The Lotus F1 team has revealed that it will name its 2012 car as the E20 to celebrate the 20th F1 chassis to be designed at its Enstone base.

The team, previously known as Renault and racing under the Lotus name this year, moved to Enstone back in 1992 and has taken F1 world titles with both Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso.

The E20, which will be driven by Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean, will be launched on the Lotus F1 team website on 5th February before hitting the track in the first pre-season test at Jerez two days later.

“Our naming of the chassis to recognise Enstone’s importance to the team’s evolution highlights our recognition of the contribution of the facility and the personnel who work tirelessly every year to produce the very best car possible,” said team boss Eric Boullier.

“We certainly hope that this is the case with the E20 and we are looking forward to revealing the car to the world and seeing it out on track for the first time.

“There are a number of technical changes from last year and we have an exciting new driver line-up to extract the maximum from the E20 through the twenty grands prix of the 2012 season, including the 500th race for this team through its different incarnations. We hope that the E20 proves to be a performing Enstone design.”

It’s that time of year, ladies and gents, when Formula One teams begin unveiling their new cars for the upcoming season. But while the top teams like Ferrari and McLaren usually compete for the first slot, this time it’s Caterham (the team formerly known as Team Lotus), that has beat them all to the punch by revealing its new CT01.

Bearing a similar green and yellow livery and much of the same design as last year’s Lotus, the CT01 represents some of the changes you can expect to see across the board as the rest of the field fills out. That includes a rather odd-looking stepped nose design and reshaped rear quarters (due largely to the ban on exhaust-blown diffusers).

Underneath the bodywork – shaped in the Williams wind tunnel – sits the same Renault RS27 V8 engine that will be used this season by Red Bull, Lotus and Williams, coupled for the first time (for this team) to a Kinetic Energy Recovery System on the brakes and a Red Bull-sourced seven-speed sequential gearbox.

Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli will return for driving duties once the season kicks off in March. Before then, McLaren is expected to unveil its new MP4-27 on February 1, Scuderia Ferrari and Force India on February 3, Lotus on the fifth, Sauber and Red Bull on the sixth, and Mercedes-Benz on the February 21, with the remaining teams yet to announce the dates for their unveilings. So, stay tuned!

Double World Champions, Red Bull Racing will unveil its new RB8 on its own official website on February 6th, the day before the first pre-season test takes place.

The team announced that at 1pm on February 6th, images of the new car and comments from drivers and management will be available on www.redbullracing.com.

The RB8 car will be the machine that the Milton Keynes-based outfit is hoping will deliver its third consecutive drivers’ and constructors’ world championship following Sebastian Vettel’s back-to-back success in 2010 and 2011.

Meanwhile, F1′s sixth-ranked team in 2011, Force India, will unveil its 2012 challenger on February 3rd at the Silverstone track, located across the road from its Northamptonshire headquarters.

Technical director Andrew Green said the VJM05, whose monocoque has already passed the FIA’s mandatory crash tests, will be built and fired up next week.

“There’s always a buzz around when it’s happening,” he said.

2012 F1 Car Launch Dates

1 Feb – McLaren (Woking)
3 Feb – Force India (Silverstone)
3 Feb – Ferrari (Maranello)
6 Feb – Sauber F1 Team (Jerez)
6 Feb – Red Bull (Online)

Mercedes is the only team to announce that it will delay the launch of its new car until after the first test in order to maximise development time. With a two-week gap between tests the team will first run the new W03 at the second test in Barcelona.

AirAsia is maintaining its presence in the Formula One racing scene and this has seen it extends its sponsorship agreement with 1Malaysia Racing Team Sdn Bhd (Caterham F1) for another year, starting Jan 1, 2012.

In a filing to Bursa Malaysia today, AirAsia said it had entered into an extension to the sponsorship agreement dated May 26, 2011 with 1Malaysia Racing Team Sdn Bhd to be an official team partner of Caterham F1, the F1 racing team formerly known as Team Lotus and title sponsor of the Caterham F1 Driver Development Programme.

“Under the extension, AirAsia shall be an Official Team Partner of Caterham F1 and title sponsors of the program for the duration of the 2012 F1 racing season at the same terms as provided in the agreement, except in relation to the sponsorship amount from the company to Caterham F1,” AirAsia said.

The sponsorship amount from AirAsia to Caterham F1 includes RM5.36 million for company media value/space and RM1 million for further expenditure in relation to advertising, on ground and public relations-related activities with Caterham F1.

AirAsia said through continuous association with F1, the company intended to elevate its brand perception from that of a low-cost carrier to a brand associated with high-end sports and cutting-edge F1 technology.

AirAsia intends to use sports sponsorship and sports branding to drive consumer aspirations and build sports-related themes in relation to sales campaigns for various flight destinations.

Williams’ former director of engineering, Patrick Head has stepped down from the team’s board of directors, ending his association with F1.

