McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton may try to play it down, but his second-place finish at the European Grand Prix was unexpected. The British team had arrived in Valencia worried about the pace of rivals who had upgraded their cars in advance of their own

Although he ultimately finished behind his team mate – and standings leader – Lewis Hamilton, McLaren’s Jenson Button was pleased to convert his seventh-place grid slot into a third-place finish in Valencia last weekend, especially as it was his third successive podium. At the forthcoming British Grand Prix he’ll race for the first time on home soil as world champion and, as he explained to his official website, he can’t wait…

Circuit testing during an F1 season has been almost entirely banned since the start of last season But now several prominent figures in F1 have voiced a desire to bring back in-season testing in the near future.

Not got a ticket for the British Grand Prix? Remember to enter the F1 Fanatic British Grand Prix tickets contest and Silverstone are giving away tickets too . Today I’m heading south to Goodwood in time for the Festival of Speed which starts tomorrow

HRT technical director Geoff Willis would like to see the return of in-season testing – albeit on a limited basis.

Would you like to be at Silverstone to see the first F1 race on the revised track next week? F1 Fanatic has a pair of tickets to this year’s British Grand Prix for one lucky reader to win. See below for details of how to enter the competition and more ways to win tickets for the race.

One of the European Grand Prix’s most astonishing performances came courtesy of BMW Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi. Kobayashi may have qualified a lowly 18th, but a strategic masterstroke combined with the C29′s consistent race pace to gift the Japanese driver seventh place and his team their second haul of points of the season…

BMW Sauber celebrated a strong performance and six points at the European Grand Prix. Kamui Kobayashi drove almost the entire race on one set of tyres and put in some storming passes to take seventh, while team mate Pedro de la Rosa only missed out on a point thanks to a post-race time penalty

Back on home soil and with a heavily upgraded car, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso was convinced he would get his title campaign back on course at last weekend’s European Grand Prix, but things didn’t quite go to plan. Alonso left Valencia frustrated and disappointed with his eighth-place result.

McLaren have put out a video showing Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button poking around their store of old Formula 1 cars and pulling back the covers on a 1988 MP4-4. Both take turns sitting in the car which was driven by Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, winning 15 of the 16 races they started