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From press release

Newly titled e.dams Renault has confirmed that Sebastien Buemi and Nicolas Prost will join the team for the inaugural season of the FIA Formula E Championship.

The French team announced that Renault, also a Founding Technical Partner to the series, would become its title sponsor, renaming the team e.dams Renault. The new driver line-up sees the return of a ‘Prost vs Senna' battle following Mahindra Racing's signing of Bruno Senna, nephew of the great Ayrton.

Alain Prost, Sebastien Buemi, Jean-Paul Driot, Patrice Ratti and Nicolas Prost. (Photo: e.dams Renault)

Alain Prost, co-owner of e.dams-Renault and ambassador for the Renault brand, said: “Jean-Paul Driot and I are delighted to be associated with Renault in this new adventure. The choice of Renault as a major partner was a natural step because of the exceptional record it has carved out in motorsport, as well as its unique expertise in the field of electric vehicles. Personally, I am thrilled by the idea of working with Renault on such an ambitious project again and by the prospect of writing a new chapter of our association.

“We are actively preparing for the first races of the season. This week's test at Donington Park is the next step in that process and it will be followed by a busy summer in order to be ready and competitive for the first ePrix in Beijing, on September 13. It's an enormous challenge because this championship is completely new, both in terms of the technology it features and also the race formats. These are very exciting times.”

Patrice Ratti, President of Renault Sport, said: “This partnership with e.dams-Renault will allow Renault Sport to have an even closer involvement with the FIA Formula E Championship. The series will be unique and takes motorsport into a new age. Renault is proud to be playing a part in the adventure which stands out as a new challenge. We know Alain and Jean-Paul very well and their experience and record make them high-quality partners. Our involvement with e.dams-Renault will play a core role in our participation and in our Formula E development work.”

General Motors announced it will compensate families of those who died in accidents caused by a defective ignition switch that prevented airbag deployment with $1 million apiece.

It's a problem the automaker had been aware of for 10 years, yet waited until this past February to announce a recall, affecting 2.6 million vehicles.

Compensation claims will be processed starting August 1st. Any payment will come in the next 3-6 months.

According to GM attorney Kenneth Feinberg, each surviving spouse and dependent will receive $300,000. Those who suffered direct injuries will get a minimum amount of $20,000 that can go as high as $500,000 depending on the severity of the injuries.

GM also said that a driver's responsibility in a crash won't be taken into account when making the final decision in a compensation claim. There is no cap on the amount of money GM has agreed to spend on victims' payments, Feinberg said.

Victims or their families who've reached a mutual agreement with GM before finding out that their vehicle had a faulty ignition switch could receive extra compensation, too.


_{Source: New York Times}

From GMM

Lotus could be set to move on from its disastrous 2014 season.

Fourth in the constructors' championship not only last year but also in 2012, the Enstone-based team has struggled with the newly V6-powered E22.

Engine supplier Renault, whose troubles with its premier partner Red Bull are well known, has taken much of the blame, particularly for many of the reliability problems.

But French driver Romain Grosjean is not pointing the finger.

"It's not just the engine, even if compared to Mercedes we do lack power," he told Germany's Auto Motor und Sport.

"The problem is probably more aerodynamic in nature," said Grosjean.

"In the second part of the corner we lose grip suddenly. Anything gained in the fast corners, I am losing two or three times over in the slow ones," he added.

Romain Grosjean, Lotus E22-Renault. (Photo: WRi2)

Even team trackside boss Alan Permane admits the problem.

"Our car does not like stop-and-go (circuits). We need sweeping corners," he confirmed.

That is why the E22 looked much more competitive at Barcelona, and so Lotus is looking forward to the fast corners this weekend at Silverstone.

"Our car is fast," said team owner Gerard Lopez, "but only under certain conditions."

It means Lotus has fallen from the grace of fourth to the depths of eighth in the constructors' standings, four points behind the Red Bull sister team of Toro Rosso.

"At least they have the same (Renault) engine," said German correspondent Michael Schmidt. "But maybe not for much longer. Lotus is said to have had contact with Mercedes."

Mercedes already supplies three teams in addition to its own works outfit, but long-time partner and customer McLaren is moving to works Honda power for 2015.

From GMM

Nico Rosberg has put himself on pole position to beat his high-profile teammate to the 2014 world championship.

That is the view of Lewis Hamilton's countryman Murray Walker, the famous former F1 commentator, ahead of the 29-year-old British driver's home race at Silverstone.