Patrick co-founded Williams F1 in 1977 with Frank Williams and over three decades has led the team’s engineering department. At that time, Williams F1 has won 113 Grands Prix and secured nine Constructors’ and seven Drivers’ World Championships.

“Patrick and I have been in partnership for 34 years. During that time, he has been the leader of the technical team that has won the majority of our race wins and championships. This is a remarkable legacy and one which will be treasured and definitely not forgotten,” said Sir Frank Williams in a statement.

“Patrick is a very straightforward, hard working and truly gifted engineer who comfortably operates at a world class level. I will miss him very much, as I am sure his colleagues will, and he will always be welcome at Grove. Indeed, Patrick will still be seen around the factory as he continues to be involved in the development of our hybrid power activities,” he added.

Patrick will continue in his role as a Board Director of Williams Hybrid Power Limited, a subsidiary of the company that develops and produces hybrid technologies.

Ferrari have confirmed they will lift the covers off their 2012 challenger on February 3rd.

The team previously revealed that they will unveil their new car in “early February”, but Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has announced that February 3rd is D-Day. The launch comes just four days before the first pre-season test kicks-off on February 7th in Jerez.

“I was extremely unhappy with what happened last season,” di Montezemolo told Sky Sports News recently.

“For us the main goal is, again, to be competitive and I have a lot of confidence in my people and their capability to react.”

The Maranello-based squad has adopted a more aggressive design approach for their 2012 challenger after Fernando Alonso finished P4 in this year’s Drivers’ standings.

McLaren and Sauber are the only other teams to confirm their official launch dates. February 1st for the MP4-27 and the 6th for Sauber’s C31.

The Caterham F1 Team has unveiled its new logo for the 2012 Formula 1 season, which uses a familiar green background with yellow accents.

It’s the third year in a row that the team has changed its name. It entered the sport as Lotus Racing in 2010, but then switched to Team Lotus for the 2011 season. However, they then became involved in a drawn-out battle with Lotus Renault GP over the Lotus name.

Although the dispute ended up in court, it ended amicably with Team Lotus opting to adopt Caterham.

“With Team Lotus, I would have battled to the end if I felt it was the right thing to do, but when you take a dispassionate look at where we were it made absolute sense to start with a clean sheet, and Caterham has given us that chance,” said team boss, Tony Fernandes, in the team’s magazine.

“It’s the best possible solution for where we want to go – partly because it gives us complete control over everything we do and, obviously, because there’s simply no point racing to promote a road car company I don’t own. The road car business has always been a sector I’ve wanted to explore and so here we are.

“But I can’t stress enough; this is a serious business venture for us. If I just needed a new name, I could have called it anything, but the synergy with Caterham works better – and it’s what I do take a small business with the correct core values and purpose and expand it and grow it into the global marketplace.”

Lotus Renault GP has confirmed that Romain Grosjean will race alongside returning former world champion, Kimi Raikkonen next season.

The 25-year-old Frenchman, who had been in line to replace injured driver Robert Kubica before Raikkonen’s appointment earlier this month, drove for the Enstone-based team in 2009, making seven starts.

The news will come as a shock to Russian driver Vitaly Petrov, who had performed well in 2011, finishing 10th in the world drivers’ championship and securing his maiden Formula 1 podium in the first race in Australia.

He was expected to start the 2012 season, while Bruno Senna, who completed the season alongside Petrov after replacing Nick Heidfeld as cover for Kubica, is also without a drive. Vitaly Petrov and Bruno Senna now both will have to look for an alternative drive in 2012 if they want to continue in F1.

“I am thrilled to be one of the team’s race drivers in 2012,” Grosjean said. “There’s a big grin on my face at the prospect of getting behind the wheel of next year’s car, and I feel very privileged to be given this opportunity.

“To be racing alongside a former world champion and someone who is hungry and returning to Formula One will be a great experience, and I’m sure will help raise my level of performance too.”

Despite entering Formula 1 at a difficult time for Renault following the departure of Brazilian Nelson Piquet Jr half-way through the 2009 season in the wake of the race-fixing scandal, Grosjean rebuilt his career by dropping down to GP2, having already won the F3 Euroseries, and GP2 Asia Series prior to joining Renault in 2008 as a test driver.

As well as capturing the title in the F1 feeder series, the Frenchman appeared for Renault in Friday practice at the final two races of the season in Abu Dhabi and Brazil.

“I feel that my successful season in GP2 Series has helped me mature a lot, and I am a much more complete driver than I was last time I was competing in this sport.

“Returning to Enstone as a race driver feels like coming home. I will not disappoint and I wish to thank all the people without whom this return to F1 would not have been possible. Total, which supports me since 2006, and Gravity Sport Management, are first on this list,” Grosjean added.

“ I’m delighted that Romain Grosjean will be beside Kimi next year,” added Lotus Renault team principal Eric Boullier.

