Raikkonen returns to F1 with Renault/ CNN

Raikonnen's return to F1 was confirmed on Wednesday, with the 32-year-old signing a two-year deal with Renault.

(CNN) -- Kimi Raikkonen will return to Formula One in 2012, after Renault announced on Tuesday that the 2007 world champion has signed a two-year deal with the team.

The Finn won the drivers' championship with Ferrari in 2007 before leaving the sport in 2009, but he will return next season after spending time in the World Rally Championship and NASCAR.
"I'm delighted to be coming back to Formula 1 after a two-year break, and I'm grateful to Lotus Renault GP for offering me this opportunity," the 32-year-old told the team's official website.

"My time in the World Rally Championship has been a useful stage in my career as a driver, but I can't deny the fact that my hunger for F1 has recently become overwhelming.

"It was an easy choice to return with Lotus Renault GP as I have been impressed by the scope of the team's ambition. Now I'm looking forward to playing an important role in pushing the team to the very front of the grid."

Raikkonen entered F1 with Sauber in 2001 before going on to enjoy a successful five-season spell with McLaren between 2002 and 2006, winning nine grands prix and twice finishing runner-up in the world championship.

Speaking to CNN World Sport, Renault team principal Eric Boullier said he was delighted to have secured Raikkonen's services and insisted the Finn would soon be challenging the sport's top echelon of drivers.
"His motivation is huge and clearly the talent he has will maybe need a little bit of time to get back on track and to adapt to the new car and the new tires but I'm very confident he will get back," he said.
"I hope we push as much as we can, as much as we did at the beginning of the season. It is difficult to set up a competitive Formula One team, it takes time, but we learn every year from the experience.

The high point of Raikkonen's career-to-date arrived at the 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix, where his victory helped him clinch the world championship despite entering the race third in the drivers' standings.

"Kimi's experience is huge, he has been world champion, he has won many races, he has been working and driving for great constructors like Sauber and McLaren. It will be a huge boost for us and his determination will be a big boost for the team."

Boullier said Renault, who will compete under the Lotus name in 2012, were still yet to decide who would partner Raikkonen after they were represented by three drivers last season.
Russian Vitaly Petrov initially partnered Nick Heidfeld before Brazilian Bruno Senna replaced the German in August. Polish driver Robert Kubica raced for the team in 2010, but missed all of last season following a rally crash in Italy in February.

It had been hoped Kubica would return in time for the 2012 season, but the 26-year-old announced last week that his recovery from serious arm injuries was not yet complete.
Boullier said he did not yet know if Kubica would be fit to race: "It's a little bit early to answer this question," he added. "If we can bring him back into F1 we will try our best."
The 2011 season came to an end at last Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix, with Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel finishing the race second behind teammate Mark Webber having already sealed a second consecutive championship.

The 2012 season will is see a total of six former world champions line-up on the grid, with Raikonnen and Vettel being joined by Mercedes' seven-time winner Michael Schumacher, Ferrari's two-time champion Fernando Alonso and McLaren's championship-winning duo of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton.

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Sebastian Vettel wins inaugural Indian Grand Prix

Red Bull's champion Sebastian Vettel was untouchable as he became the first man to win the Indian Grand Prix.

BBC NEWS/It was a straightforward win for pole-sitter Vettel but Jenson Button battled well to take second for McLaren. Button passed Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, who finished third, and Mark Webber's Red Bull on the first lap.
Lewis Hamilton hit Felipe Massa's Ferrari as he attempted to pass for fifth but this time Massa was punished and Hamilton finished seventh.
India made a vibrant debut on the F1 calendar, with the drivers universally praising the new Buddh International Circuit, built on farmland 25 miles outside the capital, Delhi.
Jenson Button, Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso

But despite the colour and novelty off track, there was a familiar sight on it as Red Bull's double world champion ran away with the race to notch up his 11th win of 2011.
As Button and Webber fought over second place, Vettel set about building his lead and led the entire distance on his way to the chequered flag.

"Yes boys, yes we did," he celebrated on the team radio. "New track, new challenge."
Button had taken advantage of a wobble by Alonso into the first corner to jump the Ferrari before smoothly passing Webber on the straight to move up to second on the opening lap of the race.

VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS

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Vettel wins F1 title again for Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel won his second World F1 drivers championship today, and although only taking third place in the Japanese Grand Prix, he is still on track for the most dominant season in F1 history.
His third place at Suzuka gave him 324 of the 375 points on offer - a stunning 86.4% of available points and still ahead of Michael Schumacher's best during his reign with Ferrari. Like most other records in F1, Vettel is once again the youngest to achieve the feat.
For Red Bull Racing, it's the team's second drivers title and it is closing in on the constructors title with a lead of 130 points and just four races to go. Perhaps more ominously, the team it has assembled, and the relationship with both Infiniti and engine-suppliers Renault looks more than capable of sustaining the success.
Since the beginning of the season, Vettel's results in the world's most important auto race series have been first, first, second, first, first, first, second, first, second, fourth, second, first, first, first and third. That's not bad for someone who has yet to have their 25th birthday. Presumably, the best is yet to come, and
July 3, 1987 is not all that long ago - it's the day that two-time Formula One World Champion Sebastian Vettel was born and his remarkable achievements for such a tender age are already legend.

At the 2006 Turkish Grand Prix, Vettel became the youngest ever Formula One driver when he drove the third BMW Sauber car in practice and remarkably set the fastest time of the day, becoming the youngest ever driver to set fastest lap in an official F1 session - he was 19 years and 53 days old.
The following year at the 2007 US Grand Prix, he took eighth place in the BMW and in so doing became the youngest driver ever to claim championship points.
Later that year in the Japanese Grand Prix, he became the youngest driver to ever lead a Formula One race at 20 years, 89 days.
After a disastrous start to the 2008 season in the Scuderia Toro Rosso car, Vettel had the first weekend that really had everyone taking notice at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix.
The first of many stellar weekends for the young German appropriately occurred at the sole remaining spiritual home circuit on the Grand Prix calendar, Monza.
If the Gods of Motorsport were to convene, it would be at Monza. Strange things happen there.
When McLaren looked likely to sweep all the wins in the 1988 F1 season, a bizarre accident at Monza cost Ayrton Senna a certain win and turned up an unlikely Ferrari victory.
Enzo Ferrari had died just a few weeks earlier and the two events will be forever linked in the superstitious world of motorsport. Despite being the most visible competition for applied technology in the world, auto racing is also a place where favourite socks/jocks, routines and unjustified belief in supernatural causation remain commonplace.
Vettel arrived at Monza in 2008 with a Toro Rosso car that was not competitive. In the rain though, Vettel's extraordinary natural talent more than made enough difference on the fast Monza circuit where cars spend a lot of time carrying large g-forces.

A varying track during qualifying saw many of the big names eliminated - the Hondas of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello went in the first cut, while Coulthard (Red Bull Renault), Räikkönen (Ferrari) and Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes) also didn't make the final ten.
In wet conditions, just 72 days after his 21st birthday, Vettel became the youngest person to take pole position in the history of Formula One.
The following day, Vettel became Formula One's youngest ever winner - indeed, he was also the youngest ever driver to stand on the podium in any position.
A look through the list of Formula One records indicates there are few achievements he hasn't claimed as the youngest, and a massive list of all-time record achievements in which he already features on the top 10 leaderboard. Barring accident, he will almost certainly take a swag more records before this year is over.
You can have all the marketing brains in the world, but there is no ingredient more essential to the equation than winning - Tiger Woods at one stage looked the sportsperson most likely to earn a billion dollars in a year from sport, and now the odds would favour Vettel. He has a clear decade, maybe more, in front of him as potentially the most successful sportsperson in the world's most watched TV sport.
The success of the Red Bull-Renault-Infiniti triumvirate involves many complex variables, but appears sustainable in that all of the important parameters have success engineered in.
Red Bull owner Deiter Mateschitz has gathered an awesome team of people to Red Bull Racing apart from the prodigiously talented Vettel - primarily engineer Adrian Newey and Team Principal Christian Horner - but the all-round team is currently state-of-the-art, and it has the world's best driver behind the steering wheel.
As with Red Bull, Renault-Nissan-Infiniti and Red Bull Racing, it is the assembly of complex systems into a living sustainable business organism which characterises the success, but at the end of the day, you need a winning driver to do the business when it counts, and at 24 years of age, that driver for the foreseeable future looks like being Sebastian Vettel.

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Sebastian Vettel wins the 2011 Singapore Grand Prix

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel took a dominant victory in an incident-packed Singapore Grand Prix to move to the brink of the world title.

The German's ninth victory in 14 races means he needs just a point from the remaining five races to seal the title.

The only man who can mathematically beat him is Jenson Button, who finished second ahead of Red Bull's Mark Webber.

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso was fourth from McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, who recovered from a drive-through penalty

Force India's Paul di Resta drove superbly on his debut at one of the toughest races on the calendar and the Scot took an impressive sixth place.

