30 years old Rocco Benetton, the youngest son of the Italian Benetton family, was appointed today as team manager of the Formula One Benetton team, after Dave Richards has resigned. Richards himself said he decided to quit following disputes with the Benetton family over the F1 team's future. In a statement made earlier today, Richards said: "In spite of the excellent relationship and respect that has developed between myself and the Benetton family, we could not agree on the future direction of the business. Nonetheless, it's been a very exciting year and I have great belief in the potential of Benetton Formula."

Rocco Benetton, Richards successor, was Benetton's commercial director and is the son of Luciano, founder and owner of the Benetton team. He thanked Richards for his work at Benetton in the last year and added: "The objective of the Benetton Formula One team in the next few years will be to build upon the victories achieved in the first 10 years. We are a young team and we want to be competitive. To do this we have decided to strengthen our presence through greater investments in human and technical resources, in order to set our sights on new goals with energy and enthusiasm. I have a very positive view of our team and know that with the very strong technical leadership of Pat Symonds, Joan Villadelprat and Nick Wirth, we can look forward to a highly competitive season in 1999."