Ken Tyrrell Dies At 77

Ken Tyrrell, founder of the Tyrrell racing team, died this morning in England. Unwell for some time, Tyrrell had been suffering from cancer of the pancreas which was first diagnosed in 1999.

The Tyrrell team was sold to British American Racing (BAR) in 1997 and renamed for BAR before the 1999 season.

Posted: Saturday, August 25th, 2001

Trulli And Fisichella Swap Seats

Jarno Trulli will drive for Benetton next year and Giancarlo Fisichella will return to the Jordan team that he left four years ago.

Both drivers are managed by Flavio Briatore who is also the Managing Director of the Benetton Renault team. The Benetton part of the name will be dropped next year as Renault completes their purchase of the team.

The deal appears to please both drivers, neither of whom have been very successful recently with their current teams.

Posted: Thursday, August 23rd, 2001

Michael Schumacher Wins 2001 Hungarian GP, Clinches Titles

Pole-sitter Michael Schumacher won his seventh GP of the season and clinched his fourth Drivers’ World Championship with four races still to go. Ferrari team-mate Rubens Barrichello finished second and the pair also secured the Constructors’ Championship.

David Coulthard finished third and stays five points clear of Barrichello in championship points. McLaren team-mate Mika Hakkinen was fifth and helps keep McLaren ahead of Williams in the Constructors’ fight.

Ralf Schumacher was fourth on a slow, twisty circuit that did not suit the high straight-line speed of his Williams-BMW.

Jean Alesi finished 10th in his first drive for Jordan but Heinz-Harald Frentzen failed to finish in his debut for Prost.

Complete Hungarian GP results.

Posted: Sunday, August 19th, 2001

Frentzen And Alesi Play Musical Chairs

Jean Alesi left Prost today to join Jordan-Honda for the rest of the season. Heinz-Harald Frentzen who was fired by Jordan chief executive Eddie Jordan two weeks ago before the German Grand Prix moved into the empty spot at the French team. Ricardo Zonta — who had filled in for Frentzen in the German race — was left standing when the music stopped and will resume his former role as the team’s test driver.

It will be something of a homecoming for Alesi who won the F3000 championship while driving for Jordan 12 years ago.

Alesi is the oldest (37) and most experienced driver in Formula One but has only ever won one race. Many people feel that he has never really delivered on the potential which he exhibited early on in his F1 career partially due to a move to Ferrari at a time when they were not the powerhouse that they are today.

Posted: Wednesday, August 8th, 2001