Ross Brawn advised Wednesday newly-crowned Formula One world champion Jenson Button to stick with his Brawn team instead of jumping to McLaren next season

Ross Brawn advised Wednesday newly-crowned Formula One world champion Jenson Button to stick with his Brawn team instead of jumping to McLaren next season.

Mercedes on Monday bought out Formula One world champions Brawn GP, prompting uncertainty about the future of its drivers, and intense speculation that the 29-year-old Briton would leave for McLaren.

But team principal Brawn said negotiations were ongoing with Button, and he hoped that “logic” would ultimately prevail.

“Negotiations (with Button) are continuing and the reports that he has already agreed terms with McLaren are not helpful. I would be amazed if that were the case,” Brawn told the London-based Independent newspaper.

“His best future is with our team, where he has a good group around him, and there’s a lot to be said for that.

“The logical thing would be for him to stay with us, but of course logic doesn’t always prevail.”

German car giant Mercedes, which has taken a 75 percent stake in Ross Brawn’s team, will be rebranded Mercedes GP.

Brawn, who took over the British-based outfit after former owners Honda quit the sport at the end of 2008, will remain in his role.

Reports have said that the new outfit were expected to plump for Nico Rosberg as their number one driver – a move that would be popular in Germany – with his countryman Nick Heidfeld his likely partner.

Toyota driver Kamui Kobayashi leaves the pits of the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi. Japan’s Toyota Motor announced Wednesday it was quitting Formula One racing, joining an exodus of Japanese automakers from the sport due to the global economic crisis

Formula One was left reeling Wednesday as Toyota became the latest automaker to quit the glamour sport in response to the economic crisis, just days after tyre manufacturer Bridgestone pulled out.

Toyota said its decision to quit after this year’s season, which ended Sunday in Abu Dhabi, reflected “the current severe economic realities.”

Honda and Germany’s BMW have already exited F1 to cope with the credit crunch. Toyota’s withdrawal leaves no Japanese automaker left in the high-octane motorsport, raising fresh fears for its future.

The company said no decision had been made on whether to sell or disband the team, which has not won a Grand Prix since its 2002 debut on the F1 circuit and finished this season ranked fifth in the constructor championship.

“It was a tough decision because we are betraying the expectations of fans,” Akio Toyoda, a racing enthusiast and grandson of the automaker’s founder, told a news conference.

“I apologise to our fans from the bottom of my heart. I made the decision myself.”

He ruled out supplying engines to other teams, saying: “In terms of Formula One, we will make a complete withdrawal.”

While F1 attracts millions of viewers, the amount of money it costs to run a team — estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars a year — means it has become an unaffordable luxury for cash-strapped Japanese manufacturers.

The sport has lurched from crisis to crisis in recent years, including financial troubles, a Renault race-fixing scandal and a threat by a clutch of teams earlier this year to form a breakaway series over a proposed budget cap.

Facing a collapse in worldwide car sales, Toyota had already pulled out of hosting the Japanese Grand Prix at its Fuji Speedway circuit from next year.

Toyota’s Italian driver Jarno Trulli drives at the Yas Marina Circuit on November 1, in Abu Dhabi, during the Abu Dhabi Formula One Grand Prix. Formula One was left reeling as Toyota became the latest automaker to quit the glamour sport in response to the economic crisis, just days after tyre manufacturer Bridgestone pulled out.

On Monday Bridgestone said it would end its contract as the official tyre supplier to F1 — joining an exodus of Japanese auto firms from world motor sports. (more…)

Seven-time F1 world champion Michael Schumacher (centre R) and Sebastian Vettel (centre L), representing Team Germany, wave during the opening ceremony of the Race of Champions in Beijing on November 3. Beijing’s Bird’s Nest stadium has been transformed into a motor racing track, with some of the world’s top drivers gearing up to compete in the race on Wednesday.

Beijing’s Bird’s Nest stadium has been transformed into a motor racing track, with some of the world’s top drivers gearing up to compete in the 2009 Race of Champions here on Wednesday.

Newly-crowned Formula One world champion Jenson Button, seven-time F1 champion Michael Schumacher and Abu Dhabi Grand Prix winner Sebastian Vettel are among those to compete at the main 2008 Beijing Olympic stadium.

