Formula One 2014

[Sam]

I like the look of the Lotus, hope they do ok despite all the financial woes surrounding the team.

[Lineker]

10:46 Lots of people in the Sakhir media centre nodding appreciatively at this video Mercedes has just published - a 360-degree onboard lap of Silverstone with its W05 on its filming/shakedown day last month.

Very bloody cool!

[MJB]

The Red Bull still doesn't work!

Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari all look pretty impressive.

[Lineker]

1 Hulkenberg (Force India) 11m36.880s (78 laps)
2 Alonso (Ferrari) 1m37.879s (64 laps)
3 Hamilton (Mercedes) 1m37.908s (74 laps)
4 Magnussen (McLaren) 1m38.295s (81 laps)
5 Vettel (Red Bull) 1m40.224s (14 laps)
6 Sutil (Sauber) 1m40.443s (82 laps)
7 Frijns (Caterham) 1m42.534s (68 laps)
8 Kvyat (Toro Rosso) 1m44.346s (5 laps)
9 Grosjean (Lotus) 1m44.832s (8 laps)
10 Massa (Williams) no time (5 laps)
11 Bianchi (Marussia) no time (3 laps)

Oh dear Red Bull...

[Katsuya]

Caterham are going to score points by sheer reliability alone

[Lineker]

Let's wait and see what happens when the cars are running on full power - the engines haven't really been tested on track at their maximum capacity yet.

Also Sauber have apparently covered up their gentleman's appendage nose with a vanity panel.

[Lineker]

Bernie Ecclestone has won a High Court case relating to the sale of Formula 1 in 2005, but the court ruled the deal was corrupt.

A London judge dismissed the claim from German company Constantin Medien against Ecclestone over his involvement in the sale of the sport's rights to CVC nine years ago.

German banker Gerhard Gribkowsky was jailed for eight and a half years for corruption over the agreement, which relates to a $44 million payment he received from Ecclestone at the time.

Judge Guy Newey said Ecclestone had paid the bribe to Gribkowsky, but dismissed Constantin Medien's claim that Ecclestone tried to undervalue Formula 1 in order to help the sale to CVC.

Constantin Medien had sued Ecclestone for up to $144 million.

"The payments were a bribe," judge Newey wrote in his conclusions.

"They were made because Mr Ecclestone had entered into a corrupt agreement with Dr Gribkowsky in May 2005 under which Dr Gribkowsky was to be rewarded for facilitating the sale of BLB's shares in the Formula One group to a buyer acceptable to Mr Ecclestone."

He added: "It was no part of Mr Ecclestone's purpose ... to be sold at an undervalue."

Ecclestone will stand trial in April in Germany after being indicted in July in connection to an alleged 45 million Euro bribe paid to Gribkowsky.

The 83-year-old stepped down from his role on Formula 1's management board last month following the news that he would stand trial.

[MJB]

The Mercedes cars have finally started to show some weakness while the Renault powered teams appear to be having a stronger day. If I had to predict now, I'd have a Ferrari winning in Melbourne.

[Lineker]

Better reliability from Red Bull but Lotus struggled. Renault (who have just signed a new long-term deal with Lotus to continue providing them with engines) say that the Enstone team will be able to get 60-70 laps out of the car tomorrow.

Impressive timesheet-topping time from Magnussen, while Mercedes say that the reason they had to be carted back to the pits on the back of a truck was because they were beginning to push the car more, seeing as they had completed so much milage prior.

[Lineker]

Kamui Kobayashi has declared that (in his opinion) Renault is not currently in a position to compete with rival engine manufacturers Mercedes and Ferrari. Very bold statement for him to make, even at this early stage of 2014. Renault's struggles to get on top of Formula 1's energy recovery systems are to blame for its pre-season testing woes, according to Red Bull team principal Christian Horner. The French manufacturer has less experience of energy recovery systems in Formula 1 as when KERS originally came into F1 in 2009 it was reliant on its works team to head up development of the unit

Meanwhile, former Caterham and Marussia racer Charles Pic has become Lotus' third driver for 2014. The team has also announced 'reserve and development driver' roles for Formula Renault 3.5 race winner Marco Sorensen and sportscar driver Nicolas Prost in its test and development programme.

[Lineker]

Day 3. Not quite sure how you manage to do 55 laps without setting a time though...

[MJB]

Pit stop practice all morning. He didn't ever do a flying lap.

[Lineker]

Susie Wolff is set to make her Formula 1 race weekend debut during Friday morning practice at the British Grand Prix. Williams has announced Wolff is continuing as its 'development driver' alongside new test and reserve driver Felipe Nasr. The team confirmed Wolff will be given track time during two Friday practice sessions this year and AUTOSPORT understands they will be at Silverstone and the German GP at Hockenheim. She will also be given a day of running from the available eight in-season test days.

