Friday, September 20, 1996
All of the information in this section was obtained from a bloke down the pub, which means that while we believe all the following information to be true, we couldn't swear that it is.
What we will say however, is that usually, "there's no smoke without fire".....
Schumacher Deal Announced
Friday Times
Jordan to Announce Schumacher Deal
Seven Speed Box For Eddie
Last Gasp Testing
Bridgestone To Enter Next Year ?
Forti To Race At Estoril
Stewart Land £25 Million
Hakkinen To Stay At McLaren
Estoril Preview
Driver Rumours (latest)
Schumacher Deal Announced
Jordan have confirmed that they have signed Ralf Schumacher. He has signed a three year deal to drive for the Silverstone based team. Speculation on the second Jordan driver is now expected to increase.
Eddie Irvine continued Ferrari's recent run of good form when he posted the fastest time in the morning session. His team mate then took up the challenge and posted the day's fastest time in the afternoon. Damon Hill was second fastest overall with Villeneuve fifth fastest.
| 1 | M. Schumacher | Ferrari | 1.23.554 |
| 2 | D. Hill | Williams Renault | 1.24.281 |
| 3 | U. Katayama | Tyrrell Yamaha | 1.24.359 |
| 4 | E. Irvine | Ferrari | 1.24.477 |
| 5 | J. Villeneuve | Williams Renault | 1.24.764 |
| 6 | J. Alesi | Benetton Renault | 1.24.803 |
| 7 | G. Berger | Benetton Renault | 1.24.832 |
| 8 | M. Salo | TYrrell Yamaha | 1.25.234 |
| 9 | M. Hakkinen | McLaren Mercedes | 1.25.403 |
| 10 | H. H. Frentzen | Sauber Ford | 1.25.567 |
| 11 | R. Barrichello | Jordan Peugeot | 1.25.592 |
| 12 | M. Brundle | Jordan Peugeot | 1.25.705 |
| 13 | P. Diniz | Ligier Mugen Honda | 1.25.944 |
| 14 | D. Coulthard | McLaren Mercedes | 1.25.980 |
| 15 | R. Rosset | Arrows Hart | 1.26.065 |
| 16 | J. Verstappen | Arrows Hart | 1.26.288 |
| 17 | O. Panis | Ligier Mugen Honda | 1.26.422 |
| 18 | P. Lamy | Minardi Ford | 1.26.515 |
| 19 | J. Herbert | Sauber Ford | 1.26.700 |
| 20 | G. Lavaggi | Minardi Ford | 1.28.356 |
Jordan to Announce Schumacher Deal
It is expected that Jordan will confirm that they have signed a deal with Ralf Schumacher this weekend.
Eddie Irvine will get to use the seven speed gearbox this weekend. He broke the Fiorino track record this week during testing when he recorded a time of 1.01.45 nearly half a second quicker than Schumacher's best of 1.01.91. The Ferrari car is getting better and Irvine deserves to finish a race.
Many of the teams have been conducting final testing revisions this week. Most teams are already working on next seasons car. Williams and McLaren were at the A1 ring in Austria where Villeneuve and Hakkinen were both faster than their team mates. Jordan stayed in Italy and tested a prototype of next year's car and the next evolution of the Peugeot engine. Ligier and Tyrrell were both conducting tests on suspension revisions while Benetton concentrated on Brakes and their power assisted steering.
Bridgestone To Enter Next Year ?
Bridgestone may enter F1 as a tyre supplier next year. They are expected to supply Arrows and Stewart. Williams, Benetton, McLaren, Jordan and Ferrari are all believed to have signed with Goodyear.
Forti are rumoured top be racing at Estoril. The team is now back in the hands (financially) of Guido Forti and they say that they will be there. Forti have signed the new concord agreement which ties them into F1 for the next five years.
Stewart GP has signed a five year deal with HSBC reputed to be worth 25 Million pounds (Sterling). HSBC own the Midland Banking group. They intend to secure a further four or so similar deals that will enable them to compete seriously in Formula1. Stewart are not looking for a title sponsor at the moment.
Mika Hakkinen has signed with McLaren again despite rumours that he may be bankrolled into Ferrari. This will be the first year that he has raced in a team not sponsored by Marlboro.
Jacques Villeneuve has to win at Estoril to have a realistic chance of the championship title. If he can win it is possible that he could cut Hill's lead down to 3 points which would line up a winner takes all race in Japan.
Damon Hill knows that finishing ahead of his team mate in Portugal will clinch the title, while in reality all he needs is two podium finishes from the last two races.
Estoril is a track that is known to all of the drivers due to the winter testing program.
Last year at Estoril David Coulthard won his first race, starting from pole position and setting the fastest lap for good measure. Schumacher was second and Hill third.
The circuit is not that hard on the cars, last year only three retired through mechanical failures. The four other non finishers were Panis (Spin), Delatraz (Cramp) and Katayama and Papis who were sidelined by Katayama's horrific start line crash.
The twisty nature is likely to affect the McLaren and Jordan cars and should give Benetton a better chance of a long overdue win. Favourites still have to be either Williams driver and Michael Schumacher.
Damon Hill's options seem to be getting slimmer by the day. The McLaren deal is now out and the chances of a Benetton drive look ever more remote. The option now seems to be Jordan, with a slim outside chance of Stewart. The Benetton rumour still persists though despite Alesi, Berger and Briatore all insisting that there will be no change in the driver line up.
The Benetton boss, Renault and Bernie Ecclestone are all still keen on Hill at Benetton, which is why this rumour persists.
