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From Formula1.com

Speaking ahead of this weekend's 2014 Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix, Raikkonen pinpointed qualifying in Singapore as the chief cause for his optimism.

"In Singapore, we finally had the speed to put together a quick single flying lap in qualifying, as the car behaved the way I'd been hoping for," the Finn told Ferrari's official website.

"It was just a shame we could not maximise the performance of the car because of a minor issue before the last flying lap (in Q3). It meant we could not do much in the race, as I was stuck in traffic and couldn't exploit my pace.

"But for me, the positive thing that weekend was I finally had a good feeling from the car, something I had been waiting for a long time this year."

Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari (Photo: Ferrari)

Raikkonen admitted it is not yet clear how Ferrari will match up to their rivals in Japan this weekend, but said the technical Suzuka circuit suits his driving style - as evidenced by his past success at the track.

"It's a high power circuit, but also technically very challenging, so we are looking forward to see how our car goes there compared to the front running teams," Raikkonen added.

"I like Suzuka a lot. It's an old-school type of racing circuit, the sort that always gives me the best feeling. I'd have to say my favourite is Spa-Francorchamps, but Suzuka comes very near in my ranking. Apart from my first ever time in Japan and Suzuka, when I was driving for Sauber and had to retire after crashing with Alesi, I have finished every single race in Japan and I have got some really good results, as well. Winning the 2005 race was one of my best ever drives."

From GMM

Team boss Toto Wolff is not 100 per cent sure Mercedes will head into the 2015 season with an unchanged driver lineup.

With Nico Rosberg already under contract into the longer term, his teammate Lewis Hamilton is among those drivers speculatively linked with a sensational switch to the new Honda era at McLaren beginning next year.

Recently, a slight disagreement between Briton Hamilton and Mercedes became apparent after Wolff indicated talks for a new contract beyond 2015 had been "frozen".

"Well, I haven't said that I was freezing anything," the 2008 world champion said last month.

It is rumoured Hamilton might be tempted to leave Mercedes if his teammate Rosberg, with whom relations are already intensely strained, wins the 2014 title.

Toto Wolff has also warned that if the pair cannot find a way to work together effectively, Mercedes might need to rethink its 2015 lineup.

Toto Wolff, Mercedes AMG. (Photo: WRi2)

It is a theme Austrian Wolff appears to have returned to in the days before the Japanese grand prix.

He told Germany's Sport Bild that the Brackley based team's driver lineup for 2015 is only "99 per cent" guaranteed at this stage.

"You have to hold something back because exceptional circumstances can always arise. In life, nothing is ever 100 per cent for sure," said Wolff.

He insisted yet again that contractual talks with Hamilton have indeed been frozen for the time being.

"On both sides we had the desire and decided to postpone the issue, because the championship is so intense," Wolff said.

"Rather than be discussing commercial issues, we want to get to the end of the season. And then the first thing we will do is sit down with Lewis and hopefully everything will be in the bag for the years after 2015," he added.

Canadian race car driver Chase Pelletier will be representing the Team Canada Scholarship at the 43rd Annual BRSCC British Formula Ford Festival, October 25/26.

Announced today by scholarship founder Brian Graham, Pelletier will fly to England this October to contest the world renowned Formula Ford Festival held at Brands Hatch.

Ontario's Chase Pelletier entered this season his second season of F1600 racing making his focus the Ontario based Toyo Tires F1600 Championship as well as competing in the newly created “Super Series”.

With several podium finishes under his belt he went into the final rounds of the Super Series with a shot at the championship and put his most impressive weekend of the year together when he won both ends of the double header and claimed the inaugural Super Series Championship.

As in the past, Cliff Dempsey Racing will be the host team for the Canadian squad.

From GMM

Simona de Silvestro's road to Formula 1 appears to have ended.

Until now, the 25-year-old female Swiss driver was a Sauber tester, testing one of the Hinwil based team's older cars with unique 'Clean Air Energy' branding.

