The trial concerning who's responsible for the death of Ayrton Senna continued today. The prosecution argued, as expected, that the Brazilian's death was caused by mistakes and negligence by the Williams team and race track officials.

The prosecution spend Wednesday morning reconstructing the events leading up to Senna crash in the concrete wall on the Imola (Italy) circuit.

The prosecutor, Passarini, said: "no blame can be attached to Senna: he hadn't taken any drugs, he didn't make a driving error and he didn't pass out - contrary to reports in the British press."

Passarini gave two reasons for Senna's crash: one was the track surface: "There was an angle with the side of the track." The second was a "modification to the steering column which had been poorly executed, causing it to break." The column was altered before the race.

Passarini added: "The steering column had been cut and a new element - which was not of the same quality of metal or of the same diameter, being 18mm instead of 22mm - was soldered in. And it was where the new element had been soldered in that the column broke." None of the accused were present.

Damon Hill and Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone will appear as witnesses next month in the 'Trial Senna'

Hill, Senna's team-mate at the time of Senna's death, will appear before court on April 28. Ecclestone will be questioned on April 22.

These are just 2 of about 100 witnesses who are going to be called before the court.

A tyre war is about to break out when the new Formula One season starts this weekend. Bridgestone is set to break the six year Goodyear monopoly.

Although Bridgestone will only supply the smaller teams, Arrows, Stewart, Prost, Minardi and Lola, they are bound to give Goodyear a hard time, if the pre season testing times are an indication.

During a test at Estoril (Portugal) Panis was about six seconds faster than Jean Alesi in the wet. Panis commented: "I just couldn't believe what was happening. They are the best wet-weather tyres I have ever driven on."

Gerhard Berger also had his thoughts on it: "There will be some circuits where Bridgestone will have the advantage, especially if it's wet. It is going to make the season much more interesting."

The tyre war also causes some concern with the Motor racing chiefs. Max Mosley commented: "It is good for the sport because motor racing is essentially very competitive, but there is a worry from our point of view. If we get a tyre war between two very big companies it is highly likely that race speeds will go up and that could become dangerous."

This may cause more rules made up by the FIA.

Jackie Stewart faces his biggest challenge when he returns to Formula One with his own team. He said: "This is one of the most important times in the Stewart's family's life. The logistics of having our first race take place in Melbourne only increases the challenge. It is as far away from our Milton Keynes base as we could possibly be asked to travel. It is a bigger challenge than any I faced as a driver - sometimes I think that winning those three championships seemed very easy by comparison. But we have set ourselves a huge task. We have to deliver for the Stewart-Ford team and we have five years in which to do so but we cannot try and rush it."

So Stewart is moderate of his chances: "I know we won't be on the front row of the grid in Melbourne. Really, I would be delighted if we got a point in our first season. It took Frank Williams about 10 years to get to the top, though I hope it will take us a few years less. But there will be no easy route."

His son Paul added: "There will be sceptics. It is up to us to confound them. The top teams should beat us, but if we can qualify in the top 15 that would be a boost."

The Sewart team will be racing with Jan Magnussen and Rubens Barrichello. They will have the Ford factory engine in the back.

Ferrari chief Jean Todt said the new Ferrari, the F310, is better than last year's car. he said that testing and the changes that followed have really improved the car.

He said: "We've covered more than 5,500 kms in testing, which was the figure we'd set ourselves. We had covered 300 kms, which meant we ended up trying things out in races."

Ferrari will use the 1996 engine during the race on Sunday: "The new engine has given us no obvious advantages. This explains why on Sunday we'll be racing with the 046/1 engine we used in the final race of last season. But overall, the car is more stable, has better aerodynamics and is easier to drive."

The new engine does have more power than the old one but is also heavier.

Todt also predicted more changes in the future: "In Brazil, the car will be more or less the same as in Melbourne. But there will new developments for the chassis and for the engine at Imola."

Todt said that Barnard's, the Ferrari designer who's contract wasn't renewed a while back, biggest mistake was: "Working for Ferrari while staying in England. He should have agreed to come to us, where the distance between the design studio and the workshop is 15 metres and not two hours by plane."

Todt was also aware of his own possition: "As long as the president and the shareholders are happy, then I'm happy to be here. But if things were to change one day, I would accept their decision without any problems. I'm convinced that I've done my best. Today, we're where we wanted to be, and over the next few months - and even more so over the next two or three years - I think we will reap the benefits. If we don't, I wouldn't want to continue, because I wouldn't know what else I could do."

Meanwhile, Ferrari driver Michael Schumacher has settled the dispute with Melbourne Grand Prix chief Ron Walker. Walker had a long talk with Schumacher and said afterwards: "I have great respect for Michael and I am delighted the track was certified last night. It is one of the safest and the best tracks in the world. Mr Schumacher and I had long talks with Todt and Mr Ecclestone about the track. We agreed to disagree on some areas."

Schumacher was also not very impressed by the stream of photographers because of the incident who are chasing him around at the Melbourne circuit: "Being chased by photographers, I suppose this is the life of a Formula One driver."