Races and Competitions

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...

Nico Rosberg has tipped another season of F1 superiority for Mercedes. Last year, as the turbo V6 era dawned, the German driver and his teammate, the new reigning champion Lewis Hamilton, duelled for the title in a battle rarely challenged by any rivals. And now, as the sport enters its second year under essentially the same regulations, Rosberg is predicting more of the same silver-wash. "Without having even sat in the new car, I certainly believe that," he told the German newspaper...

Max Verstappen has cleared the first hurdle as he seeks a normal road car driving licence. The controversy sparked by the young and inexperienced driver's impending grand prix debut reportedly triggered the FIA's tough clampdown on the rules for qualifying for a super licence beyond this year. One of the stipulations for 2016 and beyond will be that any budding F1 driver must at least be 18 and hold a normal licence to drive a car on public roads. Verstappen, 17, is at least now half-way...

Mercedes is positioning to keep world champion Lewis Hamilton well beyond the 2015 season. Talks over the Briton's expiring contract were scheduled towards the end and then just after the 2014 season. But in what was interpreted as a 'hurry up' to the 30-year-old, boss Toto Wolff recently declared that Fernando Alonso and Valtteri Bottas are first in line for Hamilton's seat should he leave the Brackley team late this year. Now, Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport claims Mercedes "has...

FIA vice president Nasser Al-Attiyah confirmed that the continued support of his highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the prince of Qatar, has helped in promoting the sports sector, especially its safety aspect. In an interview with Qatari news agency QUNA, Al-Attiyah stated that his highness is considered the first state president to submit this a safety project to the FIA and the UN, in order to gain their support and reduce the number of traffic-related deaths.  Al-Attiyah also...

Ferrari will launch its Formula 1 car on the Scuderia’s website and on its digital and social platforms on Friday 30 January. In the lead up to that day, various updates will provide fans and the F1 world with additional information, to follow events in Maranello, including the name of the car, the precise time of the launch and other news. The car will then be used in the first of the winter test sessions, which takes place at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit, from 1 to 4 February.

Paul Hembery, official tyre supplier Pirelli's F1 chief, is expecting the field to speed up significantly in 2015. Last year, the Italian marque took a deliberately conservative approach to its 2014 rubber, having gone through a tumultuous 2013 and with the uncertainties of the new turbo V6 era in mind. As a result, and with the high-downforce, V8 powered era in the past, lap times last year generally suffered. "Last season," Hembery agreed, "the power unit manufacturers, the teams, and...

The Abu Dhabi Racing team lead by Khaled Al Qubaisi concluded today’s free practice and qualification trials for the 10th 24h Dubai Race by scoring new times, and were able to register 6th fastest time during the qualification rounds at 1:58:952Sm on board their Mercedes SLS AMG GT3, which places the UAE team in 3rd grid of the endurance race, with 95 cars competing for the title. All geared up to make a prime position at today’s free practice, the Abu Dhabi Racing Black Falcon Team (No. 3)...

The FIA's new super licence points system would even have locked Michael Schumacher out of F1. Apparently reacting to the controversial debut this year of 17-year-old Max Verstappen, the sport's governing body will clamp down hard on the qualifications for the mandatory F1 driving credential in 2016. But as the details of the licence points system for junior categories emerged this week, some calculations show that many of the sport's top names would have fallen foul of the FIA's tough new...

Fernando Alonso is more adaptable than Kimi Raikkonen and better able to cope with a difficult car. That is the claim of Ferrari's recently-ousted technical chief Pat Fry, musing the key differences between the Maranello team's 2014 pairing. For 2015, Spaniard Alonso has switched to McLaren-Honda, but Raikkonen is staying put and will be joined this year by his friend Sebastian Vettel. Ferrari's champion of 2007, and having thrived at Lotus, Finn Raikkonen notably struggled alongside...