The event is the first time the Race of Champions is being held outside Europe in a 21-year history that has pitted the world’s best racers from different disciplines against each other with identical equipment.

“As soon as we have the steering wheel in our hands, we go for it…, it is natural for all of us,” Schumacher told reporters on Tuesday.

“But the good thing is that up front, in between, we have a good time, we enjoy it and we don’t take it so seriously,” he said of the head-to-head race format on a parallel track.

Other top drivers include eight-time Le Mans 24 Hour winner Tom Kristensen, legendary repeat Moto GP champion Mick Doohan, 2009 Dakar Rally winner Giniel de Villiers and three-time World Touring Car champion Andy Priaulx.

“To be here, to participate in the Race of Champions with the world’s best drivers, is a very big honour,” said Chinese driver Dong Haibin, who qualified for the event in an earlier preliminary.

On Tuesday night, drivers will be split up into two-men national sides for the Race of Champions Nation’s Cup, with Schumacher aiming to win his third straight title for Germany.

“We are looking for a hat trick, Michael and myself, obviously the circuit is very exciting, it’s a very spectacular venue,” said Vettel, Schumacher’s teammate for Tuesday’s event.

Bridgestone staff check race tyres at the paddock of the Suzuka circuit, ahead of the Japanese Formula One Grand Prix. Japan’s Bridgestone Corp. said it would not enter into a new tyre supply contract with the Formula One world championship series after late 2010, citing a changing business environment.

Japanese tyre maker Bridgestone Corp said Monday it would quit Formula One next year, dealing a further blow to the sport after the recent withdrawal of other high-profile firms amid the global downturn.

Bridgestone said it would end its contract as the official tyre supplier to the FIA, raising questions over who would replace it after French rival Michelin pulled out in 2006 and US maker Goodyear left in 1998.

“Bridgestone today announced that it will not enter into a new tyre supply contract with the FIA Formula One World Championship series,” the Tokyo-based tyre and rubber industry giant said in a statement.

The move comes after Toyota Motor pulled out of hosting the Japanese Grand Prix, while Honda has sold its team as the companies struggled to fight off the global recession. There have also been casualties in other motor sports.

Bridgestone has supplied tyres to F1 for 13 years and has been the exclusive supplier to the series since 2007.

Its current contract expires at the end of the 2010 season.

Bridgestone, battered by a global auto industry slump amid the economic downturn, said it was “addressing the impact of the continuing evolution of the business environment.”

The firm, which vies with Michelin to be the world’s top tyre maker, posted a net loss of 38.34 billion yen (420 million dollars) for January-June, a turnaround from a year-earlier profit of 37.24 billion yen.

Last month Bridgestone said it would shed nearly 900 jobs in Australia and New Zealand as it closes plants amid the worldwide slump in demand for cars.

Toyota Motor in July pulled out of hosting the Japanese Grand Prix at its Fuji Speedway circuit from next year.

Japan’s Bridgestone Corp has said it will end its tyre supply contract with Formula One after late 2010, citing a changing “business environment.”

Honda has sold its Formula One team while Suzuki and Subaru have withdrawn from the world rally championship. Motorcycle maker Kawasaki has exited the MotoGP and Mitsubishi is quitting the Dakar Rally. (more…)

McLaren Mercedes Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton watches in the pits during a training session at the Catalonia racetrack in Montmelo near Barcelona, in 2006. The Briton has claimed the 17th pole position of his career by topping the times in a floodlit qualifying session for the inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

A delighted Lewis Hamilton claimed the 17th pole position of his career when he topped the times in a floodlit qualifying session for Sunday’s inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The 24-year-old Englishman, in his McLaren Mercedes, continued the domination he has enjoyed for most of the weekend by clocking a best lap of one minute and 40.948 seconds, with a heavy fuel load, in the top ten shoot-out.

He then immediately made clear he is aiming to finish off an extraordinary season of topsy-turvy results with his 12th career victory.

“It is never easy, even you think so,” said Hamilton, who claimed his fourth pole of the season. “But this was definitely as much fun for me as it looked and I believe the car, our car, is the best now it has been all year.

“It feels really great on this circuit and I am comfortable here. It is a pleasure to drive here and the organisers have done a really great job. And my lap was good, but it could have been better, but it was a smooth lap.”

