Full Throttle

In what is surely the final death rattle for the Canadian Grand Prix Gérald Tremblay, Mayor of Montréal, has called Bernie Ecclestone’s demands “unreasonable.”

It’s been a strange year for Jeff Gordon to say the least. He’s watched teammate Jimmie Johnson put on another Sprint Cup clinic and new arrival Dale Earnhardt Jr. take some of the media spotlight off the four-time Sprint Cup Champ.

Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo has joked that he wants Kimi Raikkonen’s slower and less motivated ’stunt double’ to step aside in 2009 for the real Raikkonen.
The Finn, who only a year ago was wallowing in championship glory having beaten Lewis Hamilton to the title in Brazil, endured a trying season this year, his apparent [...]

Good-day mate works for meeting someone in the land of Kangaroos and Vegemite, but how so you say good-by? The “exiting salutation” is needed, according to several sources negotiations between the local government and IndyCar have been broken off.

There are various reports out of Australia claiming Craig Gore, co-owner of Team Australia with Kalkhoven and Jimmy Vasser, is about to pack up and leave IndyCar and possibly auto racing in all its forms.

Force India owner Vijay Mallya terminated the team’s contract with Ferrari as its engine supplier. The agreement was supposed to last through 2009, but Mallya wasn’t confident in Ferrari’s ability to supply the team with a complete engine, gearbox, KERS package for 2009.

After Tub supply problems forced the first A1 event to be canceled, the second round at Zandoort featured untold carnage of totaled cars and many major pieces as some teams played pinball wizard with other cars and barriers.

The 23-year-old McLaren driver returned to Stevenage where he grew up earlier this week and where the local council have plans to name a road after him.

The World Motor Sport Council met in Paris in order to review several matters, including a reform of the procedures stewards will follow starting with next year’s races. The WMSC confirmed the use of three-race engines as well.

The Senna name returns to Formula One this month when Bruno, nephew of the late three-time champion Ayrton, tests for the Honda Racing team.
The GP2 championship runner-up will join Honda for the team’s first test of the winter in Barcelona from 17 to 19 November.
The Brazilian, 25, will test this year’s RA108 as Honda evaluate [...]

Britain’s last world champion Damon Hill has paid tribute to Lewis Hamilton, who became the sport’s youngest ever title-holder in a dramatic season finale in Brazil.

Lewis Hamilton has been crowned Formula One champion after finishing fifth in the Brazil Grand Prix.

History suggests Lewis Hamilton’s path to the world title today is strewn with hazards. In the 57 years years since its inauguration, the Formula One Drivers Championship has gone down to the final race on just 25 occasions.
Only nine drivers have managed to overhaul a deficit going into the final race to become come-from-behind champions. [...]

On home soil, Massa thrilled his army of fans by clinching pole for the third successive year, with Toyota’s Jarno Trulli and Massa’s Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen also ahead of Hamilton.

Lewis Hamilton admits he will be inspired by the memory of Ayrton Senna when he bids for his first world title in Brazil this weekend. The legendary Senna is buried at Morumbi cemetery, 10 kilometres away from the Interlagos circuit where Hamilton hopes to be crowned on Sunday.

Olympiacos fans will have a home-town hero aboard their car at the latest round of the Superleague Formula at Vallelunga this weekend with Greek racer Stamatis Katsimis making his debut.

The Australian Formula One Grand Prix lost a record A$40 million ($26.7 million) in 2008, organizers said on Thursday.

Enzo Ferrari famously once said “Aerodynamics is for those who cannot manufacture good engines” must be spinning in his grave at the FIA’s attempt at “homogenizing” F1’s engine supply.

Alan Jones, Formula 1 world champion in 1980, confirmed yesterday that A1GP had made a pitch to the Queensland Government should, as expected, the Indy Racing League withdraw from the Gold Coast.
“Sources” said the fact that the Government had started talks with rival events was the clearest indicator yet that this year’s Indy would be [...]

Almost a year after he last raced in single-seaters, and losing his NASCAR ride for lack of sponsorship, Dario Franchitti signaled his return to open wheel by posting the third-quickest time in pre-qualifying for tomorrow’s race at Surfers’ Paradise in Australia.