Kimi Raikkonen, not the Ferrari incumbent Fernando Alonso, will get the first on-track taste of the Italian team's 2014 car. That is the claim of Italian media sources including La Gazzetta dello Sport, reporting that Finn Raikkonen will debut the new red single seater on the first two test days at Jerez in late January. Spaniard Alonso, who until now has been regarded as Ferrari's clear 'number 1' driver, will make his debut in the 2014 car later in the same test, completing the four-day […]

Sebastian Vettel's new teammate thinks the reigning quadruple world champion is still getting better. Australian Daniel Ricciardo is replacing Mark Webber at Red Bull, but he said recently he hopes to be more competitive alongside Vettel than his retiring countryman. "As strong as Mark is," 24-year-old Ricciardo is quoted by Brazil's Totalrace, "Seb was better. "That was evident in the last two years. "He (Vettel) is still very young, so we can ask the question of whether they were both at their peak when they […]

Kimi Raikkonen has still not received all of the money he is owed by Lotus. Towards the end of the season, and just before he set off for back surgery that meant he missed the last two races of 2013, the Finn revealed he has not been paid "one euro" by the Enstone based team this year. Raikkonen said he almost called a halt to his Lotus career before the race in Abu Dhabi, saying at the time: "I came here only because hopefully we […]

Toro Rosso driver Daniil Kvyat believes that Formula 1's new regulations will assist his transition into the sport as he prepares for his debut next year. Reigning GP3 champion Kvyat will join the grid at the same time as vast regulation changes, including 1.6 litre v6 turbocharged power units, are introduced in the sport. "There are a few things that are starting from the beginning again, but of course Formula 1 is still Formula 1 and it is still a very powerful and fast car," […]

Fernando Alonso hopes F1 drivers have a bigger role to play next year, as the wave of radical new regulations hit the 2014 grid. This year, as Pirelli's heavily degrading tyres set the tone, drivers often had to take a back seat to full throttle as they nursed their cars through race strategies, at the beck and call of engineers' informed advice. But Ferrari's Alonso thinks the new rules for 2014, featuring the introduction of turbo V6s and fuel limitations, could play in favour of […]

Races in New Jersey, Mexico and South Korea were dropped from Formula One's official 2014 calendar on Wednesday, with the season remaining at 19 races instead of a record 22. All three grands prix had been listed provisionally, with asterisks against them, on a previous calendar published in September by the sport's governing International Automobile Federation (FIA). None appeared however on the final version issued on Wednesday after a meeting of the FIA's World Motor Sports Council in Paris. New Jersey's Grand Prix of the […]

Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado has been named as Lotus' driver for the 2014 season alongside France's Romain Grosjean, the team officially confirmed on Friday. Maldonado has spent three seasons with Williams, winning the Spanish Grand Prix in 2012, but only notched up one point this season with his 10th place in Hungary. The 28-year-old, supported by state-owned Venezuelan oil and gas giant PDVSA, announced at the start of the month he was quitting the team, leading to talks with Lotus and Sauber. "It is a fantastic […]

Norbert Haug, the former Mercedes competition boss, has bad news for the hopeful German marque. To now be headed by Paddy Lowe, Toto Wolff and Niki Lauda, Mercedes is bullish about its 2014 hopes, having finished second in 2013 to the runaway champion team, Red Bull. "For everyone and for me the target is to win the world championship, both championships," driver Lewis Hamilton told the British broadcaster Sky after last weekend's 2013 finale in Brazil. "If we don't do it naturally there will be […]

An emotional Mark Webber said he was pleased to bow out of Formula 1 by finishing on the podium and sharing the experience with Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso. Webber started his 215th and final race in the sport in Brazil and finished in second place. The Australian will remain in competitive action in 2014 as he moves to Porsche for an assault on the World Endurance Championship. "It was nice to take the helmet off for the final lap," he said. "In this sport […]

Caterham duo Charles Pic and Giedo van der Garde say that wet weather would be preferable as they bid to snatch 10th place in the Constructors' championship from Marussia. Marussia has held the position since the first race in Australia but a 13th place finish for either Pic of Van der Garde would result in Caterham jumping ahead of their rivals in a battle that has lucrative financial outcomes. Last season, Caterham overhauled Marussia in the final race of the year in Brazil, one which […]

Mark Webber topped the final practice session of his Formula 1 career in Brazil as he went fastest in wet conditions in Brazil. Wet weather continued to plague Interlagos, meaning that teams and drivers preserved wet tyres throughout the opening half of the session. Only Sauber's Esteban Gutierrez set a competitive time during the first 30 minutes of the final practice session of the season. As conditions improved with 25 minutes remaining, several drivers opted to venture out onto the circuit. Lewis Hamilton took top […]

Lotus insists the team's 35 per cent sale to Quantum remains on track, even though the investment group missed its latest deadline set by chief Mansoor Ijaz. Ijaz had said in Austin that the deal would be complete by the end of this week, but team boss Eric Boullier now says he is hoping to settle the issue "by early next week". "Well, there is still some discussion ongoing, especially now between bankers," the Frenchman said in Brazil. "The process is not fully completed but […]