Hamilton wound up seven-tenths of a second faster than German Sebastian Vettel, second ahead of Red Bull team-mate Australian Mark Webber.

Vettel said: “I think both Lewis and I were surprised at the gap between us. But Lewis has been strong all weekend and in general McLaren have been strong all weekend.

“We have a button on our steering wheel, called a KERS button, but unfortunately it is not working.”

Webber said: “This is a grid that reflects the way things have gone in the second half of the season.”

Spanish Formula One driver Ferando Alonso leaves the cockpit of his Renault, in October 2004, at the Interlagos racetrack in Sao Paulo. A delighted Lewis Hamilton has claimed the 17th pole position of his career by topping the times in a floodlit qualifying session for Sunday’s inaugural Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Brazilian veteran Rubens Barrichello, in probably his last race for the Brawn GP team with which he won the constructors championship in Brazil two weeks ago, was fourth fastest ahead of newly-acclaimed champion Briton Jenson Button, his Brawn team-mate. (more…)

The Yas Marina circuit in the Gulf emirate of Abu Dhabi. Newly-crowned Formula One drivers’ world champion Jenson Button led the praise for the spectacular new Yas Marina circuit here and said he was aiming to finish the season with another win.

Newly-crowned Formula One drivers’ world champion Jenson Button led the praise Thursday for the spectacular new Yas Marina circuit here and said he was aiming to finish the season with another win.

The Brawn GP driver, who is poised to re-sign for the team for 2010, said he was particularly excited to have the chance to be the first victor in the inaugural Abu Dhabi race with so many novel features.

“It’s a fantastic feeling to be going into the final race having achieved my ambition of winning the drivers’ championship and with the team having wrapped up the constructors’ championship in Brazil,” explained Button.

“We want to finish the season in style with a great result, but we can be a little more relaxed in our approach to the weekend.

“And, of course, it’s always fun to try a new race track, particularly one which looks as unique as Yas Marina does with the unusual pit-lane exit and everything else – and the fact it will be the first day-night race.

“I’m sure Abu Dhabi is going to host a memorable weekend, whatever happens, and it will be a great finale to the 2009 season.”

While Button and his rivals made themselves familiar with their environment at Yas Marina, a state-of-the-art facility built on Yas, a desert island in the Arabian Bulf, within the city boundaries of Abu Dhabi, enthusiasts from around the world were also arriving to register their amazement.

Motor racing tourists from France, Spain and many other parts of Europe mingled with travellers from Australia, New Zealand and Asia, and tried to stay in the shade as he sun rose and the daytime temperature soared into the mid-thirties Celsius.

The circuit ‘facility’ features not only the race-track, but a majestic hotel complex, a marina, a special Ferrari world shopping centre and grounds irrigated by an automatic underground sprinkler system. (more…)

Ex-Ferrari F1 team chief, French Jean Todt, flanked by his companion actress Michele Yeoh arrives for the election of a new president of the International Automobile Association (FIA) in Paris. The Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) elected Todt as its president, the most powerful post in motorsport.

Ex-Ferrari boss Jean Todt was elected Friday to the most powerful post in motorsport as president of the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA).

The 63-year-old Frenchman won the FIA general assembly election with 135 votes against 49 for former world rally champion Ari Vatanen of Finland. There were 12 abstentions.

Todt succeeds the controversial Briton Max Mosley who had been in the hotseat for 16 years.

Although the new president will oversee motorsport in general, it is the marquee sport of Formula One and its future which will dominate the new agenda with Todt, who had the backing of Mosley and was tipped to win the election at FIA headquarters in Paris.

Vatanen fought on a ticket for change and broader democracy, but campaigning turned sour with claim and counter claim flying between the two camps.

Todt, riding on the success of his Ferrari glory years, had establishment support and offered a degree of continuity.

“My team’s approach will be based on consensus not confrontation,” Todt had said before the vote.

“We want to further develop F1 so that it benefits all those involved, from teams to fans. As the regulator of a hugely competitive and technically complex sport we will also establish an independent disciplinary panel to investigate breaches of the rules and to recommend the most appropriate response.”

Todt, from the tiny village of Pierrefort, in the Cantal region of central France, found his first success after moving out of the driver’s seat to co-pilot compatriot Guy Frequelin to the world rally championship in 1981.

