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McLaren have announced on Wednesday that British teenager Tom Blomqvist, son of 1984 world rally champion Stig Blomqvist, has joined the select group of young talent on their driver development programme. “I'm thrilled to get this opportunity with Vodafone McLaren Mercedes,” said Blomqvist. “The competition gets fiercer every time you step up a category, and having this level of support will really improve my strength and confidence.”

Force India's Nico Hulkenberg ended the second day of testing at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya as the quickest runner. Hulkenberg posted a best time of 1m 22.608s on Wednesday at the Spanish track to beat the Sauber of Sergio Perez by four hundredths of a second. Perez completed 85 laps in the C31, despite an exhaust problem towards the end of the day. “Quite a few high priority points have been ticked off the job list,” explained Giampaolo Dall'Ara, Sauber's head of track engineering. “In the morning we started with aero comparisons, and then did some proper mechanical set up work. We also carried out a full comparison of all tyre compounds and ran different fuel loads.”

After a few technical difficulties, this week's Barcelona test isn't going wholly to plan for Sauber's Sergio Perez. But, despite the limited mileage, Perez remains optimistic that the team is making steady progress and that his new car will be competitive once the season gets underway…

The 2012 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix takes place on April 20-22 and tickets are now available on Formula1.com. Making its eighth appearance on the F1 calendar, Bahrain provides a race-going experience like no other. For a unique insight into the only island state in the Arab world and its spectacular Sakhir circuit

Approaching a season as the reigning champion means you have little to gain and a lot to lose. But if you're Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, and you're aiming to follow in the footsteps of Fangio and Schumacher by clinching a third successive title, then there's a very tangible target. At the moment, however, Vettel is forgetting what lies ahead and simply concentrating on ironing out any teething problems afflicting the RB8 and regaining the levels of grip he enjoyed last season…

Lotus will not run for the remainder of this week's second pre-season test at Barcelona following the issue experienced with the team's second E20 chassis when it was shaken down for the first time by Romain Grosjean on Tuesday morning. After discovering the problem, Lotus had initially planned to bring the first E20 chassis - which successfully completed the first Jerez test

Defending world champion Sebastian Vettel topped the timesheets for Red Bull as this week's four-day test got underway at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya on Tuesday. Vettel's best, a 1m 23.265s, was over a tenth of a second faster than the quickest lap from second-placed runner Nico Hulkenberg in the Force India. The opening day of the second official pre-season test saw 11 teams in action, with only HRT missing. McLaren's Lewis Hamilton was third fastest, ahead of Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.

The launch of a new Mercedes car always attracts a lot of the attention and with the F1 W03 joining the fray slightly later than its rivals, the paddock has been especially curious. After the unveiling, we caught up with Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg to discuss his new charge. And although Rosberg believes it's still too early to fully evaluate its worth, the German is certain the car has a lot of potential…

Lotus will miss the rest of Tuesday's test at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya because of an issue with their car. Driver Romain Grosjean had completed just a few laps in the second E20 chassis during the morning session when the team decided to abandon their test programme. “This morning was our first shakedown of our second chassis,” explained trackside operations director Alan Permane. “Once the car was on track it was soon evident that everything wasn't quite as it should be. As a precaution we are returning the chassis to Enstone for further investigation. Chassis E20-01, which we used in Jerez, is being sent over and we expect to be on track with that chassis tomorrow.”

Williams have announced that former driver Alexander Wurz will return to the British team as a driver mentor. Wurz will start his new role at this week's Barcelona test and also plans to accompany the team to races this season to assist racers Pastor Maldonado and Bruno Senna. “This is a great initiative by Williams and highlights just how hard the team is pushing to optimise its performance,” said Wurz. “Throughout my career as a sportsman, which started at the age of 12 in BMX racing, includes over a decade in Formula One and is still ongoing (racing in the World Endurance Championship), I am lucky to have gained so much experience.

