Melbourne has all but confirmed news it has lost its status as the opening race on the formula one calendar. It emerged recently that F1′s hugely controversial Bahrain grand prix is provisionally scheduled to kick off an unprecedentedly-long 21-race schedule in 2014. Bahrain’s race will be in early March, which is a couple of weeks earlier than Australia usually hosts...

All eyes will turn to Paris’ Place de la Concorde on Thursday, as the very fate of Mercedes’ F1 foray rests in the hands of the governing FIA. It is at president Jean Todt’s new international tribunal that some sort of penalty is expected to be levied against the German carmaker, after sanctioning a highly-controversial ‘secret’ Pirelli tyre test at...

Red Bull would like to keep Sebastian Vettel beyond his new 2015 contract, and even the reigning world champion is not ruling out a longer career with the premier energy drink-owned team. Some in the paddock, who had linked the 25-year-old with a switch to Ferrari or Mercedes in the future, were surprised when Red Bull announced last week that...

Sam Michael has hit back at claims heads should be rolling at McLaren as the team endures one of the worst starts to a championship campaign in its history. Having erred with a radical new car for the final season of V8 regulations this year, the great Woking based team – lagging even behind the similarly-powered Force India – can...

It is possible F1 will have to embark on an eleventh-hour search for a new official tyre supplier for 2014. Pirelli is expressing increasing frustration with its situation in formula one, just as its initial three-year contract with the sport is set to expire. The latest salvo is more criticism after Pirelli announced its tyre compound selections for the next...

Sebastian Vettel has made the right decision in deciding to stay at Red Bull for the next two years, former F1 winner and team owner Gerhard Berger said. Amid constant speculation the 25-year-old German sees his future at Ferrari or Mercedes, it was announced this week that the reigning world champion has added another season – 2015 – to his...

Lewis Hamilton has been “surprised” by the pace of teammate Nico Rosberg at Mercedes early this season. That is the claim of team director and co-owner Toto Wolff, even though the comments directly contradict a recent statement by the 2008 world champion. In the wake of Rosberg’s pole hat-trick and Monaco win, Hamilton insisted he “expected him (Rosberg) to be...

Not even “a miracle” could speed McLaren back to the front of the field in the immediate future, new team driver Sergio Perez admitted this week. Just as the young Mexican arrived at Woking to replace Lewis Hamilton, the great British team faltered with its 2013 car, and currently is ranked behind not only the four big teams but also...

Williams disappointed ranks of Finnish journalists this week by failing to announce the extension of rookie Valtteri Bottas’ contract. The reporters were summoned to Helsinki for a press conference, to be attended by the 23-year-old as well as his F1 team boss, Sir Frank Williams. Surely, the journalists thought, it will be announced that Bottas’ contract will be extended to...

While Lewis Hamilton tries to up his game at Mercedes, Martin Whitmarsh insists losing the 2008 world champion is not linked to McLaren’s 2013 slump. Asked if needing to replace the highly rated Briton with controversial Mexican rookie Sergio Perez has contributed to McLaren’s problems, team boss Whitmarsh answered: “I don’t think so. “Lewis is a great driver and a...

While the FIA readies to analyse a possible breach of the official rules, Germany’s Sport Bild claims Mercedes also broke an explicit gentleman’s agreement between the teams when it ran its ‘secret’ test in May. The magazine published a copy of the signed ‘Testing Agreement 2013′, featuring the signature of every team boss, including the under-fire Ross Brawn. The document...

Mere hours after denying the story, Red Bull announced that Sebastian Vettel is staying with the world champion team for at least two more years. Earlier on Tuesday, when Germany’s Sport Bild broke the news about the 25-year-old’s contract extension for 2015, Dr Helmut Marko told SID news agency: “I don’t know where this is coming from. “There’s nothing new,”...