Wheelers Blog & News

Force India and also F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone have played down reports about the health of the Silverstone based team. Amid rumours the team is in financial trouble and could miss the season opener in Melbourne, a Force India spokesperson said on Monday: "We will definitely be in Melbourne and are still planning to test in Barcelona." But late on Tuesday, reports emerged that the team will in fact probably also miss the first of the two Barcelona tests due to supplier problems. The...

Red Bull Racing became the final team to make their 2015 Formula 1 car public when the new RB11 emerged from the Jerez Circuit pits today during the first day of the first official winter. The Austrian team opted against carrying out an official launch for the Renault-powered RB11, instead heading straight out of the garage in a surprise camouflage color scheme without ceremony. Daniel Ricciardo is behind the wheel for the first day of running at Jerez. Toro Rosso graduate Daniil Kvyat...

Defending FIA Middle East rally champion and recent Dakar Rally winner, Nasser Saleh Al-Attiyah, will lock horns with Abu Dhabi Racing’s Sheikh Khalid Al-Qassimi and Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi, when the QMMF Qatar International Rally gets the 2015 FIA Middle East rally series underway this week.   The Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation (QMMF) released the entry list for the three-day event at the weekend and the trio top a high-quality field of competitors from Qatar, the UAE, Saudi...

Born the son of immigrants in the Bronx, Ralph Lauren got his start in fashion after getting out of the Army and starting his own line of neck ties that he had made out of rags. In a literal rags to riches story, he is now worth more than $8 billion, and this has allowed him to amass a collection of cars that consistently leaves other gearheads in awe. Parts of this collection are at times on display in various museums, but mostly it lives at his home in Westchester County.   In the latest...

Williams' new development driver Alex Lynn has confirmed his split from Red Bull's high profile junior programme. Last year, as he powered to the GP3 title and the highly coveted Macau GP win, the 21-year-old Briton was named as a contender to replace Jean-Eric Vergne at Toro Rosso for 2015. Ultimately, the F1 seats went to two other Red Bull-backed rookies, Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz jr. Lynn has subsequently signed up with Williams and been promised a day in the FW37 at the post...

One of the world’s largest gatherings of Ferrari owners and enthusiasts, last weekend the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida, hosted the 24th annual Cavallino Classic. Sometimes at events like this, the car park is just as impressive as the showcase. So before wandering around the rain-soaked lawns to admire the rare and vintage Ferraris, there was a chance to check out a Gulf Oil-liveried McLaren P1, a Ferrari LaFerrari and Enzo as well as a few 458 Speciales, Bugatti Veyrons, Porsche...

Toyota has confirmed today that it is returning to the World Rally Championship in 2017 with a Yaris-based car developed and tested by its Toyota Motorsport (TMG) division.   Toyota Motor Corporation president Akio Toyoda ended months of speculation when he made the announcement during a press conference in Tokyo, at which the Yaris WRC made its public debut.   Toyota had already begun preparations for its return to the WRC in 2017, and the Japanese car giant believes that the sport is a...

We all know the Nissan Juke isn’t a true SUV. It’s just a small crossover that allows short people to feel taller thanks to its raised ride height. That’s it. Cargo space? Decent but nothing extraordinary. The Juke just looks funky and people these days like funky. Aside from the Juke Nismo and totally bad ass Juke R, there’s now this: the so-called Juke Nismo RSnow. It’s just awesome. Cities closed due to blizzards? For all civilian vehicles maybe, but not this thing. Someone just...

Boat racing team Cigarette Racing has a long history creating competition boats inspired by Mercedes sports cars. And its latest project is a collaborative effort with Mercedes-AMG in the form of the Marauder GT S Concept. Teased in sketch form here wearing a yellow body color, prominent AMG badging and a rakish windscreen, the 50-foot boat will be unveiled alongside the car on which it draws inspiration from at the Miami International Boat Show next month.

The latest team in serious peril is Force India, according to an insider. The Silverstone based team announced on Wednesday that it is sitting out the first test of the 2015 pre-season at Jerez. The reasons for the decision have not been well explained, but technical boss Andrew Green has said it was a "conscious decision" to trade the test for more "development time". But insider Ralf Bach, who writes for Sport Bild and TZ Munchen, writes on his blog f1-insider.com that the very future...