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By Simon Cass Motor Racing Reporter
Last updated at 11:25 PM on 21st February 2011

The Bahrain Grand Prix has been called off after the Arab state's rulers admitted it was too dangerous to stage the opening race of the Formula One season on March 13 due to the continued political unrest.

The first race will now be held in Melbourne, Australia, two weeks later. No decision has been taken over whether Bahrain will get the chance to host a race later this year.

The Bahrain race had been in doubt for more than a week due to anti-government protests but crown prince Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa has now conceded defeat.

He said: 'We must focus on immediate issues of national interest and leave the hosting to a later date.

'Our nation's priority is on overcoming tragedy, healing divisions and rediscovering the fabric that draws us together to remind the world of the best that Bahrain is capable of as a nation.'

Labels: Bahrain, cancel, country, daily, Dangerous, Formula, opener, rulers

Ecclestone began Friday “hopeful” that Formula One’s season-opening grand prix on March 13 would go ahead. However, the F1 chief executive later said the situation had deteriorated: “We should wait and see what happens over the weekend.”

On Thursday, following the cancellation of this weekend’s GP2 Asia race in Bahrain, Ecclestone had suggested that he would make a decision on the grand prix “by Tuesday or Wednesday”.

But with a lull in the violence as protesters gathered at Sitra for funerals, the 80 year-old felt sufficiently emboldened to predict that the turmoil might blow itself out. “Our people there say: ‘It’s quiet, no problems’,” Ecclestone said around lunchtime.

“I hope we don’t have to do anything. Let’s hope this all blows away. I’m more hopeful today than I was yesterday. In these parts there have always been skirmishes. Perhaps it’s a bit more than that.”

Later, having been appraised of the latest violence, Ecclestone backtracked considerably. “From what I’ve been told it’s a bit different to this morning because of this funeral that’s gone on which is what you would expect, I suppose.”

Asked if he feared there was now less chance of the race going ahead, he said: “I don’t fear anything, I just think things have changed and that we should wait and see over the weekend exactly what changes there have been.”

Asked about potential damage to the image of F1 if the sport visited the country at this time, Ecclestone said: “It seems as if people thought Bahrain was democratic a few weeks ago.

“Let’s wait and see, because we don’t know what the protesting is really about.”

He added that he “hadn’t thought” about the commercial implications of cancelling the race. The last grand prix to be rescheduled was the 1985 Belgian race.

Ecclestone said: “We scheduled that later. We may be able to do the same with this one. I hope things will just carry on as normal. Obviously some people were killed, nobody’s happy with that, I’m quite sure.”

In Barcelona, where F1 teams are conducting the third of four pre-season tests, a meeting took place last night to discuss their approach to the crisis.

The fourth test is due to take place at the Sakhir circuit from March 3-6 but it is understood there is not much appetite from within F1 to travel to Bahrain in the present climate.

A spokesperson for the Circuit de Catalunya said that the teams had checked if it would be available to hold the March test if necessary. The circuit confirmed that it would be.

World champion Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time of the day in Barcelona, more than one second faster than Fernando Alonso in a Ferrari. Jenson Button was fifth fastest in his McLaren.

Labels: Bahrain, Bernie, cautious, Ecclestone, Formula, riots, Telegraphcouk

BBC Sport brings you a regular round-up of the gossip in newspapers and on specialist websites around the world.

World champion Sebastian Vettel says he dreams of driving for Ferrari even though he is happy at Red Bull. "I would pay a year's holiday to Fernando Alonso to have the red car," Vettel joked.
Full story: Reuters

Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz fully expects team-mates Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber to lock horns again in 2011. Mateschitz says: "They won't exchange gifts. Therefore I expect a similar situation to last year. They remain both free to race."
Full story: Autosport

Rubens Barrichello reports that he has been in touch with injured Renault driver Robert Kubica, who is recovering in intensive care after more surgery. Barrichello wrote on his Twitter page: "Guess who I received a call [from]?? Robert Kubica... [thank] God he is ok, talking normally... I was so happy..."
Full story: Williams driver Rubens Barrichello on Twitter

McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton will rub shoulders with pop stars Cheryl Cole and Kylie Minogue as he prepares to present a gong at music industry bash the Brits Awards on Monday.
Press Association

Nico Rosberg says he is expecting "a fierce competition" between him and his Mercedes team-mate Michael Schumacher. Rosberg added: "But I hope that I will wind up on top."
Full story: formula1.com

The FIA's Formula 1 race director and safety delegate Charlie Whiting is said to be "upbeat" after his latest visit to inspect the new Indian Grand Prix circuit track. Whiting is due to make his final inspection on 30 June ahead of the inaugural race on 30 October.
Full story: Autosport

Ferrari drivers Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa had an extra day on track in Jerez after the four-day test. The pair, who clocked up 50 kilometres during some promotional filming, return to testing duties in Barcelona on Friday. Alonso will run for the first two days before Massa takes over on Sunday.
Full story: Ferrari

Red Bull owner Dietrich Mateschitz fully expects team-mates Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber to lock horns again in 2011. Mateschitz says: "They won't exchange gifts. Therefore I expect a similar situation to last year. They remain both free to race."
Full story: Autosport

This story will be updated throughout the day

Labels: Formula, gossip, International, media, rumours, Sport

ROBERT KUBICA is unlikely to race in Formula 1 this year after suffering horrifying injuries while competing in a rally in Italy on Sunday.

