Saturday June 19th, 2004
Absent Friends
Formula One's ten team bosses scheduled a meeting at Indianapolis to discuss future changes to the sport but somehow forgot that five of their number would be in the official FIA press conference at the time. BAR-Honda's David Richards, McLaren's Ron Dennis, Jaguar's Tony Purnell, Minardi's Paul Stoddart and Jordan's Eddie Jordan were all hauled up in front of the media in the traditional 4pm slot and spent the next 55 minutes discussing how they were planning to change the sport for the better only to head off to their meeting to find their fellow team chiefs had become bored of waiting and wandered off. Jordan is also understood to have made his second double booking of the day when he was due to meet one of his sponsors for dinner and, at the same time, offered to take his fellow team chiefs out for dinner. "Knowing Eddie, he was probably trying to do both together," said one amused journalist. "That way he could get the sponsors to pay for the dinner. I wouldn't be surprised."
Fine Return
Jordan may have been delighted with the return of Italian Giorgio Pantano to their fray after he missed the Canadian Grand Prix with personal issues but he put a frown back on their faces before the end of the Friday sessions when he clocked up a $2,750 (US Dollars) fine for speeding at 70.1km/h in the pitlane. With such an expansive area for the teams in the speedway pits the usual limit seemed a little bizarre - and it also caught out BAR-Honda driver Anthony "Fast Ant" Davidson as he put on his Friday best out on track in the morning session but clocked in at 66.4km/h and was handed a fine of $1,750 (US Dollars) in the pits.
Race Against Time
The organisers of this year's United States Grand Prix have put on an impressive show of rapid set-up after being forced to turn the venue from 2.5-mile oval to 2.605-mile Formula One track in just two weeks because of the date change for the race. The race to change the circuit was due to start at 6pm on Sunday May 31, four hours after the Indianapolis 500 finished, but because of rain delays the race finished late and the storms prevented the organisers from working immediately. Their job list included creating the pitlane with 130 concrete barriers, building the paddock club hospitality area, creating two new grandstands on the infield, removing catch fencing, constructing tyre barriers, installing the Grand Prix starting gantry, repainting the starting grid and putting up signage. "Very controlled and well planned chaos," is how the organisers described it. And it worked. The course was in place by June 4, well ahead of schedule, thanks to the work of 100 people working 10-hour days. At least they have plenty of time off when the Formula One circus departs.
Out of this World
Jordan sent their message from Bahrain into orbit this weekend when they revealed the face of an alien on the side of the black and yellow cars at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The team have carried a different logo on their engine cover at each race to promote a global issue as part of a deal with the Kingdom of Bahrain and this time they decided to go out of this world. The logo represented "life on mars" and the team said: "The theme was chosen due to its global appeal and understanding by enthusiasts from all over the world and the pioneering approach and technological advancement of both space exploration and Formula One." They chose to run the logo for the United States Grand Prix because of the successful NASA 'Rover Spirit' mission that landed on Mars this year.
Wi-Fi D'oh
One tardy journalist arrived in the Indianapolis media centre to set up his equipment just seconds after the start of the pre-qualifying session and was dismayed to find that the wireless network on his computer, which he had so proudly been crowing about after its introduction in the media centre this year, was not working. Unlike Bahrain, where a trail of journalists followed internet problem solvers around the room, the United States system had seemed to be working well and having been called over to assist the forlorn journalist, the Indianapolis problem solver struggled to find a solution. Then the inspiration came. "Ah, I forgot to switch it on," said the embarrassed hack as his already flushed face grew a deeper shade of scarlet.
Published at 21:20:34 GMT
(03-11-2005): 