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg won a breathless battle for seventh place in the closing laps from Force India's Adrian Sutil, who just held off Ferrari's Felipe Massa after the Brazilian passed Sauber's Sergio Perez for ninth at the start of the last lap.

Vettel's victory has put him 124 points ahead of Button with only 125 still available in a season in which he has finished first or second in every race except one - and he was fourth in that.

BBC F1 co-commentator David Coulthard said: "He's got a great car and a great team, but how he is using it. It's fantastic what we're seeing this year."

It has been a story of almost total domination by the reigning champion, and this grand prix encapsulated it.

Vettel stormed off from pole position and had a 4.4-second lead over Button after three laps. He extended it to 12 seconds before the drivers made their first pit stops - which was on lap 14 for the two leaders - and kept it there for the rest of the race until easing off towards the end.

Button closed on him rapidly as the chequered flag neared, but the illusion of a race was just that - Vettel was in control.

A safety car introduced after Michael Schumacher's Mercedes was launched into the air after running into the back of Perez had no impact on Vettel. Schumacher emerged unhurt from his wrecked car.

With Button held up behind Jarno Trulli's lapped Lotus at the restart, Vettel again left his pursuers standing and was a massive 8.9 seconds clear after just one lap following the resumption of racing.

"When the safety car came out it didn't really fit to our plan because we had a big gap," said Red Bull's defending world champion.

"I was quite lucky there was some backmarkers because I was able to pull a big gap again, that was lucky because towards the end there was traffic and it is not that easy to get through. I love the track, I love the challenge, so great. The car was fantastic.

"Last year was a tough fight with Fernando all the way, shadowing him, I felt I could have gone a bit quicker, so it was nice to come back here and get the job done."

Button's race was spent controlling the margin behind him to Webber, who had to pass Alonso twice to take third place.

"Pretty happy to be second," said Button. "I couldn't really find the grip with the car. I needed to find a pace that was comfortable in the car and not damaging the tyres too much.

"The pace was pretty good but there was no catching Seb. Second is as good as it can be. "

Webber took Alonso's Ferrari with a cleverly worked moved into Turn 15, after challenging the Spaniard on the outside into the previous corner.

After losing the place again when stopping during the safety-car period, Webber then surprised Alonso into Turn 10 after the Ferrari driver was held up by the Toro Rosso of Jaime Alguersuari.

"The battles with Fernando are enjoyable, but I don't want to sign up for them all the time because it means I'm with him when I probably shouldn't be," Webber said.

"Ultimately it cost me a place today but Button put in a very good last stint so that would have been a good battle if I had had track position." 

It was another eventful race for Hamilton in what has been an unhappy season for the 2008 world champion.

Hamilton, who started fourth behind Vettel, Webber and Button, lost ground at the start, because he had to back out of an attempt to pass the slow-starting Webber.

That dropped Hamilton to eighth place and in his attempt to come back through the field, he collided with Massa when refusing to give up a move around the outside of Turn Seven that was never going to come off.

Hamilton damaged his front wing in the incident, while Massa's rear tyre was punctured. That meant Hamilton needed to pit for a new wing, but he also then received a drive-through penalty, which left him stranded down the field in 15th place.

Coulthard added: "It was just a bit clumsy from Lewis unfortunately. I was talking to Lewis this morning about street tracks and I said: 'You sit very low in car, do you get enough visibility?'

"He said: 'Although I sit low the visibility is fine'. But I wonder if he's missing out in close-quarter racing by sitting so low."

After his earlier indiscretion, Hamilton was initially dispirited as he fought with the lower midfield, and asked his team over the radio: "Would you please give me some info on how I'm doing, what I'm racing for?"

He was reassured that he was still fighting for points, and fought back in clinical style - and with the help of the safety car - up to fifth place by the end of the race.

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SPORTS/Karthikeyan to practice in Singapore and race in India

Narain Karthikeyan made his F1 debut with Jordan in 2005

Narain Karthikeyan will make a race return for Hispania at the inaugural Indian GP on 30 October.

The 34-year-old Indian will have some advance cockpit time during Friday practice at next week's Singapore GP.

Karthikeyan contested the first half of the season for the team before making way for Daniel Ricciardo.

"It is great to have Narain back in the car as it will give him critical seat time before he drives the Indian GP," said team boss Colin Kolles.

Karthikeyan added: "The team assured me I'd be driving in India when I stepped out of my seat after the European GP."

The 34-year-old Karthikeyan made his F1 debut with Jordan in 2005, when he finished fourth at the US Grand Prix. He joined Hispania at the beginning of the season after a five-year F1 absence.