Niki Lauda, a triple world champion and the team chairman at Mercedes, thinks Hamilton's home grand prix comes at "the perfect time", after his three-race losing streak to the on-form Rosberg.

"He has his home race and fans and he needs to make up ground to Nico," the great Austrian told the Mirror.

Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG, in Canada. (Photo: WRi2)

But Niki Lauda admits that Hamilton's task is a tough one, given his 29-point points deficit to German Rosberg.

"Unfortunately it is," he said. "No question."

Worse still, after Hamilton suspected in Monaco that Rosberg made a deliberate 'error' to keep pole position, the latest conspiracy theory is that Mercedes' pit crew gave Hamilton deliberately slow service in Austria.

"In the race you cannot get paranoid," Niki Lauda insisted. "I don't need to coach him. I've known him a long time and he's absolutely perfect in his head. He's highly motivated."

But Murray Walker, arguably the most famous voice in F1 history, thinks Hamilton and Rosberg's respective personalities do set them apart as they battle in 2014.

"I don't think it is unfair to say that Hamilton is a lot more emotional about it and that can affect his driving," the 90-year-old told the Daily Mail.

"The more he is beaten by Rosberg, the more it could hypothetically hurt him emotionally, and that brings about more pressure. In a nutshell it is going to be very, very difficult for Hamilton to win the championship because Rosberg is a thinking driver. Hamilton is faster but I don't think he is cleverer than Rosberg," said Walker.

From GMM

Monza is on a three-race countdown to the F1 exit, Bernie Ecclestone warned on Tuesday.

Italy's Autodromo Nazionale is one of the last remaining iconic venues on the calendar, but F1 chief executive Ecclestone says he will say "bye-bye" to Monza after 2016.

"Audiences are lower in Italy than anywhere," he told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Bernie Ecclestone confirmed that Monza's contract does not expire until after the 2016 race, but the future is "Not good".

"I don't think we'll do another contract," he said. "The old one was a disaster for us from a commercial point of view. After 2016, bye-bye."

Ecclestone's statement might be interpreted as an opening door for Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo, who makes no secret he would like a grand prix at Mugello.

Asked if they have already discussed the matter, Bernie Ecclestone insisted: "No, I have not received any proposal."

The "Parabolica" curve in Monza.

From GMM

Ever since team founder and main backer Tony Fernandes departed Twitter with the message "F1 hasn't worked", Caterham has been officially silent.

The back-of-the-grid team did say Indonesian driver Rio Haryanto will drive the green car in the post-Silverstone test, but otherwise the lack of noise from Caterham has been filled up with speculation.

"I will be 100 per cent ready to work to the plan the team set and help them develop as best I can," Haryanto, who also drives for Caterham's GP2 team, said.

But now, team sources are spilling the beans behind the scenes.

Multiple reports have the details about Fernandes' falling out of love with F1 amid spiralling costs and the lack of results.

Caterham CT05-Renault. (Photo: WRi2)

Veteran Swiss journalist Roger Benoit says he has heard that Fernandes, the Malaysian entrepreneur best known for the low-cost airline Airasia, will front Caterham's staff at the factory in Leafield on Tuesday.

There, Benoit wrote in the Blick newspaper, staff will be told that Caterham has been "sold to a consortium of Arab businessmen in Switzerland".

He said Fernandes, now enamoured with his newly premiership-qualified football club Queens Park Rangers, is particularly dismayed that F1 consistently failed to implement the budget cap he was promised from the start in 2010.

Team sources also claim that Caterham will make the news public before the British grand prix, adding that team boss Cyril Abiteboul will return to his former F1 employer, French engine supplier Renault.

Another week means another round of recalls by General Motors: The automaker has just announced three new ones covering 473,788 vehicles in North America.

The first recall affects 466,940 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra (2014-2015) pickup trucks as well as Chevrolet Tahoe/Suburban and GMC Yukon/Yukon XL (2015) SUVs. The transfer case may electronically switch to neutral without input from the driver, so dealers will recalibrate transfer case control module software.

The second recall involves the windshield wiper module assembly in 4,794 Chevrolet Caprice police cars (2013-2014) and Chevrolet SS sport sedans (2014) sold in the U.S. If the motor gear teeth become stripped, the wipers may not operate.

Finally, 1,972 Chevrolet Corvettes from 2014 (including 33 in Canada) need to have their two rear shock absorbers replaced due to a possible insufficient weld that could lead to a fracture and/or reduce the shocks' service life. No incident has been reported so far.