The former IndyCar driver had also been linked with a F1 debut in Friday morning practice in Austin next month..

However, her F1 career hangs in the balance after negotiations to resolve a contractual dispute between her management and the Sauber team broke down

"Simona's driving programme will not continue for financial reasons on her side," a spokesman for the Swiss team confirmed.

"Everyone who has worked with Simona over the past six months is very disappointed.

"We are currently examining other possibilities," the spokesman is quoted as saying.

British magazine Autosport understands she will retain her status as an affiliated driver.

Simona de Silvestro, Sauber (Photo: De Silvestro Facebook)

Caterham Formula 1 Team confirmed Wednesday that Kamui Kobayashi and Marcus Ericsson will race for the team at this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix.

Spaniard Roberto Merhi will take part in his second official Formula 1 session with the team during Friday's first morning practice at Suzuka.

“I'm very happy to be driving in another FP1 session with Caterham F1 Team. I want to thank the team for this opportunity - after my first outing a month ago in Italy, I am now looking forward to another 90 minutes in the car,” said Mehri who will be driving a Renault-powered CT05.

“I will not be starting from zero like last time, so I will be able to get up to speed quicker. I have never driven in Japan, so I will need to learn the track at the same time as I continue to get used to the car, but it's a dream come true to be able to drive at such a special track like Suzuka, I just can't wait for it to be Friday!”

Robert Mehri, Caterham CT05-Renault. (Photo: WRi2)

From GMM

The best way to make F1 cars harder to drive is to make them faster.

That is the view of retired grand prix veteran David Coulthard, following reports the sport's governing FIA is concerned the challenge of driving an F1 car today is 'too easy'.

That view has intensified recently as the age of F1 rookies, for instance the newly seventeen year old Max Verstappen who will drive on Friday at Suzuka, plummets dramatically.

"The FIA ... is said to be examining ways of making F1 cars harder to drive," correspondent Kevin Eason wrote in The Times.

"As drivers have become younger and leaner, F1's leaders are worried that the sport is no longer the highest examination of driver talent, skill and strength," he added.

It is part of why the FIA has suddenly clamped down on so-called 'driver coaching' over the pit-to-car radios, to end the appearance that the cars are even being piloted by remote control by engineers and boffins.

Start of the 2014 British Grand Prix. (Photo: WRi2)

But Coulthard, whose own F1 career began just as the great Ayrton Senna's so tragically ended, thinks the FIA is wide of the mark to think radios are to blame for the sport's problems.

"It (the clampdown) seems to be the answer to a question that no one was asking," he said in a column for the F1 sponsor UBS.

"I wasn't really aware of any grumbling," said the 43-year-old Scot, who today is a pundit for British television.

"In my opinion, if you want to make the cars harder to drive, make them faster. It is ironic that they are trying to find ways of making life more difficult for the drivers when the actual cars are slower than they were back in 2004," added Coulthard.

Red Bull Racing pitwall. (Photo: WRi2)

The former McLaren and Red Bull driver even thinks the radio clampdown is counterproductive, as it removes one of F1's "technological advancements" only to replace it with "another layer of bureaucracy and red tape".

"f someone offered you the chance to get rid of internet banking and go back to just making all your transactions the old-fashioned way, via a cashier, would you accept? Of course you wouldn't," said David Coulthard.

"It would be a retrograde step; wilfully ignoring technology that already exists and that everyone was perfectly happy with anyway. As for the drivers I spoke to in Singapore last weekend, some were for it, some were against it, some were not fussed either way. I think that just about sums this whole issue up. It's all a bit of a nothing," he added.

Honda has revealed the first image of the V6 turbo hybrid power unit it is developing ahead of their 2015 Formula 1 return with McLaren.

Progress on the new engine has reached 'prime phase', with the Japanese manufacturer now running full bench tests of the power unit and its connected energy recovery systems.

"At this time, we are unveiling an image of our power unit that is under development - the whole team is concentrating on this development, getting ready for the forthcoming start of F1 participation in six months," said Honda's motorsport chief Yasuhisa Arai.

