Formula 1 News: Update

With just over a month to go for the first race at Bahrain, teams, drivers and race officials are all busy in their final month preparations for the new season.

First there was a report in a British daily that said that Force India may be forced to shut shop as they had not filed their accounts for the year 2008 by the deadline which ended October 31. A notice of dissolution had been sent to the team's bosses. But Force India rubbished this report and confirmed that they would start testing next week in Spain as scheduled. Force India will be unveiling their new Mercedes-powered VJM03 car this year, and expectations are quite high, as the team improved their performance quite impressively in the latter half of 2009. Vijay Mallya said that there was no problem at all. He added, "Force India's participation within the F1 championship has not, and will not, be in jeopardy". "It is not unknown for companies to file their annual returns late, the reasons for which are varied. Force India had been granted an extension until February 25 and were taking all the necessary steps to ensure the accounts were submitted before that date."

Then the other big news was that of Ferrari scorching the track during testing. (read: Ferrari Fastest in Testing) This was when Felipe Massa was fastest in testing amongst all teams. But then Ferrari went one more step ahead of its rivals when former world champion and new Ferrari recruit Fernando Alonso went even faster, sending out a strong message to current world champion Jenson Button and the legendary Michael Schumacher. Alonso said, "It was a very emotional day, very special because it's also my father's birthday. These past few days I have been really anxious to get into the car. We expected a lot of people. But it's one thing to expect, it's another to see them there in the stands. Each time I went onto the track I could see how excited they were. You don't have to set great times. You can drive with more or less fuel, use more or fewer tires. I'm happy to be in the car, but I remain cautious."

Lastly, the exciting buzz around the place was about Ralf Schumacher's return to Formula One. Bernie Ecclestone, the boss of Formula 1 is said to have recommended Ralf for the new outfit Stefan GP, who took over team Toyota. Ecclestone said, "I have good contacts to Stefan GP and would like to give this team a good starting point. Ralf Schumacher would be the perfect driver for them, he knows the team and he has experience."

I am sure a lot more will happen in this last month before the season kick-off. Stay tuned for more updates in the coming days.