F1: Lewis Hamilton is optimistic McLaren has the pace to fight at the front at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix when the season kicks off next month.

F1: Fernando Alonso has conceded that Ferrari may not be heading into the new season with the quickest car – but he still thinks it is too early to judge where the F2012 stands in the pecking order right now.

F1: Final times on Day 2 testing at Barcelona….

AutoGP: Campos Racing has signed Max Snegirev and Giuseppe Cipriani to race in the 2012 Auto GP World Series.

F1: Michael Schumacher will reportedly be offered a new two-year contract to keep him at Mercedes until the end of the 2014 season.

F1: Lunch on 2nd day testing at Barcelona….

BTCC: British Touring Car squad Motorbase Performance has signed Aron Smith to complete its three-car line-up for this season.

F1: Petrov first run in the Caterham today….

 InsideFerrari: Good morning from the Montmelò circuit and happy birthday to Andrea Stella, Fernando Alonso’s race engineer.

Nascar: Danica Patrick is convinced that if “the stars are aligned” she can win the Daytona 500 in her first attempt on Sunday.

GP3: Nico Muller topped the timesheets for Trident Racing on the opening day of GP3 testing at Estoril on Tuesday.

F1: Sebastian Vettel has singled out McLaren as the rival team that he thinks is in the best shape at the start of the second pre-season test at Barcelona in Spain.

F1: Having identified a chassis problem which requires additional work, Lotus has pulled out of the remainder of the first Barcelona test.

F1: Michael Schumacher declared himself happy with the 2012 Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 W03 after a productive day’s testing.

F1: Nico Hulkenberg has been pleasantly surprised how well-balanced his new Force India has felt around the Barcelona circuit, after an encouraging first day’s running this week.

 MyCaterhamF1: T02 Day 1 didn’t go as we’d want, but we’ve fixed the problem & will be back tomorrow with Vitaly | Test Report: HERE

F1: Final time sheet for Day 1 at Barcelona….

 Marussia_F1Team: Back in the garage, I turned round and thought I was at a Grand Prix already.

F1: Bahrain Grand Prix organisers have received a major boost after winning the support of a leading United Nations war crimes expert for this year’s race to go ahead.

F1: Video: Michael Schumacher talks about W03.

F1: Video: Nico Rosberg talks about W03

F1: The Lotus team has been forced to wrap up its first day of testing at Barcelona early because of a problem with its car.

F1: Lunch on Day 1 at Barcelona…

F1: Mercedes W03 version of the ‘boxers’ nose…

F1: Hour 3 times today at Barcelona…..

F1: Michael Schumacher on it in the 2012 W03 Mercedes…

 InsideFerrari: A small issue is keeping Fernando in the garage for a while… Un piccolo problema tiene Fernando fermo al box per un po’ di tempo.

 MyCaterhamF1: A problem for Heikki stopped him out on track. Won’t know what the issue is until the car’s back in the garage which it is right now.

F1: Testing wouldn’t be testing without a Red flag or two — Kovalainen’s Caterham is sideways on track surrounded by huge number of marshalls and Caterham staff and a low loader.

F1: Some photos of the Mercedes W03 front wing….

F1: After 2 hours of track action here are the times posted….

F1: Early times in 1st hour at Barcelona with air temp of 10c…

F1: HRT ran the 2011 car at Jerez and due to crash test problems they didn’t plan to be at Barcelona this week but the 2012 car has failed the crash test again so it will be a rush to get it ready for the final test here next week.

F1: The new Marussia – the first constructed since the team ditched Wirth Research and its all-CFD mantra in favour of a McLaren alliance – will appear at Barcelona next week.

F1: Marussia are at Barcelona but with the 2011 Virgin car and Charles Pic driving.

F1: 2012 Jerez test is over now F1 moves on to Barcelona where the proper race testing starts.

F1: Video: BBC’s Gary Anderson talks with Michael Schumacher about the new W03 at the recent Silverstone shake down | View: BBC

F1: Mercedes launch the 2012 F1 W03…

F1: Problems for Force India? Under fire for large-scale cancellation of flights, beleaguered Kingfisher Airlines’ promoter Vijay Mallya tonight offered his unconditional apology to inconvenienced passengers. “We tried to reach as many as possible, we tried to make alternative bookings, refunds,” Mr Mallya told NDTV. The cash-strapped carrier today conceded that the mess in its operations was due to the Income Tax department attaching its properties.