"In addition to conducting simulations, we have moved onto the next stage where we conduct full-fledged bench tests of the engine while connecting the turbocharger and energy recovery systems. In the meantime, our racing operation base in Milton Keynes, United Kingdom, has become fully operational."

Photo: Honda Racing

2015 drivers
Yasuhisa Arai told Sky Sports News HQ that no decision has been made on who will drive for McLaren in 2015.

There had been speculation that McLaren would announce their drivers for next season at Suzuka, but Arai expects other topics to be on the agenda than the futures of Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen.

“We are constantly talking about which drivers we would like to see and whilst McLaren is here in Japan it is only natural that we organise some meetings with McLaren,” he told Sky Sports News HQ. “But I don't think we will be discussing the topic of drivers given that nothing is decided.”

From press release

The FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX DU CANADA announces today the return for the third consecutive year of its popular trios, which offer different seats, in three different grandstands, at three different spots around Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve, one seat for each of the three days of the event.

And something new has been added for next year's race, which will be held on 5, 6 and 7 June 2015: one of the trios, called “ECONO”, will be on sale for as little as $255. The other two trios, “POLE POSITION” and “SENNA”, will be on sale for $525 and $485, respectively. Trios are going on sale this Wednesday, October 1st, and they can be purchased until December 31st, 2014. Supplies are limited.

“POLE POSITION” trio
Once again sold for $525, the “POLE POSITION” trio includes a reserved seat at the start-finish line (Grandstand 1) on Sunday 7 June, the day of the 2015 FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX DU CANADA.

It is a unique opportunity to see for yourself important moments of the race, like the formation of the starting grid, the start of the race itself and the action in the pits during the Grand Prix. On the previous day, Saturday 6 June, “POLE POSITION” trio ticket holders will have witnessed qualifying at the Hairpin (Grandstand 15), and both free practice sessions on Friday 5 June at the Senna corner (Grandstand 12). Each day, ticket holders will be able to follow all the action around the track on our giant screens.

“SENNA” trio
On sale for $485, the unique ”SENNA” trio offers reserved seats at both ends of the track, at the Hairpin and the Senna corner, as well as seats across the track from pit lane on Saturday 6 June for qualifying. On 5 and 7 June, the latter being the day of the race itself, “SENNA” trio ticket holders will enjoy two very interesting views: first, on Friday, they will see drivers going around the Hairpin from Grandstand 15, and on Sunday, they'll follow all the race action at the Senna corner from their seats in Grandstand 12. Each day, ticket holders will be able to follow all the action around the track on our giant screens.

“ECONO” trio
Very affordably priced at $255, the “ECONO” trio gives ticket holders seats in areas of the track known for their overtaking opportunities on 6 and 7 June. During qualifying on Saturday, ticket holders will have a reserved seat in Grandstand 31, just across from the Pont des Îles chicane.

On Sunday, race day, they'll enjoy a reserved seat in Grandstand 33, located in front of the Canadian Pavilion chicane. On each of those two days, ticket holders will be able to follow all the action around the track on our giant screens. On Friday 5 June, ticket holders are encouraged to show up bright and early at the track to grab a non-reserved seat in the Popular Grandstand, located at the exit of the Hairpin and the start of Casino Straight. The Popular Grandstand does not have a giant screen.

We remind you that right from the start, trios have been very much appreciated by amateur photographers who can enjoy different views of the track and immortalize the F1 cars as they race past them, as well as all the other on-track events.

Fans who wish to purchase one or more reserved or popular grandstand seats, a trio of different seats or general admission tickets for the next edition of the FORMULA 1 GRAND PRIX DU CANADA, which will be held on 5, 6 and 7 June, 2015, may call the box office at 514‑350-0000 or 1-855-790-1245, seven days a week between 9am and 8pm.

Tickets can also be purchased on our secure websites at www.circuitgillesvilleneuve.ca and www.admission.com.