Felipe Massa returned to Ferrari’s base in Maranello on Monday for the first since he fractured his skull in a qualifying crash at July’s Hungarian Grand Prix. Massa, who got back behind the wheel of a kart in Brazil last week, used the Italian outfit’s F1 simulator, caught up with team members and attended various technical meetings. “I’m finally back home,” the Brazilian told Ferrari’s official website.

For the 2009 season, the FIA are making public the weights of all cars ahead of the race start to help give an idea of relative fuel loads. The cars that made Q3 are weighed after qualifying, while the weights of the remaining cars must be declared by their teams shortly after the session

While Fuji Speedway proved a popular venue with teams, drivers and media there is no mistaking the feeling here that Suzuka, with a track layout that McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton described as ‘the best I have ever driven’ is the spiritual home of the Japanese Grand Prix. The huge modifications to the old cramped paddock have been very well received, and the atmosphere of wellbeing was tangible…

Jarno Trulli bounced back from his disappointments in Singapore by setting the fastest time for Toyota when the final practice session for Sundays Japanese Grand Prix took place on a dry Suzuka circuit on Saturday morning. Sebastien Buemi had set the pace all through for Toro Rosso, but in the dying moments the Italian beat him by 0.062s with a lap of 1m 31.709s compared to the Swiss drivers 1m 31.771s. They were the only two below 1m 32s…

A wet and slippery track was the last thing anybody really needed as the Japanese Grand Prix returned to Suzuka, and as a result of a drying track on Friday morning and then further rain in the afternoon, the times were all over the place and much depended upon the point at which a driver ventured out. Since the wet-weather Bridgestone tyres used come out of a driver’s allocation for the weekend, people limited their running.

For a long while it seemed nobody would even set a time during second practice at Suzuka on Friday.

Toyota’s third driver Kamui Kobayashi will take part in Friday’s practice sessions for the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, in place of the unwell Timo Glock. Glock is suffering from a very heavy cold and fever so has been advised to rest by the team doctor in order to enable him to recover in time to compete in qualifying and the race itself…

Although the teams look set to drop KERS from Formula One racing next season, the technology still has plenty of advocates in the paddock. Among them is Franz Tost, Toro Rosso team principal, who is urging his rivals to continue research away from races with a view to introducing a far more cost effective solution in 2013.

The grid’s only Japanese driver Kazuki Nakajima will make an appearance four of his colleagues to answer questions on Thursday, while director of Bridgestone Motorsport Hiroshi Yasukawa will join three team principals to face the media on Friday.

Since fracturing his skull at the Hungarian Grand Prix, Ferrari’s Felipe Massa has been at home in Brazil convalescing ahead of his planned Formula One comeback in 2010. This week Massa’s recuperation took an encouraging step forward after he returned to the track to enjoy two days of karting. The outing took place at the Brazilian circuit of Granja Viana, on the outskirts of Sao Paolo