Promising Frenchman Jules Bianchi will be Force India's reserve driver for this season while retaining his place as a member of Ferrari's young driver academy, the Formula One teams said on Friday.
Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton took pole for Mercedes at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
Quadruple Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel went for five on Friday with the German choosing to have that numeral on his car when he is eventually deposed as number one.
Images from the Malaysian Grand Prix race at Sepang Circuit.
Adrian Sutil says he is not desperate for a drive with Sahara Force India and if the team needs him they should approach him with an offer.
McLaren's Jenson Button set the pace in Spanish Grand Prix practice on Friday with half the field separated by little more than a second.
Even split seconds could not separate Romain Grosjean and Kamui Kobayashi at the top of the Formula One test timesheets at Italy's Mugello circuit on Wednesday.
Sauber's Mexican rookie Sergio Perez looked certain to miss Sunday's showcase Monaco Grand Prix after crashing heavily in qualifying and being taken to hospital.
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso scored a dramatic victory in the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday when the Spaniard denied Sauber's Sergio Perez a first Formula One victory in a race turned on its head by the weather.
British-based Force India, who have Mexican Sergio Perez and Germany's Nico Hulkenberg confirmed as drivers for 2016 and use Mercedes engines, contract out much of their chassis work to keep costs down.
Adrian Sutil could not have signed off the season in a better way as he achieved both the goals set for the Brazilian Grand Prix -- beating a Mercedes car and finishing ninth in drivers' championship.
Lewis Hamilton fell foul of the Formula One stewards once again Friday when he was handed a three-place penalty on the starting grid for the inaugural Indian Grand Prix after ignoring yellow warning flags in first practice.
Paul di Resta finished a career-best sixth, while Adrian Sutil ended at eighth, as Force India recorded its best result of the Formula One season with the team collecting 12 points at the Singapore Grand Prix, in Singapore, on Sunday.
Force India's Sergio Perez refused to rule out a move to Ferrari on Thursday, even though he denied any contact with the Italian Formula One team and said the rumours about his future reflected his form.
Adrian Sutil finished a creditable eighth, just ahead of team-mate Paul di Resta at the F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, as Sahara Force India recorded its third double top-10 finish of the season to consolidate its sixth position on the constructors' championship, in Abu Dhabi, on Sunday.
Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel completed a practice hat-trick on Saturday with the fastest time in a smog-shortened final session before qualifying for a race expected to bring him a fourth successive Formula One title.
Champions Mercedes are chasing a sixth successive double, and Lewis Hamilton his sixth drivers' title, but the task looks tougher than ever.
Polish Formula One driver Robert Kubica was flown to hospital on Sunday after a high speed crash while competing in a rally in Italy, his Renault team said in a statement.
As if not finishing the race at the Korean Grand Prix was not enough, Force India's Adrian Sutil was on Sunday handed a five-place grid penalty, carrying into next month's Brazillian GP.
Bahrain could replace Australia as 2010 Formula One season-opener while Canada may also reappear on the calendar, BMW-Sauber boss Mario Theissen said on Thursday. Australia has hosted the season-opener since 1996, although Bahrain took the slot in 2006 when the Melbourne race was moved back to avoid a clash with the Commonwealth Games in the same city.
Mexican Sergio Perez said he was on the up after finishing third in Sunday's Russian Grand Prix to hand Force India only the third podium finish in the team's Formula One history.
Robert Kubica will replace Fernando Alonso at Renault in 2010, French daily Le Figaro reported on its website (www.lefigaro.fr) on Monday.
Lotus, one of the most successful and glorious names from Formula One's past, will return next year with a Malaysian-owned team replacing BMW-Sauber as the 13th entry on the starting grid.
Events in Europe could reshape the F1 championship before teams regroup in China next week. The focus is on the International Automobile Federation and an appeal court hearing scheduled for Paris on April 14 that will make a definitive ruling on the sport's diffuser controversy. If the protesting teams -- BMW-Sauber, Ferrari, Red Bull and Renault -- succeed in overturning stewards' decisions from Australia and Malaysia, then Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams will be reined in.
After pipping Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel with a lap of one minute 23.599 seconds in the first practice, the Briton shaved almost a second in FP2, his quickest lap clocked at 1:22.60.
Force India did not say who the other driver would be, but that is assumed to be Canadian Lance Stroll whose billionaire father Lawrence heads a consortium that now controls the Silverstone-based outfit.
Formula One teams and the governing body remained locked in combat on Friday after the publication of a controversial 2010 entry list that included all 10 current teams as well as newcomers from America and Spain.
All 10 existing Formula One teams were included on the 2010 entry list on Friday along with two new US-based operations and one from Spain.
Formula One world champion Jenson Button thinks as many as seven teams could be battling it out throughout 2010 for the end-of-season honours.
Poland's Robert Kubica will replace Spain's double Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso at Renault next season, the team said in a statement on Wednesday. Kubica has driven for the BMW-Sauber team since 2006 while Alonso, one of the 24-year-old's best friends in the paddock, is moving to Ferrari next year.
Fernando Alonso has backed Robert Kubica to replace him at Renault after the double Formula One world champion joins Ferrari at the end of the season.
Nick Heidfeld joined the Mercedes Formula One team as test and reserve driver on Thursday, completing a trio of Germans in a line-up led by Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg.
Vitaly Petrov left his Lada driving days far behind on Sunday when he signed with Renault as Russia's first Formula One racer. The 25-year-old from Vyborg, near the Finnish border, was runner-up in last year's GP2 support series to Germany's Nico Hulkenberg, who makes his debut with Williams this season.
Britain's Paul di Resta is set to become a grand prix regular as Force India's reserve driver while compatriot Gary Paffett will be McLaren's main tester, according to team principal Martin Whitmarsh.
The Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams Formula One teams face an attempt to bar them from the Australian Grand Prix Thursday in a controversy that threatens to sour Sunday's season-opening race. The governing International Automobile Federation (FIA) said Red Bull, Renault and Ferrari have lodged protests on grounds the rivals' cars did not comply with technical regulations.
Formula One's struggling teams played down talk of a possible boycott of Sunday's U.S. Grand Prix on Friday as argument over division of the sport's revenues grew more heated on Friday.
Marussia's hopes of rising from the dead to race in next month's Formula One season-opener in Australia have suffered a setback after rivals rejected a proposal to let them compete with last year's car.
Formula One plunged into its biggest crisis in 60 years on Friday with eight of the 10 teams announcing plans to set up their own championship.
Former Renault driver Robert Kubica suffered a life-changing crash in 2011 when a steel guardrail penetrated his car and arm in a minor rally in north-west Italy.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
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