Ecclestone issues Schumacher warning

Bernie Ecclestone has warned Formula One fans not to expect too much from the returning Michael Schumacher.

Ecclestone excited by Alonso switch

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone believes Fernando Alonso's Ferrari switch has set the stage for a vintage year for the sport next season.

Ecclestone wants Alonso at Ferrari for Valencia

Jul.27 (GMM) Bernie Ecclestone on Monday said he hopes Ferrari turns to Fernando Alonso to fill injured Felipe Massa's cockpit for the forthcoming European grand prix.

British grand prix – live!

Join Gemma for all the action. Any insights, questions or comments can be e-mailed hereLap 17: Raikkonen (P10) has leap-frogged Nakajima (P11) in those stops. Hamilton - being held up by the slower Kubica - tells his engineer he cannot pass as he has no grip.Lap 16: Kazuki 'I'm running on a wisp of fuel' Nakajima is the first to pit. He stays on the harder tyre. Vettel does another fastest lap. Button is now 27.4 seconds adrift of the leader. Raikkonen also pits.Lap 12: Not much drama to report I'm afraid folks. Here's the order: Vettel, Barrichello, Webber, Nakajima (I know!), Raikkonen, Rosberg, Trulli, Button, Massa, Glock, Fisichella (go on my son), Heidfeld, Alonso, Kubica, Hamilton, Piquet, Bourdais, Buemi, Kovalainen and Sutil.Lap 11: My carefully-positioned boyfriend... erm, sorry, I mean track-side mole... is embedded at Club. But all he has to report is that there are plenty of chips being consumed (gernerous servings too, apparently). And it's a bit chilly.Lap 10: Vettel's lead now 10 seconds and he's just posted another fastest lap. Webber maintains his close pursuit of Barrichello but has not thrown any moves.Lap nine: Hamilton's engineers have told him he must get past Kubica (P14). But the Brit said yesterday that his car is so poor the only way to drive it is slowly.Lap eight: Heidfeld is running well in 12th, having started 15th, despite his poorly nose (on the car, you understand).Lap seven: Vettel's lead is over 7 seconds now, but there's only eight tenths between Barrichello and Webber. Button still in eighth - he's over 15 seconds shy of the race leader now.Lap five: Webber is six seconds behind his team-mate in third. He'll need to get past Barrichello if he wants to hunt him down. Kubica has taken 14th from Hamilton - looks like happened when Alonso (in P13) ran wide and held up Hamilton, allowing the BMW through.Lap four: Over the radio we can hear Heidfeld's engineer telling him 'box! box!' (which means pit, not slam another driver in the face) for a new nose. But the militant German says 'nein'. He'll wait until the first stop. Vettel's lead now 4.4sec.Lap three: Vettel is storming - he made almost a second on Barrichello in that lap. Kovalainen wins the prize for worst start: he lined up in 13th and he's back in 19th.Lap two: Vettel's lead is already 2.5seconds, he's the fastest car on track. Hamilton is up to 14th already - he can see a points finish in his sights. Button has re-passed Massa for eighth.Lap one: Trulli also dropped down the order at the start. The Ferraris both got flyers - Massa looked fantastic surging past Button. The order in the top ten after the first tour: Vettel, Barrichello, Webber, Nakajima, Raikkonen, Rosberg, Trulli, Massa, Button and Glock.The start: Vettel good start, keeps ahead of Barrichello and Webber. Button has dropped down to eighth.Most of the frontrunners - apart from the Williams cars - are starting on the softer option tyres. We're about to get underway...Enough politics. We're counting down to the start of the GP now. It looks a little breezy at the former airfield. Flavio Briatore has told the BBC's Martin Brundle that he "loves" Bernie Ecclestone. Victoria Pendleton "cannot believe" that she's been standing on the Formula One grid. And Lewis Hamilton is casting round for a pair of binoculars so he can get a glimpse of the front of the pack...More breaking news: The Big Row has given Donington Park a 'get out of jail free' card. Apparently, if the planned breakaway goes ahead, the circuit bosses can pull out of their contract to host the GP. Which would help them out of any hole, were they not to achieve the funding necessary to bring the circuit up to scratch, wouldn't it?I think the news editor will pull out my computer's power cable if I don't mention The Big Row. The latest news: in a quote that will leave the City's finest barristers weeping into their copies of the Sunday Times this morning, Max Mosley has said that a resolution is imminent. "I think we would rather talk than litigate," he said. "We are very, very close as far as the facts are concerned. It's just if the teams want to sit down and iron out the last few difficulties." So are we close to a resolution then? Let's hope so: my fingernails are already bitten to the quick and I can handle any more last-minute re-writes. But what do you care about my bleeding hands - email me with your thoughts.Elsewhere on the grid, the Williams pair were light-fuelled and running highly. But the big story had to be Lewis Hamilton's dire 19th position. He wasn't helped by the red flags coming out owing to Adrian Sutil's heafty shunt, but the reigning champion later claimed he had little more to come from his curtailed flying lap. At least it'll be fun to watch him try and work his way up the field. Funny, though, how we've been uttering that line for the past few races. But we absolutely won't say 'what a difference a year makes'. That would be too cliched. Ooops.So Vettel, the only man other than Jenson to have won a grand prix this season, sits on pole. And what a lap it was. Information on the fuel loads released last night showed that the young German's car was carrying two more laps of fuel compared to team-mate Webber - with the Brawn GP drivers' cars carrying less than both the Red Bulls. So you'd have to fancy that the energy drink-powered cars have the edge, right? Both drivers praised recent technical developments made by the Milton Keynes-based squad, while Button could only whinge about his skitterish Brawn.1. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull-Renault2. Rubens Barrichello, Brawn-Mercedes3. Mark Webber, Red Bull-Renault4. Jarno Trulli, Toyota5. Kazuki Nakajima, Williams-Toyota6. Jenson Button, Brawn-Mercedes7. Nico Rosberg, Williams-Toyota8. Timo Glock, Toyota9. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari10. Fernando Alonso, Renault11. Felipe Massa, Ferrari12. Robert Kubica, BMW-Sauber13. Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren-Mercedes14. Nelson Piquet, Renault15. Nick Heidfeld, BMW-Sauber16. Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India-Mercedes17. Sebastien Bourdais, Toro Rosso-Ferrari18. Adrian Sutil, Force India-Mercedes19. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren-Mercedes20. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso-FerrariBut let's say 'pah!' to those anoraks at the circuit anyway - they were smugly expecting to watch hero-de-jour Jenson Button triumph, weren't they? Not so confident now though. Sixth on the grid? What's all that about we demanded after yesterday's qualifying session. No grip, according to Sir Jenson of Frome. Skating around like a duckling on an icy pond, apparently. Ole Button has written off his chances of victory already, so what can we expect from today's race? Let's remind ourselves of the grid...Well hello. So you're not one of the 90,000 people who've made the pilgrimage to Silverstone for it's last-ever Formula One grand prix* (*possibly) then? Never mind. I was going to say that it'll probably rain and you're better off tucked up on your sofa watching the action with a mug of tea and a packet of Hob Nobs. But I have to report that when I left home this morning - the Briggs abode being close enough to the track that the fat cats' helicopters were interfering with my television signal as I tried to watch Roary the Racing Car early this morning - the skies were a beautiful blue and not a drop of moisture threatened my 'do.Formula oneMotor sportBrawnToyotaFerrariToro RossoRed BullForce IndiaRenaultSauberWilliamsMcLarenLewis HamiltonJenson Buttonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