The following year Todt entered management with Peugeot, setting up Peugeot-Talbot. Under Todt’s guidance, the team took won world titles in 1985 and 1986, followed by four Paris-Dakars from 1987-1990 — Vatanen was behind the wheel.

Todt led Peugeot into endurance racing, winning Le Mans in 1992 and 1993.

His repeated success attracted the attention of ailing Ferrari in 1993. (more…)

Jenson Button (right) of Brawn/GP celebrates with his father

Briton Jenson Button was crowned world champion Sunday when he finished fifth in an incident-filled Brazilian Grand Prix won by Australian Mark Webber.

Button, who has led the championship all season after winning the opening Australian Grand Prix in March, had started 14th on the grid, but drove with courage and determination to achieve his goal and send the Brawn GP team into wild celebration.

“We are the champions,” Button sang out of key from his cockpit after crossing the finishing line and capturing the title with one race to spare.

Later the 29-year-old added: “It’s really amazing especially after the last few weeks. It was such an awesome race.

“When I first jumped in a car 21 years ago I never expected to be world champion – but we did it today.”

Button’s success ensured also that the Brawn team, created out of the ashes of the defunct Honda team last winter, also clinched the constructors’ championship.

Button’s triumph as champion was a classic case of the tortoise and the hare in the second half of the season, as he survived the intensifying pressure around him.

Graphic showing the results of Formula One Brazilian Grand Prix

But he continued to collect points and took the title with a solid drive in Sunday’s dramatic 71-lap race.

His tearful team boss Ross Brawn said: “It’s still got to sink in. It will take a while. It’s just special. Very special.

“All the people who couldn’t be with us, because we had to re-size the team after the winter, my thanks go to them. I hope they’ve enjoyed it because they’ve been part of what we’ve done. Crying game for world champion Button

“The second half of the season was hard but it was a great race today. Jenson knew what he had to do.”

Button’s father John Button, who has supported his career and attended every single one of his races, said: “I’m a bit drained. The last seven or eight laps, we were all crying like little girls. I’m all washed out at the moment.

“I’ve got to accept where he is now – up there with all those great names. I haven’t got my head round it.”

Button’s success delivered the 14th world championship in Formula One won by a British driver and he, individually, became the tenth British champion, but the first to triumph after leading the title race for a whole season.

Australian Formula One driver Mark Webber powers his RedBull

Button’s great success came in his 169th Grand Prix and at the end of his ninth season in Formula One, a year when he won six of the opening seven races and then struggled to recapture that form.

Webber, in a Red Bull, won comfortably ahead of Pole Robert Kubica in a BMW Sauber and third-placed outgoing drivers’ champion Briton Lewis Hamilton in a McLaren Mercedes.

German Sebastian Vettel, in the second Red Bull, was fourth ahead of Button with Finn Kimi Raikkonen sixth for Ferrari.

Swiss Sebastien Buemi of Toro Rosso was seventh and the luckless local hero Brazilian veteran Rubens Barrichello, in the second Brawn, eighth after starting from pole position.

He suffered from heavy traffic and then a late puncture that wrecked his hopes of glory. Britain’s F1 world champions

After Saturday’s torrential storms, the race began in dry conditions and warm sunshine, but that did not signal any reduction in the level of incident as three accidents and a fire in the pit lane lit up the opening laps.

Barrichello made a fine clean start to lead, but behind him Kimi Raikkonen attacked hard on super-soft tyres and KERS on his Ferrari, jumping to third through the Senna S curves before grazing Webber’s Red Bull.

Brazilian F1 driver Felipe Massa waves the checkered flag to Jenson Button

Jarno Trulli of Toyota was also in the wars, colliding with Adrian Sutil’s Force India. Both went off and took two-times world champion Fernando Alonso out with them in his Renault.

Trulli was so furious he confronted Sutil as soon as they had climbed from their cars and the pair, with their racing uniforms and helmets on, were seen gesticulating and shouting as their cars were rescued.

All this resulted in a safety car being required and Heikki Kovlainen of McLaren, who had spun on the opening lap, was swiftly into the pits, but exited prematurely with a fuel hose still attached to his car and petrol pouring from it.

This flew into Raikkonen’s car, which briefly burst into flames as the fuel hit the exhaust system.

