Today the new B198 has been presented ...

Published on 15 January 1998 by Verstappen Info Page

Today the new B198 has been presented to the public. This year about everything has been changed with Benetton compared to last year. At first there are the two new drivers, Alexander Wurz who picks up the Austrian Flag from Gerhard Berger in Formula 1, and Giancarlo Fisichella who was 'loaned' to Jordan last year and who did a good job there. Then there is the new teamboss David Richards. The team has a 'new' engine, the Mecachrome, in fact a Renault engine that is further developed. The new Benetton has been designed by Nick Wirth. Nick was the former owner of Simtek, the team that went broke in 1995 when Jos Verstappen drove for the team that year. On top of it all Benetton also officially announced at the presentation that the team will drive on Bridgestone tyres in 1998.

About the choice of tyres for 1998 David Richards said: "I hope that we can be of service to Bridgestone with our team by giving them their first victory in a Grand Prix." Pat Symonds, technical director at Benetton noted: "I am very confident. We now have now put everything in place to return to the highest level. We have a couple of excellent drivers and the car, designed by Nick Wirth with a whole new philosophy, gives us new enthousiasm."

Schweppes, on of the world's largest producers of soft drinks becomes one of the new main sponsors of McLaren-Mercedes.

Quite unexepectedly Ferrari broke off it's test session at Fiorano today. This was done because the brand new Ferrari F300 constantly suffers from technical failures at gearbox and engine. The failures reveal themselves mostly when Michael Schumacher is at the wheel. Nicola Larini, who has a less aggressive driving style, causes less problems. Maybe tomorrow but certainly on Saturday the tests will continue. Further test work this week will be done by Larini because Schumacher has to get to South Africa because of sponsor obligations.