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Renault F1 have announced that team principal Flavio Briatore and engineering chief Pat Symonds have left the team and that they will "not dispute" the allegations of race-fixing when they appear before the FIA’s World Motor Sport Council on Monday.

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Force India’s Giancarlo Fisichella took a surprise pole position for the Belgian Grand Prix. Force India’s first pole in Formula 1. Toyota’s Jarno Trulli will start second for Sunday’s race ahead of BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld and Barrichello’s Brawn. Championship leader Jenson Button qualified 14th.

2009 Belgium Grand Prix - Live Thread is up on/off mash here to get added/removed

European GP Live thread is up...

This will be a general purpose thread for F1 news and pings that really don't require a thread of their own.

Michael Schumacher will make a shock return to Formula 1 to replace injured Ferrari driver Felipe Massa.The seven-time world champion retired at the end of 2006 but will drive at the European Grand Prix on 23 August.Ferrari said the 40-year-old will stand in for as long as Massa is sidelined by the serious head injuries he sustained in Hungarian Grand Prix qualifying.

The future of Formula 1 has been secured after the sport's governing body and 12 teams put pen to paper on a new Concorde Agreement. The agreement, which runs until the end of 2012, brings to a close months of wrangling between the FIA and the Formula 1 Teams' Association (Fota). The FIA said the signing heralds "a renewed period of stability" for F1.

Reigning F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton says it will be "an honour and a privilege" to race against seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher. The German is coming out of retirement to drive for Ferrari while Felipe Massa recovers from a crash and will return to racing at the European Grand Prix. "He is one of the sport's greatest competitors, a legend - it'd be great to compete against him," said Hamilton.

Lewis Hamilton clocked the quickest lap of the day during the second practice session for the Hungarian Grand Prix. McLaren's world champion left it late with a lap 0.047 seconds faster than team-mate Heikki Kovalainen, who had topped the morning timesheets. A low-key day for Brawn's Jenson Button ended with the championship leader posting the 13th fastest time. Red Bull's championship-chasing duo Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel were fourth and sixth fastest respectively.

« Previous | Main F1 on verge of landmark peace deal Post categories: Formula 1 Andrew Benson | 16:28 UK time, Thursday, 23 July 2009 Formula 1 is agonisingly close to an agreement that will end the political conflict besetting the sport this year - and insiders expect a deal to be signed as soon as the end of this week. The F1 teams are in the final stages of negotiations on the various documents that need to be finalised to usher in a new era of peace, securing all the interested parties to the sport until the end of...

1517: The fall-out from "Rubinho rage" continues on the Red Button, with Frank Williams describing it as a "red card offence". I'm going to stop going on now, but please continue to enjoy live streaming (in the UK) or pore over Andrew Benson's report. I'll see you in (virtual) Hungary on 24 July.

Bulgarian motorsport officials will meet Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone next week as they aim to try to secure a grand prix from 2011. The Bulgarian Motorcycling Federation's (BMF) grand prix organising committee chief Rumen Petkov has been invited by Ecclestone to the German Grand Prix. The BMF have two projects for a circuit and want Ecclestone's opinion, with the town of Pleven being a likely venue. Bulgaria has already signed a deal to host MotoGP motorbike racing from 2012. The country is also on the provisional schedule for the 2010 World Rally Championship. "We submitted a plan a few...

Motorsport boss Max Mosley has claimed Formula 1's peace deal could be jeopardised by continuing antagonism between him and the sport's teams.He accused the F1 Teams' Association (Fota) of misleading the media after an agreement to end the sport's civil war. "If you wish the agreement we made to have any chance of survival, you must rectify your actions," Mosley said. Mosley, who had said he would not stand for re-election in October, added that he now considered his "options open". In the letter, written on Wednesday to Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo, the chairman of Fota, Mosley accused Fota...

Formula 1 woke up this morning to an unfamiliar feeling - there has been a power struggle and Max Mosley lost. Sure, the agreement that ended the threat of eight of F1's 10 teams quitting the sport and racing in a breakaway championship next year can be dressed up as the FIA president getting what he wanted - and Mosley himself tried to do just that on Wednesday - but the bottom line is that the 'rebel' teams prevailed on every one of their demands.

