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Barcelona day four - Kobayashi leads final day

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 16:13:00 GMT

Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi set the pace in Barcelona on Friday as this week's test at the Circuit de Catalunya drew to a close. The Japanese driver was two-tenths quicker than Thursday leader Pastor Maldonado, who had another encouraging session for Williams. Paul di Resta was third fastest for Force India, followed by McLaren's Jenson Button, Ferrari's Felipe Massa and Red Bull's Mark Webber. The Toro Rosso of Jean-Eric Vergne, Nico Rosberg's Mercedes and Heikki Kovalainen's Caterham completed the timesheet

Marussia expands young driver development with GP2 linkup

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 14:25:00 GMT

Marussia are to strengthen their young driver development programme by joining forces with Carlin to compete in this season's GP2 Series. Indonesian driver Rio Haryanto and British hopeful Max Chilton will drive for the new outfit, which will be entered as the Marussia Carlin GP2 Team. Carlin are one of the most successful single-seater teams outside of Formula One racing, having won over 215 races in Porsche Supercup, Nissan World Series, Formula BMW UK, World Series by Renault and F3 Euro Series. They have also claimed seven British F3 championships and two Formula Renault 3.5 drivers' titles.

Exclusive Ross Brawn Q&A: We'll do a better job this year

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 14:10:00 GMT

In 2009, Brawn GP's championship-winning success began in pre-season testing at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya. So for Ross Brawn, still head of the team that is now Mercedes, the Spanish track holds special memories. With the new F1 W03 launched there this week, we caught up with Brawn to discuss the car's comparatively late arrival, his ambitious drivers' hopes and why he believes they will move forward this year

Exclusive Q&A with Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 16:51:00 GMT

French drivers seem to be like buses - you wait ages for one and then three come along at once. One of the three on the 2012 grid is Jean-Eric Vergne, the promising Red Bull protege who was promoted to a Toro Rosso race seat last December. Vergne has been considered a hot prospect for some time and his showings at the pre-season tests so far have been impressive to say the least, especially given his limited Formula One experience. Winning is, of course, his ultimate goal and he's determined to avoid the distractions that inevitably accompany the F1 lifestyle along the way

Barcelona day three - Maldonado takes P1 for Williams

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 16:13:00 GMT

Pastor Maldonado planted Williams on the top of the Thursday timesheets as this week's test continued at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya. Maldonado posted a quickest lap of 1m 22.391s, outstripping the second-placed Mercedes of Michael Schumacher by almost a second. Long runs and set-up work dominated Maldonado's day and he completed 106 laps. It has been a very pleasing day with Pastor successfully completing his whole run plan, said Williams' chief operations engineer, Mark Gillan. We started with some aerodynamic correlation runs, followed by race weekend preparation and set-up optimisation. In the background, we also ran some bodywork cooling sweeps.

Tata Communications signs F1 global technology association

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 10:03:00 GMT

Tata Communications, a leading provider of The New World of Communications, announced on Thursday a multi-year technology service and marketing agreement with Formula One Management. The agreement will see Tata Communications delivering world-class connectivity to all 20 Formula One race locations over its global network, the largest in the world. It will also provide hosting and content delivery services to Formula1.com, which is accessed by tens of millions of fans around the globe

Blomqvist joins McLaren's driver development programme

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:26:00 GMT

McLaren have announced on Wednesday that British teenager Tom Blomqvist, son of 1984 world rally champion Stig Blomqvist, has joined the select group of young talent on their driver development programme. I'm thrilled to get this opportunity with Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, said Blomqvist. The competition gets fiercer every time you step up a category, and having this level of support will really improve my strength and confidence.

Barcelona day two - Hulkenberg on top for Force India

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:33:00 GMT

Force India's Nico Hulkenberg ended the second day of testing at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya as the quickest runner. Hulkenberg posted a best time of 1m 22.608s on Wednesday at the Spanish track to beat the Sauber of Sergio Perez by four hundredths of a second. Perez completed 85 laps in the C31, despite an exhaust problem towards the end of the day. Quite a few high priority points have been ticked off the job list, explained Giampaolo Dall'Ara, Sauber's head of track engineering. In the morning we started with aero comparisons, and then did some proper mechanical set up work. We also carried out a full comparison of all tyre compounds and ran different fuel loads.

Exclusive Sergio Perez Q&A: Sauber moving in right direction

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:47:00 GMT

After a few technical difficulties, this week's Barcelona test isn't going wholly to plan for Sauber's Sergio Perez. But, despite the limited mileage, Perez remains optimistic that the team is making steady progress and that his new car will be competitive once the season gets underway

Bahrain 2012 - now on sale

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:58:00 GMT

The 2012 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix takes place on April 20-22 and tickets are now available on Formula1.com. Making its eighth appearance on the F1 calendar, Bahrain provides a race-going experience like no other. For a unique insight into the only island state in the Arab world and its spectacular Sakhir circuit

Exclusive Sebastian Vettel Q&A: You can't rely on past glories

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:47:00 GMT

Approaching a season as the reigning champion means you have little to gain and a lot to lose. But if you're Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, and you're aiming to follow in the footsteps of Fangio and Schumacher by clinching a third successive title, then there's a very tangible target. At the moment, however, Vettel is forgetting what lies ahead and simply concentrating on ironing out any teething problems afflicting the RB8 and regaining the levels of grip he enjoyed last season

Lotus forced to abandon Barcelona for the week

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:03:00 GMT

Lotus will not run for the remainder of this week's second pre-season test at Barcelona following the issue experienced with the team's second E20 chassis when it was shaken down for the first time by Romain Grosjean on Tuesday morning. After discovering the problem, Lotus had initially planned to bring the first E20 chassis - which successfully completed the first Jerez test

Barcelona day one - Vettel sets the pace for Red Bull

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:14:00 GMT

Defending world champion Sebastian Vettel topped the timesheets for Red Bull as this week's four-day test got underway at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya on Tuesday. Vettel's best, a 1m 23.265s, was over a tenth of a second faster than the quickest lap from second-placed runner Nico Hulkenberg in the Force India. The opening day of the second official pre-season test saw 11 teams in action, with only HRT missing. McLaren's Lewis Hamilton was third fastest, ahead of Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.

Exclusive Nico Rosberg Q&A: We are more motivated than ever

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:53:00 GMT

The launch of a new Mercedes car always attracts a lot of the attention and with the F1 W03 joining the fray slightly later than its rivals, the paddock has been especially curious. After the unveiling, we caught up with Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg to discuss his new charge. And although Rosberg believes it's still too early to fully evaluate its worth, the German is certain the car has a lot of potential

Chassis problem brings Lotus test to a standstill

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 12:38:00 GMT

Lotus will miss the rest of Tuesday's test at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya because of an issue with their car. Driver Romain Grosjean had completed just a few laps in the second E20 chassis during the morning session when the team decided to abandon their test programme. This morning was our first shakedown of our second chassis, explained trackside operations director Alan Permane. Once the car was on track it was soon evident that everything wasn't quite as it should be. As a precaution we are returning the chassis to Enstone for further investigation. Chassis E20-01, which we used in Jerez, is being sent over and we expect to be on track with that chassis tomorrow.