Monday October 28th, 2002

The official Formula One website will be launched next year, Formula One Management said in a statement today.

The domain formula1.com was transferred to F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone several months ago, as part of a settlement in a prolonged legal battle between its previous owners and Ecclestone's licensing company.

Ecclestone is now assembling his various publications under one management at FOM and announced today the launch of 'Formula One Publications'. Among others, he has transferred ownership of his monthly magazine F1 Magazine to FOM, as well as the yearly F1 Annual. Subsequently, the publisher and editor of the magazine Tom Rubython resigned from his post last weekend.

"An early priority for Formula One Publications will be the appointment of a new Editor," FOM said in a statement. "In the coming months, Formula One Publishing will develop and build the F1 Magazine title as the official Formula One publication. Its strategy will be to build on and grow the title's strong subscriber base in the UK and to broaden distribution overseas.

"Non-English language versions of the title are planned. An on-line dimension will also be added through the redevelopment of the Formula1.com website which will become the official Formula One website when it is relaunched next year."

F1 Magazine was launched in March 2001 and has an audited circulation of over 90,000 copies. The current, unofficial website at Formula1.com has ceased to update since the end of the 2002 season in Japan, two weeks ago.

Published at 14:34:02 GMT