News From The Paddock - Brazilian GP
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Sunday April 11th, 1999

  • Ricardo Zonta had a lucky escape from his huge practice accident on Saturday morning. He only suffered a bad cut which had severed the ligaments of his left foot. He was operated on in the afternoon in a local hospital. The latest news on race morning in Brazil is worse than at first expected. Originally, it seemed he would be fit for the next Grand Prix in Imola, but now it looks as though he will be out of the car for an absolute minimum of forty days, so that the races in San Marino, Monaco and possibly even Barcelona are now in doubt. This is a hard blow for the new BAR team who had a terrible weekend in Sao Paulo. A fuel sample taken from Villeneuve's car after qualifying did not correspond to the control sample previously sent to FIA. The Canadian's times were disallowed, however he was allowed to start the race from the back of the grid.

  • There are still problems with the new rule restricting private testing in between the races. Several of the teams have complained that Ferrari (a designated Bridgestone test team along with McLaren) is apparently testing more than the others, partly because it has its own test track. The system is controlled not by FIA but by Bridgestone. The tyre company says that every team gets 200 sets of tyres for private testing and tyre engineering support for a fixed number of days. If the teams want to test without this support they can do so for as many days as they wish.

  • The Jordan team ran an uprated version of their Mugen-Honda engine but had problems with the oil system on Friday.

  • Both Benetton drivers were running new chassis which are are between 15 and 20 kgs lighter. This has been done primarily so that they can run their FTT system which is supposed to improve braking in the corners but is rather heavy.

  • The pit lane entrance and exit have been changed at the Interlagos track but it is not a universally popular move with the drivers. The entrance used to be in the middle of a fast corner and the exit came out at the end of the downhill section after the first corner. The length of the lane which now has to be run under a speed limit has also been extended. This was expected to have some influence on the teams? race strategies.

  • This race could be the last Brazilian GP at Interlagos. Rumours have started because Bernie Ecclestone was not in Brazil and 1999 is the final year of his current contract with the track. Former three times world champion Nelson Piquet was in Sao Paulo. He and Emerson Fittipaldi have a controlling interest in the Rio de Janeiro Jacarepagua track which last hosted a Brazilian GP from 1973 to 1988 and a return is possible. Other possibilities are a move to a track in Brasilia, the capital city or the race could stay in Sao Paulo, but only if the track is completely resurfaced.

  • The BAR cars ran in a new livery for the first time in Brazil. It was not a big change- simply the "zipper" dividing the 555 from the Lucky Strike branding has been made bigger.

  • Jacques Villeneuve was 28 years old on the Friday in Brazil. Michael Schumacher starts his 120th GP in Brazil and Johnny Herbert his 130th. This is Hakkinen's 12th pole of his career.

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