Races and Competitions

Thursday's Paris blow may not be the death knell for Marussia. At the strategy group meeting, Force India and other rival teams blocked the ailing backmarker's bid to return as Manor this year by using its 2014 car. But Germany's Auto Motor und Sport claims on Friday that Manor has a new plan. "The team will attempt to get a car ready for the new regulations for the third race in Shanghai," correspondent Tobias Gruner reported. Under the current rules, teams reportedly may miss up to...

The 2015 QMMF Qatar International Rally officially got underway with the ceremonial start outside the Qatar Motor and Motorcycle Federation’s headquarters on the Salwa road in Doha on Thursday afternoon.   Ahead of a dozen cars and competitors from 11 nations lie 12 punishing desert special stages that will decide the outcome of the opening round of the FIA Middle East Rally Championship (MERC).   Nine of the drivers attended the official pre-event press conference at the QMMF on...

Michael Schumacher's son is set to begin down his own road to formula one. Following in the footsteps of his father and also uncle Ralf, 15-year-old Mick - who has raced karts in recent years under the pseudonym 'Mick Junior' - is reportedly about to tread into the world of single-seater cars. Dutch reports say he is close to signing for Van Amersfoort's Formula 4 outfit. Last year, Max Verstappen - only two years older than Mick - leapt straight from a F3 campaign with Van Amersfoort into...

Monisha Kaltenborn has joined those who are impressed with the progress made by beleaguered great Ferrari over the winter. Like the Maranello based works team, the Swiss outfit Sauber has made an obvious step forward ahead of the 2015 season. The common element is Ferrari's improved V6 'power unit' package. "From the data we have here," Sauber team boss and co-owner Kaltenborn told the Swiss publication Motorsport Aktuell at Jerez, "we assume that Ferrari has made a big step...

As per the engine 'freeze' rules, 2014 manufacturers Mercedes, Renault and Ferrari have been allowed to upgrade their turbo V6s by a value of up to 48 per cent since the end of last season. Still, the slight relaxing of the homologation rules - the so-called 'unfreeze' - continues to cause controversy. After the 2014 suppliers found a loophole to keep upgrading their engines beyond the start of the forthcoming season, newcomer Honda pushed for the same right. The FIA eventually...

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...

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...

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...