No F1 return for Räikkönen in 2011

RichardsF1    Driver Market, Former F1 Figures, Formula 1     Citroen, Kimi Raikkonen, Renault, WRC

Kimi Räikkönen’s management has confirmed that the 2007 World Champion has stopped scouting for options to return to the F1 stage next season, claiming no one was interested that the Finn wants to stay in the World Rally Championship next season.

Räikkönen’s long-time manager, Steve Robertson, told Finland’s MTV3 station that his client was happy with the status quo, having recently been linked with a possible move to the Renault F1 team for 2011.

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Bird to drive for Mercedes GP at Abu Dhabi test

RichardsF1    Formula 1, Testing     Mercedes GP, Ross Brawn

GP2 driver Sam Bird will be given an opportunity to test drive the Mercedes GP W01 at the season-ending Abu Dhabi young driver test session, the team has confirmed.

This won’t be Bird’s first outing in a Formula 1 car, with the British driver having tested a Williams in 2007, where he performed a series of straight-line tests at Kemble airfield.

Bird currently drives for the ART Grand Prix team and lies fifth in the GP2 series, having recently won the feature race at the last round in Monza from pole position, and backed that up with third place in Sunday’s sprint race. The 23-year-old has also finished on the podium at Turkey and Valencia this year.

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WTCC Okayama: Farfus quickest on drying track in opening practice session

RichardsF1    Results, WTCC     Augusto Farfus, BMW

Augusto Farfus has topped the timesheets in the opening practice session for the World Touring Car Championship event at Okayama, but the big surprise came in the form of second-placed Robert Dahlgren, who initially headed the order in his Volvo C30.

The Scandinavian Touring Car Champion was the first driver to post a lap time on a continually drying circuit doused by overnight rain, and it was that lap – eventually 0.520 seconds down on Farfus’ best time – that put him second-quickest at the end of the session.

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DTM Adria: Prémat quickest as older-spec cars lead the way in practice

RichardsF1    DTM, Results    

Alexandre Prémat has led an Audi 1-2 in the opening practice session for the DTM round at Italy’s Adria circuit, with David Coulthard a surprise third-quickest (and the fastest Mercedes-Benz) as the older-spec cars enjoyed good pace on the opening day of the season’s penultimate round.

Indeed, the older-spec cars finished in the top six positions on the timesheets, with Mattias Ekström proving the quickest of the 2009-spec cars in seventh, and Bruno Spengler the quickest of the 2009 Mercedes drivers in tenth.

Championship leader Paul di Resta was 16th-quickest and over a second off Prémat’s pace.

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V8 Supercars announces 2011 calendar

RichardsF1    V8    

V8 Supercars Australia has officially announced its 2011 season calendar today, with the major news being a return to Perth’s Barbagallo Raceway and the Bahrain round being shelved.

The Barbagallo round was dropped for the 2010 season due to the poor conditions of the facilities at the circuit, but circuit owners have undertaken a series of works to lift the venue’s standards, which will fully functional by 2012.

Outer Brisbane’s Queensland Raceway venue – another which has been under threat and regularly criticised for its facilities – has had its future secured with an injection of local and state government funding.

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Bernie confirms SingTel on board for Singapore GP, SingTel denies this – who’s telling the fib?

RichardsF1    Formula 1     Bernie Ecclestone, Sponsors

Bernie Ecclestone has claimed that the telco SingTel has renewed its naming rights sponsorship of the Singapore Grand Prix for a further two years until the 2012 race.

The company has held naming rights sponsorship since the event’s inaugural race in 2008, and previously arranged a two-year extension of the contract after the first race. The deal is believed to be worth in the region of $10-15 million.

Singapore’s local media broadcaster MediaCorp is suggesting that the deal done and dusted, amidst rumours that SingTel was not going to renew the deal.

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Take a sneak peek at Ferrari World’s Formula Rossa – the fastest rollercoaster in the world

RichardsF1    Formula 1     Ferrari

Take a virtual lap of the Formula Rossa rollercoaster

With the Ferrari World theme park set to open in just a week’s time at Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi, the event will be marked with much glitz and glamour as the world welcomes what will be the world’s largest indoor theme park.

The signature feature of the park is ‘Formula Rossa’, which is a ride designed to give visitors a true simulation of the forces one would experience if driving a Formula 1 car.

