Melbourne gearing up for Top Gear Live
Anticipation is growing ahead of the Melbourne leg of the Top Gear Live PROTOTYPE Tour as more details are released about the motoring festival that will run alongside the automotive theatre production.
Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Top Gear Australia’s very own Shane Jacobson will be joined on stage by a stunning collection of star cars including Aston Martins, Ferraris and even flaming Porsche 911’s while outside a 1.52km custom built race track will host a full timetable of activity daily.
New rear wing for Virgin challenger
Virgin Racing’s chief designer Nick Wirth is redesigning the car’s rear wing to help 
improve the MVR-02’s overall pace and handling, the team’s lead driver Timo Glock has confirmed in an interview with Auto Motor und Sport.
Confirming a problem existed “on the aerodynamic side”, it is hoped that the alterations will improve the car’s pace to the tune of about one second per laps, bringing it closer to the pace of main rivals Team Lotus.
Looky-Likey #18
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| The 2010 Williams FW33 | The 1994 Williams FW16 |
Is Williams perhaps trying to channel some successes from its Rothmans-sponsored glory days in the mid-1990s?
[Images via LAT and The Cahier Archive]
Williams launches its 2011 livery
RichardsF1 
F1 2011, Formula 1, Launches 
Adam Parr, Pastor Maldonado, Sam Michael, Sponsors, Williams |
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The Williams team has finally taken the wraps off its 2011 colour scheme, having so far run its FW33 challenger in an all-navy interim livery.
The new sponsor adorning the car’s rear wing is from Venezuela’s state-owned PDVSA petroleum company, which is the major backer for the newly-signed Pastor Maldonado.
The car’s sidepods and most of the engine cover remain bare of sponsorship stickers, indicating that the outfit would most certainly welcome more investment.
Doctors: Kubica’s rehabilitation to start ‘soon’
With his surgeries now out of the way, injured Renault driver Robert Kubica now faces a long and hard road to regaining full fitness in order to plot a return to Formula 1.
The Pole suffered horrific injuries in a rally crash three weeks ago – including multiple fractures and a partial amputation of his right hand – and has undergone three mammoth operations to reattach the limb and set the various fractures he suffered when the guardrail he collided with punctured through the cabin of his Skoda Fabia rally car.
Book Review: ‘Alex Yoong – The Driver’s Line’
Alex Yoong: The Driver’s Line, by Steve Dawson & Alex Yoong
Paperback, © 2010 Marshall Cavendish, ISBN 9789814276207
The first Malaysian to have raced in Formula 1, Alex competed two part-seasons with Minardi before F1 left him behind.
To many, he was assumed to be part of that coterie of pay drivers who brought more money than talent into Formula 1.
And while Alex’s rise to F1 came with Malaysian backing without outstanding results in the junior formulae, you would be very wrong to dismiss his journey as easy, or to dismiss Alex as without talent.
Mercedes GP W02 quickest in a straight line?
Despite not showing the outright pace that would indicate it is the quickest car on the grid, reports in the German media claim that Mercedes GP’s new W02 is the quickest 
car in a straight line.
Auto Motor und Sport claims that – despite a recent admission from competition boss Norbert Haug that his drivers would struggle to net a top-ten finish if a race was held now – the outfit has made a solid step forward in the recent Barcelona test and is now “the leader in terms of top speed”.
IndyCars: Kanaan loses De Ferran Dragon drive
Terrible news for Tony Kanaan, with the latest announcement confirming that the Brazilian has failed to stump up enough sponsorship backing for a berth at the De Ferran Dragon Racing outfit for the 2011 IndyCar championship season, which leaves the former IndyCar title holder seemingly without a drive for this year.
WTCC: Bamboo Engineering stays on
Just days after we had reported that Bamboo Engineering would be returning to its roots in the British Touring Car Championship, the outfit has announced that it will dovetail this effort with a second season in the World Touring Car Championship after all. The outfit is also believed to be considering a foray in the FIA GT1 championship.
The team has confirmed it will run Hong Kong-based driver Darryl O’Young alongside Japan’s Yukinori Taniguchi – being two of the three drivers whom it ran in the 2010 WTCC season.
IndyCars: Vegas finale confirmed
Organisers of the IndyCar Series have finally confirmed the poorly-kept secret that Las Vegas will host the 2011 season finale, but they have dangled an extra carrot of a $5 million windfall to any non-IndyCar driver who can make a guest appearance and win the race.
As an extra incentive to draw in the crowds, fans who purchase tickets for any other IndyCar Series race in 2011 will be given a free ticket for the Vegas round.
WTCC: Suzuka round to use short circuit
Organisers of the World Touring Car Championship have confirmed that the Japanese 
round will be run on a shortened version of Suzuka’s circuit, as opposed to the full 5.8km layout used for the Formula 1 Grand Prix.
