Luca Badoer leaves Ferrari F1

Ferrari F1 test driver, Luca Badoer, said his final farewell to the Maranello based team at their annual winter celebration in Italy yesterday. 

The traditional 'Wroom' event was opened by Badoer driving Ferrari's 2010 F1 car on the ice for five laps. Pirelli, the new tyre manufacturer for the 2011 season, produced special studded tyres for the event, which were fitted to the car to aid traction.

Badoer driving the 2010 Ferrari F1 car at the 'Wroom' event in Italy

Badoer has been part of the squad for 13 years, making his first appearance for Ferrari in 1998 and being heavily involved in the development of championship winning cars. Part of his career at Ferrari was filling in for Felipe Massa after he was involved in a life threatening accident at the 2009 Hungarian grand prix. However, due to poor performance he was removed from his position as secondary driver after only two performances.     

Alonso: "Schumacher will be dangerous"

Fernando Alonso has announced that his biggest threat for the 2011 season will be seven time world champion Michael Schumacher.

At a joint Ferrari/Ducati media launch at the Madonna di Campiglio ski resort earlier this year, Alonso spoke about his prospects for the upcoming season and commented that despite Schumacher's initial struggle with Mercedes in 2010, he should not be written off just yet.

"There will be five world champions on the track [this season] and the most dangerous champion for me is always Michael."

"[So] now in January if I have to choose one name I have to say Michael [is my main worry]. He is seven-times champion. He has nothing to prove."

Sebastien Vettel is also considered a threat by Alonso and mentions that he will be one to watch this season especially as he has championship behind him. 

"No doubt Sebastian will be a contender [too]. He will have experience and will be calm in certain moments. 

"He will drive better than last year and that makes him dangerous to us". 

The disappointment of missing out on the championship to Vettel last year will spur the Scuderia on to perform better this year, says Alonso. 

"When you succeed the emotions, feelings don't make you think of the general view of what happened. When you don't succeed, you look into the details,” 

Pirelli Tyres will make F1 ‘more interesting’, says Pedro De La Roda.

The new introduction of Pirelli as tyre manufacturer to this years Formula One season has sparked excitement during testing last weekend. De La Rosa said during an interview on Spanish radio that the new Pirelli tyres are ‘very different’ from the previous year’s Bridgestones.

After enduring four days of the development programme in Abu Dhabi, the ex-racer said that the races in the coming season “will be more interesting, because they have designed a tyre for the show, especially the super soft which is very fast but also has a very big degradation.”

One of the most significant changes the tyres will make to the season is the increased number of pitstops each driver will have to take, up to 2 or 3 per race. 

Other new introductions for this season are the moveable rear wing and a re-introduction of the KERS system from 2009, a system that allows the driver to access additional bursts of power for a short amount of time at the touch of a button. 

Two Seater F1 Ride Auction

An eBay auction currently underway will allow the winning bidder to experience a ride in a Formula One car at this years Australian Grand Prix.

The auction is a charity based appeal to help the victims of the recent Australian floods in Queensland. All proceeds from the auction will go towards the Queensland Premier's Flood Relief Appeal in order to help recover affected areas of the floods.

The winner of the auction will be strapped into the 700bhp, V10 F1 car at the 2011 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne where they will be driven around the track by a professional racing driver. They will also receive 2 four-day passes to the Grand Prix.

Chief executive of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation, Andrew Westacott said, "To experience the power of a two-seater F1 hitting speeds of 300 kilometres per hour is normally a money-can't-buy opportunity. By auctioning this amazing experience we hope to raise a significant amount to support Queenslanders."

After the first day of auctioning the highest bid stands at $5,000 Australian dollars (Approximately £3140) and will come to a close on the 28th January.

High Definition for Formula 1

It was confirmed by Formula One Management that the 2011 Formula One season will be broadcasted in full HD (1080i) resolution, after they announced a HD feed will be made available to all.

The BBC is one of the many other broadcasters who will bring high definition racing to TVs when the season commences on 11th March in Bahrain.

Danielle Nagle, Head of HD and 3D at the BBC, is delighted with the new introduction of HD, saying “Along with many, many HD viewers, I’m delighted that we’ll have a chance next season to see F1 in all its glory on television. It’s fantastic news that FOM has decided to green-light HD broadcasts, and we’re looking forward to sharing with the fans all the races in all their detail on BBC One HD and BBC HD.”

Despite the high-tech nature of F1, it has never been broadcasted in HD before. Bernie Ecclestone commented that there was no demand for the viewing of F1 in a HD format, however if a demand was made visible, the change would be made. "If somebody guarantees to broadcast it we'll do it," he said, "we'll do a deal when people are more interested."