Mercedes officially launched their 2012 car on Tuesday morning as the F1 W03 was unveiled by drivers Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher in the Barcelona pit lane, immediately ahead of this week's pre-season test at the Circuit de Catalunya. The new Silver Arrow has undergone an intensive programme of simulation testing at the team's UK technical bases in Brackley and Brixworth. This was followed by a filming day limited to 100 kilometres at Silverstone on February 16

F1 Rocks™ have announced that renowned international DJ Mr Hudson will perform at F1 Rocks™ The Afterparty during the weekend of the 2012 Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, which takes place in Melbourne from March 16-18. The star-studded party, which will also feature Australian DJ Havana Brown, will get underway on Sunday evening following the Australian race at EVE nightclub, which is located in the city's prestigious Southbank suburb.

The recent Jerez test was (for those that launched 2012 cars) all about systems checks, baseline set-ups, reliability and getting to know Pirelli's 2012-spec tyres. This week's Barcelona session is where the teams really start hunting performance - and where a genuine pecking order for the new season could start to emerge. It will also see the public debut of Mercedes' MGP W03 and Vitaly Petrov's first Caterham appearance

Mercedes' new F1 W03 will only be officially launched on Tuesday morning but that hasn't stopped the team from racking up kilometres in the car at a private test at Barcelona on Sunday. After carrying out a shakedown at Silverstone last week, Mercedes jetted out to Spain early, ahead of this week's second multi-team test at the Circuit de Catalunya. Earlier this month they had opted to test their 2011 car for three of the four-days of the opening pre-season Jerez test and so had a day in hand to use as they wished.

The winds of change have been blowing through Formula One racing recently. And the latest member of the old guard to be replaced by a younger model is Jarno Trulli, who looks set to wrap up his Formula One career after being ousted by Caterham in favour of Vitaly Petrov. The decision by the Norfolk-based team means that for the first time since 1970 an Italian won't figure on the F1 grid - and for the first time since 1997 Trulli's name won't grace the timesheets…

Caterham have announced that Vitaly Petrov will race for the team in 2012, replacing Jarno Trulli with immediate effect. Petrov attended a seat fitting at their UK factory in Hingham on Friday morning and will make his debut in the CT01 at next week's Barcelona test. “This is a very exciting day for me,” said the Russian. “I would like to thank Tony (Fernandes), Kamarudin Meranun and SM Nasarudin for giving me the chance to join a team that made its F1 debut at the same time as me, and has grown from one of the new teams to a serious force for future honours. The passion and spirit that Tony and the whole team have to keep moving forwards is infectious, and I am honoured to be able to join them and play my part in helping the team mount a serious challenge to the teams ahead in 2012 and for many seasons to come.

Mike Gascoyne has become the chief technical officer of the entire Caterham Group. As a result of Gascoyne's promotion, technical director Mark Smith will assume day-to-day control of the Formula One team's technical division. “This is a very proud moment for me,” said Gascoyne. “My new role will now give me the chance to help drive value across the whole group through the creation and delivery of new projects in all the sectors we are already working in, and opening up new opportunities for each of the Group's companies to embrace.

Franz Tost's task seems to be a largely thankless one. After carefully nurturing young driver talent, the Toro Rosso team principal sees it either leave for the bright lights of sister squad Red Bull or depart the paddock altogether. Either way, Tost has to start all over again. And after the shock exit of both Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari at the end of 2011, the Austrian is once more back to square one with an all new line-up

Pirelli, official tyre suppliers to the FIA Formula One World Championship, have announced the compound allocations of their dry-weather P Zero tyres for the first three rounds of the 2012 season. For the season-opening Australian event, at Melbourne's Albert Park from March 16-18, the teams will be provided with the Italian manufacturer's medium and soft rubber. Pirelli will then take their hard and medium compounds to the Malaysian race a week later, before switching back to the medium and soft tyres for April's Chinese round.

International superstar Kylie Minogue will perform her first-ever Malaysian gig as part of March's F1 Rocks™ in Malaysia event. The concert will take place at the base of Kuala Lumpur's iconic Petronas Twin Towers on Friday March 23, ahead of that weekend's Sepang race. Celebrating 25 years in the music industry this year, the Australian is one of the world's most successful female recording artists. Her most recent global tour entitled stretched over five continents, 27 countries and 55 cities and saw the pop star perform 77 sell out shows to over 500,000 fans.