In brief, July 2009

BMW has delayed the introduction of its revised aero package – including a double diffuser – until the Turkish GP on June 7. The team has modified its KERS system to incorporate a new sidepod design.

British F3 team Litespeed has engaged former Renault, Toyota and Force India technical boss Mike Gascoyne as a consultant to its prospective F1 entry. The Norfolk-based team is run by ex-Lotus men Nino Judge and Steve Kenchington.

World Series by Renault contender Brendon Hartley has been nominated as Red Bull Racing’s third driver, and may also be used by Scuderia Toro Rosso if required. For the opening races of the season the job was nominally given to the recently-retired David Coulthard, as New Zealander Hartley did not yet have a superlicence.

Ferrari has opened its first UK store on London’s Regent Street with the help of Kimi Räikkönen and Dany Bahar, Ferrari senior vice-president. Studio Isoa Ghini designed the store which will sell a range of products. Räikkönen signed the shop counter before being given a tour of Ferraris on display in Conduit Street by Pink Floyd’s Nick Mason.

A political row has broken out in France over plans to build an F1 circuit at Flins-Les-Mureaux, to the west of Paris. The project is backed by prime minister and sometime historic racer François Fillon, but he faces opposition from his own environment minister and the secretary of state for ecology, who claim the site is above a water table that serves the capital.

The Salzburg Rallye Club is producing an opera based on the life and career of Jochen Rindt. It will premiere at the Salzburgring circuit on July 30.

Digital technology has allowed Tag Heuer to create a two-part promotional film in which Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren takes on Steve McQueen’s Porsche 917K, thanks to inserting the World Champion into footage from the movie Le Mans. The film is on YouTube.