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 is no smoke without fire".....
Estoril Testing Times In Full
Sauber Sign Herbert
1996 Calendar In Full
Test Drivers
New F1 Teams In 1997 ?
Blundell Off To Indy
Nokia Withdraw Tyrrell Sponsorship
Estoril Testing Times In Full
After a hectic week of testing at Estoril, many of the teams and drivers have declared their satisfaction with progress made.
Williams have the broadest smile this week as their drivers were by far the quickest.
Those quickest times in full:
| Driver | Team | Time | Day |
|---|---|---|---|
| D. Hill | Williams | 1.19.45 | Thursday |
| J. Villeneuve | Williams | 1.20.75 | Thursday |
| M. Schumacher | Ferrari | 1.21.33 | Thursday |
| J. Alesi | Benetton | 1.21.54 | Thursday |
| E. Irvine | Ferrari | 1.21.68 | Friday |
| R. Barrichello | Jordan | 1.21.81 | Thursday |
| J. Verstappen | Arrows | 1.21.94 | Friday |
| G. Berger | Benetton | 1.22.46 | Thursday |
| E. Collard | Jordan | 1.23.59 | Friday |
| F. De Simone | Jordan | 1.25.00 | Friday |
None of the teams are testing cars that will race next year, many are using hybrids, like Williams who have fitted 1996 parts to the 1995 FW17. Perhaps the most impressive performances came from Jacques Villeneuve and Jos Verstappen. Verstappen's time in the Arrows would have placed him fourth in this years Portuguese GP and was some 3 seconds faster than Inoue or Papis could manage.
Peter Sauber announced on Monday that the teams second driver would be Johnny Herbert. This leaves only 8 drives to be filled (2 at Ligier, Minardi and Forti and 1 at Tyrrell and Arrows). The Sauber team are on the edge of becoming a GP winning outfit managing a podium finish in Italy last year.
Johnny has said that he is looking forward to testing later this week in France.
| Date | Venue | |
|---|---|---|
| March 10 | Australia | Melbourne |
| March 31 | Brazil | Interlagos |
| April 7 | Argentina | Buenos Aires |
| April 28 | Europe | Nurburgring |
| May 5 | San Marino | Imola |
| May 19 | Monaco | |
| June 2 | Spain | Barcelona |
| June 16 | Canada | Montreal |
| June 30 | France | Magny Cours |
| July 14 | Britain | Silverstone |
| July 28 | Germany | Hockenheim |
| August 11 | Hungary | Budapest |
| August 25 | Belgium | Spa |
| September 8 | Italy | Monza |
| September 22 | Portugal | Estoril |
| October 13 | Japan | Suzuka |
Jerez has been nominated as the reserve race.
1997 may see the return of the US GP, possibly in Las Vegas or, according to some sources, Disney World Florida !!??
As news is a bit light this week, I thought a quick round up of the top teams test drivers might be in order.
| Team | Driver |
|---|---|
| Williams | Jean Christophe Bouillion |
| Ferrari | Nicola Larini |
| Benetton | Frank Lagorce |
| McLaren | Jan Magnussen |
| Jordan | Emmanuel Collard |
| Sauber | Norberto Fontana |
Along with DAMS who are now expected to enter F1 in 1997, it was announced this week that the Italian Formula 3000 team Durango were looking to enter in 1997. Durango intend to be running by June 1996 in F1 trim, which will give them five months of testing before entry into F1. They are expected to use a Hart engine.The other team to announce 1997 F1 ambitions was Pacific !! Less than a month after quitting F1, MD Keith Wiggins was hopeful that he would announce their return shortly.
Now that the second Sauber seat has gone to Johnny Herbert, Mark Blundell may be forced to go to America to compete in the Indy car series. There are no real competitive seats left vacant in F1 and Mark has been testing with the Pac West team in America. Blundell said "I don't want to get into a situation where I end up driving around the back of the field in F1". Mark may elect to sit tight like he did last year, it is possible that Hakkinen will not be fit at the start of the season which would offer a McLaren seat to him again.
The Nokia sponsorship of Tyrrell is over, estimated at around 3 million UKP the withdrawal will be a huge blow to the teams finances. One winner may be Ukyo Katayama who may now get a Tyrrell drive as his sponsorship deal with Mild Seven attracts a substantial amount of cash.