And a question mark hung over his entire Grand Prix career because of the nature of his injuries which smashed up the right side of his body.

Some reports said a crash barrier pierced the centre of the car and he suffered multiple fractures to his right arm, hands and leg.

The biggest concern is his partially severed right hand.

Surgeons said they had managed to save it having to be amputated but they will not even know for a week exactly whether he will get full use of it again.

Intricate operations had to be carried out to restore its blood supply.

And over Sunday night and into Monday the Renault Lotus racer was put in an induced coma to help with the recovery process.

Kubica, was set to be Renault’s lead driver for the season, starting in Bahrain in a little over a month’s time.           

Now medical staff say he is unlikely to contest any of the gruelling 20-race series.

He was trapped in the car for an hour, which is unheard of in a rally, and later  underwent a seven-hour operation at Santa Corona Hospital in Pietra Ligure.

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The accident happened just three miles after the start of the Ronde di Andora rally.

He lost control of his Super 2000 Skoda Fabia which he had been set to race a few weeks earlier at the famous Monte Carlo Rally.

Hand specialist Doctor Igor Rossello said it would take several days for doctors to assess the success of the operation.

"We need to wait for a week at least to verify whether the hand survives," he told Italian media.

"The nerve lesions are the ones that leave us with the most question marks over the recovery of functions.

“Rehabilitation will be relatively long, probably one year. “

But he added that motor racing drivers recover faster than other patients.

“Drivers are always very special patients. I have a lot of motorbike patients and they heal in a much faster way, faster than normal people."       

Kubica's co-driver Jakub Gerber was uninjured.

“After we crashed I saw Robert holding his arm, and after a few moments he lost consciousness,” he said.

Bruno Senna was tipped to be favourite to stand in for the Pole but they may now need a more senior racer is Kubica is out for the entire season.

Get more motorsport news and opinion, including driver diaries, on Mirror.co.uk's motorsport blog.

Labels: Again, Formula, Kubica, Mirrorcouk, Robert, unlikely

The career of one of the most promising young Formula One drivers was hanging in the balance tonight after an accident in a low-key rally in Italy left him badly injured and having surgery to try to save the use of his right hand.

Robert Kubica, 26, who drives for the Renault team, was competing in a Skoda Fabia on the Ronde di Andora when he suffered a high-speed crash into a church wall and then a barrier shortly after the start. It took rescue crews more than an hour to extract Kubica from the wreckage. Unconfirmed reports from the scene suggest that part of the barrier speared through the car's footwell into the cockpit.

The Pole, who is a national hero in his homeland, suffered multiple fractures to his right leg, arm and hand. He was airlifted from the crash site in the village of Testico to the Santa Corona hospital in Pietra Ligure on the Mediterranean coast where he underwent lengthy surgery.

The main area of concern is the driver's right hand, which, although safe from amputation, is severely damaged and it is too early for doctors to give a prognosis on a full recovery. It is the same arm that was badly injured in a road accident in 2003 and left him with titanium bolts to support the shattered bones.

Kubica's manager, Daniele Morelli, said last night: "The surgeons are trying to restore the functionality of the right hand. They must now think about the muscle function, but Robert has a very strong temper and will succeed." The Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport reported that more surgery will be required after today's preliminary operation.

Kubica, who was due to start his fifth full season in Formula One in Bahrain next month, set the fastest time in testing last week and grand prix insiders regard him as one of the sport's supreme talents and a future world champion who could have earned anything up to $100m from his career as a driver. He made his debut for the BMW Sauber team in 2006 after eye-catching victories in the junior formulas, the traditional testing ground for emerging talent.

He hit the headlines in 2007 when he emerged almost unscathed from a terrifying high-speed crash in Montreal that was a testament to the strength of the modern Formula One car. A year later, and at the same track, he won his first, and so far only, grand prix. When BMW withdrew from Formula One at the end of 2009, unable to justify the cost after a dreadful season, Kubica signed for the Renault team and achieved some strong results, including second in Australia and third at Monaco, considered the greatest test of a driver's skill.

The feeling was that this would be the year Kubica would take on the sport's elite on the track and would soon be able to match them in the earnings stakes. In the ultra-secret world of Formula One finance hard figures are difficult to come by but Renault are believed to paying Kubica $10m a year until 2012, with Fernando Alonso earning four times that much at Ferrari.

Modern Formula One drivers' contracts usually forbid them from taking part in "high-risk" activities for fear of injury but the drivers are famed for seeking adrenaline rushes away from the track and Kubica is far from the first driver to put his career – and life – in jeopardy pursuing high-risk hobbies.

