Try this little experiment: put a pair of headphones on if you can, or just turn the volume up. Skip to the bottom of the page and watch the video, but do it with your eyes closed. Come back and read the article after that.

It’s the kind of outside-the-box thinking one might hope for with a brand launching into Formula One racing for the first time. Although the Lotus name has been around in F1 since 1958, there’s an important distinction: Team Lotus and Lotus weren’t exactly the same group.

The name disappeared from the sport between 1994 and 2010 when it came back under license to Tony Fernandes, an entrepreneur best known for turning once-failing Air Asia into a successful publicly listed company. For the upcoming year, Lotus will run under their own name, while Fernandes’ team will re-emerge as the Caterham F1 Team.

The Caterham CT01 car made the news last week after its photos leaked a day early onto the internet. We don’t have much information on the Lotus car yet, but we do know that 2007 Formula 1 world champion Kimi Raikkonen will be at the wheel.

Watch the teaser below.

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The first glimpse of what will probably be the new face of F1 race cars leaked into the media yesterday after some subscribers to British F1 Racing magazine got their issues in the mail a little early.

The February edition was intended to debut the new Caterham F1 car, dubbed the CT01, but it didn’t take long for the photo to leak after people got their copies.

This is Caterham’s first solo entry into F1 racing. For the past two years they ran under the Lotus name, but that isn’t what all the fuss is about. Instead the internet is abuzz with speculation that the hideously shaped nose prominently displayed in the photo will be a widespread feature in 2012 F1 cars thanks to new regulations concerning the nose area.

The Caterham team quickly realized that their images had been pilled across the web and promptly released a cleaner looking photo which you see below. They tweeted their plans to release more pictures today, which are available in the gallery below.

Along with the new pictures, the team tweeted a link to the full interview which answered our questions about the ugly new nose design. Mike Gascoyne, chief technical officer for Caterham F1, confirmed that the new “stepped” nose exists to comply with new standards limiting nose height.

Otherwise the CT01 retained its former Renault Sport F1 engine and Red Bull Technology gearbox. Gascoyne also said the move to ban blown diffusers helped them catch up to other teams designs.

Tell us what you think of the car in the comments section below.

GALLERY: Caterham F1 CT01

[Source: AutoSport]

It was back in 1967 when the AMG badge first appeared on a Mercedes-Benz product, and in 2012 it will first appear on a Formula 1 car.

In order to promote its performance division, Mercedes-Benz has decided to change the name of its F1 team for the 2012 season, and it will now be called “Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team.”

On this occasion, the director of motorsport at Mercedes, Norbert Haug said: “Our new team name fuses the proud traditions of AMG and the Mercedes-Benz Silver Arrows at the pinnacle of motorsport. These three letters (AMG) are synonymous with high technology, sporting performance and excitement and this step is a further strong sign of the strategic commitment Mercedes-Benz has made to Formula 1.”

So if you are a fan of the Aufrecht Melcher Grobaspach (AMG) racing cars, wait until March 18, for the first Formula 1 race of 2012, which will be held in Melbourne, Australia, to see your favorite racing cars in action.

[Source: Autocar]

The 2007 Formula 1 world champion Kimi Raikkonen is making a comeback to the sport after a two-year break.

However, its not like he was sitting at home doing nothing for the last two years. Raikkonen dabbled in WRC rallying, and also tried his luck in the NASCAR Truck Series. But it’s F1 where his star shined the brightest, where he had won 18 races and 62 podiums while racing for McLaren and Ferrari. His only championship win came at the wheel of a Ferrari.

Raikkonen’s return to F1 was in the rumor-mill for several months, but many speculated that he will drive for Williams. But the 32-year old from Finland will return with Lotus GP (known as Lotus-Renault GP for the 2011 season). On this occasion, Raikkonen commented: “My hunger for F1 has recently become overwhelming. It was an easy choice to return with Lotus GP.”

Raikkonen who first entered F1 in 2001 with Sauber, raised many eyebrows in the paddock when he scored a point in his debut race. He moved to McLaren a year later.

Will Raikkonen’s return be heroic or will he suffer from the same fate Michael Schumacher has been dealing with during his comeback? Only time will tell.

Robert Kubica, one of Formula One’s most promising young drivers, will sit out the start of the 2012 F1 season as he continues to recover from a crash that partially severed his arm.

While Kubica is making a recovery, the pace is not as rapid as some had hoped for. Kubica can move his arm, but it remains unknown whether he is physically fit enough to drive a Formula One car at this time.

Kubica was driving a Skoda rally car in an Italian race when he crashed into a barrier that penetrated his car and nearly sliced off his arm. Kubica was replaced before the start of the 2011 season by Nick Heidfeld and Bruno Senna. Renault will have to look for a replacement for 2012, but says that Kubica has a test car and a crew of mechanics at his disposal when he is ready to return.

Hit the jump to see the official press release

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One of the most successful partnerships in the history of Formula 1 has to be the combination of a Honda engine in a McLaren chassis and body, with Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost behind the wheel. It was the perfect partnership which saw the team win many races and championships.

Over the last 16-years, McLaren has found much success by giving their driver’s Mercedes-Benz power. However, for the last two-years, Mercedes-Benz has been running its own F1 team and rumors started circulating that this will lead to an end to their relationship with McLaren, especially since Mercedes-Benz sold all its shares in McLaren back to the parent company.

With McLaren’s contract coming to an end in 2015 with Mercedes-Benz, much speculation has been circulating on the web and in the paddock as to who will supply engines to the Woking-based team in the future.

