Italy left without an F1 driver in 2012 | 2012 F1 season

With Jarno Trulli losing his seat on the eve of the new season, F1 finds itself in the highly unusual position of having no Italian drivers at the start of a new season.

Alonso beats Massa on ice

After a week on the slopes of the Italian Dolomites, Fernando Alonso has been warming his posterior in Ferrari's 2011 car ahead of its launch next week

Ferrari unveil 2010 Formula One car

Ferrari launched its car for the upcoming Formula One season today, naming it the F10 in hope of a return to the team's winning tradition.

Hamilton and Button lead in practice

• Lewis Hamilton leads from Jenson Button by only 0.096sec• Sebastian Vettel third fastest on new grand prix circuitLewis Hamilton and Jenson Button formed a British one-two in first practice for the inaugural Abu Dhabi grand prix today. Last year's world champion and the driver who deposed him 12 days ago in Brazil were separated by only 0.096 seconds after the opening 90 minutes of track action at the £800m Yas Marina circuit.If current rumours eventually prove to be true, Hamilton and Button may even be team-mates at McLaren next season should the latter fail to agree a new deal with Brawn GP. For now they remain on opposing sides and both looked impressive as they set about tackling a venue that the F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone feels will never be beaten.Naturally, there was a settling-in period for all the drivers, with Jaime Alguersuari in his Toro Rosso the first to post a timed lap of 1min 57sec. But by the conclusion of the session, Hamilton had just managed to dip under 1min 44sec, with the best of his 18 laps timed at 1:43.939, with Button in close attendance at 1:44.035.Button, admitting to feeling far more relaxed with the title under his belt, was the first to suffer a spin, although it was nothing major. The 29-year-old pushed too hard into one corner as he emerged out of the shadow of the hotel that straddles the 21-turn track.Sebastian Vettel, looking for a small degree of consolation for this season by finishing second behind Button in the standings, was third quickest, 0.214sec behind Hamilton.Button's team-mate Rubens Barrichello still has a say, though, after failing to take the title race down to the wire in Brazil 12 days ago when he finished only eighth from pole position. Barrichello finished just 0.054sec behind Vettel on the 5.554km track, and 0.268sec adrift of Hamilton, with the top four easily clear of any of their rivals.BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld was fifth overall, but 0.728sec down, followed closely by Sébastien Buemi in his Toro Rosso and Adrian Sutil for Force India.The Brazilian grand prix winner Mark Webber was eighth, and the only other driver to finish within a second of Hamilton, with the top 10 completed by Alguersuari and Toyota's Jarno Trulli.The Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Giancarlo Fisichella were down in 15th and 18th places, with Renault's Romain Grosjean bringing up the rear, albeit nearly 2.5sec off the pace.Formula OneLewis HamiltonJenson ButtonMotor sportguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Battle of the engines

With the 2009 championship now completed, Mercedes can bask in the knowledge that its engines were the dominating force in Formula One this year, with rival Renault taking second place ahead of Toyota, Ferrari and BMW...  

Fisichella: "Good feeling for Suzuka"

Suzuka, 1 October 2009 – Giancarlo Fisichella is pleased to be in Japan, where he is hugely popular with the local race fans, but it was another drive’s news that was the subject of the first question at his conference in the Suzuka paddock this afternoon: the arrival next season of Fernando Alonso.