01.03.94
Martin Brundle began three days of testing for the
McLaren Formula One team on Tuesday, prompting rumours he is to join the Formula One team. McLaren said the British driver will be testing the new McLaren Peugeot MP4-9 as a free agent. Brundle has been without a team since leaving
Ligier at the end of last
season. Alain Prost has also been tipped to drive alongside Finn
Mika Hakkinen in next season's world championship.
02.03.94
Team Lotus boss Peter Collins has issued a hands off warning to anyone trying to lure
Johnny Herbert away from the team. Herbert has recently been linked with Malboro McLaren-Peugot as a potential partner for their Finnish star Mika Hakkinen. Collins said: "We have three drivers. All of them will be driving for us this year. I cannot see any situation at all where Johnny can be contacted to another team," Collins added.
07.03.94
Austrian Roland Ratzenberger has signed to drive for the new
Simtek Formula One team in at least the first five Grands Prix of 1994. He will join
David Brabham for testing at Imola prior to the Brazilian GP on March 27.
Arrows have agreed a $2 million sponsorship deal with Europe's largest jeans manufacturer Lee Cooper for the 1994 GP season. The firm will supply clothing for the team, who have
Christian Fittipaldi as number one driver.
Finnish driver JJ Lehto has been passed fit to take part in testing for
Benetton at Imola this week. He broke vertebrae in his neck in an accident at Silverstone earlier this year but doctors have given him the all-clear to
drive. Mark Blundell tested the new
Tyrrell 022 at Brands Hatch for the first time on Monday. Technical director Harvey Postlethwaite said the test went well and the team were very pleased with the
session.
08.03.94
Alain Prost got back in a Formula One car Tuesday for the first time since announcing his retirement, but failed to make an impression. The four-times world champion, who quit motor racing five months ago, was testing the new McLaren-Peugeot on the Estoril circuit in Portugal. Prost completed six laps in all, but the unofficial quickest lap time of 1 min, 16.6secs was far from
impressive. Damon Hill clocked 1:11.49 at the same circuit last year to clinch pole position in the Portugese GP.
Alain Prost said he was unlikely to make a decision about a full-time to return to Formula One racing for another month. After completing his first day's testing with McLaren in Estoril, Prost admitted he still retained "a great passion" for the sport. He said: "I felt quite emotional when I started driving the car again this morning. "It is difficult for me to know what to say. It may be one month before I announce my
decision."
10.03.94
Wednesday testing times at Imola:mins secs
1 A Senna Brz Williams 1:22.253
2 D Hill GB Williams 1:22.662
3 G Berger Aut Ferrari 1:23.631
4 J Verstappen Hol Benetton 1:23.648
5 J Alesi It Ferrari 1:23.699
6 M Alboreto It Minardi 1:25.010
7 C Fittipaldi Brz Arrows 1:25.497
8 PL Martini It Martini 1:25.604
9 O Panis Fr Ligier 1:25.880
10 D Brabham Aus Simtek 1:26.397
11 R Rat'berger Aut Simtek 1:30.253
Britain's Martin Brundle has the
chance to press his claims for a seat with McLaren when he tests
for them at Estoril this weekend. Frenchman Phillipe
Alliot will take over on Monday or Tuesday next week with one
of them likely to be signed if Alain Prost rejects an offer to
come out of retirement.
15.03.94
Frenchman Alain Prost ended months of speculation by ruling out a comeback to F1 with McLaren-Peugeot. The four-times world champion, who test-drove the new McLaren MP4/9 last week, ended the rumours by announcing he was retiring for good. "I wanted to test myself, to see if I really wanted to start again," he said. "The answer is no. I'm not ready to take the risks anymore." Briton Martin Brundle is now firm favourite to partner team leader Mika Hakkinen, but Philippe Alliot is also still in the running.
The Australian Grand Prix will move to Melbourne from Adelaide in 1996, a year earlier than planned. Talks will now take place with a view to switching the race's place in the Grand Prix schedule from October to March. The race will be held on a street circuit around Melbourne's Albert Park
Lake.
17.03.94
Paul Stewart Racing have confirmed their driver line-up for 1994. Brazilian Gil de Ferran will be partnered by Didier Cottaz in the Formula 3000 team. Dario Franchitti and
Jan Magnussen will drive in Formula 3 and
Ralph Firman and Owen McAuley are in Formula
Vauxhall.
Benetton have announced that test driver Jos Verstappen will replace the injured JJ Lehto in next Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix. MTV are to be the title sponsor of Simtek's inaugural season in Formula
One.
21.03.94
Martin Brundle has been confirmed as Mika Hakkinen's team mate in the Marlboro McLaren Peugeot line-up at this weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix. King's Lynn driver Brundle got the nod over Frenchman Phillippe Alliot who has also joined the team. Both men should give experienced support to young Finnish driver Hakkinen as McLaren develop and test their new car. Brundle took a massive gamble when he decided to reject earlier offers from Ligier and
Jordan hoping for a drive with the McLaren team.
Team Lotus have joined forces with The European newspaper who have agreed to a sponsorship deal for the 1994 championship
season.
24.03.94
Argentina will get the green light to host a grand prix in October if the Buenos Aires track is spruced up within the next three weeks. The FIA world motor sport council gave the race only provisional status when it finalised the rest of the 1994 cal endar last year. But after inspecting the Oscar Alfredo Galvez track, Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone said: "It is more or less in line with what we've got in the rest of the world." Argentina last hosted a Formula One race in 1981.
25.03
- 27.03.94 - Brazilian Grand Prix
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