Valencia has sold less than 40,000 tickets ahead of next weekend's European grand prix. El Pais newspaper reports that, of the street circuit's deliberately reduced capacity of 45,000 seats, only 85 per cent have been sold. And of the 38,000 tickets sold, 64 per cent of them were purchased by foreign visitors, the Spanish publication added. Spain has been devastated by the European financial crisis, with unemployment at almost 25 per cent and the European Union needing to inject $125 billion to rescue crippled banks. […]

F1's new future in America moved up a gear this week. We reported on Tuesday that reigning and back-to-back world champion Sebastian Vettel will appear on David Letterman's iconic New York talkshow next week. It now emerges that, while in the famous city, the Red Bull driver will race around the street layout of the 2013 grand prix of America amid the Manhattan skyline, in a road car supplied by team sponsor Infiniti. Vettel will then attend a press conference with race promoter Leo Hindery, […]

Sebastian Vettel will appear on David Letterman's famous New York talkshow 'Late Show' next week. The reigning and back-to-back world champion's appearance will be on Monday, the day after the Canadian grand prix in Montreal, a spokesman for the Red Bull team confirmed. The first US grand prix since 2007 will take place in November at the new Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Takuma Sato, a former F1 driver, drives for the Indycar team co-owned by Bobby Rahal and Indianapolis-born Letterman.

Formula One is worth about $8 or $9 billion, as the sport's owner CVC confirmed it has this week sold a 21 per cent stake to new investors. News of the sale coincided with the launch of pre-marketing ahead of one of the biggest ever sports floatations, data by the financial experts Thomson Reuters shows. "It's cheap compared to Facebook," chief executive Bernie Ecclestone told reporters on Tuesday, confirming that the Singapore IPO looks set to go ahead soon "with no dramas". "All the things […]

Michael Schumacher has been pipped at the post in the race to be the world's richest sportsman. According to the Sunday Times' annual listings, the seven time world champion's (US) $823 million in career earnings is beaten only by golf legend Tiger Woods. American Woods has earned $869 million in his own ultra-successful career, the newspaper found. And the Sunday Times said the pair have each earned hundreds of millions of dollars more than other high-earning sportsmen, including Michael Jordan ($516m), Roger Federer ($316m) and […]

Red Bull's two teams look set to test alone in Abu Dhabi later this season. Until recently, the now-traditional young drivers' test - giving inexperienced drivers the chance to drive current F1 cars amid the sport's strict testing limits - was scheduled to take place as per usual at the Yas Marina circuit in November. But those plans were reconsidered due to this year's congested calendar. India takes place just one week before Abu Dhabi, the young driver test is scheduled for the week after […]

Statistically, the Chinese grand prix raced straight into the history books as one of the most exciting Formula One events of all time. "For me, we are having some of the best races in Formula One history," agreed Jenson Button after finishing Sunday's Shanghai race behind Nico Rosberg. Finland's Turun Sanomat newspaper reports that only three grands prix in the history of the sport played host to more individual overtaking moves. The report said there were 72 passes in total on Sunday, not including the […]

Caterham's team boss insists Vitaly Petrov is just as good as the experienced grand prix winner he replaced. Just ahead of the 2012 season, Malaysian entrepreneur Tony Fernandes decided to oust former Monaco grand prix winner Jarno Trulli with Russian Petrov, the well-sponsored Russian and former Renault driver. "I think he (Petrov) is as good a driver as Trulli, but he obviously brings a Russian commercial element," Fernandes told the US cable news channel CNN. "It gives us the ability to exploit commercial opportunities in […]

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 […]

A leaked invoice suggests PDVSA, the state owned Venezuelan oil company, is paying a staggering US$46 million for its sponsorship of the Williams team in 2012. Despite its authenticity having not been confirmed, the invoice from Williams - includes the Oxfordshire based team's correct Barclays bank account - requests the full amount in pounds sterling. Also appearing on the internet in recent months were the full contract between team driver Pastor Maldonado and Williams, and a stamped letter from Venezuelan congressman Carlos Ramos. The leaking […]

450 workers are pushing to enable Austin's new Circuit of the Americas to be ready for the US grand prix later this year. After the Texas project's earlier hiccups, the rooves and walls of the paddock and medical buildings, media centre and main grandstand are now taking shape. Another recent setback, however, was 2 inches of rain in the last ten days. "We've got a lot of dry weather we know is going to be coming, and are hoping to be gaining some time," said […]

The scene of November's inaugural Formula 1 race in Austin, Texas, should be ready for the US Grand Prix well ahead of time, according to media reports. The Italiaracing website claims that, in the wake of recent speculation the event might collapse altogether, the Circuit of the Americas is now on track to be completed by August. "The workers are working six days a week to complete the paddock buildings and grandstands," read the report. The Austin American Statesman newspaper says the actual track surface […]