Just before the Belgian Grand Prix the ...

Published on 25 August 1998 by Verstappen Info Page

Just before the Belgian Grand Prix the news is dominated by the speculations about next season. There is still some rumour about a possible deal between Ralf Schumacher and Williams. The German seems to have an agreement but his current team, Jordan, does not want to let him go. Jordan has an option on Schumacher and the only way to leave the team for the Germans is to buy himself out of his contract. Ralf does not agree with this and is threatening his team with legal action.

There is still no certainty about the engines that TWR/Arrows will use next season. Tom Walkinshaw is not likely to want to continue with the current Brian Hart prepaired Arrows engines. Earlier there were rumours that Walkinshaw had tried to buy a Mecachrome deal from Williams or BAR, but now the story goes that he is trying to get a Peugeot deal. Peugeot could supply Arrows with engines on a customer basis besides it's current current deal with Prost Grand Prix. Although Prost has the rights on an exclusive supply of the French V10 he could be willing to give the nod if he can get the services of designer John Barnard who is in dispute with Walkinshaw at Arrows. In the near future we will know more and we will learn the real story.

In preparation for next weekend's Belgian Grand Prix some of the teams tested at Silverstone today. Williams testdriver Juan Pablo Montoya did his best to keep Ralf Schumacher out of the second car for 1999 by setting the quickest time. His opponent in the Formula 3000 championship, Nick Heidfeld, also did a good job to set himself in the picture. The German was only a tenth of a second slower than Mika Häkkinen abd clocked the third fastest time of the day.

The Benetton team hopes to make a major step forward in Spa. The Anglo-British outfit made some major changes to the chassis and also revised the aerodynamics of the car. Designer Pat Symonds hopes to catch up with the teams that have overtaken them during this season. The Benetton designer also blamed much of the team's problems on the tyres which according to Symonds are purely designed for Mclaren.