“The chance to get track time during race weekends is an important step for me,” he said. “Being regularly in a current car is the best way to learn quickly and I hope it will put me in a strong position to one day move into a race seat. The next few months will be really exciting as I get to know the team, see how they work, and prepare for my time in the car.”

Bianchi will remain a member of the part Ferrari Driver Academy, along with Sergio Perez, Raffaele Marciello, Brandon Maisano and Lance Stroll. Davide Rigon has also recently extended his relationship with the team for all racing and promotional activities in 2012 and 2013.

Ferrari has no shortage of drivers if another is needed.

The situation at Force India is worrying in that it is a team with no visible means of support. It has been funded by Vijay Mallya’s various companies for the last few years, and has made significant losses, which have meant that he has been forced to seek assistance from elsewhere. Officially Subrata Roy Sahara is supposed to be bringing $100 million to the team in the next three years, in exchange for a percentage of the shares, but whether this is real money or virtual money (which is what Mallya seems to trade with) remains to be seen. Sahara and/or Mallya need money to pay bills in order for the team to have the freedom to do the job. This they have done very well in recent times, but the worry is that Mallya’s credit seems to have run out in his other businesses and no-one really understands what it is that Sahara does that earns him the kind of money that he seems willing to invest in Mallya’s businesses, despite them being anything but solid.

Late last year, the Toronto-based research group Veritas questioned Mallya’s accounting practices with Kingfisher Airlines, the way in which Mallya does business, the support he seems to be getting from the Indian government and concluded that “we do not believe that Kingfisher’s antics would have found any takers in a responsible credit market and that the airline would have been liquidated by now.” That may sound harsh, but one can see how that conclusion has been reached. It is impossible to say exactly how much money Kingfisher owes but there are secured loans of around $2.5 billion and perhaps the same kind of figure in unsecured loans, debts and tax arrears.

India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has warned Kingfisher that “a reasonable case exists for withdrawal of their airline operator permit (licence) as their financial stress is likely to impinge on safety”and issued a stern warning to the airline to take immediate action to resolve the lapses. The airline has been in trouble paying salaries, plane leases, fuel bills, interest on its debts, not to mention taxes and has been scaling back its operations rapidly, while the government (keen to avoid the embarrassment of a collapse) has been quietly helping out, changing the law to allow foreign carriers to buy up to 49 percent of the shares of its domestic operators. India is one of the world’s fastest growing markets in terms of passenger traffic, but the airlines lose money with every passenger. It is hoped that a large international company such as British Airways might use the opportunity (and its expertise) to get control of the business and then turn it around. This is all well and good, but is not going to mean money going into the F1 team. That will save Mallya’s face but is unlikely to feed his F1 habit.

I have touched on the question of Bahrain a few times and the signs are that this will once again become an issue for the F1 world as the opposition (no matter how small it may be) will be trying to use the planned Grand Prix in April as an opportunity to draw international attention to its complaints. The Bahrain government is working hard on its international PR and seems to be trying to win over hearts and minds amongst moderate Bahrainis with reforms, but what it cannot do is change what has happened in the past. The opposition is working hard to stir up trouble and the government has no choice but to react and this leads to renewed claims of government violence. The race is an obvious target for such activities, and was used for this purpose long before the current problems really began. It is naive to suggest that going ahead with the race will be possible without such a reaction. At the same time one can see the problem that the authorities have got themselves into. This week there are major problems being reported with the national airline Gulf Air, which has been hit by falling passenger numbers. It is scaling down its operations and hoping for government money to keep it afloat. One can feel a little sorry for the moderates in the government as they are trapped because of the radical actions taken last year. It may be that Bahrain cannot get rid of its extremists until there is a regime change, but even then there are no guarantees that the extremists will stop. They do not seem to be very interested in coming to the table to negotiate, despite claiming that all they want is peace. Be that as it may, this should not be Formula 1′s problem. F1 is a powerful marketing tool and a formidable money-making business, but it is only a game and the FIA has rules that should remove the sport from such troubles. The FIA Statutes state that the federation “shall refrain from manifesting racial, political or religious discrimination in the course of its activities and from taking any action in this respect”.

I do not want to see the Bahrain GP disappear from the F1 calendar, but at the same time the country is what it is and it must deal with its problems, and F1 should not be getting involved in trying to be part of a programme of national salvation. One can argue that there are abuses everywhere in the world and F1 still goes to these places, which is true, but it is not the point. In Bahrain the F1 race has been politicised, in most other places it has not. And where it is a political issue (such as in Melbourne) there are parliamentary debates rather than tear gas grenades versus Molotov cocktails.

