In brief, July 2010
* McLaren’s veteran chief engineer Pat Fry has left the team after 18 years in a variety of key roles with the Woking outfit. He was previously with Benetton from 1987-92.
* Bernie Ecclestone’s recent visit to the World Touring Car event in Marrakesh has led to speculation that he is considering adding a Moroccan Grand Prix to the Formula 1 calendar. In the only previous World Championship race in the country – at Casablanca in 1958 – Bernie’s friend and protégé Stuart Lewis-Evans crashed and received fatal injuries.
* Christian Klien (left) has joined the HRT team as test driver, and will share the role – which includes Friday morning running on GP weekends – with Sakon Yamamoto. Since his last race with Red Bull in 2006, the Austrian has had spells as a Honda and BMW tester.
* The sixth F1 in Schools World Championships will be held at Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s Convention Centre in Singapore before the country’s Grand Prix on September 19-26. Over 250 students from around the globe will attend the knockout competition, where they will use CAD/CAM software to design, build and ‘race’ a balsa wood F1 car of the future.
* Joan Villadelprat’s Epsilon Euskadi team is now one of the favourites to win the bid for the 13th F1 team slot for 2011, having missed out on a place on the grid for this year. But the Spanish outfit could face stiff competition from ART, which is co-owned by Nicolas Todt, son of FIA president Jean. ART has been linked with the stillborn 2010 Toyota project that Stefan GP no longer holds the rights to.
* Fernando Alonso was the star of the F1 drivers’ team in the annual charity football match before the Monaco GP. Alonso scored twice and team-mate Felipe Massa once as they beat Prince Albert’s own team of motley celebrities 4-2. Nico Rosberg, Vitaly Petrov, Jarno Trulli, Lucas di Grassi and Jaime Alguersuari also played.