A spokesperson for the Renault team, which is based in Enstone in Oxfordshire, would not comment on whether Kubica had sought permission to compete in the rally although he has taken part in club rallies for several years. It is thought the car he crashed today, a powerful model that competes in international events, was one he purchased two years ago.

In the first three decades of the Formula One world championship, which began in 1950, drivers regularly competed in various brands of motor sport when they were not competing in grands prix. Top drivers such as Stirling Moss, Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart travelled the world to race in anything that might take them to a win.

Since the 1970s Formula One drivers are very much that, only occasionally skiing or mountain-biking in the off-season to keep fit and satisfy their need for speed and even that has proved hazardous. Two years ago the Australian driver Mark Webber broke a leg when he was hit by a 4x4 while taking part in a bike race.

Tonight fellow drivers offered their support to the popular Kubica.

Britain's former world champion Jenson Button, who drives for McLaren said on his Twitter page: "Shocking news about Robert Kubica. I wish him a speedy recovery."

Williams driver Rubens Barrichello tweeted: "I would like to ask you for your best wishes to Kubica. He is being operated right now. We all like him and he deserves all the best."

Sebastian Buemi of Toro Rosso said: "All my support to Robert Kubica. I am with you man."They will also be very aware that just as Robert Kubica was about to join the elite of formula one, his career may well have been snatched away from him by his desire to take part in one of the most basic forms of the sport.

Mark Webber

Breaks a leg when hit by a car mountain-biking in Tasmania before the 2009 season. Drives with steel rods in his leg. In 2010 goes over the handlebars on a training ride and fractures shoulder one week before the Japanese grand prix

Juan Pablo Montoya

Missed two races for McLaren in 2005 after injuring a shoulder "playing tennis". Stories that the damage was done when he fell off a motorbike engulf the paddock and McLaren are not amused

Michael Schumacher

Potential comeback with Ferrari in 2009 is aborted when neck injury caused by a motorcycle accident can't take the strain

Patrick Depailler

Misses the last eight races of the 1979 season – and a shot at the world title – after breaking his legs in a hang-gliding crash. The Ligier team dispense with his services. He joins Alfa Romeo but is killed in a crash at Hockenheim in 1980 during a private testing session

Didier Pironi

Survives career-ending crash in practice for the 1982 German grand prix. Takes up power boat racing and is killed in 1987 off the Isle of Wight

Labels: fight, Formula, Guardian, Kubica, Robert, Surgeons

When it comes to Formula D Racing, otherwise known as Formula Drifting, there are many individuals who want to learn more about the sport. Many are focused on how the sport runs, while others are focused on the popularity of it. When trying to further examine the sport of drifting, it is important to take all of those questions into consideration; however, many individuals automatically skip something important; the history of Formula D Racing. Whether you are a new fan of the sport or an old one, it is important that you know, understand, and appreciate the history of Formula D Racing. Without that history you wouldn’t be able to enjoy the sport that you have come to love.

Formula D Racing is most commonly known on a professional level. Although professional drifting is relatively new to the United States, the sport of drifting is not. In fact, drifting has been around in the United States for over thirty years. Its existence was not on a professional level, but on an underground level. Why there is little talk about this type of racing is due to the fact that underground activities are usually used to describe secret or illegal activities. In many areas of the United States, street racing is considered illegal; therefore, drifting would have been as well.

As popular as underground drifting was, it was dangerous. Many of these underground events took place on city streets or at other unsafe locations. For that reason, a small drifting association was created. In addition to creating a safe drifting environment, often at local racetracks, additional member benefits were established. These benefits included training events and much more. It was later Slipstream Global who announced that they were developing another company. That company later became known as Formula Drift, Inc.

Formula Drift was the first and is currently the only organization that owns and operates a professional drifting series in the United States. This series, as mentioned above, are commonly known as Formula D. In addition to Formula D, professional drifting is also referred to as Formula Drift or Formula Drifting. This series was formed in 2003; however, Formula D events did not begin taking place until 2004. In April of 2004, Road Atlanta, in Atlanta, Georgia, was home to the first ever professional Formula D event.

Since the Formula D series officially got started, in 2004, additional tracks have been added. In 2004, there were seven venues that were added to the circuit. As the years go on, it is expected that additional events will be added. In addition to added venues, Formula Drift, Inc also reached an agreement with G4TV. G4TV, a popular television network, has retained the rights to air Formula D events, as well as additional programming, which is centered on the sport. If adding Formula D programming to their network wasn’t enough, G4TV also has reached an agreement with iTunes. That agreement allows Formula D podcasts to be available to iTunes users. These podcasts, as well as the iTunes program, are all free to acquire.

As you can easily see, there is quite a bit of history behind Formula Drifting. In fact, when you think about it, that history is quite exciting. Without the influence of Japanese drifting and the forming of a drifting alliance, it is quite possible that drifting may still be underground, instead of being known as a professional sport.

Labels: Formula, History, Racing