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WTCC Okayama: Huff quickest in Friday test session

RichardsF1    Testing, WTCC     Chevrolet, Robert Huff

Robert Huff took Chevrolet to the top of the timesheets in this afternoon’s free test session as the penultimate round of the 2010 World Touring Car Championship season kicked off at Okayama’s TI Aida circuit in Japan.

The Briton moved to the top of the timesheets after 20 minutes of the session, and improved his time with a best effort of 1:38.059 around the 3.7-kilometre circuit.

Championship leader and team-mate to Huff, Yvan Muller, finished second-quickest, while Andy Priaulx (a winner here last year) went third-fastest, using the session to try out a six-speed sequential gearbox in his BMW.

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Reports: HRT buys former Toyota F1 team

RichardsF1    Formula 1     Hispania Racing, Technical, Toyota, Williams

Hispania Racing has reportedly bought the former Formula 1 team of the Japanese carmaking giant Toyota, according to “reliable sources”, reports Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport.

We reported rumours of a possible technical alliance between HRT – which has struggled with an undeveloped Dallara-designed F110 chassis this season – and Toyota in September, and it now seems that these rumours have carried more than a little truth.

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Rubens’ Williams seat also not secure

RichardsF1    Driver Market, Formula 1     Nico Hulkenberg, Pastor Maldonado, Patrick Head, Rubens Barrichello, Sponsors, Williams

A surprise rumours has emerged overnight, which claims that Rubens Barrichello’s record-breaking career may come to a close at the end of the 2010 season, with the Williams team refusing to confirm its intentions over its driver line-up for the following season.

Barrichello’s team-mate Nico Hülkenberg is dogged by similar rumours, and much paddock speculation points to him being replaced by the heavily-financed and newly-crowned GP2 champion, Pastor Maldonado, next season.

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Portimão bumped off the winter testing roster

RichardsF1    Formula 1, Testing    

Sad news has emerged, with earlier reports that Portugal’s spectacular Autódromo Internacional do Algarve circuit at Portimão would join the pre-season testing schedule have proven to be incorrect.

AUTOSPORT had reported earlier this month that the undulating high-speed circuit would join the list of pre-season testing venues in addition to the ubiquitous Spanish venues, such as Jerez and the Circuit de Catalunya.

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More ex-F1 drivers’ birthdays today!

RichardsF1    Birthdays, Former F1 Figures, Formula 1    

Former F1 drivers Alex Soler-Roig and Tiff Needell are celebrating their respective birthdays today!

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BMW to consider V8 Supercars entry

RichardsF1    V8     BMW

BMW has revealed it is considering joining the Australian V8 Supercars championship with its DTM-spec car in the future.

The manufacturer also recently announced it will join the DTM championship from next season as well, although it is yet to confirm if it will remain in the World Touring Car Championship series fronting a works team.

V8SA is planning a ‘Car of the Future’ concept from 2012 onwards, and BMW’s interest may lie in how similarly the regulations mirror the DTM series’ regulations, which would make a cross-over a logical step.

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WTCC Okayama: Preview

RichardsF1    WTCC    

The penultimate round of the 2010 World Touring Car Championship season will take place at Okayama’s TI Aida Circuit in Japan this weekend, and we’ll be bringing you the latest news and highlights from the world’s best touring car championship this weekend.

This is the third – and possibly final, with the event switching to Suzuka next season – that the rural circuit will play host to the World Touring Car Championship series, and the event presents a huge challenge to drivers as it winds its way between the green hills of the Honshu island circuit.

The TI Aida circuit twice played host to Formula 1 in the mid-1990s – dubbed the ‘Pacific Grand Prix’ – but the event was shelved after 1995 after two fairly uninteresting events.

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It’s Bernie’s birthday today!

RichardsF1    Birthdays, Formula 1     Bernie Ecclestone, Christian Horner, Red Bull Racing, Sebastian Vettel

The master of all he surveys in Formula 1 – the one and only Bernard Charles Ecclestone – turns 80 today.

And the event would not go unnoticed even beforehand, with the Red Bull team giving the diminutive billionaire an extra special birthday present on the morning of Sunday’s Korean Grand Prix.

Bernie was presented with his very own Red Bull walking frame – just in case he ever required assistance getting about the paddock.

The frame had some special features, including a Red Bull front wing (we would have a guess it could be Vettel’s broken one from the controversial British GP!), and a customised steering wheel that features buttons for: Viagra, power, nurse, lawyer, accountant and his assistance Pasquale Lattuneddu.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner presented the gift to Ecclestone alongside Sebastian Vettel, which Bernie took with particularly traditional good humour!

[Original image via Sutton Images]