This has lead many to speculate that the McLaren-Honda relationship will once again be born, especially since turbo-charged engines are making their way back in Formula 1, and Honda was dominant in the last turbo-era in this sport.

However, McLaren’s managing director Jonathan Neale denies that there has been any contact with Honda. He stresses that McLaren is very well married to Mercedes-Benz for their engines and he sees this partnership continuing into the future.

As for rumors suggesting that Mercedes-Benz might not be giving McLaren its latest motors to give itself an advantage on the track, Neale says he doesn’t think “that’s a concern. ” He goes on to say, “Of course, Mercedes have their own GP team and it’s right and proper that a degree of focus is going to go in that direction, but I was just talking this morning with Thomas Fuhr at Mercedes-Benz – we speak frequently – and we want the same things. It’s in our interest to have consistent engines together because that’s how we get the highest quality.”

The last race of the 2011 F1 season takes place this weekend in Brazil at the Interlagos circuit.

[Source: ESPN]

Next year’s U.S. Grand Prix could be in jeopardy if organizers of the Austin, Texas race do not agree on a contract and pay fees by the end of next week. Formula One’s head honcho Bernie Ecclestone’s patience is clearly wearing thin with negotiations and does not want to wait beyond the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix race in San Paulo on November 27th for a decision to be made.

The first race to be held in the United States since 2007 has been hyped up and highly anticipated but Ecclestone has no problems calling it off if no deal is done. Some might believe that Ecclestone isn’t so focused on working out a deal for the Austin, Texas race since a deal has been settled for a grand prix in New Jersey for 2013.

As with everything else that makes the world turn, negotiations have come down to money, Ecclestone exclaiming that “they can’t bloody well pay,” and “the teams want paying.”

Ecclestone claims that the deal has been ongoing for 18 months now, and that he doesn’t have any contract with anybody concerning the race in Austin. As of Tuesday, construction at the Austin track was halted but Steve Sexton, Circuit of the Americas president, remains optimistic.

At the end of the day though, Ecclestone is clearly becoming impatient and frustrated with the negotiations. “Since we’ve been talking to the people in Austin we’ve done two or three deals with different countries. I don’t know what the problem is for America really.”

[Source: Reuters UK]

Back in 1997, Germany’s Michael Schumacher was the man to beat in Formula 1. At the last race of the season, he was in a title battle with Canadian Jacques Villeneuve. The winner of the race would take the driver’s championship.

Villeneuve in his Williams-Renault was on pole, but Schumacher’s Ferrari got the better start and took the lead by the first corner. However, as the race progressed, Villeneuve started clawing back at Schumacher, and then on lap 48, took the inside line at the Dry Sack corner to take the lead. In an attempt to take out his opponent, Schumacher turned in and hit Villeneuve’s car. However, the hit proved more lethal to Schumacher, as he had to retire from suspension damage. Villeneuve’s car was damaged, he nursed the car for the next 22  laps and finished the race in third position, enough to give him the F1 Driver’s Championship.

For his actions, Schumacher was stripped off his second place in the driver’s championship by the FIA. So now while the Ferrari camp mourned, the Williams-Renault F1 team and its sponsors rejoiced and celebrated their victory in the hands of a Canadian hero.

One of their sponsors, cigarette giant Rothman’s wanted to give Villeneuve a very special present, and they did so with the car you see on this page. It is a 1997 Dodge Viper R/T10 Roadster, which has been modified by the American tuning specialists Hennessey. The end result is called a Viper Venom 600, the last digits denoting the horsepower figure it produces.

This car is capable of sprinting from 0-60 mph in a claimed 3.3 seconds, and onto a top speed of 205 mph. Perfect daily commuter for an F1 champ then.

Now this one-off special can be yours, as it has been listed for sale. This car has covered 23,000 miles, and while it did suffer mild damage at one point in its life, it has all been repaired properly since.

This car is located in U.K. at the moment, but the seller does mention that World-wide export is available, and the asking price is only $63,300. That might be a lot for a 1997 Viper, but considering it is a Hennessey and one that has a World Champion as its first owner, it might be the ultimate collector piece for an F1 fan.

[Source: Pistonheads]

Hollywood actor Tom Cruise has recently tested the Red Bull Formula One race car at the Willow Springs racetrack in California. Tom Cruise completed 24 laps with the Red Bull team, and guiding the top gun along the track was race car driver David Coulthard.

Coulthard took Cruise around the track in a passenger car, then set him off on his own. Tom Cruise set his own lap in the F1 car reaching a top speed of 185 mph, and cut his best time by 11 seconds. Amazingly, Cruise recorded a top speed just 4 mph off Coulthard’s best.

“Tom’s the real deal,” Coulthard told RedBull.com. “I was surprised that he picked it up so quickly and is such an accomplished driver. His recall was incredible considering how complicated driving an F1 car is. He’s a guy who really pushes the envelope in real life. This day was not green screened. He thoroughly impressed me.”

[Source: ESPN]

Despite a poor performance, rumors of retirement, and even a call to hang-up his racing gloves by former F1 Champ Niki Lauda, Michael Schumacher will be back competing at the pinnacle of motorsports next year.

The seven-time World Champion’s return to F1 has been less than glamorous, with the Mercedes GP Petronas driver having failed to reach the podium once this season. Still, Schumacher obviously feels he has an important role to play. Speaking at a Mercedes-Benz event over the weekend, Schumacher said, “I’ll certainly be racing next year, that is definite.”

Currently Schumacher sits in 10th place in the Drivers’ standings, three places behind team mate Nico Rosberg. With eight more races to go this season, can Schumacher return to his former glory?