F1: Williams F1 today welcomed its 2007 race driver Alex Wurz back to the team to act as a driver mentor. Alex will start his duties at this week’s Barcelona test before accompanying the team to races this season.

F1: Jarno Trulli admits that he is surprised by the number of offers he has received since being dropped by the Caterham Formula 1 team.

F1: HRT’s 2012 car is still not ready to test, team driver Narain Karthikeyan has clarified. While the struggling Spanish team ran with its 2011 car at the recent Jerez test, the new single seater failed to pass two of the mandatory FIA crash tests.

F1: With the Sky Sports F1 HD channel set to launch on March 9th, paid TV broadcasting giant Sky has revealed it faces a struggle to meet the expectations set by the BBC’s “highest quality product.”

F1: Bahrain Grand Prix organisers have announced a new promotion push as they continue to insist that this year’s race will go ahead.

FR3.5: Nick Yelloly will race in Formula Renault 3.5 with Comtec this season after his impressive partial campaign in 2011.

LeMans: Morning mist, barbecue smoke wafting across the Mulsanne straight and the dazzle of headlights in the darkness are part of the Le Mans experience that former winner Martin Brundle looks forward to sharing with his son Alex this year.| Full Story: Reuters

WRC: Dani Sordo will lead Prodrive’s Mini team on next month’s Rally of Portugal with Patrik Sandell again alongside him in the second John Cooper Works WRC.

F1: Norbert Haug has warned that the new Mercedes MGP W03, which will break cover tomorrow, will not feature any dramatic innovations.

F1: This is Caterham F1 2012 – Let’s Go For A Ride

IndyCar: IndyCar is hoping to finalise its new car’s aero package for ovals at Tuesday’s scheduled test at Texas Motor Speedway ahead of next month’s open test at the 1.5-mile track. The DW12 proved difficult to handle on ovals in its early tests, but has since been modified by constructor Dallara.

DTM: Mattias Ekstrom believes that the DTM’s new tyre regulations will pose a bigger challenge to drivers this year than any of the other rule changes coming into force.

AutoGP: Russian Sergey Sirotkin is to contest the Auto GP World Series with the Euronova Racing team of 1995 Formula 3000 International champion Vincenzo Sospiri.

WRC: The FIA has concluded its first major agreement for the World Rally Championship since the series promoter North One Sport went into administration last month – with Stage 1 Technology confirmed as the timing and tracking supplier for 2012.

F1: Days after the CaterhamF1 team dropped Jarno Trulli in favour of Vitaly Petrov it has signed a deal with SIBUR, the largest petrochemical company in Russia and Eastern Europe.

WTCC: Arena Motorsport is aiming to fight for the World Touring Car Championship within three years, according to team principal Mike Earle.

GP3: GP3 veteran Nico Muller will spearhead Trident Racing’s line-up at this week’s official test at Estoril.

Nascar: Carl Edwards secured pole position for the Daytona 500 as Fords dominated qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup season-opener.

F1: Mercedes completed a private test of its new W03 at Barcelona today, ahead of the next full-field test at the track, which starts on Tuesday.

F1: Full details of who will be driving and when during this week’s test at Barcelona, the second of three pre-season tests.
Tuesday: Vettel, Hamilton, Alonso, Schumacher, Grosjean, Hulkenberg, Perez, Ricciardo, Senna, Kovalainen and Pic.
Wednesday: Vettel, Hamilton, Alonso, Rosberg, Grosjean, Hulkenberg, Perez, Ricciardo, Bottas, Petrov and Pic.
Thursday: Webber, Button, Massa, Schumacher, Raikkonen, di Resta, Kobayashi, Vergne, Maldonado, Petrov and Glock.
Friday: Webber, Button, Massa, Rosberg, Raikkonen, di Resta, Kobayashi, Vergne, Maldonado, Kovalainen and Pic.

BTCC: Tony Gilham will race a turbocharged Honda Civic in this year’s British Touring Car Championship.

LeMans: Sebastien Buemi had his first run in Toyota’s TS030 Hybrid Le Mans car as the team completed a 30-hour endurance test at Paul Ricard across Thursday and Friday.

IndyCar: Michael Shank Racing may have to delay its IndyCar Series debut or only contest a limited 2012 schedule as it looks for further sponsorship.

F1: Sky have put out an extended F1 promo trailer…

GP2: Super Nova will no longer be part of the GP2 field in 2012, with its place taken by Auto GP squad Lazarus.