The Ferrari car company faces a $100m (£60.4m) fine from the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA), the governing body of Formula One, over its threats to set up a rival racing series. In the build-up to today’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone, Ferrari and seven of the sport’s biggest names announced that they would quit F1 in 2010 due to a dispute over new regulations including a budget cap. If a rival series gets off the ground then the value of Formula One Administration (FOA), F1’s rights-holder which is majority owned by private equity firm CVC, could hit the wall....

When Kimi Raikkonen, racing for Ferrari, won the 2007 Formula One world championship on Sunday, it definitely had the feeling of karma finally coming back around for him — although it took a while to develop. After qualifying on Saturday, Raikkonen sat third, behind Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton, who qualified first and second. Fernando Alonso was fourth. At that point, it would’ve been tough to believe in a Raikkonen title. Then Hamilton made a big mistake. Fighting Alonso for position through the fourth corner, he braked late and ran wide, falling behind and tracking over the...

SAO PAULO, Oct 21 (Reuters) - A gearbox glitch cost Lewis Hamilton a place in the history books as Formula One's youngest world champion, McLaren team boss Ron Dennis said on Sunday.

McLaren achieved the first part of their plan for the weekend by taking the two top qualifying slots for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza on Saturday. Fernando Alonso held a small but crucial advantage over team mate Lewis Hamilton throughout the three sessions, and took the pole with a best lap of 1m 21.997s, having earlier set the fastest lap thus far this weekend of 1m 21.356s in the second.

British sensation LEWIS HAMILTON continues to lead the FIA Drivers Championship in his rookie year. Have to wonder when the US media is going to notice this kid, he's fast becoming motor racing's Tiger Woods, except he's a Brit.

Two-second penalties for both Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher set up a thrilling qualifying session for the Hungarian Grand Prix on Saturday afternoon. With the two key championship contenders eliminated before the top-ten shootout, the honours for pole position fell right at the very end to McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen, whose last-gasp lap of 1m 19.599s came just as Felipe Massa looked to have bagged the first Formula One pole of his career. Also, Hungarian Grand Prix stewards have cancelled American Scott Speed’s three fastest qualifying times as punishment for impeding another driver during Saturday’s session. The move means the Toro...

Kimi Raikkonen repeated his 2005 qualifying position for McLaren at Hockenheim on Saturday afternoon to beat Michael Schumacher. But with Felipe Massa third, Ferrari look very threatening despite too much oversteer in the final session, and everything will depend on fuel loads on Sunday.On paper, Ferrari look set for a strong run tomorrow, and as in Indianapolis, Fernando Alonso has a lot to do to safeguard his championship lead.

Honda F1 test driver Alan van der Merwe managed to reach a speed of 400.459 km/h on his first mile run down the flats. However, he wasn't able to match the speed on the return run, so the time itself cannot be counted as a land speed record. The average speed of the two runs was still a blistering 393.613 km/h.

Michael Schumacher took his 68th pole position here in Magny-Cours this afternoon, underlying that his success in Indianapolis was not just due to any Michelin conservatism but also Bridgestone’s improved performance. The former champion looked strong all day and lapped his Ferrari in 1m 15.493s to seal the issue just as arch-rival Fernando Alonso posted 1m 15.785s for Renault and Michelin. It was not quite the result that the partisan crowd had expected, and it will be fascinating to see on Sunday which of them has the greater fuel load.

F1 Grand Prix is on American soil. Don't miss the race LIVE in its entirety from Indianapolis Motor Speedway! SUNDAY: 12:30pm ET on SPEED Channel!

PARIS -- Edouard Michelin, the co-managing partner of France's Michelin, the world's leading tire maker, was killed in a boating accident, the company said Friday. A short statement from the company gave no details about his death or the accident. It said that another managing partner, Michel Rollier, would take over direction of the company. A company official told Dow Jones Newswires that Mr. Michelin, 42 years old, died in a boating accident. The accident took place near Ile de Sein, off Brittany's coast. Mr. Michelin took over the company's reins from his father, Francois Michelin, in 1999. Michelin is...

