Eideard

Sebastian Vettel, the reigning world champion in Formula One wins the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. Not a bad start to the new season.

Vettel carrying his race trophy back to the changing room
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Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel is the new Formula One world champion after winning the title-deciding race in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. The German produced a peerless drive from pole position to take the checkered flag ahead of the McLaren pair of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, who led the championship standings going into the final race of the season, could only manage seventh place to see his title hopes ruined.

The 23-year-old Vettel is the youngest-ever world champion in motorsport’s premier class, claiming his fifth victory of the year to take the lead in the standings for the first time in a topsy-turvy season…

“I’m a bit speechless. I don’t know what you are supposed to say in this moment,” Vettel told the official post-race press conference.

“It has been an incredibly tough season, physically and mentally especially. But we have always believed in myself, my car, the team…”

Daylife/Getty Images used by permission

The victory left Vettel on top of the standings with 256 points, just four clear of Alonso. Webber finished the season on 242 points with 2008 champion Hamilton on 240.

Red Bull had already clinched the constructors’ title after the penultimate race in Brazil, but a solid display from McLaren left them in second place ahead of Ferrari.

Bravo, Vettel. I’m still a McLaren fan; but, Sebastian Vettel has been knocking at the door for a while, now. His talent couldn’t help but bring him to the top.

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Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher is to return to Formula One next season to drive for Mercedes.

The 40-year-old German, who retired in 2006, has agreed a three-year contract with the possibility for a further extension according to his agent Sabine Kehm and will be on the grid for the curtain-opening Bahrain Grand Prix on March 14.

Schumacher, who was unveiled at the team’s factory in Brackley, will join compatriot Nico Rosberg at the former Brawn GP team, who were taken over by Mercedes at the end of last season having won the constructors’ and drivers world championships.

“After a three-year break, I have all the energy again that I was lacking,” Schumacher told reporters via a teleconference call.

Schumacher, who won five of his world titles with Ferrari, attempted to make a comeback for the Italian team last year in place of the injured Felipe Massa, but a neck injury sustained in a motorcycle race thwarted his return…

“Over the summer it was too soon after the accident. Now everything has healed,” said Schumacher, who will have his first practice session with his new team on February 1.

“I have decided to return to Formula One. Mercedes GP and I agreed on teaming up for the coming seasons. And to be honest, I’m already super excited by the prospect to be back in a F1 cockpit,” he added on his official Web site.

“I don’t want to deny at all that the idea of a German F1 team extremely tempts me. I guess every German driver would feel this way. And of course it plays a major role that I again can work together with Ross at Mercedes GP. Above all, however, my old hunger for racing is back — I realized that my old passion was returning. Suddenly I was on fire again,” he added.

Though I always seemed to be supporting someone else – like Mika Hakkinen – a certain level of insanity is required to deny that Schumi is the greatest driver of recent generations.

To see him driving for the Silver Arrows of Mercedes – back together with Ross Brawn as team principal – is an amazing opportunity. He is one of those consummate skills who just may be capable of beating everyone else in the world, the oldest driver in every race.

Formula 1 will continue to take place in Britain for the next 17 years after a deal was struck between Silverstone’s owners and the sport’s chief Bernie Ecclestone…

Silverstone’s comeback took place despite rival track Donington Park being awarded the contract to host the British Grand Prix from 2010. However, that circuit lost out after failing to secure the $200 million needed to fund redevelopment plans. That had led to fears Ecclestone would look to move the race abroad…

“But 17 years gives us the ability to invest and move forward. We’ve always had the belief the British Grand Prix was an important cornerstone of Formula One but, with Bernie, you’re never quite sure.

No kidding!

Phillips described the deal as “peace in our time” between the circuit’s owners, the British Racing Drivers Club (BRDC), and Ecclestone.

Pretty similar to negotiating with the last clown who promised the same.

Kimi airborne in the Finland Rally
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Former world champion Kimi Raikkonen will not be racing in Formula 1 next year after failing to find a drive.

The 30-year-old Finn had been trying to do a deal with McLaren but they would not offer him the salary he wanted, his manager David Robertson told BBC Sport.

“They couldn’t afford him,” Robertson said. “It wasn’t in his interests to race for what they were offering so he’s going to go rallying instead…”

Raikkonen is trying to find a drive in the world rally championship, Roberston said, although nothing had yet been sorted out.

He made his world rally debut on his home Rally Finland last August, setting competitive times before crashing out…

Asked how Raikkonen felt about the temporary end of an F1 career that started in 2001 and in which he won 18 grands prix, Robertson said: “He’s one of those guys who moves on quickly – he just said ‘now we concentrate on rallying’.

We didn’t watch much WRC this year. If Kimi is driving for someone next year – we’ll watch.

German car giant Mercedes has bought the Brawn Formula 1 team in a move that is likely to see Jenson Button join McLaren as Lewis Hamilton’s team-mate.

Mercedes will buy 75% of Brawn in partnership with an Abu Dhabi investment company but will continue as McLaren’s engine partner until 2015. Brawn, who won both world titles in their debut season in 2009, will be rebranded as Mercedes Grand Prix.