GP3: Italian teenager Vicky Piria has become the first female driver to sign for a GP3 team after completing a deal to race for series newcomer Trident Racing. The 18-year-old steps up after racing in Formula Abarth last season.

AutoGP: Auto GP has announced its calendar for the 2012 season, with the proposed Suzuka and Donington rounds having been dropped. The series, which will race alongside the WTCC, has also announced its new name will be Auto GP World Series.

10-11 March        Monza (I)
31 March-1 April   Valencia (E)
14-15 April        Marrakech (MA)
5-6 May            Budapest (H)
2-3 June           Estoril (P)
21-22 July         Curitiba (BR)
22-23 September    Sonoma (USA)

 MercedesAMGF1: Sneak Preview – #F1W03 – 21.02.2012…

 TheFifthDriver: Best way to see the French Riviera is by yacht, surely?? Lewis still enjoying the Johnnie Walker shoot this morning

 HRTF1Team: We’d like to clarify that we’re in the process of passing the pending crash tests and won’t know until next week if we’ve passed them all.

F1: HRT on Friday refused to guarantee Narain Karthikeyan will race the full season with the struggling Spanish team. “The idea as of now is to race him the whole season, but nothing is taken for granted in F1, you have to work for your place in every race,” team boss Luis Perez Sala told the Indo Asian News Service.

F1: Christian Horner says the teams will adhere to the FIA’s ruling over whether or not Formula One should head to Bahrain this season. “As far as I’m aware we’re definitely going,” the Red Bull team boss told Press Association Sport.

F3: Ferrari protege Raffaele Marciello will fill the fourth and final seat in Prema Powerteam’s 2012 F3 Euro Series line-up.

Nascar: Tony Stewart feels it is too early to know if he can carry his championship winning form in last year’s NASCAR Sprint Cup into 2012.

F1: With Petrov replacing Jarno Trulli at CaterhamF1 it will be the first time since 1970 that an Italian driver will not be on the grid for the start of a Formula 1 season.

F3: British teenager Philip Ellis will make his F3 Euro Series debut this year with championship newcomer GU Racing.

F1: A Spy photo of the new Mercedes W03 when it broke cover for the first time at Silverstone….

F1: The Caterham Formula One team dropped Italian Jarno Trulli on Friday and replaced him with Russian driver Vitaly Petrov.

F1: Valtteri Bottas will have his first taste of the new Williams-Renault FW34 on the second day of next week’s Barcelona test.

F1: Mark Smith has taken over day-to-day control of the Caterham F1 team’s technical department after Mike Gascoyne’s was promoted to chief technical officer of the entire Caterham Group.

 MercedesAMGF1: We’re happy to report that our new car, the F1 W03, completed its first 100 kms during a filming day today…

F1: Behind the scenes, Lewis Hamilton is quietly concerned about McLaren’s early progress with its 2012 car, according to media reports. Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport reports that the first whiff of the Briton’s worry emerged last week, when the MP4-27 was tested over four days at Jerez. “When I saw that all the other cars are high at the front, it did make me wonder if we had done the right thing,” the 2008 World Champion, referring to the stepped nose trend that McLaren has sidestepped, is quoted as saying.

F1: Sky TV advertisement….

F1: Sky has confirmed that Sky Sports F1 is to launch on March 9, and a major marketing campaign will commence tomorrow (February 17) for the satellite broadcaster’s first ever channel dedicated to just one sport.

F1: The HRT team confirm it will skip the first Barcelona test in order to focus on being ready with its new car for the second and final test there.

IndyCar: The future of IndyCar’s Baltimore street race appears to have been secured, with city officials having appointed a new promoter for the event.

WTCC: Gabriele Tarquini believes that SEAT’s new World Touring Car Championship engine is “a big step forward,” after sampling the unit for the first time at Valencia this week.

F1: Toro Rosso team boss Franz Tost says the talent of Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi was simply not enough to be in a position to challenge for a seat at Red Bull Racing.

F2: Formula 2 will introduce a Rookie of the Year award this season, with the winner being awarded two free days of winter testing.

GP2: British Formula 3 champion Felipe Nasr will join the DAMS team to compete in the GP2 Series in 2012, the squad said on Thursday.

MotoGP: MotoGP’s ruling body FIM has confirmed Portugal has secured a contract to host a round of the championship in 2012.

GP3: Fabiano Machado will join the Marussia Manor Racing team for the upcoming GP3 season.