Karthikeyan's milestone moments

• Finished fourth for Jordan as only six cars finished US GP
• Set new record for lowest placed finisher in 23rd place at Chinese GP in April
• Broke record by finishing 24th at Valenica in June amid race with no retirements

Karthikeyan stepped down to make way for the rookie Australian Ricciardo after the European GP at Valencia in June.

"It's a great feeling to be driving on a grand prix weekend once again," Karthikeyan said. "The Singapore street circuit will definitely be a challenge. It's new to me and very demanding physically because of the high speed, the temperature, humidity and extreme bumps.

"It will go a long way to getting me back in the rhythm for the Indian GP. It will be a dream come true to race in front of a home crowd there."

As a night race, the Singapore GP around the Marina Bay circuit is unique on the F1 calendar.

With Team Lotus expected to give Karun Chandhok a second race at his home event in Dehli, the Indian GP looks set to boast two home drivers.

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Sebastian Vettel cruises to dominant Italian GP victory

BBC Sport at Monza

Sebastian Vettel fought back to win Red Bull's first Italian Grand Prix and move closer to a second world title.

Fernando Alonso took the lead with a brilliant start but Vettel re-passed him to take his eighth win of the year.

Jenson Button's fast-finishing McLaren passed Alonso later and team-mate Lewis Hamilton was fourth after losing time in a fight with Michael Schumacher.

Red Bull's Australian Mark Webber crashed out, and was one of eight cars to retire from an exhilarating race.

Vettel now leads the championship from Alonso by 112 points which means his first chance to seal a consecutive world title will come in Singapore in a fortnight's time.

"It's no big surprise that this man is the winner again," said BBC F1 co-commentator David Coulthard.

"Are we witnessing one of the true legends of the sport? He's proven today he's fighting for victories even when he does not have to take a risk."

Vettel's victory completed a happy return to Monza, where the German first started making history when he became the youngest ever grand prix winner when he won his maiden race at the historic circuit for Toro Rosso three years ago.

Vettel had lost the lead off the line as Alonso bravely squeezed his Ferrari down the inside from fourth on the grid.

But the world champion displayed his own dash of daring to re-pass Alonso with a high-speed move around the outside of Curva Grande and into the second chicane on lap five.

From there, Vettel steadily built his lead and when he pitted for soft tyres 15 laps later he comfortably returned way out in front and was never challenged on his way to the flag.

Vettel said: "This was a circuit that has been tough for us to be competitive in the last couple of years and we have come back this year.

"The start wasn't good, I don't know where Fernando came from and it took me a while to realise we were three across the track."

His team-mate Webber lost second place in the standings and conceded his championship was over as he retired following a crash with Felipe Massa.

Alonso moved up to second on 172 points, with Button and Webber level in third on 167.

Hamilton is nine points further back in fifth.

Button played a waiting game in the opening stages of the race but seized the advantage when Hamilton ran wide as he chased down Michael Schumacher's Mercedes.

As his English team-mate edged his wheels on the grass, Button moved beyond Schumacher for fourth and stayed ahead of him at the first pit stop.

When Alonso and Button switched to the harder medium tyres at the second stop, Button found himself up to speed much more quickly than the Ferrari.

Button swept past Alonso for second on lap 36 and was untroubled as he held on to second - just where he finished in Monza last season.

Alonso said: "We've been doing some good starts in recent weeks and we knew there was enough space to overtake so we maximised our potential in our start but we were not competitive enough to fight for victory."

A crash on the opening lap, which was caused when Tonio Liuzzi's HRT slammed into the train of cars, was to have an impact on Hamilton's race.

The McLaren driver was caught napping as the race restarted once the safety car, which had been called out for the opening-lap crash, retreated and he was jumped by Schumacher.

The pair spent almost half the race locked in an entertaining battle for position as Hamilton even found himself behind the Mercedes after his first stop.

Hamilton finally found his way past Schumacher as the German yielded position on the approach to Ascari only to find himself once again staring at the back of the Mercedes after his second pit stop.

Hamilton finally passed the seven-time world champion with 15 laps to go and crossed the line in fourth.

Schumacher collected fifth ahead of Massa, Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari - who had started from 19th on the grid.

Scot Paul di Resta got back in the points with eighth for Force India and Bruno Senna collected his first F1 points with ninth in the Renault. Sebastien Buemi was 10th for Toro Rosso.

Webber was one of eight retirements which also included Nico Rosberg of Mercedes and Renault's Vitaly Petrov, who were tangled up in the first corner crash.

Liuzzi was penalised for his part in the accident and received a reprimand and a five-place grid penalty, which will take effect in Singapore, for causing the collision.

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