For a long time Red Bull’s Mark Webber was the only man who went really quickly in the opening practice session in China on Friday. Affected by drizzle and a damp track, nobody could get much meaningful running.

The FIA has announced that the 2012 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix will take place next weekend as scheduled.

After Sebastian Vettel’s domination of Formula One racing over the past two seasons, it’s been quite a surprise – to outsiders at least – to find him missing from pole position and the top step of the podium in 2012. Vettel himself is pretty calm about the situation, safe in the knowledge that Red Bull and technical guru Adrian Newey are more than capable of turning things around when needed

After two races of speculation over its legality, Mercedes’ much-discussed ‘F-duct’ rear wing became the subject of an official protest in Shanghai on Thursday, ahead of this weekend’s 2012 Formula 1 UBS Chinese Grand Prix. The protest was lodged by Lotus and comes after Mercedes’ F1 W03 car again cleared scrutineering, just as it did in the previous two rounds in Australia and Malaysia, where the FIA gave Ross Brawn’s team’s controversial system the all-clear

Ahead of this weekend’s 2012 Formula 1 UBS Chinese Grand Prix, McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton believes that consistency will be paramount in what is turning out to be a close and so far unpredictable world championship fight. “I won’t deny that I’m disappointed to have had two pole positions and not to have been able to convert either of them into victories, but I prefer to think of it that luck just hasn’t been on my side, and that it will swing my way sooner or later,” he says after the first two races yielded two third-place finishes

We are only two races into the 2012 season and although it has only won one victory, McLaren’s MP4-27 is considered one of the strongest cars on the grid. In a Vodafone McLaren Mercedes ‘Phone-In’ session, the British team’s technical director Paddy Lowe discusses Mercedes’ innovative DRS system, exhaust-blown diffusers, the forthcoming Chinese event and tyres…

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso may be leading the drivers’ standings after his surprise victory in Malaysia last month, but technical boss Pat Fry has warned the team’s fans that the F2012 still lacks the pace of its front-running rivals.

Two rounds into 2012 and firm conclusions are very hard to come by when assessing the true competitiveness of the teams. What has been clear is Mercedes’ inability to translate strong qualifying speed into similar competitiveness on Sundays

He’s Finnish; he’s driven for Caterham, McLaren and Renault; and during his six seasons on the Formula One grid he’s scored one win, four podiums, one pole position and 105 points. These are just some of the things you probably do know about Heikki Kovalainen

Although the new Lotus has shown it has the pace to compete at the sharp end of the grid, complications at the opening two rounds have scuppered the team’s chances of making a real impression on the standings. However, the overriding feeling in the Enstone camp remains one of optimism.