F1 team bosses have voted to introduce a penalty points system for 2014 that could see drivers banned for repeat offenses. Germany's Auto Motor und Sport, and Speed Week, said that during a meeting with Charlie Whiting on Wednesday, the scheme - with drivers allowed to accrue only 12 'demerit points' against their super licenses before a race ban is imposed - survived a vote by 7 to 4. The proposal will now be taken to the FIA's World Motor Sport Council for approval next […]

In a 'secret' meeting over the winter, it was agreed that stewards should impose less penalties in 2013 in order to spice up the action. That is the claim on Tuesday of Germany's Auto Motor und Sport, reporting that the meeting with FIA president Jean Todt was attended by drivers including world champion Sebastian Vettel, team managers, Charlie Whiting and stewards. "Has it been noticed?" wrote correspondent Michael Schmidt. "The drivers are being punished much less." He said the outcome of the pre-season meeting was […]

Qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix will take place on Sunday morning after heavy showers forced race director Charlie Whiting to postpone the session. Q1 was delayed by half an hour and began in wet conditions. Giedo van der Garde was the first driver off in his Caterham CT03, damaging his front wing. Lewis Hamilton also hit the wall in his Mercedes but resumed with minimal damage. Ferrari's Felipe Massa had a heavy impact with the wall at Turn 12 but miraculously lost only his […]

Narain Karthikeyan has hit back at Sebastian Vettel, following the latest bout of criticism from the reigning world champion. Vettel's Red Bull boss, Christian Horner, pointed the finger at HRT's Karthikeyan after Vettel lost the lead of the US grand prix on Sunday to Lewis Hamilton. "The race unfortunately hinged on one backmarker that didn't use his mirrors," he said. Vettel screamed angrily into his radio after losing the place to Hamilton, and some immediately thought the German was being critical of the McLaren driver. […]

DRS usage is set to change for the 2013 season

Arab state Qatar is pushing to become F1's next new host. The Losail circuit, built in 2004 and located just outside the capital Doha, already stages a night race for MotoGP. And the president of Qatar's motor racing federation, Nasser bin Khalifa Al Attiyah, has revealed that Losail is bidding "to get the license which would allow us to host F1 teams for pre-season testing and other activities. "F1 race director Charlie Whiting was here to inspect the Losail circuit," he said. "He was impressed […]

Organisers of the first US grand prix since 2007 say the brand new Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, is now almost ready to host a Formula One race. The Hermann Tilke-designed track is scheduled to host the 2012 US GP in exactly a month from now. When the sport's impending journey to Texas was first announced, there was much scepticism about whether the event would ever take place, especially when founder Tavo Hellmund became embroiled in a legal row with the current organisers. […]

Charlie Whiting has admitted Michael Schumacher should not have been given a drive-through penalty in Hungary recently. After the Mercedes driver stopped his engine after lining up in the wrong grid spot, he then sped in the pitlane to await the re-start. Stewards gave Schumacher, 43, a drive-through penalty for the speeding, but FIA race director Whiting has now admitted the punishment was wrong, according to Germany's Auto Motor und Sport. Because the race had not officially started, Schumacher's penalty should in fact have been […]

Charlie Whiting has pointed a finger of criticism at Michael Schumacher and Mercedes in the wake of the recent Hungarian grand prix. The Hungaroring race start was delayed when Schumacher, who at 43 is F1's oldest active driver, lined up on the wrong grid slot. Marshals then had to push the great German's Mercedes off the grid after he deliberately stopped the engine, forgetting that the race re-start procedure had been changed way back in 2005. Whiting, who is the official race starter and the […]

Reuters news agency described Michael Schumacher's Hungarian grand prix as a "comedy of errors". And two of the errors were committed by the 43-year-old even before the race started. It has emerged in Germany's Auto Motor und Sport that, after the formation lap, Schumacher parked his silver Mercedes in the wrong grid slot, which is what caused Charlie Whiting to abort the start. "I radioed the pits to say that he was in my place," Caterham's Heikki Kovalainen, who qualified 19th - two places behind […]

Charlie Whiting, the highest ranking FIA official at grands prix, has admitted the penalty levied against Sebastian Vettel on Sunday was harsh. Reigning world champion Vettel was demoted from second to fifth after stewards ruled he gained an unfair advantage by passing Jenson Button whilst off the track. The penalty imposed was a drive-through, which because handed down after the race was converted to a 20-second race time addition. "It was disproportionate to the offense," said David Coulthard, who according to Germany's Auto Motor und […]

Charlie Whiting has indicated 'stepped noses' will disappear at the end of 2012. The issue of the questionable aesthetics of this year's field returned to the headlines this week when Lewis Hamilton wondered if McLaren took the wrong path with the sleeker design of its struggling MP4-27. "Just look at them (the 2012 cars) and ours looks different from the others," he said after Silverstone. "That's a significant difference," Hamilton added, "(although) it's too big a change (for McLaren to make) for this season." But […]