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From GMM

Fernando Alonso's future continues to be clouded in mystery.

What does seem certain is that his five-year relationship with Ferrari is set to end, with the only thing blocking his official departure and the arrival of Sebastian Vettel being a Mexican standoff-style contractual impasse.

It is believed Ferrari and Alonso are both waiting for the other to publicly declare it's over and therefore breach contract -- either costing or saving the Italian team up to an incredible $50 million payout due to the Spaniard.

It is an odd situation, given that Luca di Montezemolo's parting shot as president was to declare that the Alonso-Ferrari marriage is definitely over.

"Yes Luca said something," Alonso is quoted by Germany's Focus, "but I have been every day on the Ferrari website and nothing has been written."

Fernando Alonso, Ferrari F14 T (Photo: WRI2)

The paddock perception is that Ferrari's supposed signing of German Vettel caught Alonso by surprise, leaving him to choose between a move to McLaren-Honda or a sabbatical.

But Lotus might be the ideal stepping stone for a works Mercedes deal for the 33-year-old, and even the Enstone team's owner Gerard Lopez is not ruling it out.

"It would not surprise me," the Luxembourger told France's Canal Plus, "if Alonso should someday return to the cockpit of a formula one car from Enstone."

McLaren, on the other hand, is saying nothing, much to the frustration of the British team's current drivers, Kevin Magnussen and the 2009 world champion Jenson Button.

Asked how many drivers Woking is considering for 2015, team boss Eric Boullier laughed to Finland's MTV3 broadcaster: "Hundreds.

"In all honesty, four or five," he added.

From press release

Kyle Busch completed the second leg of a possible sweep, Saturday by winning the Nationwide race of the weekend at Texas Motor Speedway.

In winning his seventh NNS race of the season, his seventh in 18 starts at Texas, the 70th of his career and the 100th Nationwide event for Joe Gibbs Racing, Busch led 116 of 200 laps in completing the second leg of a possible weekend sweep at the 1.5-mile speedway.

Photo: Matt Sullivan/NASCAR via Getty Images

Busch beat polesitter Joey Logano to the finish line by 1.561 seconds in the 300-mile event. Logano could keep up with Busch in the short runs but began to lose ground as each fuel run progressed.

On Friday night, Busch also took the checkered flag in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, and on Sunday he'll try to record the second weekend trifecta of his career in the AAA Texas 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, the second event in the Eliminator Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Several penalties were imposed after the qualifying session of the US Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas near Austin, Texas.

So here is the official starting grid for Sunday's race:

Row 1
Nico Rosberg (Mercedes W05) - 1'36"067 - Q3
Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes W05) - 1'36"443 - Q3

Row 2
Valtteri Bottas (Williams FW36-Mercedes) - 1'36"906 - Q3
Felipe Massa (Williams FW36-Mercedes) - 1'37"205 - Q3

Row 3
Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull RB10-Renault) - 1'37"244 - Q3
Fernando Alonso (Ferrari F14 T) - 1'37"610 - Q3

Row 4
Kevin Magnussen (McLaren MP4-29-Mercedes) - 1'37"706 - Q3
Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari F14 T) - 1'37"804 - Q3

Row 5
Adrian Sutil (Sauber C33-Ferrari) - 1'38"810 - Q3
Pastor Maldonado (Lotus E22-Renault) - 1'38"467 - Q2

Jenson Button, McLaren MP4-29 (Photo: WRI2)

Row 6
Sergio Perez (Force India VJM07-Mercedes) - 1'38"554 - Q2
Jenson Button (McLaren MP4-29-Mercedes) - 1'37"655 - Q3 *

Row 7
Nico Hulkenberg (Force India VJM07-Mercedes) - 1'38"598 - Q2
Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso STR9-Renault) - 1'39"250 - Q1

Row 8
Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber C33-Ferrari) - 1'39"555 - Q1
Romain Grosjean (Lotus E22-Renault) - 1'39"679 - Q1

Row 9
Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso STR9-Renault) - 1'38"699 - Q2 *

Start from the pit lane
Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull RB10-Renault) - 1'39"621 - Q1 *

*Button penalized for a new gearbox, Kvyat penalized for change of power unit. Vettel has used all five of his power units allocated.

