Arrows Yamaha 1 Damon Hill 2 Pedro Diniz Williams Renault 3 Jacques Villeneuve 4 Heinz-Harald Frentzen Scuderia Ferrari 5 Michael Schumacher 6 Eddie Irvine Benetton Renault 7 Jean Alesi 8 Gerhard Berger McLaren Mercedes 9 Mika Hakkinen 10 David Coulthard Jordan Peugeot 11 Ralf Schumacher 12 Giancarlo Fisichella Ligier Mugen-Honda 14 Olivier Panis 15 Shinji Nakano Sauber-Petronas Ferrari 16 Johnny Herbert 17 Nicola Larini Tyrrell Ford 18 Jos Verstappen 19 Mika Salo Minardi Hart 20 Jarno Trulli 21 Ukyo Katayama Steward Ford 22 Rubens Barrichello 23 Jan Magnussen Lola Ford 24 Vincenzo Sospiri 24 Ricardo RossetNo signed contract for this year (yet):
This joke turned out not to be a joke. In fact they were negotiating with the old man. Again I have an update on this: It is said he signed with Jordan.
Well, another day, another story: Mansell is said not to drive next year for Eddie Jordan. Either, he again turned out not to fit in a F1 cockpit, or he gets more money elsewhere (?IndyCar?) or he won't drive at all, anywhere for anyone. Who knows...
Other news are: Sauber will drive with Ferrari power in the back of their cars. On the team side, we have got a newcomer with Steward and a comeback with Lola returning to Formula One. My hope is that these teams will not disappear after one or two years as Pacific, Simtek, or Forti and earlier AGS, Zakspeed, Larousse, Coloni, Fondmetal or the Scuderia Italia team did. New drivers are Vincenzo Sospiri (sorry, never heard of him), Jan Magnussen (last year: ITC driver and McLaren test driver), Nicola Larini (drove in F1 earlier for Ferrari, Modena; last year: ITC; test driver for Ferrari for several years), Shinji Nakano (last year: ???), Ralf Schumacher (last year: Japanese Formula 3000), Jarno Trulli (last year: German Formula 3 champion). After a couple of years with Goodyear tyres only, Bridgestone makes its way to F1. Let's hope they are competitive (or the other way round), so that no team will be excluded from the strive for the podium because of their tyres.
Today I heard the news that the last seat in the 96 Formula One season was given to Giancarlo Fisichella. He will be the teammate of Ralf Schumacher in the Jordan team, so we have two young talented drivers racing for Eddie Jordan.
The seat at Minardi that I thought was reserved for Marques was given to this years German Formula 3 champion, the young Italian Jarno Trulli.
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