The safety car came in after five laps with Button benefiting from the mayhem and advancing to ninth and then to a comfortable fifth.

German Formula One driver Sebastian Vettel of Maclaren/Mercedes of Red Bull Racing

Torrential rain brought havoc to qualifying for the Brazilian Grand Prix here on Saturday as the famous Interlagos circuit became a water-logged graveyard for Sebastian Vettel’s title hopes.

The German driver, who began the weekend with an outside hope of snatching the world title from Jenson Button’s grasp, was eliminated in the first qualifying session when his Red Bull slid all over the rain-soaked surface.

Vettel was only 16th fastest in a time of 1:25.009, over two seconds off the pace set by Nico Rosberg in his Williams, who clocked 1min 22.828sec.

Rubens Barrichello was fifth fastest in his Brawn in 1:24.100 and Button a place further back in 1:24.297 with both men, still with the title in their sights, comfortably into the second qualifying session.

“I feel like I went to the pool today, not the race track,” said Vettel.

British Formula One driver Jenson Button powers his Brawn GP

“It’s disappointing. We would have liked to have qualified higher, but drivers have won from the back before.”

Earlier, Giancarlo Fisichella spun off in his Ferrari and was left fuming at the conditions before the session was halted.

“It’s impossible to drive. Crazy. It’s dangerous everywhere, even in the pit lane. They need to do something. I aquaplaned and the anti-stall didn’t work again,” said the Italian.

World champion Lewis Hamilton was also a first session casualty as his McLaren, set up for dry running, was only 18th fastest.

“The conditions were awful, but our car was terrible,” said Hamilton.

“It was a pretty poor performance from us. We couldn’t even go flat-out on the straights. That’s how bad it was. We didn’t have a wet weather set-up, which probably contributed to it.”

More heavy rain fell as the second session got underway, but that was quickly red-flagged when Force India’s Tonio Liuzzi suffered a horror crash which destroyed his car.

“There was a lot of water. It was pretty dangerous. It was like a big puddle. Somehow I lost control in the middle of the straight,” said Liuzzi.

The comments from Massa (seen here) about Alonso have caused uproar

Felipe Massa has reignited the controversy over the ‘crash-gate’ affair at the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix saying his Ferrari-bound team-mate Fernando Alonso must have been involved in the Renault plot.

Speaking at a meeting late Wednesday with reporters ahead of this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix, Massa said: “He knew. (It’s an) absolute certainty.”

The 27-year-old Brazilian driver’s comments caused uproar and prompted Ferrari to issue a statement on the team’s website stressing that he was talking only about his own feelings, rather than any factual evidence.

Massa also said he had vowed not to allow his feelings about the subterfuge — that led to compatriot Nelson Piquet junior crashing deliberately to help Alonso win the Singapore Grand Prix — to interfere with his relationship next year with the Spaniard.

In his Ferrari-vetted official statement, Massa added: “What I’ve said is the outcome of a hunch I’ve had and is not based on any concrete evidence.

“The FIA World Council announced that there was no indication that Fernando may have been informed of what had happened and I respect this outcome.

“Obviously I’m very disappointed about what transpired last year in Singapore: I have already said several times what I thought about it and now it’s time to close that chapter and to look to the future,” said Massa, who is recovering from head injuries suffered after a crash in Hungary in August.

Nelson Piquet junior crashed deliberately to help Alonso (pictured) win the Singapore Grand Prix last year

“What is certain is that this episode will not mar in any way the relationship I’ll have with Fernando when we will be team-mates.”

Massa was reported to have told Brazilian media here for the Interlagos Grand Prix: “It was the team and Nelson, but Alonso was part of the problem. He knew. We cannot know it [but] of course he knew. [It's an] absolute certainty.”

On the orders of Renault, the Brazilian deliberately crashed in Singapore last year, opening the door for team-mate Alonso to win.

The scandal led to the downfall of team principal Flavio Briatore and chief engineer Pat Symonds, but as the “whistleblower”, Piquet, who was sacked by Renault in July, was given immunity from official sanction.

The renewed furore stoked up the atmosphere ahead of this weekend’s world championship battle here between Massa’s fellow-Brazilian and close friend Rubens Barrichello and his Brawn GP team-mate Briton Jenson Button.

Home town hope Barrichello is 14 points behind Button with two races remaining.