“Romain has shown a lot of maturity in the past 12 months both through his GP2 Series victory and his development as third driver with us. We were impressed when he drove for us in the first practice sessions in Abu Dhabi and Brazil.

“We are confident that drafting him in to one of our driver’s seats will help us in our rebuilding process. I would like to thank Vitaly Petrov and Bruno Senna for their contribution to the team’s performance this year and I wish them all the best for the future.”

It’s time to book the tickets: Formula 1 is returning to the United States in 2012, bringing its ultra-fast cars and flair for the exotic to the land of longhorn cattle and cowboy hats. Barbecue in the pits, anyone?

Formula One’s 2012 calendar with the U.S. Grand Prix in Austin on Nov. 18 was approved Wednesday at a World Motor Sport Council meeting in New Delhi, India. Race organizers announced a 10-year deal with F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, ending a contract dispute that threatened to kill the race and the new USD $300 million track being built for it.

Formula One won’t be the only event scheduled for this circuit, either: Circuit of the Americas bosses have already promised that the V8 Supercars series (most famous in Australia) and MotoGP motorcycle series will have races there in 2013.

By that point, it looks like Austin won’t be the only home of American F1 racing: work should be finished on another American grand prix race in Weehawken, New Jersey, just across the Hudson River from New York City.

The Austin race will mark F1′s first in the United States since 2007. The U.S. Grand Prix was previously held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on a road course built inside the oval track. Other F1 races in Long Beach, Las Vegas, Detroit, Dallas, Phoenix and other cities were run on street circuits. Watkins Glen, N.Y., hosted a Grand Prix from 1961-80.

To celebrate this historic event, as well as give a send out to its 599 GTB Fiorano, Ferrari is launching the special “60 Years of Victories in Formula 1 (60F1)” package for the popular grand tourer.

The special edition car also honours current Scuderia Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso who secured the team’s first win of the 2011 F1 season in the Ferrari 150° Italia race car.

The latest Ferrari 599 GTB 60F1 is based around the 599 fitted with the Handling Grand Turismo Evoluzione (HGTE) package.

The technical modifications of the HGTE package include a modified suspension setup with stiffer springs, a thicker rear anti-roll bar, and new calibration settings for the magnetorheological shock absorbers when the manettino is at its sportier settings. The ride height is also lowered, which in turn lowers the car’s centre of gravity. The package also includes specifically optimized tyres featuring a compound that offers even better grip than the already sticky standard tyres.

In addition, as part of the newly established Tailor Made Program, the new special edition Ferrari features modifications to both the exterior and cabin with detailing, colours and materials inspired by Gonzalez’s and Alonso’s race cars.

A choice of three different liveries is available for the exterior. Clients can choose from:

375 F1 Livery: The same red as clothed Froilan Gonzalez’s 375 F1 is used. This is a historic red used by the Scuderia for its very first Formula 1 cars. Its darker pastel tone gives the car a compact and sporty look.

Ferrari 150° Italia Livery: this car has the Scuderia 2011 red livery used for Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari 150° Italia. The exterior also features Formula 1 white on the lower part of the front bumpers and mudguards, bonnet, A-posts and buttresses. The tricolour featured on the spoiler of the F150 is also represented on the rear.

Ferrari 150° Italia 2 Livery: the car is painted in the Scuderia 2011 red used on Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari 150° Italia. In this version, however, white is used only on the lower part of the bumpers and there is no tricolour at the rear.

The exterior features shared by all of the versions include a Scuderia Ferrari shield on front wheel arches painted as per competition cars, a satin-finish aluminium fuel cap as well as 20″ diamond-finish forged wheel rims.

The cabin takes its inspiration from iconic details of both Alonso and Gonzalez’s cars. Extensive use has also been made of innovative and technical materials.

The result is very much a track car look with dark shades predominating. There are, however, touches of strong, contrasting colour, such as in the seatbelts and on the dashboard.

The seats are by Sabelt in the European version and Recaro in the American version. They feature an innovative technical material known as Superfabric which provides superb grip and has been used in the areas of greatest contact with the driver’s body. This is similar to Formula 1 and makes for optimal grip, particularly in extreme driving situations. The seats are upholstered in black Alcantara and the Scuderia Ferrari logo is stitched onto the headrests.

The four-point safety harnesses underscore the racing set-up and are in the Red and Blue specified by FIA for the 2010-2011 Formula 1 Championship. For all those markets where four-point safety harnesses cannot be homologated three points red safety harnesses are offered.

Aluminium was used in Gonzalez’s car and this fact inspired a high tech, innovative modern reworking that sees Alutex trim on the dashboard. Alutex is an innovative material made of metallic fibres and fibreglass. It is both extremely tough and light. The Alutex has been given a matt finish that highlights its texture whilst preventing any glare issues.

Finally, the dashboard sports a special silver plaque commemorating 60 years of Ferrari victories in F1 and featuring the signatures of Froilan Gonzalez and Fernando Alonso.