The announcement that Pastor Maldonado will race for Lotus in 2014 was not wholly unexpected but it was greeted with universal disdain from Formula 1 fans. Maldonado will move across from Williams and join the affable Romain Grosjean in black and gold as the sport enters a new era. Maldonado is not the hopeless driver that many suggest he is, but his new partnership with Lotus is symptomatic of the deep-rooted problems facing Formula 1 at the current time. That Lotus – the fourth best […]

Ross Brawn will step down from his position as team principal at Mercedes at the end of 2013, it was announced on Thursday. Following an extended period of open discussion between the team's key stakeholders, Ross has chosen to hand over the team leadership to Executive Director (Business) Toto Wolff and Executive Director (Technical) Paddy Lowe. Ross Brawn, who will formally leave the team on 31st December 2013, said: "The most important consideration in my decision to step down from the role as Team Principal […]

1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve thinks Fernando Alonso would have won this year's title at the wheel of the 2013 Lotus car. The French Canadian told the Spanish sports daily AS that the Ferrari driver's performance this season was not quite as impressive as in 2012. "He (Alonso) is always at a high level," Villeneuve said at Interlagos, "but what we saw from Alonso in 2012 I have not seen this year. That was second to none -- the best I've seen. "This year, with […]

Felipe Massa is expecting this weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix to be an emotional affair as he leaves Ferrari after a decade long association with the team. Massa joined Ferrari as their test driver in 2003 and after racing for Sauber for two years, he returned to Ferrari in 2006 and has been with the team as a race driver ever since. "It’s a fantastic place to race and to finish an incredible time with Ferrari," he said. "It's a very long time. It’s our eighth […]

F1 drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg are split over whether Felipe Massa's move to Williams is a boost to the departing Ferrari driver's career. Hamilton, the 2008 world champion, likened Massa's move after a long stint with Ferrari to his own decision to leave McLaren and join Mercedes this year. "It's a great opportunity for Felipe," said the Briton, who was almost beaten to his title by Massa in a thrilling Interlagos finale five years ago. "He was at Ferrari for a very long […]

Nico Hulkenberg has admitted the likelihood of a Lotus race seat for 2014 has dropped almost to zero. Asked by the Swiss newspaper Blick to say where he is going after the Brazil finale, the Sauber driver answered: "I can only say that I am going (on), but not where. "The options are well known," said the German, who despite having a seat fitting at Enstone this week ultimately decided against replacing Lotus' Kimi Raikkonen for the last two races of 2013. "Force India, Sauber, […]

Four time IndyCar champion Dario Franchitti has been forced to retire due to the injuries he sustained in Houston last month. Franchitti was launched into the fence on the final lap and sustained spinal injuries, concussion and ankle fractures. The Scot won the IndyCar title in 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011. He also claimed three wins at the Indianapolis 500. Franchitti briefly flirted with Formula 1 when he tested for Jaguar in 2000, but has spent the majority of his career in the USA, racing […]

The news that Kevin Magnussen will replace Sergio Pérez at McLaren in 2014 had been expected, but it’s nonetheless a bold gamble from a team aiming to return to the front next season. McLaren’s attempts to place Magnussen at Marussia or perhaps Force India for his rookie campaign – as Ferrari has done with Jules Bianchi – were ultimately fruitless. Rather than let Magnussen sit on the pit wall for a year, McLaren took the decision to promote Magnussen at the expense of Pérez. Considering […]

Lotus has confirmed that Heikki Kovalainen will replace Kimi Raikkonen for the rest of the 2013 season. Raikkonen will skip the final two rounds of the year after electing to undergo surgery on his injured back and compatriot Kovalainen will take over in America and Brazil. Kovalainen completed a seat fitting at the Lotus factory on Wednesday, before flying out to Austin. Kovalainen raced for Lotus under their previous guise, Renault, in his rookie season in 2007, finishing on the podium in the Japanese Grand […]

Formula 1 returns to the United States of America for the penultimate round of the 2013 season, at the Circuit of the Americas near Austin, Texas, with Sebastian Vettel seeking his eighth successive victory. It’s safe to say that the 2013 season is ending with a whimper rather than a bang but while attention is turning to 2014, there are still two races to run this year and they both take place at fabulous circuits. The first of the final back-to-back events of 2013 takes […]

Lotus is poised to announce Heikki Kovalainen as the replacement for his surgery-bound countryman Kimi Raikkonen for the last two races of 2013. It emerged earlier that the Enstone based team, despite having last year's GP2 champion Davide Valsecchi as its reserve driver, had made an offer to Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg. Hulkenberg turned it down, but it was a clear sign that Italian Valsecchi was not in fact the obvious favourite for the role, as Lotus tries desperately to improve its position in the lucrative […]

So what do you make of Felipe Massa? Is he a driver who has been spectacularly unspectacular since his horrendous injury four years ago, or is he a driver who was simply unfortunate to be up against one of the greatest drivers in history performing during his prime? The truth, as ever in Formula 1, is somewhere in the middle. Massa was never the most consistent driver, but between the middle of 2006 and 2009, he was one of the top performers on the grid. […]