Narain Karthikeyan speaks about his return to F1 with HRT

Pirelli has denied it works too closely in Formula 1 with fellow Italian marque Ferrari. "Nonsense," the tyre supplier's chief executive Marco Tronchetti Provera is quoted by La Repubblica newspaper. The question was put to him after Pirelli decided to soften the hardest compounds of its tyres ahead of the 2012 season. Last year, Ferrari struggled on Pirelli's harder tyres. "It was a choice we made in accordance with all the teams and drivers," insisted Tronchetti Provera. "These (2012) tyres are for 2012, not the […]

Sauber's 2012 car has an ugly bump on its nose, boss Peter Sauber has hinted. Before the launch of the unseemly Caterham, Ferrari officials admitted their own Maranello built car is also "ugly" due to new regulations. For this year, the FIA is requiring the pointed nose of the cars to be lower, while the actual monocoque height stays the same. In the wind tunnels around Europe, it is believed most teams have found that the best solution is to radically taper the nose, despite […]

Valencia's regional president has confirmed he wants F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone to lower the fee for the European Grand Prix street race. We reported this week that Alberto Fabra, president of the Valencia Generalitat, had a "private" meeting on Tuesday with Ecclestone in London. EFE news agency said Fabra wants to "negotiate down" its contracted race fee amid Spain's economic crisis. "We want to continue with the grand prix of Europe," Fabra is quoted as saying by Spanish reports including the sports daily Marca, […]

An annually alternating race date would be a "good" solution to Spain's Formula 1 crisis. That is the claim of F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone, amid reports both Valencia and Barcelona could drop their grands prix amid Europe's fragile economic situation. Ecclestone said last year an alternating scheme was possible for Spain's two annual races, but Valencia reportedly turned down the opportunity when it was suggested by Barcelona race chiefs. However, Catalonia government officials sounded open to the idea as recently as last week. "What's […]

Luca di Montezemolo is worried about F1's trend away from Europe. F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone said recently that he predicts only a handful of races in Europe will still be present on the calendar in a few years. "I give him credit that in all these years he has always had great respect for the role and importance of Ferrari in F1," the Italian marque's president di Montezemolo is quoted by Autosprint. "But I cannot accept this trend of F1 going away from Europe. […]

Conducted by STR Press Office Q. Dan, congratulations on getting a drive with Scuderia Toro Rosso. How does it feel? Daniel Ricciardo: It feels amazing! It's nice coming into next season knowing what I'm doing and being able to focus solely on that. I am looking forward to working with a good group of people that I already spent a lot of time with this year. So there's plenty to look forward to in 2012. Q. How did you find out you had the drive? DR: I […]

The car in which Sebastian Vettel will push for an ultra-rare triple back-to-back world championship will be launched on February 5. That is the claim of France's Auto Hebdo, with the autohebdo.fr website saying the official unveiling of the 2012 Red Bull will take place at the energy drink-owned team's Milton Keynes headquarters. February 5 is two days before the first official test of the 2012 pre-season kicks off at Jerez, and the RB8's designer Adrian Newey has revealed the intention is to take the […]

With Kimi Raikkonen back in F1, here's a look back at his best races

Tyres: Total number of tyres provided for the season (dry and wets): Race tyres: 24,000 dry tyres; 4,600 wet tyres plus an additional 6,000 for the tests. Total numbers of tyres used: Dry tyres: 21,100; wet tyres: 2,900 Total kilogrammes of rubber deposited on track in 2011: 10,200 Number of tyres recycled during 2011: All, i.e. 28,600 race tyres plus 6,000 test tyres Average life span of a dry compound this season: 120 km Tracks and Races: Tracks which puts the most energy into a […]

Sebastien Ogier has joined Volkswagen for a three-year deal, following his departure from Citroen. The Frenchman, who finished 3rd in this year's World Rally Championship, was released from his contract following disputes with Sebastien Loeb. "Sebastien Ogier has been signed as the first official Volkswagen driver for the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC)," the German team said in a statement. Ogier will spend 2012 developing the Polo R WRC, before returning to the championship in 2013. The 27 year old said he was happy with […]

Overtaking - how much, not enough, or too much of the ‘wrong’ sort - has been a frequent topic throughout the 2011 season, since the advent of DRS (the Drag Reduction System) and Pirelli tyres. What is beyond all doubt is that the overall levels of overtaking have climbed to record levels - there have been nearly 1500 passes so far in 18 races. However, no standard definition of an overtaking manoeuvre exists. The figures used below are calculated for strategic purposes, which are reflected […]