HRT have announced that Chinese driver Ma Qing Hua has been incorporated into the team’s driver development programme. Qing Hua will be assessed over the coming months at private tests, using cars from different categories, and if he progresses well, he could enjoy an outing for the Spanish team at the young driver test later this year.

Red Bull’s chief technical officer Adrian Newey was awarded an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) for services to motorsport by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in a ceremony at Windsor Castle on Tuesday. Newey’s Red Bull cars have won the constructors’ title for the past two seasons and he has previously designed machines that have taken titles for Williams and McLaren.

Pirelli have announced which dry-weather tyres will be available to the teams at rounds four to six of the 2012 season. In Bahrain, medium and soft tyres will be raced in the hot temperatures in Sakhir, while in Spain the hard and soft compounds will be used at the Circuit de Catalunya. In Monaco, meanwhile, the soft and super-soft rubber will be in action.

Lotus’s Kimi Raikkonen has endured more than his fair share of misfortune over recent weeks. From the chassis issues which blighted the team’s pre-season test programme to his gearbox penalty in Malaysia, Raikkonen has been dealt a pretty tough hand since returning to the sport. But despite the disappointments, the Finn’s spirits remain undimmed.

With Sergio Perez’s sensational podium finish in Malaysia – and the subsequent rumours of his switching to Ferrari to replace Felipe Massa – Sauber have found themselves unusually high in the headlines of late.

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa insists he is determined to put his bad start to the 2012 season behind him after a day spent at the team’s Maranello headquarters analysing what went wrong for the Brazilian in the year’s first two Grands Prix.

Ex-Formula One team owner Eddie Jordan has been awarded an honorary OBE (Order of the British Empire) in recognition of his services to charity and motor racing.

Fernando Alonso may have left Malaysia victorious and leading the drivers’ championship, but Ferrari aren’t about to start resting on their laurels just yet. Although pleased with the Sepang win, team principal Stefano Domenicali is under no illusions about the F2012′s shortfall to its rivals and is determined the hard work at Maranello continues apace.

Formula One Group has launched a process to extend its current financing facilities. This will involve raising $2.27bn of new facilities with maturities in 2017/18, replacing the company’s existing $2.92bn facilities which are due to mature in 2013/14. The new facilities will provide the business with a secure, long term capital structure.

Williams enjoyed another encouraging outing in Malaysia.