More details about Formula One's planned stock market floatation have emerged. Bloomberg, the financial news agency, said majority owner CVC is seeking $2 billion by floating "about 20%" of the sport. That would value F1 at about $10 billion. The information was verified by "four people with knowledge of the matter", the report said. "CVC wants to conduct the sale in Singapore as early as June, and is in discussions with investment banks about its plans, which aren't final," Bloomberg added. The report added that […]

Sebastian Vettel: Triple world champion. In 9 months time, it seems likely, doesn't it? A year ago in the season preview for 2011, I wrote how Sebastian Vettel was likely to blow away the opposition and storm to a second world title. After all, he’d suffered mechanical failure and made errors in 2010, from which he would learn. While predictions of Williams taking podiums and Robert Kubica returning mid-season turned out to be wholly inaccurate, in this instance the ominous prediction of Vettel dominance turned […]

The problem with Lotus' 2012 chassis is the front suspension mountings, Germany's Auto Motor und Sport has revealed. The former Renault team pulled out of this week's Barcelona test when the flaw with its E20 design was discovered, but officials have kept quiet about the details. Kimi Raikkonen, who was never able to drive the car at the demanding Circuit de Catalunya this week, reportedly suspected there was an issue recently at Jerez, when he reported to engineers an odd feeling relating to the steering. […]

Mercedes got its Barcelona test off to an early start on Sunday. At the same time, the rest of the F1 world was only setting up at the Circuit de Catalunya ahead of Tuesday's kick-off for the second of three pre-season testing sessions. Mercedes, however, trod a different path recently by keeping its 2012 car under development at its Brackley factory while main rivals including Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren got their test campaigns up and running. Again running Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg this […]

Kimi Raikkonen has revealed that despite being offered a multi-million dollar deal last year to make a full-time switch to NASCAR racing, he turned it down due to the intensity of a full NASCAR schedule and his reluctance to move to the US to pursue it. Raikkonen drove two races in NASCAR's national series last year, where his first race was in NASCAR’s third-tier Camping World Truck Series in a car prepared by Kyle Busch Motorsports. After one Truck race, Raikkonen stepped up a level […]

Sahara Force India has announced that Aethra, a leading auto parts manufacturer based in Brazil, has joined the team as an official partner for the 2012 season. The signing of the partnership marks the beginning of Aethra’s strategy to increase its brand awareness by taking full advantage of the global audience offered by Formula One. The relationship with Sahara Force India therefore offers an exceptional marketing platform for Aethra’s growing product range. Aethra's management believe that this partnership is a significant step towards their global […]

Conducted and provided by Red Bull Press Office Q. Back-to-back titles, the record for pole positions, most laps led, 11 wins last year - what's your next target? Sebastian Vettel: Oh, we do it again! Obviously, we had a great year, and I think you know we'll always look back to 2011 and think how special it was, but to be honest, you don't start the season having, you know, expectations to have the same or similar season again. So we know how special it was […]

Adrian Sutil offered to drive for Lotus this year with a discounted retainer, it emerged on Monday. In Munich, the ousted Force India driver's two-day assault trial, surrounding injuries sustained by Lotus team executive Eric Lux last April, began. T-Online reports that the German driver and his management proposed "various solutions" for an out-of-court settlement, including payments to Lux's African charity. Another proposal was a race seat at Lotus featuring a "reduced salary", according to the report. Lux recently dismissed as "a joke" earlier speculation […]

Former Toro Rosso racer Sebastien Buemi will contest this year's fabled Le Mans 24 hour sports car race. After losing his F1 race seat and being signed to become Red Bull's official reserve driver for this season, the 23-year-old Swiss admitted he would also like to contest Le Mans. The famous endurance race will take place between F1's Canadian and European grands prix in mid June. "Ideally I would couple F1 with a different (series), such as endurance -- I like the Le Mans 24 […]

McLaren has become the latest team to reveal details about the launch of its 2012 car. Direct rivals Red Bull and Ferrari have already announced that their next single seaters will be ready for the start of the opening test of the 2012 pre-season. "The MP4-27 will break cover on Wednesday February 1 2012," Woking based McLaren said on Monday. The Mercedes powered team said the launch location will be announced "after the new year". "The MP4-27 will test for the first time at Jerez […]

Sebastian Vettel has played down any suggestion he has set as a career target his friend and mentor Michael Schumacher's record of seven world titles and 91 wins. At the weekend in Dusseldorf, the pair duly won their fifth consecutive 'Nation's Cup' crown at the Race of Champions. But in the F1 world, although the current and back-to-back world champion, 24-year-old Vettel is still five championships and 70 victories short of even matching Schumacher's all-time title records. "Sure he can do it," Schumacher, 43 next […]

Raikkonen still a talking point, Grosjean returns to the frame and Force India brings forward a decision on drivers. Here are notes from the Indian Grand Prix -   A major talking point all weekend has been the rumour surrounding the return of Kimi Raikkonen to Formula One, with Williams. On Friday, Adam Parr, Williams’ chairman, categorically stated that the team is evaluating their options to secure the two best drivers possible. Pastor Maldonado is likely to stay, given that he has been far better than his […]