For the last two months, all we've been told is 'We don't know, wait until Melbourne'. Now that the F1 field is well and truly assembled in Australia, the waiting goes on as the infamously fickle weather in the seaside city disrupted running on Friday. The waiting goes in, if only for another 24 hours at which point more questions will be asked. It's a fun game. The dark horse in Melbourne is Mercedes. Their rear wing system means that they're setting the fastest times […]

Gary Paffett is next in line for a Force India race seat this weekend in Australia. The Silverstone based team's new regular Friday and reserve driver, Jules Bianchi, is unavailable this week as he tests ahead of the Renault World Series. Force India has therefore asked McLaren, its technical partner, for help. With Pedro de la Rosa now at HRT, Briton Paffett is the famous British team's new official reserve driver. He has already been in action this weekend, demonstrating McLaren's 2011 car to the […]

Timo Glock is hoping McLaren's driver simulator is accurate. That's because he is relying on that data in hoping his 2012 car - the new Cosworth-powered Marussia MR01 - is fast enough to beat Formula 1's 107 percent qualifying cut-off. If not, he and rookie teammate Charles Pic could be left out of Sunday's season opening Australian Grand Prix. Some promotional running on demo Pirelli tyres aside, the MR01 sat out the entire pre-season period because it twice failed to pass one of the FIA's […]

HRT was a "risky team" for Bruno Senna to drive for in 2010, the Brazilian's mother Viviane has admitted. Senna, whose mother is the great Ayrton Senna's sister, went on to race for Renault (now Lotus) last year and for 2012 has switched to Williams. "What matters is that the team can give Bruno the best conditions to develop his ability," Viviane Senna told TV Globo. "I was not happy with Hispania. They had no spare parts, so if something was broken it would be […]

Arguably the single most influential person responsible for transforming Formula 1 into a multi-billion dollar motorsport, Bernie Ecclestone has also had some interesting - if not controversial - ideas on how to run the races and how to advertise the sport. One could argue that these ideas could also be used to promote the sport, which is after all what Bernie does well. From the idea of a medal-deciding drivers’ championship to the proposal of F1 tracks with shortcuts, or a sprinkler system that would […]

The ultimate driver-by-driver season preview for the 2012 Formula One Championship

Pedro de la Rosa insists he is not afraid to admit he will tackle next weekend's Australian Grand Prix at the wheel of the "worst" car. "We will have a difficult year," said the veteran Spaniard, who is yet to actually drive HRT's newly-launched F112. "It will also be interesting because the team is 80 per cent new," added the 41-year-old former Arrows, Jaguar and Sauber driver, who for years was McLaren's main test driver. "We should not be afraid to admit that we are […]

HRT has become the final team to unveil their car ahead of the 2012 season, which begins in under two weeks time in Australia. The car features a step-nose and is typically devoid of sponsors. HRT will be hoping to beat Marussia for a third season; the Yorkshire-based team unveiled their MR-01 earlier today. The F112 will be raced by Pedro de La Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan.

Marussia's 2012 car made its track debut on Monday, despite having failed to pass all the mandatory FIA crash tests. But because the action at Silverstone is the team's 'filming and promotional' pre-season running, rather than an official test, it was allowed by the governing body and rival teams. Designed by former Renault man Pat Symonds, the MR01 - fitted on Monday with demonstration Pirelli tyres - does not feature a 'step nose', uniquely in common with technical partner McLaren's 2012 solution. "It has been […]

Charles Pic's situation leading into his rookie season in Formula One is "sad and frustrating". That is the claim of his manager Olivier Panis, the 1996 Monaco grand prix winner and former Toyota racer and McLaren test driver. His well-sponsored countryman Pic, 22, will debut in Melbourne this month alongside the experienced Timo Glock, having never turned a wheel in his 2012 car. Ahead of next weekend's season opener, the new Marussia is yet to pass all the FIA crash tests, which has left the […]

Marussia's new car for 2012 does not feature a 'step' on its front nose. Every team on the 2012 grid, including HRT who are yet to release their 2012 car, responded to the FIA's new height regulations by designing an awkward 'step' between the monocoque and the tip of the nose. The one exception, until now, was McLaren. But Germany's Auto Motor und Sport reports that the 2012 Marussia, which will be seen for the first time in Barcelona next week, also has a clean […]

Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg have unveiled the new Mercedes AMG F1 W03 in the pit-lane of the Circuit de Catalunya, ahead of the second pre-season test which gets underway today. The Mercedes becomes the 10th car to be launched, leaving Marussia and HRT the only remaining teams to launch their 2012 cars.