Karthikeyan back in Hispania cockpit

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• Hispania Racing have completed their driver line-up for the new Formula One season as Narain Karthikeyan returns to the cockpit. Karthikeyan competed in the first eight grands prix last season - albeit failing to qualify in the season opener in Australia - before being ousted in favour of Daniel Ricciardo, who this year drives for Toro Rosso. Karthikeyan retained a role as [..]

Whitmarsh gears up for close race

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• McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh does not believe Sebastian Vettel will repeat his runaway Formula One world championship success of last season. Vettel wrapped up back-to-back titles in October with four grands prix to spare, ultimately becoming the youngest double champion in F1 history by 122 points, virtually the equivalent of five race victories. Whitmarsh, however, believes the competitive nature of the [..]

Button, Hamilton unveil 2012 car

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• Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton unveiled McLaren's latest challenger which they hope will power them to Formula One glory this season. After finishing second and fifth respectively in last year's title race, as Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel dominated in clinching back-to-back world titles, the Woking-based marque are determined for this to be their year. The MP4-27, which bore a typical silver livery [..]

Sutil handed suspended sentence

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• Former Force India driver Adrian Sutil has been given an 18-month suspended sentence after being found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm. Sutil was also fined 200,000 euros (£167,000) by Munich district court judge Christiane Thiemann following an incident in a nightclub in Shanghai after last year's Chinese Grand Prix. The 29-year-old was found guilty of injuring Eric Lux, chief executive of [..]

Lotus impressed by Raikkonen

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• The Finn began a two-day testing run in a two-year-old Renault R30 on Monday and got in a fair number of laps under his belt at the Ricardo Tormo circuit in Spain. It was the former world champion's first run since leaving the sport after the 2009 season. Permane reveals that the Raikkonen was impressive from the outset. "From the first run he [..]