Nico Rosberg will be their lead driver, with Nick Heidfeld his likely partner. Fellow German Timo Glock, who drove for Toyota last season, is also a possibility.

“We are talking (with Button) and that’s why we cannot announce the driver line-up,” said Norbert Haug on Monday. “We have to accept that speculation takes place, but that’s the name of the game.”

But he added: “This will be an international team – Mercedes-Benz is a global player.

“We definitely do not want to have a pure German team. It’s an international team and we want to have the best drivers in the car.”

RTFA for all the silly season gossip. It’s the time of the year for drivers to play musical chairs. We get the added benefit of new players in terms of new teams + new money scattered here and there.

Jenson Button and Rubens Barichello at the very start of the season in Oz

Jenson Button and Ross Brawn = world championship driver and constructor

Barrichello and Button before the Brazilian GP

All photos used by permission from Daylife

Model of the 2010 Team Lotus F1 car
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The Malaysian-funded outfit have been awarded the final grid spot and join Campos GP, Manor and US F1 as one of four new teams for 2010.

However, motorsport’s governing body says it will “consult urgently” with the 10 existing teams to expand the grid from 13 to 14 teams for 2010. “It will be consulting urgently with the existing teams regarding the introduction of an appropriate rule change to expand the grid to 28 cars in time for the first Grand Prix in 2010.”

The Lotus team will be initially based in Norfolk, though its future design, research and development, manufacturing and technical centre will be purpose built at Malaysia’s Sepang International circuit.

In its new incarnation the team is a partnership between the Malaysian Government and a consortium of Malaysian entrepreneurs.

It will be led by team principal Tony Fernandes, the founder of the Malaysian-based Tune Group, which owns the Air Asia airline.

Mike Gascoyne – who has 20 years experience in the sport after working with Jordan, Renault, Toyota, and most recently Force India – returns to F1 as the team’s technical director. Wow!

“We are not just a small new team, we have the possibilities to be a very substantial team,” Gascoyne told BBC Sport. “And the FIA recognise that, combined with the name and that we’re also a team based outside Europe…

The team has promised to announce its two drivers by October 31 2009. Right now, they have a short list of drivers and test drivers of six.

They have bought the rights to the name Team Lotus.

Thanks, WOK3

Alonso follows Piquet during qualifying for the 2008 Singapore GP
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Renault face an extraordinary meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Paris later this month to answer charges of potential race-fixing.

The allegation surrounds last season’s Singapore Formula One Grand Prix when Fernando Alonso won the race, aided by a crash from then team-mate Nelson Piquet Jnr.

If found guilty, the team face severe sanctions which could result in them being excluded from the current world championship.

“The team representatives have been called to answer charges, including a breach of Article 151c of the International Sporting Code, that the team conspired with its driver, Nelson Piquet Jr, to cause a deliberate crash at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix with the aim of causing the deployment of the safety car to the advantage of its other driver, Fernando Alonso…”

Intriguingly, Renault had opted to fuel Alonso short for his first stint, a bizarre tactic when starting so far down and on a typical street track where it is notoriously difficult to pass…

At the time suspicions were roused, in particular by Felipe Massa who is understood to have confronted Renault team principal Flavio Briatore, accusing him of engineering the crash…

Only recently Piquet was sacked by the team, with the suggestion it is the 24-year-old, or his father and manager Nelson Piquet snr, who has since blown the whistle, prompting an investigation, and now subsequent hearing.

The politics of F1, the FIA and international motorsports grow more Byzantine – not less – every year.

Most years, when something this absurd happens – it’s a spur of the moment act of rash passion – often involving drivers who are neck and neck for the title. This piece of crap – if true – is truly nefarious.

UPDATED: Keeping French lawyers employed may not be especially useful; but, Renault is suing Nelson Piquet, Jr and his dad.

Here’s the important UPDATE: Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds have stepped down from their posts after Renault decided not to dispute allegations that the team ordered former driver Nelson Piquet Junior to crash deliberately at last year’s Singapore grand prix.

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We were as shocked as anyone when BMW announced it was quitting Formula 1 to devote more resources to developing cleaner, greener automobiles. [Not as shocked as Mario Thyssen, I'll bet!] There was some skepticism, but BMW wasn’t blowing green smoke. It’s serious about building eco-friendlier pavement-peeling cars.

First up is a slick 356-horsepower all-wheel-drive plug-in diesel-hybrid concept that BMW claims accelerates like an M3, sips gas like a Toyota Prius and can go 31 miles on battery power alone. It’s called the Vision Efficientdynamics Concept, and we’ll see it later this month at the Frankfurt auto show…

The EfficientDynamics is a 2+2 four-door hybrid that combines M Series performance with better fuel efficiency and less emissions than you see in many compacts. BMW performs this magic by marrying its ActiveHybrid technology with an extremely economical engine and excellent aerodynamics. The result is a concept car with a top speed governed at 155 mph and a zero-to-62 acceleration time of 4.8 seconds. More impressive, the car gets 62.2 mpg and emits a Prius-like 99 grams of CO2 per kilometer.

RTFA for details and specifications.

Yes, I want one, too.