Formula One News — March 2009

Nico Rosberg put Williams back on top of the timesheets for the second session of the day, underlining the performance of the Grove team. The best lap was a 1m26.053s, which was seven-tenths of a second faster than the 2008 pole position time.

Australian GP - Friday Photos

Australian GP - Friday Press Conference

Australian GP - Friday Team Quotes

Australian GP - Practice 2 Results

The opening session of practice for the Australian Grand Prix will have warmed the hearts of the folks inthe Oxford area as Williams F1 ended the 90 minute session first and second on the timesheets. Nico Rosberg was just a fraction faster than team-mate Kazuki Nakajima, but both were ahead of the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen.

Australian GP - Practice 1 Results

Australian GP - Thursday Press Conference

The Times in London is reporting that Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group is to invest in Formula 1 for the first time as a significant team sponsor of the Brawn GP team which became favourite to win Sunday's Australian Grand Prix after the decision about diffsuers was made.

As expected the Thursday in Melbourne was dominated by arguments over the legality of the diffusers of the Brawn, Toyota and Williams F1 cars. The controversial designs were challenged by Ferrari, Red Bull and Renault, who wanted a clarification on the new rules.

The Korea Auto Valley Operation has released its logo for the 2010 F1 Korean Grand Prix. KAVO is the promoter of the event. The basic design idea of the official branding resembles the Korean national flag.

Anthony Davidson will act as the test driver for the Brawn GP team this year - in addition to his role as a commentator with BBC Radio 5.

The FIA has announced the definitive entry list, allowing for a change in the status of Brawn GP. The team is now officially a new entrant in Formula 1, but the FIA has agreed that it will waive the fee for joining the championship.

FIA President Max Mosley and representatives of the Grand Prix Drivers Association (GPDA) have met and a proposal will be made to the FIA World Motor Sport Council to revise super licence fees for drivers in the 2010 World Championship. This wouldd be in line with the cost-cutting that has been going on in recent weeks.

There are reports in various places, culled from a Bulgarian newspaper, which suggest that there are plans to build a Formula 1 track in that country. This seems wildly optimistic.

The FIA says ti will defer the new points system until 2010. The World Motor Sport Council unanimously rejected FOTA's proposed amendment to the points system and adopted a "winner takes all" proposal, but the teams have now objected.

Following the decision of the World Motorsport Council of the 17 March 2009 to change the way the drivers™ championship is awarded, the teams gathered and unanimously agreed to question the validity of this decision.

The final day of the Jerez testing, with only two teams still running, resulted in Kazuki Nakajima going fastest of the week with a best of 1m17.494s, which was seven-tenths quicker than the fastest time set by Jenson Button's Brawn earlier in the week.

With the final day of testing before the start of the season all eyes will be on Jerez de la Frontera to see whether McLaren has been sandbagging - or whether the team really has had the serious problems that have been reported.

McLaren announced earlier this week that Tyler Alexander is to retire, 46 years after he first joined the team. But we hear that the 68-year-old American may not be finished with the sport yet, as his passion, enthusiasm and technical experience could still be useful to another F1 team.

The Formula One Teams' Association had to react to the FIA proposals for 2010, but found itself in the very difficult position of having been given much of what it wanted. It is hard to argue against the FIA's moves when one has declared that one wants to reduce costs and maintain the DNA of modern Formula 1.

The FIA has ruled that teams will be allowed to carry out three one-day "young driver training tests" between the end of the last race of the championship and December 31.

The FIA World Motor Sport Council has accepted the proposal put forward by Formula One Management to award the Drivers™ World Championship to the driver who has won the most races during the season.

The Honda Racing F1 Team requested to change its name to the Brawn GP Formula 1 Team and the FIA World Council has accepted this request on the basis that the team is, in effect, a new entry in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship.

The World Motor Sport Council agreed a radical addendum to the current Formula 1 Technical Regulations to come into force for 2010. The aim is to make it easier for new teams to enter and also allow existing teams to participate on much reduced budgets should they so choose.