Felipe Massa's former race engineer Rob Smedley has joined Williams in the newly-created role of head of vehicle performance. Williams has confirmed that Smedley "will strengthen the trackside team whilst also supporting the development work back at the factory". While Massa has also joined the team from Ferrari, he will not be race engineered by the Briton. AUTOSPORT understands that the need to ensure the factory is best serving the race team has been targeted as an area of improvement for Williams since chief technical officer Pat Symonds took over last year. Smedley will be key to this process, effectively assuming a senior role in the garage that will ensure the link between track and base works as effectively as possible. Williams has also confirmed that Richard Lockwood has joined from Marussia, where he worked as a tyre/strategy engineer. He has been appointed head of race strategy to work with incumbent strategist Randeep Singh. These are the latest in a series of moves to push the team back up the grid following the recruitment of Rod Nelson to run the testing operation and Jakob Andreasen as head of engineering operations. The team has also confirmed that Pastor Maldonado's 2013 race engineer, Andrew Murdoch, will work with Massa with Jonathan Eddolls continuing with Valtteri Bottas. Xevi Pujolar, chief race engineer at Williams last year, has moved to Toro Rosso where he will work with Jean-Eric Vergne.

Expert Gary Anderson has published his current pecking order; Mercedes, McLaren, Force India, Ferrari, Williams, Sauber, Lotus, Toro Rosso, Red Bull, Caterham, Marussia.

And Kamui Kobayashi has said that a GP2 car would currently be quicker than his Caterham

[Lineker]

Checo finishes fastest on the first day of the final test at Sakhir. Daniel Ricciardo has described his Red Bull as still "not up to scratch"

Renault insists Friday's Formula 1 engine homologation deadline poses no major worry, even though it has not yet fully solved all the problems with its new power unit. While the French manufacturer is still working on efforts to cure the issues that have blighted its pre-season testing, it must submit its final V6 turbo engine designs to the FIA within the next 24 hours. But although that means engine designs are theoretically frozen, a clause in the regulations that allows changes to be made for 'reliability, safety or cost saving reasons' means the situation is not too much of a concern.

[MJB]

Not quite sure where you got those numbers from, Lineker.

1) Sergio Perez (Force India) 1:35.290 - 105 laps
2) Valtteri Bottas (Williams) 1:36.184 - 128 laps
3) Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) 1:36.432 - 54 laps
4) Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) 1:36.624 - 89 laps
5) Adrian Sutil (Sauber) 1:37.700 - 89 laps
6) Kevin Magnussen (McLaren) 1:37.825 - 109 laps
7) Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) 1:37.908 - 35 laps
8) Max Chilton (Marussia) 1:38.610 - 44 laps
9) Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso) 1:39.242 - 55 laps
10) Pastor Maldonado (Lotus) 1:40.599 - 31 laps
11) Kamui Kobayashi (Caterham) 1:42.285 - 19 laps

[Lineker]

Uploaded the wrong file

[MJB]

1) Sergio Perez (Force India) 1:35.570 - 108 laps
2) Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) 1:35.634 - 122 laps
3) Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull) 1:35.743 - 66 laps
4) Felipe Massa (Williams) 1:36.507 - 103 laps
5) Jenson Button (McLaren) 1:36.901 - 52 laps
6) Jules Bianchi (Marussia) 1:38.092 - 75 laps
7) Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 1:39.041 - 89 laps
8) Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso) 1:39.636 - 61 laps
9) Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber) 1:39.976 - 106 laps
10) Pastor Maldonado (Lotus) 1:41.613 - 31 laps
11) Marcus Ericsson (Caterham) 1:42.516 - 55 laps

A bit of a mixed day all round really. McLaren struggled and Mercedes had to stop their running an hour early with a gearbox problem. It was a better day for Red Bull but the Renault teams still look extremely unreliable. The Ferrari teams look decent aswell but this test belongs to Williams and Force India so far.

[MJB]

1. Felipe Massa (Williams) 1:33.258 - 99 laps
2. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) 1:33.484 - 103 laps
3. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) 1:35.426 - 87 laps
4. Kevin Magnussen (McLaren) 1:35.894 - 88 laps
5. Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso) 1:36.113 - 81 laps
6. Nico Hulkenberg (Force India) 1:36.205 - 115 laps
7. Jules Bianchi (Marussia) 1:37.087 - 78 laps
8. Marcus Ericsson (Caterham) 1:38.083 - 117 laps
9. Romain Grosjean (Lotus) 1:42.166 - 33 laps
10. Adrian Sutil (Sauber) No time - 1 lap
11. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) No time - 1 lap

Terrible day, once again, for Red Bull. Sauber didn't fare much better while it was a brilliant day for Mercedes and Williams. McLaren and Ferrari also appear to be in decent shape with Force India not too far behind. At the back of the field, the Caterham looks more reliable while the Marussia seems to be a little bit quicker. The performance of Lotus makes their decision to miss Jerez even more baffling.

[Rich]

Christian Horner is apparently "Bemused" at the performance of the Red Bull. I on the other hand am "Jubilant"

[Lineker]

Lewis says that it's still beautiful though!

Pirelli has announced tyre allocations for the first four 2014 Formula 1 races, with just a single 'step' gap between the compounds used. The Italian firm is confident its choices will result in two or three-stop grands prix in Australia, Malaysia, Bahrain and China. Teams will get medium and soft tyres for Melbourne, Sakhir and Shanghai, with hards and mediums for Sepang. A Pirelli statement said that although there was on paper a smaller difference between tyre types at each grand prix than under its usual 2013 practice of a 'two step' gap between compounds, pre-season testing had suggested the 2014 options were sufficiently distinct from each other.

Bahrain Grand Prix organisers are to name the Sakhir track's first corner in honour of Michael Schumacher.