The longer version of the circuit would limit the races to just nine laps apiece (using the rules governing each race distance to a capped 50km length), as well as being unsuitable to the touring car format.
F1 community supports NZ earthquake relief
The thoughts of the Richard’s F1 team and the broader F1 community lie with our friends – and many readers – in New Zealand, with the country’s second-biggest city 
seemingly flattened by its second major earthquake in less than six months today.
At least sixty-five people were killed in the city of Christchurch today when a magnitude 6.3 quake struck the city, which has been suffering continuous aftershocks after a magnitude 7.1 quake hit the city in September last year.
DTM: Changes in the Audi driver line-up
In the wake of a disappointing 2010 DTM championship season, Audi has made some wholesale changes to its driving line-up, not only shuffling its existing roster of drivers between its newer and older-spec machines, but also appointing three rookie drivers to this year’s championship.
Part of the internal reshuffle sees former Le Mans 24 Hours winner Mike Rockenfeller (pictured right) swapping with Martin Tomczyk, with the former joining the Team Abt Sportsline outfit and its newer-spec machines, while Tomczyk moved to the Phoenix outfit and an older-spec A4.
Barcelona to host final pre-season test
The cancellation of the Bahrain Grand Prix also means that the final pre-season test – scheduled to occur on the island kingdom in early March – has also been shelved, but F1 figures have confirmed that it has instead been relocated to the Circuit de 
Catalunya, which has just finished hosting the third of the test sessions to-date.
The Barcelona test session will occur on March 8-11, two weeks before the season makes its delayed kick-off at Australia in late March.
And unless Spain is gripped by a sudden heatwave, this also means that the outfits won’t have the chance to test Pirelli’s newest-spec rubber in hot conditions before the championship seasons kicks off, which could make the second round of the championship – the Malaysian Grand Prix – particularly interesting…
[Image via Sutton Images]
Doubts over Spanish GP future?
The ongoing future of the Spanish Grand Prix is in doubt, with the newly-elected Catalonian governor only able to provide a guarantee that this year’s race will go 
ahead as planned.
Governor Artur Mas told the El Pais newspaper: “The continuity of the Formula One race at this circuit is guaranteed this year and probably also for the next.”
And by the sounds of it, the future of the event relates to that age-old chestnut: money.
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FORMULA 1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
2012 FORMULA 1 SEASON CALENDAR
| Date | Event | Venue | |
| 18 MAR |  |
Australian GP | Albert Park |
| 25 MAR |  |
Malaysian GP | Sepang |
| 15 APR |  |
Chinese GP | Shanghai |
| 22 APR |  |
Bahrain GP | Sakhir |
| 13 MAY |  |
Spanish GP | Barcelona |
| 27 MAY |  |
Monaco GP | Monte Carlo |
| 10 JUN |  |
Canadian GP | Montreal |
| 24 JUN |  |
European GP | Valencia |
| 08 JUL |  |
British GP | Silverstone |
| 22 JUL |  |
German GP | Hockenheim |
| 29 JUL |  |
Hungarian GP | Hungaroring |
| 02 SEP |  |
Belgian GP | Spa-Francorchamps |
| 09 SEP |  |
Italian GP | Monza |
| 23 SEP |  |
Singapore GP | Marina Bay |
| 07 OCT |  |
Japanese GP | Suzuka |
| 14 OCT |  |
Korean GP | Yeongyam |
| 28 OCT |  |
Indian GP | New Delhi |
| 04 NOV |  |
Abu Dhabi GP | Yas Marina |
| 18 NOV |  |
USA GP | Austin |
| 25 NOV |  |
Brazilian GP | Interlagos |
2012 F1 CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
| Drivers’ Championship | Points | ||
| 1. | Sebastian Vettel |  |
61 |
| =. | Fernando Alonso | |
61 |
| 3. | Lewis Hamilton | |
53 |
| 4. | Kimi Räikkönen |  |
49 |
| 5. | Mark Webber |  |
48 |
| 6. | Jenson Button | |
45 |
| 7. | Nico Rosberg | |
41 |
| 8. | Romain Grosjean |  |
35 |
| 9. | Pastor Maldonado |  |
29 |
| 10. | Sergio Pérez |  |
22 |
| Constructors’ Championship | Points | ||
| 1. | Red Bull Racing – Renault |  |
109 |
| 2. | McLaren – Mercedes |  |
98 |
| 3. | Lotus – Renault |  |
84 |
| 4. | Scuderia Ferrari |  |
63 |
| 5. | Williams – Renault |  |
43 |
| =. | Mercedes AMG Petronas |  |
43 |
| 7. | Sauber – Ferrari |  |
41 |
| 8. | Force India – Mercedes |  |
18 |
| 9. | Toro Rosso – Ferrari |  |
6 |
| 10. | Marussia – Cosworth |  |
0 |
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