Wheelers Blog & News

Car companies do a lot to prove loyalty to countries. They make special editions of cars for a country’s biggest movie star, for example. Lamborghini did just that for Jackie Chan, creating a one-off Aventador for China that may or may not have been able to do its own stunts. No word on when or not Chris Tucker will ever get his own Lambo. Texas loves its college football and trucks, so it only makes sense that Chevy would make a custom Silverado to appeal to leatherheads. The University...

Five months after his horror Suzuka crash, Jules Bianchi remains in a coma.   That is the claim of the major German daily Bild, even though official news about the health of the talented former Marussia driver had stopped some time ago.   But just a week before the new F1 season begins, the newspaper claims there is actually "no good news" to report from Bianchi's bed in Nice.   "Bild has learned that his condition has not improved," the report said.   25-year-old Bianchi was...

Not one but two potential comebacks for double world champion Mika Hakkinen never transpired. It was already known that, three years after his 2001 retirement, the Finn was linked with a return to formula one with Williams.But now it emerges that McLaren, for whom the now 46-year-old competed so successfully between 1993 and 2001, also tried to woo Hakkinen out of retirement in 2006.The claim was made by Oskari Saari, a pundit for the Finnish broadcaster MTV3, in his new book about McLaren...

Justin King on Wednesday played down suggestions his new role at Manor is a stepping stone to F1's top job.   Already last year, the former Sainsbury's chief was named as a potential successor to Bernie Ecclestone.   Now, he has surfaced at the reborn Manor Marussia, not having bought into the team but serving as an advisor to investor Stephen Fitzpatrick and interim chairman.   But King said at Manor's launch event in London on Wednesday that he will eventually step down from the...

Fernando Alonso will sit out next weekend's Australian grand prix. McLaren announced the news on Tuesday, despite insisting the Spaniard has been checked by doctors in the wake of his Barcelona testing crash and four days in hospital.The doctors found Alonso "asymptomatic of any medical issue," McLaren said in a media statement, "they see no evidence whatsoever of any injury; and that they therefore describe him as entirely healthy from neurological and cardiac perspectives alike".But, as...

Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne on Tuesday admitted the Maranello team might have to wait for its next F1 title. "2018? Absolutely, but we will try to do it a little before," he smiled at the Geneva Motor Show, according to Italian media reports.Ferrari has emerged from the chaos of 2014 with a car that insiders believe is in a close group behind obvious pacesetters Mercedes."We will be on par with Red Bull when we go onto the circuit," Marchionne explained, "but we will go to the track...

Red Bull has dropped the RB11's 'camouflage' test livery.   Throughout the winter, the 2015 car has been running in a novel black and white colour scheme designed to throw rival teams' spy photographers and designers off track.   But the livery also proved highly popular among the fans, prompting calls for Red Bull to use it at the grands prix too.   "It's not the first alternative livery we've used and doubtless it won't be the last," the team said on Monday.   "But we've made our...

F1 as a ruthless 'shark tank' is alive and well, according to Toto Wolff.The Mercedes chief, however, undoubtedly plays the role of one of the sharks, particularly when it comes to the FIA's recent McKinsey report that showed costs for the struggling smallest teams could be effectively halved.Wolff told Germany's Sky that F1 must remain at the very highest level."Formula one is not only for the fastest drivers, but also the best engineers," he said. "You are entitled to seek the highest...

Maurizio Arrivabene is quickly climbing the ladder as arguably one of the most popular team bosses in formula one.   A former Philip Morris executive, and bearing a striking resemblance to the 'Marlboro man', the 57-year-old Italian emerged from the chaos of last year's Ferrari to put the fabled team firmly back on track.   And he is quickly endearing himself to the sport.   He put on an entertaining display recently during a press conference with international media, and at the final...

Concerns are growing that Germany really will be dropped from the 2015 calendar.   Officially, the country is still set to host a grand prix in July, but neither the Nurburgring or Hockenheim are actually yet to agree a concrete race deal with Bernie Ecclestone.   Mercedes team chairman Niki Lauda admits the chances of that happening are no better than "50-50".   Lauda's colleague Toto Wolff, the head of Mercedes motor sport, said at the Barcelona test on Saturday that while the...