Felipe Massa insists he was "as fast, if not faster" than Fernando Alonso in qualifying trim this year. Ultimately, the Brazilian scored less than half the points of his high-profile teammate, and finally lost his Ferrari race seat. Massa will drive for Williams in 2014. "I know they are going through a tough phase," he is quoted by Finland's Turun Sanomat newspaper, "but I think that with the changes they're making, they can go back to what they were doing a few years ago. "I […]

12 months ago, Romain Grosjean was under pressure like never before. Huge pressure. His move at the start of the Japanese Grand Prix on Mark Webber was clumsy to the extreme; even a driver working his way through the junior formulae would have been humiliated by such an error. He was the first lap nutcase. The lunatic for whom a first lap was akin to an iceberg for the Titanic. His season ended with a ludicrous attempt at passing Pedro de La Rosa’s HRT in […]

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 […]

Lotus has confirmed that Heikki Kovalainen will replace Kimi Raikkonen for the rest of the 2013 season. Raikkonen will skip the final two rounds of the year after electing to undergo surgery on his injured back and compatriot Kovalainen will take over in America and Brazil. Kovalainen completed a seat fitting at the Lotus factory on Wednesday, before flying out to Austin. Kovalainen raced for Lotus under their previous guise, Renault, in his rookie season in 2007, finishing on the podium in the Japanese Grand […]

Bernie Ecclestone has backed Kimi Raikkonen's threat to strike after the Finn revealed he has not been paid "a single euro" in 2013. Raikkonen only travelled to Abu Dhabi at the last minute, but he is now warning he will sit out Austin and Brazil if the team does not pay him a reported EUR 15 million. "He has signed a contract with somebody and they need to pay him," F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone told the Mirror. "I feel sorry for him but he […]

Q&A with Sauber team principal Monisha Kaltenborn Sauber had a fantastic season in 2012. However, at the beginning of 2013 it was quite a different story. What happened? Monisha Kaltenborn: “After the concept of the side exhaust system was very successful last year, our engineers decided to go with a different concept for the C32, that in theory had even more potential. In practice, however, it looked different. We realised that in Melbourne where we brought an update to the car that didn’t work as […]

The World Motor Sport Council has unveiled the calendar for the 2014 Formula 1 season. The 22 race season will begin in Australia in March and end in Brazil in November. The Grand Prix of America is scheduled to take place on June 1st, the second race of three set to take place on consecutive weekends. The Mexican Grand Prix is set to take place on November 16th, the penultimate round of the season. The Korean Grand Prix, set to be the fifth race of […]

Lotus trackside operations director Alan Permane believes that Romain Grosjean has been getting 'better and better' through the 2013 season. Grosjean had a low key start to 2013 after some controversial moments in 2012, but finished on the podium in Germany and qualified in third place in Singapore. "I think Romain himself has made - I wouldn't call it a breakthrough - but since the Nurburgring, Hungary, he's just been getting better and better and better," said Permane. While Grosjean ended up retiring in Singapore, […]

Fernando Alonso says it is 'sad' to see Ferrari slip back after he qualified in seventh place for the Singapore Grand Prix. Alonso has not won since May's Spanish Grand Prix but the Ferrari F138 had demonstrated improvements at low downforce circuits at Spa and Monza, where Alonso finished as runner-up to Sebastian Vettel in both events. But while Alonso said that Ferrari was still pushing in its championship bid, he expressed his disappointment at the regression. "I think we need to be realistic and […]

Ferrari drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa have urged their team to improve after a difficult couple of practice sessions in Singapore. Alonso was sixth in second practice, with Massa back in fifteenth place. "We can’t say this was a good start, because we weren’t competitive, but if we consider that last year, at the end of a difficult weekend we managed to get on the podium, we definitely aren’t throwing in the towel yet" said Alonso. "We have yet to analyse the data, but […]

Red Bull youngster Antonio Felix da Costa has ended his victory drought by winning the second Formula Renault 3.5 Series race in Hungary. It is Da Costa's first win since the opening round of the season at Monza in April. Da Costa, whose future is likely to be decided this month, is the leading contender for the vacant Toro Rosso seat next season. The Portuguese driver started from second place on the grid at the Hungaroring and while he dropped to third, he took the […]

McLaren driver Sergio Perez says he is ready to scrap for points again in next weekend's Italian Grand Prix. Perez admits that McLaren won't be fighting towards the front in Monza but is eager to return to the top 10 after a below-par performance in Belgium. Perez has finished in the points five times this season, with a best finish of sixth in Bahrain. He has amassed 18 points and sits in 12th place in the world championship. "After the disappointment of Spa, where we […]