Niki Lauda says Mercedes is on track for the start of official 2014 testing, despite the huge challenge of the all-new turbo rules. Germany's Auto Motor und Sport reports rumours that world champion team Red Bull's boss Christian Horner had floated the idea of delaying for a week the start of winter testing late this month. "Nothing is being moved," Mercedes team chairman Lauda insisted. "The plans are going ahead for late January. "The task of big for everybody." The report said the German squad […]

Pirelli's new range of tyres for 2014 is more conservative, according to the whispers from private testing in Bahrain. A three-day, Pirelli-organised test in the island Kingdom kicked off on Tuesday, with Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes and Toro Rosso in attendance with their 2013 cars. The testing of next year's tyres, which will have to handle the much-higher torque of the new turbo engines, is taking place behind closed doors, and laptimes and details are not being disclosed. But Italy's Autosprint said: "The general indication […]

Sebastian Vettel is set to celebrate his meteoric F1 success with the ultimate prize -- fatherhood. Multiple authoritative German media sources on Tuesday, including the Bild-Zeitung newspaper and the Bunte magazine, report that the quadruple world champion's long-time girlfriend Hanna Prater is pregnant with their first child. Red Bull driver Vettel, 26, guards his privacy very closely, but his spokeswoman confirmed the happy news: "Yes, it's true." Vettel was quoted as saying: "Of course we are very happy about it, and want to enjoy this […]

Esteban Gutierrez and Max Chilton have been penalised after impeding rivals during qualifying for the United States Grand Prix. Gutierrez, who qualified in 10th place, will drop to 20th on the grid after impeding Pastor Maldonado during the first segment of qualifying. 'Car #12 unnecessarily impeded car #16 between Turns 19 and 20 whilst performing manoeuvres that the stewards consider dangerous', read the stewards report. Chilton impeded Maldonado, as well as Force India's Adrian Sutil, during Q1. The Brit qualified in last place and will […]

Kimi Raikkonen is recovering after undergoing successful back surgery in Strasbourg. Raikkonen suffered from back pain following the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and opted to miss the final two races of the season. 'As planned, Kimi Räikkönen underwent back surgery yesterday at The University Hospital of Strasbourg' read a Lotus statement. 'Lotus F1 Team is happy to report that the operation was totally successful, according to Professor Afshin Gangi.' 'Kimi will now rest for a few days and he will start his recovery process as […]

Ferrari stopped Nico Hulkenberg from joining Lotus for the last two grands prix of 2013. That is the hot rumour in the Austin paddock, as the two teams battle over millions for third place in the constructors' championship. The first rumour was that Ferrari, who have signed Kimi Raikkonen for 2014, may have encouraged the Finn to arrange early back surgery and miss Austin and Brazil. Now, it is being reported that Lotus approached Hulkenberg to replace the Finn, only to find surprisingly that the […]

Fernando Alonso and Ferrari have ended the fevered speculation about the Spaniard's participation in this weekend's US grand prix. Since Abu Dhabi, Alonso has been reportedly struggling with back pain as a result of his harsh impact over the kerbs in a duel with Jean-Eric Vergne. It was rumoured Ferrari was lining up Jules Bianchi or Pedro de la Rosa as last-minute substitutes for the injured 'number 1'. But Alonso told his millions of Twitter and Facebook fans late on Monday that he is getting […]

Kimi Raikkonen has been excluded from qualifying after his Lotus E21 failed post-qualifying checks at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Raikkonen had qualified in fifth place but his exclusion means that he will start from the back of the grid. 'After the qualifying practice session an assymetric LHS front floor deflection test was carried on car numbers seven [Raikkonen] and eleven [Nico Hulkenberg],' read the stewards report. 'Car number seven did not comply with article 3.17.5 of the 2013 FIA Formula One technical regulations as […]

World champion Sebastian Vettel has been reprimanded by the stewards after failing to observe the proper post-race protocol. Vettel opted not to enter parc ferme but instead drove to the pits straight, where he completed a series of donuts and climbed from his Red Bull RB9. The stewards decided to reprimand Vettel, but accepted that 'due to special circumstances' they accepted his version of events. 'The driver failed to proceed directly to the post race parc fermé as detailed under article 43.3 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations'. read the stewards' report. 'Due to the special circumstance the Stewards […]

Williams has been fined 60,000 Euros after a wheel nut detached from Pastor Maldonado's car during second practice for the Indian Grand Prix The team was fined for a similar offence in Japan, although in India the wheel did not fall off the car. 'The stewards noted that in this case the wheel had been retained on the car and that the cross threading of the wheel fastener contributed to the fastener coming off the car', read the report. 'Whilst the stewards accept that improvements […]

Kimi Raikkonen's race engineer Mark Slade will not follow him from Lotus to Ferrari, it has emerged. The Finn worked with Slade initially at McLaren, and the pair reunited when Raikkonen returned to F1 with Lotus last year. But a report in Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport on Thursday said Ferrari has "no intention" of hiring Slade. With Felipe Massa's engineer Rob Smedley believed to be heading to Williams, the report said Ferrari will promote from within as it prepares to welcome Raikkonen. Raikkonen's former […]

Both Caterham and Marussia drivers have been given reprimands following transgressions during the Korean Grand Prix. Charles Pic and Jules Bianchi were both deemed to have ignored yellow flags during the closing stages of the race. 'The driver was actually 2kph faster going into the yellow flag area on Lap 53,' read a stewards report on Pic's actions. Bianchi's telemetry 'did not indicate the driver slowed for the yellow flag' according to the stewards. The French drivers both picked up their third reprimand of 2013 […]