Q&A with McLaren’s Jenson Button

Saturday in Barcelona was not Jenson Button's day. Oversteer, and then understeer, ruined his running in qualifying and the best Button could muster was 11th on the grid. Although team mate Lewis Hamilton's penalty promotes him up to tenth, the Briton is still wondering where the speed he enjoyed on Friday has gone…

Hamilton excluded from qualifying; Maldonado on pole

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton has lost his pole position for Sunday's Spanish race after the stewards found his car did not have sufficient fuel onboard to comply with the rules on its return to parc ferme. As a result of the decision, Williams' Pastor Maldonado inherits pole for the Barcelona round, whilst Hamilton - excluded from the qualifying results - will start from the back of the grid

Caraviello: Patrick gets wall-to-wall course at Darlington

The first time Danica Patrick hit the wall was in her first run during Nationwide Series practice Friday morning, when she clipped it with the right-rear of her No. 7 car. In opening Sprint Cup practice, she hit it again entering Turn 3. Later, she scraped it in almost the same place in almost the same way. With minutes remaining in the session she hit it one more time, this time harder in between Turns 3 and 4, the impact leaving a long, white streak down the right side of her green automobile.

Caraviello: Patrick gets wall-to-wall course at Darlington

The first time Danica Patrick hit the wall was in her first run during Nationwide Series practice Friday morning, when she clipped it with the right-rear of her No. 7 car. In opening Sprint Cup practice, she hit it again entering Turn 3. Later, she scraped it in almost the same place in almost the same way. With minutes remaining in the session she hit it one more time, this time harder in between Turns 3 and 4, the impact leaving a long, white streak down the right side of her green automobile.

Caraviello: Patrick gets wall-to-wall course at Darlington

The first time Danica Patrick hit the wall was in her first run during Nationwide Series practice Friday morning, when she clipped it with the right-rear of her No. 7 car. In opening Sprint Cup practice, she hit it again entering Turn 3. Later, she scraped it in almost the same place in almost the same way. With minutes remaining in the session she hit it one more time, this time harder in between Turns 3 and 4, the impact leaving a long, white streak down the right side of her green automobile.

FIA post-qualifying press conference – Spain

Drivers: 1 - Lewis Hamilton (McLaren), 2 - Pastor Maldonado (Williams), 3 - Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) Q: Lewis, McLaren's 150th Formula One pole position today. You really had to manage to the process though, parti

Qualifying – selected team and driver quotes

Bruno Senna on spinning and beaching his Williams in the gravel; Charles Pic on a speedy Q1 run which saw him outpace his team mate Timo Glock for a second race in succession; McLaren's Jenson Button and Red Bull's Mark Webber on failing to make it through to the top-ten shootout; Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi on his hydraulic leak; and Lewis Hamilton on claiming McLaren's 150th pole position. All 24 drivers and senior team personnel report back on Saturday...

Qualifying – Hamilton on pole from Maldonado

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton grabbed a sensational pole position here in Barcelona on Saturday afternoon, pushing surprise frontrunner Pastor Maldonado one place down the Spanish grid. Maldonado had been very quick for Williams in Q2 and had just snatched P1 from Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and the Lotuses of Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen with 1m 22.285s when Hamilton redefined the parameters with 1m 21.707s

Qualifying – Hamilton on pole from Maldonado

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton grabbed a sensational pole position here in Barcelona on Saturday afternoon, pushing surprise frontrunner Pastor Maldonado one place down the Spanish grid. Maldonado had been very quick for Williams in Q2 and had just snatched P1 from Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and the Lotuses of Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen with 1m 22.285s when Hamilton redefined the parameters with 1m 21.707s

Final practice – Vettel moves ahead in Spain

Sebastian Vettel set the fastest time in a very tight final practice session in Barcelona on Saturday morning, but it would have been a very close-run thing had McLaren's Lewis Hamilton not been blocked at the end of a very fast lap by traffic. Vettel lapped his Red Bull in 1m 23.168s to depose surprise fastest man Pastor Maldonado, whose 1m 23.336s for Willams had earlier upset a Sauber one-two

Logano wins at Darlington after late-race chaos

Joey Logano drove away from Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin after a green-white-checkered restart and won Friday night's VFW Sport Clips 200 Nationwide Series event at Darlington Raceway.

Danica duels with Darlington

When the original Sprint Cup schedule for Danica Patrick was penciled in by Stewart-Haas Racing late last year, the plan was for her much-hyped debut to come at Darlington Raceway, perhaps the toughest race track in NASCAR.

NASCAR community mourns Shelby’s passing

Carroll Shelby never competed in NASCAR, but his legacy lives within a stock-car racing community that was saddened by news of the automotive mastermind's passing.

Biffle finds speed to take pole at Darlington

After a stellar qualifying run, Jimmie Johnson said there was some speed left in Darlington Raceway -- and Greg Biffle found it.

The Lady going gray

The outcome of last season's Sprint Cup event at Darlington Raceway was so surprising not just because of who won but because of how he did it. Regan Smith's gamble to stay out on old rubber might have netted the driver his first career victory on NASCAR's premier series, but in the process, it also upturned decades of history at a venue where tire management was once a variable capable of separating the winner from everyone else.

Darlington success could bring Hendrick 200th win

The question follows Hendrick Motorsports from week to week and race track to race track, no longer an affirmation of its success but a reminder of its struggle. When will that elusive 200th victory finally come?

Friday analysis – a tale of two tyres (and testing)

The biggest task on a Friday of perfect weather was for teams to bridge the two-compound gap between Pirelli's chosen hard and soft tyres, something that had many of them scratching their heads. The other priority was to see how the updates tried in Mugello last week performed in the more familiar surroundings of the Circuit de Catalunya. We take a team-by-team look at day one in Spain

FIA Friday press conference – Spain

Team representatives - Pierre Wache (Sauber), Paul Hembery (Pirelli), Mark Smith (Caterham), Giorgio Ascanelli (Toro Rosso), Adrian Newey (Red Bull), Sam Michael (McLaren). Q: Pierre, welcome, you're Head of Vehicle Performance at Sauber. First of all, give us some indication of Mugello testing. Were your findings confirmed here? Were you satisfied with the test?

Lewis Hamilton Q&A: Tyre management could decide title

Lewis Hamilton was one of the few top drivers absent from last week's Mugello test. And while Jenson Button's Friday pace in Spain showed that McLaren's test drivers no doubt did their job in Italy, Hamilton was not quite so happy with his MP4-27. He is convinced, however, that there's no major issue. As long as his engineers can get on top of the minor details - and he can get on top of the Pirelli tyres - the 2008 champion should still be in for a good weekend

Sebastian Vettel Q&A: Pole more critical in Spain

Despite teams' varying programmes, just a second covered the top ten cars in Friday practice in Barcelona, proof indeed of just how tight things will be this weekend. Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel is riding high on the back of his Bahrain win and a positive Mugello test which has almost certainly boosted the RB8's performance. Now he wants to plant it on pole on Saturday