Formula One News — April 2009

Jenson Button set the fastest time of the afternoon session in Shanghai on Friday, beating Nico Rosberg's Williams-Toyota and Button's Brawn GP team-mate Rubens Barrichello. The three men were clear of the two Red Bull drivers, with Mark Webber beating Sebastian Vettel on this occasion.

Chinese GP - Friday Photos

Chinese GP - Friday Press Conference

Chinese GP - Friday Team Quotes

Chinese GP - Practice 2 Results

The first practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix resulted in the fastest time for Lewis Hamilton's McLaren, running one of the team's latest diffusers. The World Champion was ahead of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello in their Brawn-Mercedes. Heikki Kovalainen was fourth fastest.

Chinese GP - Practice 1 Results

Chinese GP - Thursday Press Conference

Formula 1 fans in the Gulf will get the chance to watch all the action from this weekend's Chinese GP on Bahrain's Channel 44, which will broadcast Arabic commentary during the qualifying and the races.

At a press conference held this morning at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, McLaren Group Chairman Ron Dennis announced a major restructuring of the McLaren Group.

Ron Dennis will hold a press conference in Woking in a few hours and there is speculation that he will stand down from all involvement in the McLaren Formula 1 team. People will draw their own conclusions about why this is happening.

On Thursday April 23rd, in the House of Lords, sometime after 2.30 pm, MIA President, Lord Astor of Hever is to ask Her Majesty's Government what assistance they will give to enable the British Formula 1 Grand Prix to continue.

The FIA has issued the following statement: "The FIA International Court of Appeal has decided to deny the appeals submitted against decisions numbered 16 to 24 taken by the Panel of the Stewards on 26 March at the 2009 Grand Prix of Australia and counting towards the 2009 FIA Formula One World Championship.

It has not been a good year for Ferrari with the worst start to a World Championship campaign since 1992. It is clear that the cars are not fast enough and the team has been making mistakes.

The Niagara Falls Review has been busy in recent days investigating a story about a $200m racing circuit development in the area. The idea makes sense. Niagara has been suffering in recent years with new US passport requirements, rising fuel costs, border delays, inclement weather and the weakening US economy all reducing the number of visitors.

Tonio Liuzzi took pole position for the A1GP race in Portugal, despite it being his first outing in the series. He beat Indycar driver Robert Doornbos, although the Dutchman took pole for the second A1GP race.

Mohammad Bin Sulayem, 14 times Middle East rally champion, who is now head of the local automobile federation and a close ally of FIA President Max Mosley, discovered the hard way that driving an f1 car is not an easy business.

Karmann, the German car parts supplier and contract manufacturer, has filed for bankruptcy protection as a result of the current economic crisis which has led to the cancellation of several projects.

Back in the 1960s Jean-Luc Lagardere was an electrical engineer working for the aviation company Dassault. It was not enough for him and in 1963 he quit to become the chief exceutive of one of Dassault's suppliers, a company called Engins Mecanique Aviation-Traction, but known as Matra.

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes has "been invited to appear before an Extraordinary Meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council in Paris on Wednesday, April 29, to answer charges that it is in breach of Article 151c of the International Sporting Code.

Force India reserve driver Tonio Liuzzi has decided that if he wants to get back into Formula 1 he needs to be racing, and with testing seriously restricted this year, the role of reserve driver is basically honorific, unless a team needs a replacement.

FIA President Max Mosley says that the federation is considering another radical cost-cutting idea for the long term: using the same basic engine in all the FIA's main categories: Formula 1, Formula 2, the World Rally Championship and the World Touring Car Championship.

Jenson Button won the Malaysian Grand Prix in his Brawn-Mercedes - but this was not an easy victory. The rains in Malaysia came down and caused mayhem. It was all very predictable given the start time of the race and the daily afternoon deluge. It may have worked well for the European TV audiences but it was not much fun for the drivers...

Malaysian GP - Race Notes

Malaysian GP - Sunday Press Conference