumours suggest that a possible shortage of Formula One engines might lead Bernie Ecclestone to push for regulations that will insist the manufacturers must be in a position to supply two teams. Among the teams possibly losing their engine deals in the near future are Arrows, Minardi, Prost and Sauber. Norbert Haug of Mercedes-Benz says that the subject has not been discussed, and that Mercedes would not be interested in supplying more than one team, particularly in view of its part-ownership of McLaren. Flavio Briatore suggested that Renault would be happy to supply another team, while BMW's Mario Thyssen could not see why BMW should not supply a second team in the future - although he was cautious about the immediate future.
Flavio Briatore has been able to say a little more about his new job in Brazil. He has already moved back into Benetton's Enstone, UK factory, but continues to operate his Supertec engines. Indeed, it is possible that he will continue to do so even after Renault's full-scale return in 2002. Renault, incidentally, has been quoted as saying that it will be returning with new engine technology, the implication being that this will be ahead of the current state-of-the-art.
Could Minardi's projected sale to Telefonica be in jeopardy? The Italian team has long been in negotiations with the Spanish telecommunications company, but now there appears to be a possibility that Telefonica could be taken over by British Telecom - which may put the deal on the back burner.
Frank Williams has taken the trouble to formally deny that his partner and technical chief, Patrick Head has sold or intends to sell his stake in Williams Grand Prix Engineering to BMW.
If Heinz-Harald Frentzen's mind doesn't seem to be entirely on Formula One, there is every reason. The Jordan driver's wife, Tanja is likely to give birth to their first child this weekend - although the baby has been due for a week already...
In an effort to kill rumours that he is on loan to Chip Ganassi from Frank Williams, Juan Montoya said flatly that there is "no contract with Williams" and he is "not on loan". Right now it would appear that Montoya will likely stay in CART for much longer than anyone has been expecting. It had been rumoured that Montoya was just biding his time until he could go with Williams or find another Formula One team.
Weekend Milestones:
The Brazilian Grand Prix will be Mika Hakkinen's 130th Grand Prix. He will start from his 23rd career pole position.
Marc Gene will be 26 years old on 29 March (three days after the race), while Ricardo Zonta was 24 on the Thursday before the race.
Zonta's eighth place on the grid is two places higher than his previous best, 10th in France last year.
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