Reversed starting grids, one of several proposals under discussion by Formula One team bosses on Tuesday in meetings about the sport's future look and direction, would spell "disaster", according to French driver Romain Grosjean. The concept of setting the grid by reversing the order of the top 10 drivers from qualifying, so that the fastest starts 10th, has been discussed previously to make races less predictable. The usual front-runners would then have to fight through the field rather than pulling clear at the front without being challenged. Championship points would be awarded for qualifying to give drivers every incentive to chase pole position. Grosjean, now with the new U.S.-owned Haas F1 team, experienced the reversed format on his way to winning the GP2 feeder series. "Disaster," he told Reuters when asked about the idea during pre-season testing. "I've been doing it in GP2 and it's probably why you win the title but it's not why you win races." Grosjean said making cars harder and more physical to drive, and drivers more susceptible to fatigue and mistakes, would have the same end result in terms of adding to the excitement without being artificial.
'Every great Formula One season is marked by a great rivalry. Last year it was our internal battle between Lewis and Nico and this year it seems that the fight is on between Ferrari and Mercedes and Lewis and Sebastian'
Three-time world champion Lewis Hamilton dominated practice at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Friday, putting Mercedes on top of the timesheets and leaving his Formula One rivals with plenty to ponder before the weekend.
Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene welcomed back the Kimi Raikkonen of old on Sunday.
Max Verstappen gave himself a perfect 20th birthday present by winning the last Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday, while Lewis Hamilton stretched his Formula One world championship lead to 34 points.
'I'm the first one to say we shouldn't be speaking bad about things on TV, but I think the new qualifying format is pretty rubbish'
Sebastian Vettel's hopes of vaulting back into the overall Formula One world championship lead were wrecked by a first corner collision on the opening lap of the Singapore Grand Prix.
There has long been speculation about whether Audi might be tempted into Formula One.
Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel battle to match the late Argentine's 1950s feat of five world championships.
A prototype 'halo' head protection device made its Formula One test debut in Spain on Thursday, with Kimi Raikkonen declaring visibility to be 'okay' after lapping with it attached to the cockpit of his Ferrari.
The German secured his first pole since Spain in May when the red flags came out with 36 seconds remaining, leaving team mate and championship leader Lewis Hamilton no chance of claiming a 12th pole in 14 races.
Red Bull's Mark Webber faces a 10-place grid penalty at the Korean Grand Prix after being reprimanded for hitching a lift on Fernando Alonso's Ferrari at the end of Sunday's race in Singapore.
Formula One is braced for the next episode of the Max Verstappen show as Red Bull's teen sensation heads for Ferrari's home circuit only days after making the Italian team's drivers see red. While triple world champion Lewis Hamilton is aiming for his 50th grand prix win on Sunday, to become the first since Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio in the 1950s to win three years in a row at Monza, Verstappen will be the talk of the town.
Lewis Hamilton heads into Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix fired up to complete a hat-trick of victories and seize the lead in the Formula One title race for the first time this season.
Lewis Hamilton won his home British Grand Prix for the third year in a row on Sunday with Mercedes team mate and title rival Nico Rosberg finishing second but under a stewards' investigation.
Portugal's Rui Costa kept his composure in a tense finale to upset the favourites and clinch the cycling world championships road race on Sunday.
Fernando Alonso is leaving Ferrari at the end of the season because he wants a fresh environment and needs to be winning again, the Formula One team's ex-chairman Luca di Montezemolo said on Wednesday.
Germany's Nico Rosberg won the Italian Grand Prix for dominant Mercedes on Sunday to cut teammate Lewis Hamilton's Formula One world championship lead to two points with seven races remaining.
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has received a flurry of criticism from the Formula One world, including legendary driver Niki Lauda who asked him to consult a psychiatrist after the teenage driver was involved in a three-car collision in last week's Belgian Grand Prix.
Formula One has a reputation for being exclusive and inaccessible compared to series like the world endurance championship, where fans have much more access to the paddock and drivers during race weekends. But the sport is set for a revamp.
'It was probably one of the most difficult decisions to take in my career so far. But I thought that it was time for me to take on a fresh and new challenge'
Formula One has banned from next week's Singapore Grand Prix all radio communications that help improve the performance of the car or driver in a move that could add another twist to the title battle between Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton.
Formula One would rather cater for rich over-70s than chase a younger generation that cannot afford luxury watches and is more interested in social media, according to commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone.
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, Vettel's closest title rival with a 46 point gap to make up, qualified fifth and behind Brazilian team mate Felipe Massa.
Ferrari were the fastest in pre-season testing, raising suspicions that their new SF70H car has closed the chasm between Mercedes and the rest.
Dutch teenager Max Verstappen became Formula One's youngest race winner on Sunday in a sensational Spanish Grand Prix that saw dominant Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg collide on the opening lap.
When compared to the 1960 original, The Magnificent Seven thrills only sporadically, says Dhruv Munjal.
Four times Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel decided to leave Red Bull because he needed new motivation after a frustrating season, team consultant Helmut Marko said.
A Ferrari victory was the shot in the arm that Formula One needed.
Russian Grand Prix winner Lewis Hamilton might cover the distance in a matter of minutes but it has taken more than half a century for Mercedes to add their names to the likes of Ferrari, McLaren and Williams.
Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has backed a clampdown on the use of team radio to help drivers, claiming it was his idea and suggesting more restrictions should be considered.
Will things be the same at Bahrain? Here's where we look to the front - by looking at what we've learnt.
Lewis Hamilton can set more British Formula One records in Brazil this weekend but it is the world championship he wants and that will have to wait.
Bernie Ecclestone risks losing his decades-old grip on Formula One motor racing this year, when legal action stemming from the sale of a stake in the sport eight years ago reaches a climax.
Red Bull's quadruple World champion Sebastian Vettel won the US Grand Prix on Sunday to become the first Formula One driver to take eight consecutive victories in a single season. Starting from pole, the 26-year-old German was again in a class of his own, taking the chequered flag 6.2 seconds clear of Frenchman Romain Grosjean in a Lotus.
Kimi Raikkonen made clear on Friday that his Lotus Formula One team had issues to resolve before he could have serious discussions about staying on next season.
Lewis Hamilton will be aiming for a big win in Texas this weekend, even if the Formula One starting grid is the smallest he has ever known it with the absence of backmarker teams Marussia and Caterham.
Lewis Hamilton walked away from a heavy crash after putting in the first laps of Formula One's new turbo era in testing with Mercedes on Tuesday.
Lewis Hamilton won the inaugural Russian Formula One Grand Prix and extended his championship lead on Sunday in a Mercedes one-two that clinched the team's first constructors' title.
If Formula One stands on the edge of the unknown, with new technologies and a very different engine to last year, then the start of pre-season testing on Tuesday should at least show what the future sounds like.
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