WEC: The FIA has tweaked LMP1 rules for the inaugural year of the World Endurance Championship in a bid to allow Toyota to challenge Audi for the manufacturer’s title. The new regulations state that only the highest finishing car in LMP1 will score manufacturer points, while only the six best scores – the Le Mans 24 Hours must be included – will count.

FR3.5: Lucas Foresti will partner Arthur Pic at DAMS, completing the team’s line-up for the 2012 Formula Renault 3.5 championship.

F1: Pirelli has announced the tyre compounds it will take to the first three races of the 2012 Formula 1 season. The soft and medium compounds will be used in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix as well as as in the third race of the year in China. The medium and hard compounds to the Malaysian Grand Prix, the second round of the championship.
Each team will receive six sets of the harder compound and five sets of the softer compound for each race weekend.

F1: International superstar Kylie Minogue will perform her first-ever Malaysian gig as part of March’s F1 Rocks in Malaysia event. The concert will take place at the base of Kuala Lumpur’s iconic Petronas Twin Towers on Friday March 23, ahead of that weekend’s 2012 Formula 1 Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix.

F1: Lotus technical director James Allison has said the team’s new car will undergo “significant” changes ahead of its race debut.

F1: Adrian Sutil had four options to stay in formula one in 2012. That is the claim of the German driver’s manager Manfred Zimmermann “We will fight to stay in formula one and we’re still hoping to get a seat for 2012 — even if it is in the course of the season,” he told the Sport Bild magazine.

F1: Michael Schumacher will beat Nico Rosberg to the wheel of Mercedes’ 2012 car. Mercedes’ W03 will be launched and debuted early next week at Barcelona, at the second of three preseason tests.

GP3: Jenzer Motorsport has announced Robert Visoiu as its first driver for the 2012 GP3 season.

WRC: The Ouninpohja stage, one of the most famous in the World Rally Championship, will return to Rally Finland this year.

FR3.5: The Arden team has announced it has linked up with the Caterham Group to work together on a Formula Renault 3.5 programme.

F1: Caterham chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne is confident that the team’s mid-season move to a new factory will not affect its competitiveness this season.

BTCC: British Touring Car squad West Surrey Racing will expand to three cars this season after signing race winner Tom Onslow-Cole.

F1: On the first anniversary of the pro-democracy protests in Bahrain, Bernie Ecclestone insists that the Grand Prix will go ahead.

F1: The Lotus team is working flat-out to have the second E20 ready for next week’s test at Barcelona, however, technical director, James Allison, admits that after building the first car the process is a little easier.

F1: McLaren has announced that Kevin Magnussen will have an extended role this year as a member of the team’s Young Driver Programme.

F1: THE Sun is teaming up with Caterham F1 to give YOU the inside track on the ups, downs, thrills and spills of a Formula One team throughout 2012. | Full Story: The Sun

V8: Former factory Audi prototype and DTM driver Alexandre Premat has signed on to replace the departed Lee Holdsworth at Garry Rogers Motorsports.

IndyCar: Rubens Barrichello will test for KV Racing again next week as he closes in on an IndyCar seat with the squad.

F1: Bruno Senna thinks the second F1 test at Barcelona will show a truer picture than Jerez about where his Williams team stands.

IndyCar: Firestone will continue to be the official tyre supplier of the IndyCar Series until at least the 2014 season.

F1: Mercedes confirmed on Tuesday that their new car will be launched on the opening day of next week’s second Formula 1 test in Barcelona.

This is Seriously COOL!!!

GT1: The 2012 FIA GT1 World Championship will climax with a round in India. The series finale will take place at the new Buddh International Circuit, near New Delhi, which hosted the first Indian Grand Prix last year.

WEC: Former Peugeot driver Stephane Sarrazin will drive the Starworks team’s LMP2 class HPD in the World Endurance Championship this year.

F1: Jarno Trulli says he is confident his seat at Caterham is safe going into the 2012 Formula 1 season, despite ongoing uncertainty over his position.

 TheFifthDriver: Bright & sunny (but cold!) in Jerez this morning as Jenson & Lewis are out on track doing some pre-season filming.

F1: Despite nearly two inches of winter rain this month, excavation work at Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas, continues on-pace for the facility scheduled to play host to its inaugural Formula One United States Grand Prix in November. | Full Story: racintoday.com

F1: The film “Senna” has won the BAFTA awards for Best Documentary and Best Editing at the Royal Opera House in London on Sunday night.

