In a shock move today, Damon Hill, the current World Championship Leader announced that he had signed with The Footwork/Arrows team for 1997. Despite Arrows never having claimed one Grand Prix victory, the recent takeover of the team by Tom Walkinshaw, the man responsible for the engineering success of Benetton from 1991-1995, has filled Hill with confidence in the team.

Hill commented: "He has offered me more than I hoped for; a rewarding package and a great challenge to work in partnership with him to develop a winning Formula One team. Everything this man touches becomes a winner, so together we should be worth watching. (...) It was not an easy decision to make, but Tom fulfilled just about every single criteria that I set out for myself: opportunities to make rapid progress, to get stuck into a testing programme and to drive with a real carrot at the end in the possibility of winning races. I will not make any claims about next season. It is going to be just the beginning, but it is the prospect of improving quickly that excites me. Tom Walkinshaw's operation at Leafield is the germ, the building block for the future. I think next year we will have a car that will surprise a few people. If my fans are true fans they will stick with me and we will go forward together."

Arrows is supposedly on the verge of announcing a new deal with the Engine Manufacturers Yamaha, and new tire company, Bridgestone. The deal is likely to be announced at the Japanese Grand Prix in two weeks time.

Hill is rumoured to be paid approximately $8.4 Million (US) for 1997.

Jos Verstappen, who is currently driving for the TWR F1 team, is very optimistic about his chances of a contract with the team for next year. He has done some good testwork during the last week in Estoril and Nurburgring, but Jorg Muller is also looking for a seat with the team.

Rubens Barrichello is expected to stay with the Jordan-Peugeot team.

Today was the last day of testing at Estoril (Portugal) but many teams were already no longer present. Gerhard Berger was the fastest with a 1m 21.07s, closely followed by Williams' test-driver Boullion with a 1m 21.13s. Jos Verstappen was faster than Eddie Irvine in the Ferrari who did some test work for Goodyear.