As previously mentioned, GM has now recalled an industry-record 20+ million vehicles this year. With new CEO Mary Barra, the company just doesn't want to take any risks.

From GMM

Alex Zanardi, horrifically and near-fatally injured in 2001, has wished his old rival Michael Schumacher well.

Three times during their respective racing careers, the Italian and German faced off on the circuits.

The first was as teenagers, at the wheel of European kart competitions. Then a few years later, in the early 90s, when Zanardi raced in F1 for Jordan, Minardi and Lotus.

And after Zanardi's ultra-successful American open wheeler career, the pair met yet again in F1, this time with Zanardi struggling in a Williams and Schumacher well on the road to the Ferrari-coloured glory years.

Alex Zanardi and Michael Schumacher in 2008. (Photo: Ferrari)

Today, Alex Zanardi has rebuilt his sporting life after losing his legs and nearly his life in a 2001 Champ Car crash.

Like Schumacher, who has just emerged from a six-month coma and is reportedly conscious in a Lausanne hospital, Zanardi spent time in a coma 13 years ago.

"I know Michael from childhood, in karts," he told Speed Week. "He has always been a person who does not give up. So I was always sure that his condition would improve and he would beat the coma."

Zanardi says he remembers little from his own coma, except extreme tiredness when he woke up, and then briefly struggling to recall how to do simple things on his own -- like breathe and urinate.

Schumacher's coma, of course, has been much longer, and involving brain injury. But Zanardi has hope.

"I remember when I stood up on my new feet for the first time after the accident, it was during an event in which Schumi took part as well. I remember how touched he was. So I want to tell him that I cannot wait to see him standing up, to see that it is me that is moved this time," Zanardi, 47, added.

Meanwhile, in the case of Schumacher's stolen medical records, suspicion has returned yet again to the hospital in Grenoble, where for six months the great German was in a coma.

Earlier, it was reported that Swiss ambulance staff may have photographed the doctor's letter during Schumacher's transfer from Grenoble to Lausanne.

But, citing police sources, the French newspaper Le Dauphine Libere claims the stolen letter - on the market for a reported EUR 50,000 - contained "spelling mistakes".

It seems the letter was in fact a draft, thrown in the hospital bin in Grenoble.

"So far, no one has been identified as the person responsible for the act (of theft)," Grenoble prosecutor Jean-Yves Coquillat told the French news agency AFP.

"The investigation is ongoing and far from over."

Mitsubishi Motors will supply Chrysler with a Thailand-built compact sedan for sale in Mexico starting in November. The car will be based on the Mitsubishi Attrage, the sedan version of the Mirage hatchback sold in the United States.

Chrysler Group has expanded a recall over ignition-switch issues, similar to those that prompted the General Motors recall crisis, by nearly 700,000 vehicles following an investigation by safety regulators.

Volkswagen Group of America named Stefan Schüller quality chief for VW and Audi in the United States. He replaces Marc Trahan, who is retiring after 35 years with the company, as VW group mounts an aggressive localization push.

Audi said it will begin offering Apple's CarPlay in 2016 model year vehicles in Europe. Talks between Apple closed last week, and the deal was confirmed Monday.

Dean Evans, former chief marketing officer for Subaru of America, is the new CEO of software company LotLinx, the company said today. Evans, who left Subaru in May, succeeded Jason Knight, who headed LotLinx since December 2012.

General Motors is recalling another 8.4 million cars globally from model years 1997 to 2014, including some that are linked to seven crashes, eight injuries and three deaths.

GM is recalling another 8.4 million cars globally from the 1997 to 2014 model years, including some that are linked to seven crashes, eight injuries and three deaths. Most of the cars -- 7.

Ferrari brought its full weight to the Goodwood Festival of Speed last weekend. In addition to the

An executive at Denso has agreed to plead guilty to fixing the prices of automobile instrument panel clusters and to serve a prison sentence, the U.S. Justice Department said today.

Nissan's US unit has announced a replacement lithium-ion battery pack for the Leaf will cost US$5,499 (after a $1,000 credit for trading in the old pack, which is required), plus installation fees and tax. The installation is estimated at roughly three hours of labour, Green Car Reports said.

BMW's plans to build a new factory in Mexico will be revealed on Thursday, a government official said. BMW said it will make an announcement in Mexico but the automaker stopped short of confirming it will be about a car factory.

BMW AG's plans to build a new factory in Mexico will be revealed on Thursday, a government official said today.