The pressure is on Romain Grosjean to have a clean race in China next weekend. The reigning GP2 champion has shown pace in his return to Formula 1 so far this year, making good use of the competitive Lotus E20. But in the actual races, the 25-year-old is yet to see much action in 2012, colliding with Pastor Maldonado in Australia and spinning in the Sepang rain. With Kimi Raikkonen also yet to enjoy a fully trouble-free race weekend on his own return to F1, […]

HRT's team boss has admitted installing KERS is an unlikely goal for the struggling Spanish team this year. Luis Perez Sala said the new F112 was designed to accommodate the energy-recovery technology, but qualifying comfortably within the 107 % rule is a better target for now. "We have a car we are yet to discover," he told El Confidencial. Indeed, HRT travelled to Australia last month having hardly run its new Cosworth-powered car, and failed to qualify for the season opener. "It is designed to […]

Pirelli has revealed the tyre nominations for rounds four to six of this year’s FIA Formula One World Championship in Bahrain, Spain and Monaco. In Bahrain, the P Zero White medium tyre and P Zero Yellow soft tyre will be raced (the same nomination as Australia and China so far this year). In Spain, the P Zero Silver hard and P Zero Yellow soft will be used: the first time that this combination makes an appearance this year. Finally, the P Zero Yellow soft and […]

The FIA appears to have waded back into the 'F-duct' debate, indicating that the Mercedes-style solution is fully legal. On Monday the saga looked set to continue into China next weekend, with some teams - notably Red Bull and Lotus - questioning the legality of the aerodynamic innovation. It had emerged that Lotus technical director James Allison has come up with another argument against the technology that will be posed to the FIA's Charlie Whiting ahead of scrutineering in Shanghai next week. Christian Horner insists […]

Luca di Montezemolo has offered Felipe Massa some cautious backing. The struggling driver was summoned to Ferrari's Maranello headquarters this week rather than travel home to Brazil to see his young family. But team boss Stefano Domenicali said the 30-year-old retains Ferrari's full backing, despite two sub-standard performances in Australia and Malaysia and widespread calls within the media for his dismissal. Germany's SID news agency quotes Ferrari president Montezemolo as saying: "We have great confidence in Massa. "And at the moment I don't see many […]

After two solid race performances in a row, Kimi Raikkonen's race engineer, Mark Slade is convinced that the Finn is back at the top of his game despite being away from Formula 1 for two seasons. "I think he's the same young kid who was a superstar when he arrived on the scene. He looks as fit as he's ever been and is absolutely at the top of his game as far as I can see," Slade said in an interview with Autosport. The Briton […]

FIA - Felipe Massa’s early-season woes continued today as the Brazilian was unable to scrape into Q3 in a Ferrari F2012 car he says he is only beginning to understand. Struggling for balance, Massa finished the one-hour shoot-out as the 12th-quickest man and will line up on the grid behind the Williams of Pastor Maldonado and the 10th-placed Sauber of Sergio Pérez. "Clearly, I can't be happy with 12th place,” Massa said afterwards, “but we know that, at the moment, we do not have a […]

Michael Schumacher finally returned to the top three's inner sanctum on Saturday. "Who would have thought it last year?" the seven time world champion smiled in Malaysia after beating the formerly dominant Red Bulls with his Mercedes. But the fact he was only beaten by the dominant McLarens in Sepang qualifying does not mean Mercedes is now ready to take on F1's very best, boss Norbert Haug insisted. Last weekend in Australia, the German team also performed well on Saturday before the tyres degraded heavily […]

DRIVERS 1 – Lewis HAMILTON (McLaren) 2 – Jenson BUTTON (McLaren) 3 – Michael SCHUMACHER (Mercedes) TV UNILATERALS Lewis, a first pole for you and McLaren here in Malaysia but a continuation of the team’s fine start to the season today. Lewis HAMILTON: Yeah, it’s been a good weekend so far. I think it’s been a tough day to be honest with the changeable weather conditions and the temperatures climbing. Made some set up changes to the car, nonetheless we still managed to do some […]

Michael Schumacher has played down expectations he or Nico Rosberg could put their 2012 Mercedes on pole in Malaysia. "I think we will be somewhere near the top," Rosberg is quoted by Germany's Auto Motor und Sport. "The race is more of a worry for us." Last weekend in Australia, the W03 was strong in qualifying but faded in the race as it ate through the Pirelli tyres. Mercedes insists it is working on the race pace problem, but the Brackley based team could shine […]

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali has said the team must give Felipe Massa the right car if the Brazilian driver is to gain the confidence he needs to perform at his best. Speaking in Friday’s official FIA press conference Domenicali said that following Massa’s difficult start to the season in Australia last weekend, the team had worked through a number of set-up options with Massa in free practice ahead of the Malaysian Grand Prix and that he believes Ferrari will be able to give him […]

With former Malaysian Grand Prix winner, Kimi Raikkonen, confident of a podium this weekend, the ‘Iceman’ has received a 5-place grid drop for Sunday’s race after his mechanics were forced to change his gearbox. This now means both Finn’s on the grid will being starting 5-places below their original qualifying position on Sunday. The problem apparently arose during the Australian Grand Prix when Raikkonen had an excursion off track, which filled his radiator with grass cuttings. This in turn forced the gearbox to overheat, which […]