German cancels Ecclestone meeting

• Bernie Ecclestone controversy leads to summit cancellation• 'I did not put Hitler up as a good example'Bernie Ecclestone was at the centre of yet another Formula One controversy last night as a German politician cancelled a meeting scheduled this weekend to discuss the future of the country's round of the world championship after his recent observations about Adolf Hitler.Günther Oettinger, the prime minister of Baden-Württemberg where the Hockenheim circuit is situated, was due to meet Formula One's commercial rights holder at this weekend's German grand prix at the Nürburgring, to discuss whether to continue alternating the race between the two circuits.Yesterday, however, Oettinger made it clear that he would not be meeting Ecclestone after his comments about Hitler, which were published over the weekend, saying that at least dictators like him got things done. His comments attracted widespread condemnation from politicians and Jewish groups across Europe.Ecclestone made an effort to clarify his remarks in an interview with the newspaper Bild, although it stopped short of a retraction or apology. "I did not put Hitler up as a good example‚" Ecclestone was quoted as saying. "But [I] simply pointed out that before his terrible crimes, he had acted successfully against unemployment and the economic crash."It is notable that Ecclestone's comments should have been made in the run-up to a Formula One grand prix at the Nürburgring. The current track is built on the edge of the old 14-mile circuit, which was originally constructed as a test track for the Nazi-backed German car industry in a bid to reduce unemployment in the Eifel region during the early 1930s.Yet it is a measure of Ecclestone's influence within Formula One that not one of the teams was prepared to make any critical comment about his outburst. Behind the scenes, and off the record, there was no concealing the teams' exasperation that the sport is left mired in another public relations drama only a week after the FIA president Max Mosley's unseemly vacillations over whether he would stand for re-election again in October – or indeed whether there is a potential peace treaty between the governing body and the eight members of the Formula One Teams Association.The former world rally champion Ari Vatanen last night emerged as a possible contender to challenge Mosley if the Briton did seeks re-election to the FIA presidency."At the moment I am consulting the member clubs and am already seeing positive feedback," said the 57-year-old Finn, a four-times Dakar Rally winner. "I am considering standing. I think the time has come for a change. I would go for it, even if not sure of winning."Meanwhile, there is continued dispute over whether the Formula One teams new to next year's world championship were told by the FIA that a condition of their entry was that they had to race with Cosworth engines.While not confirming that this was strictly the case, an FIA spokesman reportedly stated that the availability of an independent supply of Formula One engines for new teams was a priority otherwise "the whole grid would be at the mercy of the car industry and no new team would be able to enter without their permission".Bernie EcclestoneFormula OneMotor sportguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Bernie Ecclestone of Formula One ripped for controversial remarks

Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone faced criticism from politicians and Jewish groups Saturday after being quoted as saying that Adolf Hitler "got things done."