Ferrari will still win the Formula One championship despite failing to score any points in Britain at the weekend, according to their double world champion Fernando Alonso.
VJM-04, Force India's car for the 2011 Formula One season, completed its first ever laps with Adrian Sutil on driving duties on the first day of the second pre-season test at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit in Spain.
Fernando Alonso declared himself back in the Formula One title race on Sunday after finishing third in a Canadian Grand Prix that left Ferrari team mate Felipe Massa cursing his misfortune. The Spaniard has struggled to keep pace with Red Bull and McLaren since winning the opening race of the season in Bahrain but believes he is back in business after finishing behind McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button in Montreal.
Fernando Alonso has shrugged off accusatory comments by future Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa and said their relationship would not suffer next season. Massa caused a storm ahead of his home Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday when he told local reporters Renault's double world champion Alonso must have known about his team's tactics in last year's Singapore Grand Prix that helped the Spaniard win.
Fernando Alonso agreed to join Ferrari some months ago, the ecstatic Spaniard said on Wednesday after his three-year deal was announced.
Renault's Fernando Alonso will replace Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari next season, the Italian team said Wednesday. Spain's Alonso, World champion in 2005 and 2006, has signed a three-year deal and will partner Felipe Massa next year.
A red letter day for Formula One glamour team Ferrari this weekend provides the perfect occasion for Felipe Massa to rekindle his Turkish Grand Prix love affair. Sunday's seventh round of the season will be the scuderia's 800th Grand Prix, a milestone no other team is close to matching, and the Italians would dearly love to celebrate in style.
Kimi Raikkonen is not assured of racing for Ferrari in Formula One next season, team president Luca di Montezemolo said on Wednesday. Rumours have swirled for months that Raikkonen will be replaced by Renault's Fernando Alonso for next year despite the Finn's contract with Ferrari running until the end of 2010.
Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi will replace compatriot Giancarlo Fisichella at Force India for the remaining five races of the season, the Formula One team said on Monday.
The old men of Formula One were first and last in opening European Grand Prix practice on Friday with Rubens Barrichello quickest while Ferrari stand-in Luca Badoer was a second slower than anyone else. Badoer, the 38-year-old Italian preparing for his first start in a decade after Brazilian Felipe Massa was seriously injured in Hungary, was watched by retired seven-times champion Michael Schumacher.
Ferrari still want MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi to race for them next year if they manage to change Formula One rules and enter a third car.
Michael Schumacher continued preparing for his return to Formula One with a second day of kart racing in northern Italy on Thursday.
Injured Ferrari driver Felipe Massa left the hospital in Sao Paulo on Tuesday after a series of medical tests ruled out the need for further surgery, his personal physician said.
Ferrari vented their frustration at rivals Williams and Red Bull Tuesday after the teams said they are opposed to Michael Schumacher testing injured Brazilian Felipe Massa's F60 car. Seven-times world champion Schumacher, who retired in 2006, is set to fill in for Ferrari while Massa recovers.
World champion Kimi Raikkonen will not be given preferential treatment over Brazilian team mate Felipe Massa this season, Ferrari's new team boss Stefano Domenicali said on Wednesday.
Michael Schumacher has not ruled out standing in for injured Ferrari Formula One driver Felipe Massa although a comeback is highly unlikely, the retired champion's spokeswoman said on Tuesday.
Injured Formula One driver Felipe Massa has been brought out of an artificial coma, was taken off a respirator and has been able to communicate with his doctors and family representatives, his doctors said on Monday. Brazilian Massa fractured his skull in an accident during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix on Saturday when he was hit just above his left eye by a bouncing spring, weighing almost a kilo, that broke free from compatriot Rubens Barrichello's Brawn car.
Injured Formula One driver Felipe Massa is out of imminent life-threatening danger but is being kept under sedation to protect his brain after his accident, doctors said on Monday. Brazilian Massa fractured his skull in an accident during qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix on Saturday when he was hit on the head by a bouncing spring, weighing almost a kilo, that broke free from compatriot Rubens Barrichello's Brawn GP car.
Lewis Hamilton ended a long-running Formula One feud with Felipe Massa on Sunday by walking up to the Ferrari driver after the Brazilian Grand Prix and giving him a hug.
Fernando Alonso put Ferrari on pole position for their home Italian Grand Prix on Saturday to end a Formula One drought extending back to the end of 2008.
Brazilian Formula One driver Felipe Massa has said he knew that disgraced former Renault driver Nelson Piquet Junior had deliberately crashed his car and confronted him about it before it was exposed.
McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen celebrated a shock maiden win at the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday after Ferrari's Felipe Massa suffered an engine failure while leading with three laps remaining.
