After much speculation and denial Bobby Rahal has announced that he would indeed be moving across the Atlantic to run the Jaguar Formula 1 racing team.
Rahal, currently acting head of CART, will retain his two-car Champ Car team with current drivers Max Papis and Kenny Brack in the U.S.
Similar to Jackie Stewart (the original founder of the Jaguar team when it began its life as Stewart Racing) Rahal has turned to team management following a hugely successful driving career.
Posted: Friday, September 22nd, 2000
To confirm what everyone has assumed for months Williams has announced the signing of Juan Montoya to drive for them starting in 2001.
Montoya is no stranger to the Williams team as he was their test-driver in 1998 before he was signed by Chip Ganassi’s Target Champ Car team in a seat-swapping deal which also saw his predecessor at Target, Alex Zanardi, head to Williams. Montoya was also the European F3 Champion in 1998.
The following year — his first in Indy Cars — he won both the Fedex Champ Car Championship and the Rookie of the Year title.
This year has been a transitional year for Team Ganassi as they gain experience with their new chassis and engine package but the versatile Colombian has still managed to win several CART races as well as the Indianapolis 500 on his first attempt at driving an IRL car. Hopefully this versatility will not fail him next year when he heads to the Formula 1 circus which has ended the dreams of more than one Indy Car standout in recent years.
Posted: Thursday, September 21st, 2000
The track marshal who was injured in the second corner pile-up at the Italian Grand Prix has died of his injuries.
Paolo Ghislimberti — who was apparently hit in the head and chest by a flying wheel from one of the cars involved in the multi-car crash — received emergency medical treatment at the trackside and was then transported to a local hospital but it was later announced that he had died from his injuries.
Posted: Sunday, September 10th, 2000
Michael Schumacher won today’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza from the pole and then broke down in tears at the post race press conference where he was consoled by his brother and Mika Hakkinen — who was also too emotional to speak at one point. Schumacher’s tears were apparently due to a combination of joy and relief at having a good result at Ferrari’s home Grand Prix after several poor races and non-finishes.
Mika Hakkinen (McLaren) had finished second and so retained his lead in the Drivers’ Championship although it is now reduced to just two points. Ralf Schumacher (Williams) was third for the second race in a row.
Everyone was expecting some sort of incident at the first chicane — which had been radically altered since last year — and they were not disappointed as Eddie Irvine (Jaguar) collided with Mika Salo (Sauber), Nick Heidfeld (Prost) and then some large Styrofoam blocks before ending his race.
A much larger accident happened at the second chicane when Heinz-Harald Frentzen (Jordan) tried to overtake Rubens Barrichello (Ferrari) but misjudged his closing speed when Rubens braked sooner than he had expected. Frentzen piled into the back of the Ferrari and the pair of them slid off into a gravel trap, collecting Jarno Trulli (Jordan) and the unsuspecting David Coulthard (McLaren) on the way. Johnny Herbert (Jaguar) stamped on the brakes as he approached the clouds of dust that were swirling across the track and Pedro de la Rosa (Arrows) ran into the back of him, became airborne and flipped over Barrichello’s car before landing upside down in the gravel. Of all the drivers involved only Herbert could continue past this point and he retired as soon as he brought his heavily damaged car into the pit lane.
Debris from the accident was flying everywhere and a track marshal was hit by one of the wheels which were launched into the air. It was later announced that he had died after being taken to a local hospital.
Surprisingly the race was not red flagged at this point as many people thought it should have been, instead the safety car was brought onto the track and what remained of the field had to follow it around for eleven laps until the track was cleared and the race could resume. Stopping the race would not only have made it easier to tend to the injured marshal it would also have allowed most of the drivers to restart the race in their spare cars as the first lap had not yet been completed.
On the restart Jenson Button (Williams) was caught by surprise when Schumacher slowed the field in preparation for a quick restart and he had to veer off of the track in order to avoid another accident. Unfortunately he did not avoid the crash barrier and so he too was out of the race.
The rest of the race was largely processional at the front although there were some good moves further back in what was left of the pack. Ricardo Zonta (BAR) charged up to third place at one point but finally finished sixth after stopping for fuel. Jos Verstappen (Arrows) was fourth and Alexander Wurz scored his first points of the year for Benetton in fifth place.
Jacques Villeneuve (BAR) had qualified in fourth place but instead of his usual fast start he dropped back which probably saved him from being involved in the first lap accidents. He inherited third place after the retirements but retired himself on the 15th lap.
The Saubers of Mika Salo and Pedro Diniz came home in seventh and eighth place followed by the Minardis of Marc Gene and Gaston Mazzacane.
Giancarlo Fisichella (Benetton) had been running in the points but stalled after a pit stop when his car would not select the correct gear. His crew eventually got him restarted but by then he was a lap down and he finally finished in 11th place.
The early attrition was so great that Jean Alesi in his Prost was the last man running in 12th place.
Italian GP results.
Posted: Sunday, September 10th, 2000
The five cars involved in the second corner pile-up at the Italian Grand Prix have been impounded by the Italian police and a magistrate has begun an inquiry into the death of track marshal Paolo Ghislimberti who died of injuries sustained when he was struck by flying debris from the incident.
These investigations have been known to drag on for years, the inquiry into the accident at Imola in 1994 in which Ayrton Senna was killed lasted five years before the last of the charges were finally dismissed.
Posted: Sunday, September 10th, 2000
