• February 1 down the years

Two wheels good, four wheels bad

2006
Valentino Rossi completed his first full day of F1 testing with Ferrari. The multiple MotoGP champion set the ninth-fastest time of the day ahead of established F1 stars such as David Coulthard, Mark Webber and Jarno Trulli. He was just one second shy of Michael Schumacher's time, albeit in a different car to the German. A Ferrari spokesman said: "It was a very good performance, we cannot deny it." Despite two more tests, one in 2008 and one in 2010, Rossi still has no plans to move to F1.

2005
Narain Karthikeyan signed for Jordan to become the first Indian driver in Formula One. He joined the team just after it was bought out by the Midland group and came to the sport with high hopes. Dubbed "the fastest Indian in the world", he said: "I've got the hopes of a nation behind me so I've no choice but to succeed now". He out-paced his team-mate Tiago Montiero early in the season but missed out on a podium at the farcical six-car race at Indianapolis and finished fourth - his best result. He was dropped by the team at the end of the season. Surprisingly, he was given a second chance when signed by HRT for the 2011 season.

1953
Nino Farina pipped fellow Italian Luigi Villoresi by 0.1 of a second in a gripping non-championship Buenos Aires Grand Prix which produced a 1-2-3 for the Ferrari 500s. The win was small consolation for Farina who three weeks earlier had crashed into the crowd at the Argentinean Grand Prix after swerving to avoid a fan and killed seven spectators.

1998
A bad day for Martin Brundle who was rushed to a Miami hospital after his IndyCar smashed into a wall during a practice session at the Homestead Motorsports Complex. Fortunately, there was more damage to the car than the driver.

2005
Renault launched its title winning R25 car in Monaco. At the event its president Patrick Faure warned the team that it had to produce results to stay in the sport. It did just that and went on to win eight races and take both the drivers' and constructors' championships that year.

2000
FIA president Max Mosley launched an attack on the EU for its investigation into the sport's TV rights handling and accused a top official of malpractice. "[The EU's] services have made a hopeless muddle of the facts and are completely confused about the regulation and general functioning of motorsport," he fumed

2001
Conservative MP Ken Clarke was appointed as a non-executive chairman of BAR. The ex-chancellor of the exchequer was also deputy chairman of parent company British American Tobacco at the time, but failed to bring about a change in the team's fortunes.

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