This year's Formula One championship could be over halfway through the season unless teams find a way to stop the incredible new Brawn GP outfit, Ferrari driver Felipe Massa said on Saturday. Ferrari have won a record 16 constructors' championships, including the last two, but Massa said the sport's newcomers appeared to be in a class of their own after a stunning debut in qualifying for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
Felipe Massa denied that he has become Ferrari's number two driver and said on Thursday he is out to win in Hungary this weekend.
Fernando Alonso got the win that he wanted in Sunday's German Grand Prix while his Ferrari Formula One team paid the price with a fine of $100,000.
Fernando Alonso led a Ferrari one-two in the German Grand Prix on Sunday after denying Brazilian team-mate Felipe Massa an emotional victory one year on from a near-fatal crash.
Fernando Alonso led a Ferrari one-two in the German Grand Prix on Sunday after denying Brazilian team mate Felipe Massa an emotional victory one year on from a near-fatal crash.
Renault's Fernando Alonso made his peace with future Ferrari team mate Felipe Massa on Friday before setting the pace in free practice for the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos. While the Spaniard lapped with a best time of one minute 12.314 seconds, Brazilian Rubens Barrichello was the fastest of the three championship contenders ahead of what could be a title-deciding race on Sunday.
Already accused of buckling under the pressure, Formula One leader Jenson Button has the added strain of racing against a fired-up Giancarlo Fisichella at Monza on Sunday. Champions Ferrari made one of Fisichella's dreams come true when they drafted in the Roman as a replacement for compatriot Luca Badoer, himself standing in for injured Brazilian Felipe Massa, last week.
Italian Giancarlo Fisichella did his utmost to impress Ferrari with a jaw-dropping pole position for Force India at the Belgian Grand Prix on Saturday. With compatriot Luca Badoer spinning out and qualifying last for the second race in a row as stand-in for Ferrari's injured Brazilian Felipe Massa, Fisichella saw his chance and grabbed it with both hands in a qualifying session that almost defied belief.
Formula One champions Ferrari could replace stand-in driver Luca Badoer if the Italian does not raise his game significantly in Belgium next weekend.
Had he not jumped the start, Fernando Alonso might have won Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix and gone home with his second win in four races. As it was, in a chaotic race rich in incident, Spain's feisty double world champion provided a talking point later on with a move full of significance for the Ferrari driver's season.
Italian Luca Badoer is up to the challenge after being handed a race drive by Ferrari when Michael Schumacher cancelled plans for a temporary return to Formula One, he said on Tuesday. Seven-times world champion Schumacher was due to replace the injured Felipe Massa but had to pull out with a neck problem, handing a golden opportunity to the team's experienced test driver.
Michael Schumacher will test Ferrari's 2007 race car again this week in preparation for his return to Formula One as a replacement for the injured Felipe Massa. The seven-times world champion, who had a day of testing in the F2007 at the circuit near Florence 10 days ago, cannot try out the F60 car before the European Grand Prix in Valencia on August 23 because track testing is banned during the season.
Red Bull and Williams are opposed to Ferrari's request to let Michael Schumacher test in Felipe Massa's F60 car as the seven-times world champion prepares to return to Formula One in place of the injured Brazilian. In a statement, Williams chief Frank Williams said the FIA would be setting a precedent if Schumacher is allowed to test.
Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton said on Thursday it would be an "honour and a privilege" to race against Michael Schumacher following the German's shock return to the sport. Schumacher, now 40, retired from Formula One at the end of 2006 but is expected to make his comeback for Ferrari in Valencia, Spain next month in place of Felipe Massa.
Ferrari's Felipe Massa delighted his home fans with pole position for the title-deciding Brazilian Grand Prix on Saturday while championship favourite Lewis Hamilton qualified only fourth.
Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton won the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday to mark McLaren's return to form after a slump of 10 races without success. Kimi Raikkonen, driving the only Ferrari in the race after Brazilian team mate Felipe Massa suffered a serious head injury in qualifying, was second but under investigation by stewards for colliding with Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel at the start.
Ferrari's Felipe Massa will be kept under sedation for 48 hours after fracturing his skull in a freak accident at the Hungarian Grand Prix, a hospital doctor attending the Formula One driver said on Sunday. Peter Bazso said the 28-year-old Brazilian is in a stable condition after surgery at Budapest's AEK military hospital on Saturday. A brain scan on Sunday has produced reassuring results.
Ferrari's Felipe Massa will miss Sunday's Hungarian Formula One Grand Prix after being hit on the helmet by debris in qualifying and being taken to hospital for surgery to a head wound, a team spokesman said.
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