Ferrari driver Felipe Massa denied rumours about his leaving Ferrari by the end of the season. The Brazilian driver said that his contract with Scuderia is valid up to the end of 2008 season. Moreover, Massa is negotiating prolongation of the contract till beyond 2009.

According to the rumours, the Brazilian driver would move to Japanese team Toyota next year, leaving room for Spanish two season world champion Fernando Alonso to move over to Ferrari from arch rivals MacLaren.

Formula One 1997 season world champion Jacques Villeneuve is following Colombian Pablo Montoya and will debut at Nascar on 5-7 October. Villeneuve's debut will be at the famous Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama in the UAW-Ford 500.

The Canadian's career ended last year in the BMW Sauber team right after German Grand Prix.

Will Alonso join Scuderia Ferrari by the end of the season?

There are rumours out there that the two-time world champion Alonso has already accepted a $40 million per year contract from the Maranello team. According to the sources, Fernando will replace Felipe Massa who in turn will be heading to Toyota.

To admit, I have not idea whether Alonso will join Ferrari or not, but one thing is for sure that he's stay at the British-German team will not last long.

Ron Dennis, McLaren team boss has extremely cold relationship with Alonso. According to Dennis, he and the driver are not "on speaking terms".

Sergei Zlobin, a test driver for the Minardi Formula One racing team, has miraculously escaped when his car exploded on Monday morning.


The blast tore through the floor of Zlobin's Mercedes G500, causing the driver minor leg injuries but he was able to get himself out of the car and phoned the police himself.

According to Zlobin, he has no idea who might have wanted his assassination.

The Russian driver has connections with large sponsors like the state controlled oil company Gazprom.

Spyker Cars NV has agreed to sell its Formula One team for 88 million euros. The buyer of the Spyker Formula 1 team is a group of business people with Vijay Mallya and Michiel Mol on board. The news spread today.

Spyker shareholders meeting is scheduled for 29th of September. The sale decision will be voted as well.

Unfortunately Spyker has not been able to turn the Formula 1 team into a profitable business since the dutch company acquired it from Midland for $10.6.6 million last year.

While not directly affecting Formula 1, this time a juice scandal has arisen around Yu Zhifei, the former boss of Formula 1 motor racing in China. Yu was found guilty of embezzling public funds on Monday by the Wuhu Intermediate People's Court.

The FIA has released a revised calendar for the 2008 world championship.

The Belgian Grand Prix will now take place on September 7 and the Italian will take place on September 14. The Japanese event, will take place a week earlier than previously announced on October 12. The Chinese Grand Prix has been switched to October 19.

The only explanation for FIA's decision is the clashing of events in the regions. So, the new schedule must draw the maximum number of people to the events.

So, the new 2008 calendar looks as follows:

6 Mar Australia
23 Mar Malaysia
6 Apr Bahrain
27 Apr Spain
11 May Turkey
25 May Monaco
8 Jun Canada*
22 Jun France
6 Jul Great Britain
20 Jul Germany
3 Aug Hungary
24 Aug Europe**
7 Sep Belgium
14 Sep Italy
28 Sep Singapore**
12 Oct Japan
19 Oct China
2 Nov Brazil

Canada is still provisional. European and Singapore races are subject to circuit approval.

Ink has not yet dried on the agreement, but the seal is already placed. India will host its first-ever Formula One race in 2010. Period. This news was announced by the Indian Olympic Association president Suresh Kalmadi today.

It looks like Hermann Tilke has provided the Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone with a positive report about the situation in India. Thew new circuit will be built either at Greater Noida or Sohna, the final decision still pending.

I believe this is wonderful news for every Formula One in India. Congratulations guys.

$100 million in fines and 0 points in the 2007 season's constructors' championship is FIA World Motor Sport Council's final verdict for the McLaren-Mercedes team. McLaren-Mercedes drivers Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton have not been penalized and are free to continue their fight for the drivers' title.

We expect the FIA to explain the reasons behind the Council's decision today. This should be followed by McLaren's decision to appeal or not.

On the Formula1.com website there is a poll about the verdict. It seems that the public opinion is divided evenly with a slight advantage to those who think that the decision was fair.

