Force India's Adrian Sutil was demoted to the back row of the Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix starting grid on Saturday for impeding Red Bull's Mark Webber in qualifying. Webber qualified 19th of the 20 drivers after being obstructed by the German, who was 16th fastest, in the first part of qualifying at the Sakhir circuit.
Lewis Hamilton spent the off-season crisscrossing the globe to party with A-list celebrities but Formula One's reigning champion is adamant there will be no hangover when he returns to work at this week's season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
Japanese auto major, Nissan, which is setting up a Rs 4,500-crore (RS 45 billion) car-manufacturing facility with Renault in Chennai, said that the project is on schedule and that its first car would roll-out before summer 2010.
The France-Austria-Britain sequence of races poses a fresh logistical challenge for teams hitherto committed only to back-to-back weekends, with the 21-round season hurrying to the halfway point.
Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton will start the Malaysian GP eighth and ninth after collecting five place penalties.
Adrian Sutil outshone the likes of Lewis Hamilton to lap ninth quickest in both the practice sessions for Sunday's Australian Grand Prix as Force India's new car promised a turnaround in the fortune of the Vijay Mallya-owned outfit.
Reader Milind Dhanraj Patil sent us this picture from Germany.
Auto component sourcing has touched $3 billion in India and is expected to double by next financial year-end. Such sourcing has provided Indian players with the opportunity to charge a premium that varies between 5 and 10 per cent.
Formula One will have simpler, cheaper and noisier engines from 2021 as part of a "road map" for the future presented to teams on Tuesday that could entice new manufacturers to enter the sport.
Maruti Suzuki India continued its grip in the passenger vehicles market in India with five of its models in the top ten best selling models in June.
Charting out ambitious plans for India, Japanese automaker Nissan on Tuesday said it plans to have as many as nine models by 2012 out of which five will be locally made as it aims to garner around five per cent of the market.
Fernando Alonso has said he will do what he can to help Ferrari's Felipe Massa beat Lewis Hamilton to the Formula One title.
Renault's Fernando Alonso stormed to his second straight win at the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday while McLaren's championship leader Lewis Hamilton failed to score.
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton will start the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix from pole position after setting the fastest time in qualifying on Saturday.
Ferrari's on-form Felipe Massa set the pace in Belgian Grand Prix free practice on Friday while world champion team mate Kimi Raikkonen again looked out of sorts.
Bringing Fernando Alonso to Ferrari to partner world champion Kimi Raikkonen would not be desirable, team president Luca di Montezemolo said on Tuesday. "To line up a Raikkonen-Alonso double act would mean wanting to damage yourself. I want two equal drivers that work together," the president said.
Hamilton held off a mid-race challenge from Red Bull's Max Verstappen to register a record-equalling fourth triumph at the floodlit Marina Bay Street Circuit track, while Vettel finished third to slip further behind in the title race.
Giancarlo Fisichella vividly remembers how his decision to join Force India evoked sneers from his peers. But it took him just three races to embarrass the naysayers and the veteran Italian driver says he now feels vindicated.
Maruti Suzuki is the big exception, with double-digit surge in volume
The measures government takes next to push economic growth will be the key for automotive sector
Formula One championship leader Lewis Hamilton put McLaren on pole position for engine partners Mercedes' home German Grand Prix/
Reader Milind Dhanraj Patil spotted Spain's former world champion Fernando Alonso at Walldorf, Germany.
The design of the rear doors and C-Pillar for example seem inspired by the Suzuki iv-4 concept crossover.
According to the Auto Component Manufacturers Association, the apex body of component makers in India, global sourcing of components from the country will double from $2.95 billion to $5.9 billion in 2008-09, and is slated to hit $20 billion in seven years.
Renault's Fernando Alonso set the pace in Brazilian Grand Prix practice on Friday while home hero Felipe Massa lapped comfortably quicker than title favourite Lewis Hamilton. Alonso, who took his two Formula One titles at Interlagos in 2005 and 2006 but is out of the reckoning this time, set a best time of one minute 12.296 seconds on a damp and blustery afternoon.
As other global car makers struggle in India to keep sales consistent, the Korean player has made a heady combination out of design, launches and localisation.
Adding to its list of Ford, Maruti, Hyundai, Toyota, Tata Steel now boasts of Nissan and Volkswagen as buyers of Tata Steel.
French driver Romain Grosjean made his Formula One test debut for former champions Renault at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya.
Team mate Sebastian Vettel was second fastest to complete the front-row sweep, with championship leader Lewis Hamilton third for Mercedes.
The new age XUV500 is the most valuable product from Mahindra
Nissan, Japan's third largest car maker in which Renault holds 44 per cent stake, will churn out three models based on a single platform from its manufacturing base in Chennai by 2010. The car will be sold in five countries categorised by the company as the leading competitive countries. The car, based on the A platform, will be produced in these countries that include India and Tailand.
Twice Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso said on Thursday he will decide his future shortly but dismissed media reports that he will make an announcement next week. He said reports that he would disclose his intentions in Monza next week are incorrect.
Ferrari's world champion and Formula One leader Kimi Raikkonen took his first pole position of the season at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Three models from Maruti Suzuki, as well as models from Mahindra-Renault, Chevrolet, Toyota and Honda have got top rankings in their respective segments in a survey for new-vehicle design and performance in India, according to J D Power Asia Pacific 2007 India Automatic Performance, Execution and Layout Study (APEAL) released on Wednesday.
Car makers are trying hard to boost sales in India.
The only reason why the Marazzo interests you is because your budget doesn't afford you the better MPV, the Toyota Innova and that's where Mahindra has played the masterstroke, the price, it fits right between the Ertiga and Innova and if you want an MPV in this price bracket, the Marazzo is just unbeatable.
Decision comes weeks after the company pulls out of a joint venture with Renault and Nissan for a facility there. Commercial production at Chakan is expected to start in two years, about the same time Renault and Nissan will launch production at the Chennai unit. Pawan Goenka, president (automotive sector), M&M, told Business Standard that the company is committed to invest in the south, where a new plant will be set up near Chennai.
"It is a recognition of your remarkable career in the business community in Mumbai and on the part you took in the establishment of the partnership between Mahindra and Renault," French Ambassador to India Jerome Bonnafont said in a letter informing Nanda of the award.
The Swift gets the boot! We preview the new Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire.
Germany's Daimler AG, known for its luxury cars and high-end commercial vehicles, has pulled out of the race to acquire a strategic stake in the Delhi-based commercial vehicles maker Eicher Motors.
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