Barcelona is a circuit that every Formula One team knows well as they complete thousands of kilometres there in testing throughout the season. The mix of high-speed corners, a very long straight and an abrasive track surface, makes the Circuit de Catalunya a uniquely ‘complete’ circuit. Finding the right set-up compromise is always a tricky business at the Spanish Grand Prix. World champion Fernando Alonso was the fastest race driver in Friday afternoon’s second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya. In front of a huge home crowd, the Spaniard finished third in his Renault, behind Honda’s and Red Bull’s...

Formula 1: The San Marino Grand Prix is underway at Imola, with Michael Schumacher taking pole position and thus breaking the 66 pole position record he held jointly with the late Ayrton Senna. Sunday, CBS 1pm ET NASCAR: The Nextel Cup teams head out west to the flat, one-mile oval in Phoenix for the Subway Fresh 500, which runs under the lights Saturday night. Last year's winner, Kyle Busch, grabbed the pole, ahead of Greg Biffle and Tony Stewart. - Saturday, FOX 8pm ET Rolex Sports Car Series: The Grand American series is at Virginia International Raceway this weekend for...

Something is very wrong at our elite universities. Last month Larry Summers resigned as president of Harvard; today Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi will speak by video to a conference at Columbia University that his regime is cosponsoring. (Columbia won't answer questions about how much funding it got from Libya or what implied strings were attached.) Then there's Yale, which for three weeks has refused to make any comment or defense beyond a vague 144-word statement about its decision to admit Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi--a former ambassador-at-large of the murderous Afghan Taliban--as a special student. The three backers of the foundation that,...

Ferrari's Michael Schumacher said that Ferrari was ready for the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday. Giancarlo Fisichella has pole position for the Malaysian Grand Prix, with Jenson Button alongside him and the Williams of Nico Rosberg and Mark Webber behind them on the grid.

Michael Schumacher equalled the late Ayrton Senna’s record for pole positions when he took his 65th here in Bahrain this afternoon during Formula One racing’s first knockout qualifying session. Fellow Ferrari racer Felipe Massa will start alongside him, with Honda’s Jenson Button and Renault world champion Fernando Alonso on row two.

GERMANY investigators have filed charges against three former Toyota Motorsport officials suspected of using technology stolen from Ferrari to test racing car aerodynamics. The officials are accused of violating Germany's competition law by using a data analysis program brought over by a technician who joined the Toyota Formula One team from Ferrari in early 2002, the Cologne prosecutors said in a statement. The Toyota officials used the program in 2002 and 2003 to develop race cars even though they knew the software had been obtained illegally, the statement said. "Separate investigations into the former Ferrari staff member are being conducted...

BISHKEK, Aug 3 (Reuters) - France has deployed fighter jets in Tajikistan as part of international efforts to boost security during a September parliamentary election in next-door Afghanistan, a French military official said on Wednesday. "Six Mirage fighters have been deployed in (the Tajik capital) Dushanbe," Major Frederic Lemoine, deputy French military attache to Central Asian neighbour Kyrgyzstan, told reporters at U.S.-led air base Ganci near the capital Bishkek. Shortly after he spoke, two large-body C-135 FR refuelling planes landed at Ganci. "These refuelling jets are due to support the Mirage fighters in Tajikistan," he said, adding that the operation...

Budapest — Kimi Raikkonen blew away the field Sunday at the Hungarian Grand Prix, winning by 35.5 seconds for his fourth victory of the season. Pole-sitter Michael Schumacher finished a distant second, with his brother, Ralf Schumacher, taking third. Raikkonen's sixth career victory gave him 61 points this season, second to Formula One points leader Fernando Alonso. Alonso finished out of the points, but still holds a commanding lead with 87 points.

This weekend's French Grand Prix at Magny-Cours is being targeted by a group of donkey-riding protestors, determined to drive Formula One out of the country. The protest sees an anti-consumerism group mount their fourth annual attempt at "the suppression of the French Grand Prix of Formula One" by riding a donkey convey from Lyon to Magny-Cours. As practice got underway at the track on Friday, reports were already coming in of traffic congestion 12 kilometres from Magny-Cours as the donkey protest takes its toll. The group plan to march on the circuit on race day, raising fears of serious traffic...