F1: Lotus will bring the very best out of Kimi Raikkonen, reckon team bosses Eric Boullier and Gerard Lopez, who believe the 2007 world champion is a much more dedicated team player than his past reputation suggested.

F2: Parthiva Sureshwaren will remain in Formula 2 for a third season this year.

F1: HRT has announced that Dani Clos is to join the team as its test driver, describing the move as “another step in the team’s aspirations of establishing itself as a platform for young talents to reach the pinnacle of world motorsport”.

WRC: Jari-Matti Latvala escaped a late puncture to wrap up victory in Rally Sweden.

WRC: DMACK will remain in Scandinavia next week to further develop its snow tyre ahead of next year’s Rally Sweden after a troubled outing in Karlstad this week.

F1: Jarno Trulli professed himself happy with the new Caterham CT01 after trying it for the first time in Jerez Friday. “My first impression of the car was that it is good,” said Trulli. “A definite progression from 2011, and a good basis for us to work on for the season ahead. Its reliability has been demonstrated all week here in Jerez and we have generated a lot of data, particularly on KERS and the 2012 tires, which will help us improve setups for the next couple of tests.

F1: Fernando Alonso has promised that Ferrari will arrive at the next Barcelona test in much better shape than it has been in Jerez, following a week of mixed fortunes during the first pre-season running.

F3: Lucas Wolf will graduate to the F3 Euro Series this year with championship newcomer URD Rennsport.

Skeleton: Congratulations: Britain’s Shelley Rudman is the skeleton World Cup champion after finishing third in the final race of the season.

 OfficialSF1Team: #Kamui said: “I am happy …we have found the right direction…I want to thank the mechanics…Today especially they did a great job…”

 MyCaterhamF1: That’s T01 in Jerez done.. .almost… we stay for our filming day tomorrow but here’s today’s report | Full Story: http://t.co/iTPgmY7c

F1: Kimi Raikkonen’s deal with Lotus F1 Team involved a shareholding in the team? “He has no shareholding. It is a complete nonsense,” Eric Boullier said.

WRC: Jari-Matti Latvala pulled away from Mikko Hirvonen to establish a 17-second lead in Rally Sweden after the second loop of stages.

 MikeGascoyne: Over 350 laps for the test with almost no reliability issues. Always ran high fuel as well, pleased with pace on high fuel.

 MikeGascoyne: Test finished 117 laps today for Jarno who is happy with the car and steering, well done to the team.

F1: The first pre-season test for 2012 at Jerez, Spain, is over with the final Day 4 times below — these early test times usually mean nothing compared to the true pace of the cars….

All 2012 cars

 SkySportsF1: Sky Sports told that Charlie Whiting has declared the exhaust designs on the Ferrari and the McLaren to be legal.

F1: Pirelli believes its tyres are on course to deliver more exciting racing in 2012, following some encouraging results from this week’s test at Jerez in Spain.

WRC: Sebastien Loeb’s chances of victory in Rally Sweden look to be over after the world champion lost nearly two minutes with a mistake on SS7.

LeMans: Toyota has recruited ex-Peugeot driver Anthony Davidson and former Toro Rosso Formula 1 racer Sebastien Buemi for the driver squad in its second TS030 HYBRID.

F1: Williams and McLaren are confident that the FIA has a firm handle on the policing of exhaust designs in 2012, despite teams pushing the limit of the regulations to the maximum this year.

ALMS: Lucas Luhr topped official American Le Mans Series testing at Sebring this week on the maiden outing of HPD’s 2012-spec LMP1 car.

F1: FOTA has announced a Fan Forum for February 29. Ferrari will be there despite having left the body.

F1: Jarno Trulli gets his first action in the new 2012 Caterham today…

 InsideFerrari: We’re working on the car to make some changes and fix some issues. It will take some more time before Fernando will be back on track.

F1: 14:45 local time and RBR seem to have solved their electrical problem as Vettel racks up 12 timed laps and sits in 7th of 8 today.

 redbullracing: We have an electrical issue with Seb’s car at the moment. We’re working on it and aim to have him back out on track and running asap!

DTM: Bruno Spengler believes BMW is in excellent shape ahead of the new DTM season after making “another step forward,” during three days of testing at Estoril in Portugal.

F1: Developers of the Texas racetrack set to host the U.S. Grand Prix in November say they are on schedule. Construction manager Scott Kahler said Thursday workers have excavated about 85 percent of the Circuit of the Americas track near Austin and they expect to start putting down the first layers of asphalt in April.