The Sauber F1 Team Saturday announced in the paddock of the Circuit of the Americas that Marcus Ericsson as one of its race drivers for 2015.

After his Formula 1 debut with the Caterham F1 Team this year, the Swede will head into his second season.

“We are pleased to announce this cooperation. We have got to know Marcus as a highly motivated driver,” said Monisha Kaltenborn, Team Principal.

“He did not have an easy rookie season this year in F1, however, he kept calm and improved continuously, mainly in the last races. We are convinced that signing Marcus can give the team a fresh impetus.”

Marcus Ericsson (Photo: WRI2)

“Fresh from a very turbulent week, I was suddenly given my best early Christmas present ever,” Ericsson declared.

“The Sauber F1 Team has put its trust in me for 2015, and it makes me proud, as Sauber is known to be one of the best teams in developing young drivers. It will be a great challenge. I will give my very best to develop both as a driver, and to be part of the challenge to put the Sauber F1 Team back closer to the front where it belongs.”

The Swiss team indicated that the second driver for the 2015 season would be announced at a later date.

Takata, adding to questions about the scope of defects in its products, made another 30,687 inflators with an incorrect part that can lead to damaging airbag ruptures in newer vehicles, U.S. regulators disclosed Saturday.

News 3 Nov, 2014

Sunderland-built Nissan Qashqai crossover reaches British production milestone faster than Mini or Ford Fiesta

VW Group was told by China's quality watchdog to submit supporting documents after the carmaker's handling of a recall triggered consumer protests.

A safety flaw in Takata airbags prompted a new automobile recall even as U.S. regulators questioned whether the company is moving quickly enough to produce replacement parts to repair previously recalled cars.

Toyota's new hydrogen fuel-cell vehicle broke cover at a Japan rally race this weekend with speed demon Akio Toyoda behind the wheel to prove that the green car is also a mean one.

Not long ago, the styling of China's domestic brands was a laughingstock. Not anymore. Chinese automakers are hiring experienced foreign designers to mentor their fledgling programs.

Ferrari's $3.5 million fine by the U.S. government is the largest ever imposed on an automaker for failing to quickly report customer complaints, injuries and alleged defects to regulators.

Aston Martin has been granted a temporary exemption to new U.S. safety rules that would have stopped it from selling hundreds of cars in one of its key markets, regulators said.

The EU's new 2030 climate and energy targets create uncertainty for automakers because they let member states decide whether to include transport pollution in the EU's carbon emissions trading system.

BorgWarner CEO James Verrier is working to double the size of the powertrain parts specialist to $15 billion by 2022. As fuel economy standards tighten, BorgWarner expects to see revenues increase despite tougher competition.

The EU's new 2030 climate and energy targets create uncertainty for automakers because they let member states decide whether to include transport pollution in the EU's carbon emissions trading system.

General Motors has launched a cutting-edge digital marketing tool to reach customers on Facebook and other popular websites. It assigned one of its top marketing executives to the effort.

Jaguar Land Rover dealers struggling because of acute shortages of key products likely will see relief toward the end of the year and in early 2015.

BMW is among a group of carmakers investing in Brazil as a growing middle class fuels a surge in car sales, but high costs, poor infrastructure and few trade agreements mean Brazil can't compete with rival Mexico.

From GMM

Battle lines are being drawn as F1 reacts to the 'crisis' of collapsing teams.

But Red Bull's Dr Helmut Marko declared unequivocally ahead of the US grand prix: "We are ready."

He was referring to the concept of three-car teams, as he admitted to Germany's Auto Motor und Sport that it might cost the sport's big players up to $30 million each.

The mood ahead of the US grand prix is therefore dramatically tense, with some declaring it the sport's latest 'crisis' following the collapse of the backmarkers Marussia and Caterham.

David Richards, the Prodrive chief who told Autoweek that he was approached about saving the embattled teams, said he believes at least "one other team" is also in dire straits.

