Massa Returning To F1; Toyota Hires New Tech Boss
By Dan Knutson
indianapolismotorspeedway.com
Friday, October 31, 2003
The Sauber Petronas team has confirmed that Brazil’s Felipe Massa, 22, will partner Italy’s Giancarlo Fisichella, 30, in next year’s 18-race FIA Formula One World Championship, which includes the fifth annual United States Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on June 20.
Massa made his F1 debut with Sauber in 2002. He didn’t race last year, instead working as a test driver for Ferrari.
“Back in 2002, Felipe already proved his exceptional speed,” team owner Peter Sauber said. “At the end of that season, I had recommended to him that, rather than going on to race for any other team, he should sign on with Ferrari as a test driver in order to become even more familiar with the technical aspects of Formula One. Getting first-hand experience of how Ferrari and Michael Schumacher operate is perfect training for a young racing driver.
“I’m convinced that Felipe is now able to make optimum use of his potential.”
Massa has signed a two-year contract.
Fisichella, who made his F1 debut in 1996 with Minardi, won this year’s Brazilian Grand Prix driving for Jordan-Ford. Fisichella has also signed a two-year deal with Sauber.
Gascoyne joins Toyota: Mike Gascoyne will leave his post as technical director of the Mild Seven Renault team to become the technical director/chassis for the Panasonic Toyota Racing team.
Gascoyne will begin work Dec. 1 at Toyota. Gascoyne was one of the key people who created the new technical working structure at Renault. Fernando Alonso won the Hungarian Grand Prix this season in a Renault to become, at age 22 years and 26 days, the youngest driver ever to win a Formula One championship race.
“We are always looking at ways to reinforce and strengthen our technical department, so it is with great pleasure that we can welcome Mike Gascoyne to the Panasonic Toyota Racing team,” said Tsutomu Tomita, the chairman of Toyota Motorsport. “Mike brings almost 15 years of F1 experience with him, and he will play an instrumental role in further developing our team for future success.”
Toyota will now have technical directors for both chassis and engine departments. Luca Marmorini will be the technical director/engine. Gustav Brunner remains as chief designer.
Under the revised structure, Keizo Takahashi will become chief coordinating engineer, acting as the technical liaison between the team’s F1 base at Toyota Motorsport in Cologne, Germany, and the headquarters of the Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan.
Norbert Kreyer’s post as general manager of race and test engineering remains unchanged. Kreyer and Brunner report will report directly to Gascoyne.
Gascoyne’s F1 career began in 1989 as an aerodynamicist with McLaren, where he stayed for three years. A brief spell as chassis dynamicist at Tyrrell led to a three-year role as head of aerodynamics at Sauber before he rejoined Tyrrell as deputy technical director in 1993. In 1998, Gascoyne took up the role of chief designer at Jordan, and was subsequently promoted to technical director. He left in late 2000 to become technical director at Benetton (now Renault).
“I am naturally sad to be leaving the Mild Seven Renault F1 Team after three highly enjoyable and successful seasons,” Gascoyne said. “Likewise, I am looking forward to my exciting new role at Toyota with great enthusiasm and, together we will relish the long-term challenge of developing Toyota into a world championship-winning team.”
Davidson to be BAR’s third driver: Britain’s Anthony Davidson has been nominated as the third driver for Lucky Strike BAR-Honda in 2004.
Davidson will test alongside the team’s regular drivers, Jenson Button and Takuma Sato, during the Friday practice sessions of each Grand Prix weekend. The new rules permit the teams that finished fourth or lower in the 2003 Constructors Championship to run a third car and driver on Fridays.
Next year, BAR-Honda, Sauber-Petronas, Jaguar Racing, Panasonic Toyota Racing, Jordan-Ford and European Minardi-Cosworth will be permitted to run a third driver during Friday practice.
Gene stays with Williams-BMW: Spain’s Marc Gene, 34, has re-signed as the official test and reserve driver for BMW WilliamsF1 for the 2004 season.
Gene has been the team’s test driver since 2001, and in those three years he has completed nearly 26,000 miles (42,000 km) of testing. He works alongside the team’s regular drivers: 2000 Indianapolis 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya and Ralf Schumacher.
After a testing accident involving Schumacher, Gene filled in at the Italian Grand Prix in September. Gene qualified fifth and finished fifth in his first race for the team.
“2003 has been a very busy and special year,” Gene said. “Busy because so far this season I have completed 24,000 testing kilometers (14,900 miles), and obviously special since it marked my debut with the team as a race driver at Monza, a race I really enjoyed.
“For next season, my goal is to assist the team in every way to win the World Championship.”
Molson offers assistance: The Molson Brewery has offered to work with Canadian Grand Prix promoter Normand Legault to find the funding and solutions needed to stage the race next season. The Canadian Grand Prix is scheduled for June 13, one week before the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis, but additional funds need to be found to guarantee the F1 race in Montreal takes place.
“Several solutions are being explored concerning the funding of the event,” a joint statement issued by Molson and Legault said.
Molson Director Dan O’Neill said: “Our objective is to have the Grand Prix return to Montreal next year and for the years to come. We intend to go on working with Normand Legault as owner and head of the Montreal Grand Prix to achieve this objective.”
Chinese star to test for Williams-BMW: Ho-Pin Tung will become the first Chinese driver to test a F1 car when he gets behind the wheel of a Williams-BMW later during the winter testing season.
Tung, 20, dominated the inaugural Formula BMW Asia Championship in 2003. Tung claimed 12 pole positions and 10 victories in 14 races during the season, which spanned five countries.
Tung began karting at 14 and entered his first car race at 18. He comes from Wenzhou, 300 miles (500 km) south of Shanghai, but grew up in the Netherlands. Tung has a very international education and speaks five languages.
USGP tickets: Tickets for the 2004 United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis on June 20 are on sale, and the IMS ticket office encourages customers to place orders early to ensure the best possible opportunity to acquire good seats.
Tickets can be purchased online at www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com or by calling the IMS ticket office at (317) 492-6700 or (800) 822-INDY outside the Indianapolis area. Parking and camping information also can be obtained through the ticket office.
