Formula One News — December 2012

Twenty-one-year-old Max Chilton will become the fourth British driver on the F1 grid in 2013. As expected, Marussia has confirmed Chilton, who had his F1 baptism in free practice at Abu Dhabi, as replacement for Frenchman Charles Pic, who has moved to Caterham. By Tony Dodgins (@TonyDodgins)

Williams chief operations engineer Mark Gillan has left the team. Gillan, along with Mike Coughlan, was a key part of a much improved Williams performance level in 2012 after the team suffered one of the worst years in its history last season. By Tony Dodgins (@TonyDodgins)

Despite recent stories linking Kamui Kobayashi and others to Lotus, the team has confirmed Romain Grosjean alongside Kimi Raikkonen for 2013. Grosjean, who won last weekend's Race of Champions, was in the headlines for both the right and wrong reasons throughout 2012.

Norbert Haug is to quit as Mercedes Motorsport boss at the end of the month after 22 years in the job. Haug celebrated his 60th bithday at the recent Brazilian GP.

Former Williams chairman Adam parr, who resigned from the team in March, has questioned whether some of the deals offered to leading F1 teams infringe European Commission laws.

The 2013 German GP, scheduled for July 14, has been brought forward a week to July 07, and will now run back-to-back with the British GP on June 30.

Iconic luxury Swiss watchmaker Rolex has signed a deal to become a major long-term partner of Formula 1 from 2013 as official timekeeper and official timepiece.

Silverstone, home to the British GP, is to take a number of steps to improve conditions for spectators in the event of more weather related issues such as those that caused chaos on the opening day of this year's event.

Former grand prix driver JJ Lehto has been cleared of charges over a boating accident in 2010, which killed a friend, and for which Lehto was originally sentenced to two years and four months in prison.