New monocoques will be constructed in time for the fifth round of the championship season, at Spain’s Circuit de Catalunya, which means the team will be forced to face the same problem for the next two rounds in Malaysia and China.

That being said, the two cars have hardly been reliable enough to actually test that fuel consumption problem yet!

The new-for-2010 rule – which we’re certainly big fans of! – introduced by new FIA President Jean Todt has seen ex-racing drivers join the FIA Race Stewards Panel to bring about greater consistency and transparency in adjudication of on-track incidents.

Good news!

After his terrible accident earlier this month, Sir Stirling Moss has recovered enough to be released from hospital, and was discharged to his Mayfair home last Friday.

The greatest driver never to have won the Formula 1 World Championship will continue his recovery at home, having suffered broken ankles, four chipped vertebrae and severe bruising after falling down his elevator shaft at home just days before the season-opening Bahrain GP.

Hideki Noda

To look at Hideki Noda’s Formula 1 career – three races with the at-death’s-door Larrousse team in the last races of the 1994 season – you could rightly assume that the Osaka-born Hideki Noda was similar to the other brace of Japanese pay-drivers (such as Naoki Hattori and Toshio Suzuki) to have graced the F1 stage in the 1990s.

But Hideki was definitely not without talent, and to his credit he was one of the first Japanese drivers to make his mark in racing circles outside of his homeland.

A prodigious karting talent in his native land, Noda followed the time-honoured tradition of aspiring Formula 1 drivers by competing in the junior categories in Europe en route to his ultimate goal of F1.

After a season of Japanese F3, Hideki moved to Europe and competed in the British Vauxhall Lotus Championship, taking a win at Donington among his three podiums of the season en route to fifth overall.

Hideki graduated to British F3 in 1990, and became the first Japanese driver to win an F3 race outside his homeland when he won at Silverstone that year. Hideki then moved to F3000, where he stayed for three years and peaked with some impressive results in his final season where he drove for Forti.

With the Larrousse F1 team in dire financial straits by the end of the 1994 season, Hideki was drafted in as the team’s latest pay driver alongside its regular, Érik Comas, at that season’s European GP in Jerez.

Well aware that little was expected of him in the uncompetitive and underfinanced car, Hideki surprised many by not only making it onto the 26-car grid, but doing so within a second of his more established team-mate.

In the race, Noda stalled off the line and toured around at the back of the field for 10 laps before he was slowed with a gearbox problem. Trying to limp back to the pits, he inadvertently baulked Rubens Barrichello and Nigel Mansell as the duo came up to lap him, and Mansell ran into the back of him, damaging his front wing.

The next round at Suzuka saw Hideki qualify impressively, with local knowledge helping him to a time just 0.013s slower than Comas. Sadly, he would retire on the opening lap with a fuel pump failure.

His final appearance at Australia saw him comfortably out-qualify his new team-mate, Jean-Denis Délétraz, in what would be the final race outing for the Larrousse team. He would retire after 18 laps with an oil leak.

That proved to be Hideki’s last F1 outing, for although he had paid a deposit to secure a seat with Simtek the following season, the Kobe earthquake saw his sponsorship disappear and the Simtek team folded after just four rounds.

Noda ventured to the United States in 1996 and competed in the Indy Lights series for two seasons. While usually a midfield runner, he peaked with a skilful win in the wet at Portland to become the first and (so far) only Japanese driver to win a CART-sanctioned event.

Noda returned to Japan and competed in Formula Nippon and the Japanese GT series for several seasons. He was utterly dominant in the Japanese Le Mans series and took the title in 2007 to remind everyone of his undeniable talent.

Now a regular Le Mans competitor, Hideki kindly took the time to answer our questions about the highs and lows of his motorsport career and his all-too-brief foray into Formula 1. We thank Hideki for his time and support in participating in our interview.

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Lotus is shortly expected to announce a new sponsorship deal, this time with leading Malaysian mobile network, Maxis.

It is expected that the logo of the Kuala Lumpur-based company will appear on the nose of the Ford-powered T127 cars.

The team is set for its busiest promotional week in its homeland, and this signing is only good news for the comeback team!