Williams may be charged with death Senna; Stewart goes Asia; Ferrari not happy with weather at tests; Head thinks Hill has the best changes for WC in 1996; Roundup

Williams may be charged with death Senna; Stewart goes Asia; Ferrari not happy with weather at tests; Head thinks Hill has the best changes for WC in 1996; Roundup
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Tuesday January 25, 1996

Williams may be charged with death Senna

The public prosecution office in Italy wants to charge Frank Williams for the death of Ayrton Senna, who got killed at Imola on May 1 1994 possible due to a badly welded steering rod. The Italian judicature holds Williams responsible. Williams could stand trail for manslaughter.

Stewart goes Asia

Ex-Formula One world champion Jackie Stewart is seeking sponsorship for his Formula One team, which will start competing in 1997, in Asia. He already had talks with a Malaysian consortium. The Singapore property and hotel group were 'very interested' he said. Stewart also wants to go to Thailand, the Philippines, Japan and Taiwan to seek finance for his team. Stewart added: "I would like to have at least one British company, one North American company and two from the Asian basin."

Ferrari not happy with weather at tests

The Ferrari tests at Le Castellet were prematurely cancelled today due to bad weather conditions. Michael Schumacher could drive the planned laps in the beginning of the afternoon in the new V-10, but he couldn't test the new engine to the full. Despite the rain he was satisfied with the tests which will now be prolonged by his team-mate Eddie Irvine.

Head thinks Hill has the best changes for WC in 1996

Patrick Head believes Hill has the best chances of winning the world championship tittle in 1996. Head said: "It's probably his best chance, I would say." He also added: "I feel Damon can do it even if Williams new signing Jacques Villeneuve is taking points off him. But that is a problem within the team that we will address later. At Williams, we always allow the drivers to race against one another at the start of the season before assessing the situation." But Frank Williams was not so sure: "It's too early to say but we are very satisfied that we have the strongest driving line-up and if there are no serious problems we will be satisfied that we can be fully competitive." Head also added they would need to work on the pitstops.

Roundup

According to this weeks Autosport Keith Wiggins, boss of Pacific Grand Prix, is heading chassis maker LOLA's F1 project with a view to enter in 1997.
Wiggins will be running in this years International F3000 Championship.

Forti will use the FG01 (the 1995 season chassis) for the first 3 Grands Prix of the season. The old chassis will be upgraded to meet the new safety and technical regulations and will be replaced when the new chassis is ready.

Andrea Montermini is said to be having problems raising the funding for a Forti drive in 1996. The team is still talking to Hideki Noda about 1996.

Ricardo Rosset is expected to sign for Arrows alongside Jos Verstappen for the 1996 season. Although Taki Inoue was presumed to have the seat it seems that the new qualifying rule may have tipped the balance.

Ferrari will launch the new Formula 1 car for the 1996 World Championship on February 10th at Maranello, the home-circuit of Ferrari at Fiorano (Italy).

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