Yesterday, former Formula One world champion Sir Jackie Stewart accused FIA of witch-hunting the McLaren-Mercedes team.

According to Stewart, Formula One power people are more aligned to Ferrari than any other team.

Yes, it is true that historically FIA has been quite close to Ferrari. Nobody argues that the Ferrari-McLaren spy case is having extremely negative effects on the sport. Moreover, not only this season may get ruined, but the next season as well. After all, Formula One without the British-German team is a way less interesting. But we, passionate Formula One fans have a right to know the truth. This was clearly conveyed by Ferrari boss Jean Todt, speaking at Monza at the weekend. "It’s a taint on the sport. I think that we are sorry that it is happening in Formula 1, but we want the truth to appear." Mr. Todt, We all want the truth to appear once and for all.

It will be extremely unfortunate if McLaren's championship leader Lewis Hamilton's dream gets wrecked because of the scandal. But on the other hand, if the McLaren has even slightly benefited from possessing Ferrari's confidential material, then it would be extremely unfair if Rod Dennis team gets away unpunished.

It looks like that in Formula One the battle from the circuit has shifted towards the court rooms and FIA World Motor Sport Council summits.

Tomorrow may prove to be a crucial day for the leading team. If the McLaren-Mercedes team is found guilty, not only does the team face multi-million dollar fee, but potential punishment includes disqualification from this season and from the next as well. Not a promising outlook for the British-German team.

Unfortunately, some sources speculate that McLaren will drag other teams as well in the case and will require adequate sanctions against such teams. According to the sources, Flavio Briatore's team is the one that McLaren will try to drag into the case. But the Renault boss is calm and accuses his vis-a-vis at McLaren Ron Dennis of “throwing stones everywhere” in an attempt to deflect pressure. This might prove to be a good strategy for McLaren to shift attention from the main point but it might turn to be a critical decision as well.

But what do we, passionate Formula One fans gain from this? I have been a big fan of Formula One for many years now and the royal sport is experiencing degradation.

Come on guys, be serious about the sport. Concentrate your resources and energy on your cars, drivers, the team. We like Formula One because of the joy that it brings to us on the grid not in the room. We love observing the battle of your pilots, not the battle of your lawyers.

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The International Automobile Federation has issued a statement according to which, the federation had summoned their World Motor Sport Council again for a hearing in Paris on September 13th to consider the development of a Ferrari-McLaren spy case.

The meeting on the 13th is in effect replacing the appeal hearing, which has been filed by Ferrari after the WMSC decided not to punish this year's leading team in July.

The situation up to date is that McLaren was found to be in possession of Ferrari's confidential 780 page material. However, as the WMSC has found, the team has not benefited from it in the championship battle. FIA's representative has mentioned that new evidence had emerged in the spy case but the representative has not made any comments.

The bottom line is that if McLaren is found guilty, the team may get disqualified not only from this, 2007 season, but from the 2008 season as well. So, quite much is at stake for the McLaren-Mercedes team, which at the moment is leading the constructors' championship by 11 points to Ferrari.

Finally, you may like to read the following articles about the spy case:

McLaren face second Stepneygate hearing by Planet-F1.com

UPDATE 1-F1 body says has new evidence in spy case by Reuters UK

McLaren and Hamilton face fresh threat from Ferrari by The Independent

Ferrari say truth will out in F1 spy hearing by GUARDIAN

Hamilton Dream Under Threat by Daily Express

An Indian businessman and a member of the upper house of the Parliament of India, Vijay Mallya has acquired the Spyker F1 Team.

Mallya, who is the chairman of the United Breweries Group and Kingfisher Airlines puts India back on the F1 circuit. Not only will India be mentioned in the updated name of the company, but this will give a perfect chance to Indian drivers to be on the circuit. Especially, this might turn to be a golden opportunity for Narain Karthikeyan.

India still hopes to secure a place in the Formula 1 calendar. The nearest opportunity is 2009. However, Mallya is already expecting a German designer Herman Tilke, who has done Bahrain, Istanbul and is now working on Singapore. Tilke will be flying to Delhi on Monday and will check the suitability of two-three sites.

Photo copyright Jonathan Drake/Bloomberg News /Landov