Patrick upset, confused by comments: Danica Patrick is upset at Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone and confused by his comments likening women to "domestic appliances." Patrick received a telephone call from Ecclestone last week during which he congratulated the Indy Racing League rookie for her performance at the Indianapolis 500. But he also reiterated remarks he had made during an interview at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Among the comments Ecclestone made in the interview and to Patrick was: "Women should be all dressed in white like all other domestic appliances." Said Patrick: "I just didn't make sense of it. I...

Thanks for playing, now get the hell out. This was the message sent loudly and clearly Sunday by the slightly less than 100,000 fans that had traveled from all over the most powerful country in the world to see what is supposed to be the greatest auto racing series on the planet. Take your giant transport planes and your Kevlar-coated motorcoaches and your big fancy remote control cars and go drive them elsewhere. Formula One racing has always been a hard sell in the United States, despite the fact that facilities elsewhere can't seem to build enough grandstands to contain...

Danica Patrick has surged onto the open-wheel racing world, but that might not be sitting well with the old-school boss of Formula One racing. Formula One is getting its most high-profile United States presence with the U.S. Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend, but Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone doesn't seem to be too crazy about Patrick joining her male competitors on the track, despite her recent Indy 500 success. "She did a good job, didn't she? Super. Didn't think she'd be able to make it like that," Ecclestone told a gathering of reporters about Patrick's Indy 500...

BERLIN (AFP) - Seven-time world Formula One champion Michael Schumacher of Germany has donated 10 million dollars to the victims of last week's Asian tsunamis, his manager Willi Weber said during a German telethon. "The dawning of the New Year has not been as joyful for us this year because of the catastrophe in Asia. We sympathise with the victims in their grief," Schumacher said. The death toll from the massive December 26 earthquake and resulting tidal waves around the Indian Ocean neared 146,000 Tuesday.

French connection armed Saddam By Bill Gertz THE WASHINGTON TIMES The United States stood by for years as supposed allies helped its enemies obtain the world's most dangerous weapons, reveals Bill Gertz, defense and national security reporter for The Washington Times, in the new book "Treachery" (Crown Forum). In this excerpt, he details France's persistence in arming Saddam Hussein. First of three excerpts New intelligence revealing how long France continued to supply and arm Saddam Hussein's regime infuriated U.S. officials as the nation prepared for military action against Iraq. The intelligence reports showing French assistance to Saddam ongoing in the...

Dominant Schumacher steals Imola spoils ~ another Ferrari win Michael Schumacher clinched his sixth San Marino Grand Prix victory and the 74th F1 win of his astounding career. The Ferrari driver got ahead of Button after the first pit stops and never looked back. Button brough home his BAR Honda in second ahead of the BMW Williams of Juan Pablo Montoya. There was no sign of the fearsome storm that struck the Imola circuit late on Saturday night and washed all the grippy rubber from the sufrace, but it was certainly not cool with track temperature recorded at 38 degrees...

I will turn Montoga into World Champion. Frank, he ring me and ring me and ring me, with tears in eyes, beg for my help(I am doctor for Brain) He say Montoga is best he ever see race, but also best he ever see eat KFC. Be more like Michael, Frank tell Juan, eat only lettuce, celery and cucumber, but Juan he no listen. Juan is very smart, but also very dirty. He trick me into trying aversion therapy, and when we go to KFC, girl behind counter refuse to serve me, because she think Juan order for me too....

Tread carefully says Stewart In regard to taking F1 out of the EU [14/12/02 - 01:33] Max Mosley has warned that more Formula One races could be shifted away from their European heartland as a consequence of the ongoing battle over tobacco sponsorship. The FIA President said that the decision by the European Union to bring forward the date for a ban on tobacco advertising by 18 months endangers the agreement they had been working towards on October 1, 2006 and not July 31, 2005. While it is highly doubtful that the FIA will take F1 events out of the...