Today the Sahara Force India team confirmed the story which we first ran during the Brazil GP weekend: that Jules Bianchi will become its third driver. The 22 year old Frenchman will have the opportunity to drive on at least nine Grand Prix weekends in the Friday morning practice session. He will join a small but growing number of young drivers getting some regular track time on Fridays, including Williams’ Valtteri Bottas and Lotus’ Jerome D’Ambrosio. Caterham are likely to have someone in that role and Marussia has also made use of the Friday morning opportunity too. It’s the right More…

Kimi Raikkonen completed his comeback F1 test this week and has spoken about his feelings at driving an F1 car after two years away. Raikkonen, the 2007 F1 world champion now aged 32, drove for two days at Valencia’s Riccardo Tormo circuit, which has been used for F1 testing for many years. Testing restrictions meant that he was in a two year old Renault on Pirelli demonstration tyres, but the Finn said it was enough to give him back the old feelings and to show that he’s still got it. “I was a little concerned about finding the sport had More…

The Caterham F1 Team has today unveiled a teaser photo its 2012 season challenger, the CT01, a day ahead of the planned release in F1 Racing magazine. Caterham had intended to showcase their car, the first since the name change from Team Lotus, on the cover of F1 Racing magazine, which is released on Thursday. However at midday UK time, the team posted an image of this years car on its official Twitter feed with more images set to be published on Caterham’s website tomorrow, along with some thoughts from technical boss Mike Gascoyne and team boss Tony Fernandes. The More…

Pirelli has launched the 2012 range of F1 tyres promising that they will create more exciting racing and more variation in race strategies. Although still targeting a minimum of two stops per race, Pirelli says the tyres will be more consistent in the way they degrade and be slightly more durable than last season’s, which led to four pit stops at some races. One of the objectives for Pirelli this year is to achieve a crossover point, where the performance of the harder tyre is close enough to the soft that it’s extra durability makes it worth using, rather than More…

Italian technical journalist Giorgio Piola has struck again, releasing some details of the new Ferrari due to be launched at Maranello on Friday February 3rd. The car has been described as “ugly” by Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo and it’s certainly a new departure from the DNA of Ferraris of recent years, but all there are agreed that if it’s fast enough, it will certainly be beautiful! Among the indiscretions Piola has published in Gazzetta dello Sport today are that the suspension is a pull-rod system, the first on a Ferrari for 11 years. This is what Red Bull has More…

Kimi Raikkonen’s comeback is go; the Finn is driving today the first of two days in Valencia at the wheel of a two year old Renault R30. It’s the car with which Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov campaigned the 2010 World Championship. It’s the first time Raikkonen has driven an F1 car since the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. He covered 300kms on his first day and will do more tomorrow. “Having not driven a Formula 1 car for two years and obviously with a new team, there is a lot to get used to,” said Raikkonen. “I’m happy because More…

Last week we reported a story from technical journalist Giorgio Piola about a clever device Lotus Renault had developed to stabilise the suspension under braking. After initial signals from the FIA that the system would be considered legal, last night it became clear that there has been a change of heart in Paris with a message to teams saying that it will not be allowed during the 2012 season. It contravenes the rules regarding moveable aerodynamic devices. Williams’ senior operations engineer Mark Gillan confirmed the news on Peter Windsor’s “Flying Lap” webcast last night. “The FIA has just banned that More…

Yesterday the boss of Red Bull, Dietrich Mateschitz, said that “Sebastian (Vettel) has improved and is stronger than ever. He has prepared during the winter break like never before and he will certainly not let us down.” With just two weeks to go until the wraps come off the new cars from the challengers for the championship, attention is building on what kind of season we will have and how close the racing will be. Mateschitz went on to say in the same interview with Gazzetta dello Sport, that he thinks the closest challenger this year will be McLaren, then More…

The Grand Prix Mechanics Charitable Trust has launched a new area on its website, exclusively for former and current F1 mechanics to chat online and swap photos and stories. The new area of the website is open to current or past F1 mechanics, who have registered with the Trust. Called ‘The Garage’, it is a private area where mechanics, past and present, can find old friends and colleagues, interact and reminisce or plan meet ups. There’s a forum to discuss any topic they like, plus a section for photographs from when mechanics worked in the paddock. There’s even a list More…

Veteran Italian driver Jarno Trulli has today reacted to increasing rumours in F1 circles that his Caterham seat is under threat from Lotus Renault refugee Vitaly Petrov. The 37 year old has a firm contract for 2012, but has faced question marks about it since it was signed, with Daniel Ricciardo being linked with the drive at the end of last season. More recently Petrov, who brings backing from Russian sponsors, has been linked with the seat since he was dropped by LRGP. It is clear why someone like Petrov would appeal as he might offer similar levels of performance, More…