At least two other teams are at risk of collapsing, according to Prodrive's David Richards (Photo: WRI2)

But according to Bernie Ecclestone, the currently 18-car grid could actually dwindle by a further two teams.

"It could go down to 14 (cars)," the F1 chief executive told British television Sky.

Trackside in Austin, the situation is rapidly deteriorating from the initial shock to obvious anger, as the next most endangered teams - reportedly Sauber, Force India and Lotus - threaten to boycott Sunday's race in protest of the increasingly inequitable balance of power.

At Force India, anger about the make-up of the powerful 'strategy group' - chaired only by the richest and most historically important teams - has been bubbling for months.

Deputy team boss Bob Fernley declared in Austin: "Two teams have now gone and I think the commercial rights holder is comfortable in thinking there might be 14 cars next year.

"So the question is, if we are driving teams out of the business, to what agenda is it? And what's the game?" he added.

The suspicion is that Ecclestone and F1's controversial owner CVC are happy to see the stragglers go out of business and for their grid places to be filled by big teams running third cars.

Referring to the most struggling privateers, Ecclestone said: "We need them if they are going to be there performing properly and not moving around with begging buckets."

There was also little sympathy from Mercedes, F1's dominant force in 2014, who said: "I have great respect for what Tony Fernandes and Andrey Cheglakov have done in their businesses, but maybe formula one is just a different ball game."

The paddock is splitting into two distinct camps in Austin (Photo: WRI2)

The feeling in the paddock is that the teams are separating into two distinct camps, and according to the Times newspaper, the anger of the 'have nots' has now descended into a boycott threat.

"It is 50-50 whether it happens," the newspaper quoted one executive as saying at the scene of the US grand prix, "but what else is there?

"We haven't got anything to lose, have we? No one listens, so the only thing we can do is take action that CVC will understand. It would be painful but it would make the point."

Reuters quoted Lotus team owner Gerard Lopez as confirming that while a meeting took place, he was "not aware" of the boycott threat.

The BBC, meanwhile, quoted Force India's Vijay Mallya as also playing down the US boycott, but he hit out at the "arrogance" of the big teams who are resisting the idea of cost control.

"There are many fans out there who support the smaller teams and they need to be respected. The small teams cannot be taken for granted," he insisted.

But Red Bull's Marko thinks the three-car solution is a good route, even for improving the spectacle and popularity of F1.

"Imagine if we could put a NASCAR driver like Jimmy Johnson or Tony Stewart in the (third) car here in the US," he told Germany's Auto Motor und Sport.

"The promotional effect would be huge."

From GMM

Sebastian Vettel will make a brief appearance during qualifying on Saturday ahead of the US grand prix in Austin.

Earlier, team figures suggested the reigning world champion would sit out the session because penalties for running his sixth 'power unit' of 2014 means he will start the race from pitlane.

Red Bull has now confirmed Vettel's pitlane start, but it appears the 27-year-old will no longer simply sit out the qualifying action.

Rumours suggest the FIA was unimpressed with Vettel and the team's vocal criticisms of the long-life engine rules and the associated penalties.

It might mean stewards are less inclined to give the German driver an exemption from the 107 per cent qualifying rule and force him to also sit out the race.

Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull RB10 (Photo: WRI2)

Another rumour is that Bernie Ecclestone put pressure on Red Bull to at least send Vettel onto the circuit during the 'Q1' session, to appease the locals and television audience.

"Out of respect for the audience," confirmed the German newspaper Bild, "Red Bull decided late on Friday afternoon to let Vettel drive at least in the first session of qualifying, although he will start the race from pitlane."

Meanwhile, American F1 legend and 1978 world champion Mario Andretti has tipped Vettel to emulate Michael Schumacher's success once he switches to Ferrari from 2015.

"Michael knew exactly what he was doing," the 74-year-old told the German newspaper Die Welt ahead of the US grand prix.

"He took the men who he succeeded with at Benetton to Ferrari and after a few years they were unbeatable.

"I would advise Sebastian to do the same -- maybe he will even persuade Adrian Newey to go with him.

"That would certainly be the ideal situation, because - for sure - Ferrari needs more than just a new driver," Andretti added.