Thursday March 9th, 2000

Paddock stories from Melbourne, by Bob Constanduros

• Could Renault stage a Grand Prix comeback as soon as Brazil? That's the rumour in Melbourne prior to the Australian Grand Prix. It is said that Benetton will appear with their Playlife(nee Renault, Mecachrome, Supertec) engine re-badged as a Renault at Brazil. Further to that, it is also said that Renault engines may be supplied to Benetton next year, and that the same engine could become a Nissan in the back of the Arrows. Renault quit Formula One at the end of 1997 and have won 95 races.

• Peugeot have had to tackle a number of problems with their A20 engine, and have been criticised by team owner Alain Prost regarding the lack of parts which should have appeared on the car in Australia. The major engine problems centred on two areas. The first was a sealing problem leading to a gas leak between combustion chamber and the lower crankcase which required a modification to the block casting. The second problem was to do with the actual manufacture of the block which threatened reliability and performance. Only two weeks before Australia was this solved.

  Alain Prost has been upset over the lack of variable induction trumpets which would increase maximum speed. These have been delayed because of the general delay in engine manufacture but should appear at Imola for the San Marino Grand Prix, round three. Halfway through the season, evolution four should appear which will give around 800 horsepower(currently 780), to be used in qualifying first of all and then the races.

  Prost, however, have had their own problems with the car, particularly the TAG Electronics package which some of the other teams use. That has caused the gearbox to change without warning, sometimes from sixth to second. There have been further problems with suspension, bodyshell, gearbox and hydraulics. Prost himself, actually says "in effect, we will be arriving in Australia with a brand new car."

• Michael Schumacher has said that he will continue racing until he's at least 35 which gives him another four years in Formula One. He is contracted to Ferrari for another two years, and suggests that he will spend the rest of his career with Ferrari, as long as he is still racing.

  

• Quite a few teams found themselves struggling to catch up because freight arrived late at the circuit of Melbourne. Among those were Benetton as well as Stewart and Jordan, while BMW and Supertec's engines were also late about half a day late in arriving.

• Rough estimates suggest that Jaguar's Cosworth CR1 engine is the lightest this year in Formula One with a weight of 97 kilos to the 98 of Mercedes. Ferrari is next at 100 kilos, then Peugeot at 109 followed by Honda at 110. Last year's Ferrari engine, called the Petronas in the Sauber, is next at 114 kilos(suggesting a sizeable weight saving this year), followed by the Renault Supertec at 118, then BMW at 120, Mugen Honda at 122 and Minardi's Fondmetal at 125 kilos, a span of 28 kilos. At Barcelona, it has been calculated that 10 kilos of weight is worth around 0.3s per lap?

• It's rumoured that Benetton are looking for investors who might come in to buy all or part of the team. It is rumoured to be up for sale for $150 million. Last year, the Benetton family were known to have approached Toyota in the hope of interesting them in buying the team as a means of getting into Formula One, but the Japanese car company preferred to go it alone.