The global economy remains troubled and increasingly that is filtering through F1′s buffer zones and beginning to have an effect on the sport’s money supply. Now, more than ever, the teams should be united and working towards a common goal, rather than quibbling over whether the team with the red hats should have more power than the guys in the grey hats.

While all of this was going the F1 world had got round to pondering the news that Rubens Barrichello is going to test an IndyCar, while there were reports from Spain that HRT may decide to relocate from Valencia (where presumably the local government is NOT giving them money) to Madrid (where, logically, someone is promising something). It is all very bizarre, but as lots of Iberian commenters are convinced that the team is in safe hands, I really cannot be bothered to question the move. The reports suggest that they will use some kind of a facility at the Manzanares Park Tennis Center, a big stadium known as the La Caja Mágica (The Magic Box) to the locals. I hope that they will be able to pull a very large magic rabbit out of this structure at some point soon.

Those who follow politics and economics might have noticed that now is not a great time to be looking for money in Spain. The latest news is that La Sexta, the Spanish TV station that had the rights to F1, has terminated its deal with two years before the end of its five-year deal, saying that it cannot afford to pay the fees. The rights in Spain actually belong to an organisation called Mediapro, which agreed to pay around $50 million a year to the Formula One group back in 2009. It now needs to find a replacement for La Sexta, which was getting ratings of 3.3 million per race in 2011. The problem is that despite the decent numbers, the advertisers do not seem to have the money to pay for the available slots. Telecinco, which held the rights in 2007 and 2008, says that it is not interested in bidding, while the regional TV stations are all in trouble to some extent of other and are also unlikely to bid.

Being a tyre company in Formula 1 is not easy because it is really hard to convince newsmen that tyres of any kind are sexy. Still, this has been a very good effort.

Elsewhere in the world there has been much excitement about a virtual image of the new Caterham F1 car, which will be officially launched in February. The problem with virtual images is that they pop up when you least expect them, so it all happened a day too early. The car is not very pretty, but I have a nasty suspicion that there are going to a lot of pretty ugly cars in F1 this year, because of the new rules about the noses having to be lower. If one team has come up with this solution in the wind tunnel, you can bet that others will have done the same.

But what is the perfect F1 launch?

I do remember many years back now, Sauber decided to push back the new frontiers and announced the first virtual F1 launch, which meant that there was no need to find an expensive venue, no need for the media to travel because it was all done online (although I am pretty sure the system overloaded dramatically).

However, it was not without humour. Shortly before the big event a wooden box was delivered to the home of each member of the F1 media, inside which was a suitable lunch… complete with wine, Sauber table napkins and so on.

Over the years I have seen many a weird and wonderful attempt to grab attention. I have seen cars unveiled on barges in the middle of rivers; in museums, amid countless laser and dry ice shows and I was long ago unimpressed by with cars driving unexpectedly through paper walls. I have seen a car helicoptered into place, and even a bunch of out-of-work actors rushing about throwing paint-filled eggs at a white wall. There was the odd McLaren launch in Berlin where members of the public brought bits of car and it was built up before the eyes of the media. My favourite launch I think was Jordan’s spectacular Cirque de Soleil performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London (I cannot remember the year), although in 1996 Sauber (again) had a wild launch at an experimental theatre near Zurich. It is hard to explain what happened, but it was a musical, which was like Rocky Horror Show meets Star Trek (in German).

These days, without time to play with, the F1 teams have rollouts more than launches… but who knows, with a virtual world out there, there are no limits to what can be done. What next? A virtual Transformer launch, in which a hot air balloon transforms himself into the new HRT; or a virtual Red Bull tin that suddenly sprouts wings and wheels and becomes an F1 car; or perhaps a team owner sitting rubbing an old lamp in order to make an Formula 1 car magically appear.

Perhaps the best idea, with the movie The Artist making such an impact in Hollywood, would be to have the sport’s first silent F1 launch: No wild expectations; no fluffy talk; no bull. Not even a performing dog (except, perhaps, if the car is no good).

“The Department of State strongly urges U.S. citizens to avoid all demonstrations, as even peaceful ones can quickly become unruly, and a foreigner could become a target of harassment or worse,” the alert says.

“Spontaneous and sometimes violent anti-government demonstrations occur in some neighborhoods, particularly at night and on weekends,” it said. “These demonstrations have included blockades of major highways, trash can fires, and establishment of unofficial checkpoints. Participants have thrown rocks and Molotov cocktails and used various other homemade weapons. The Ministry of Interior maintains official checkpoints in some areas and routinely uses tear gas, stun grenades, and other crowd control measures against demonstrators. The violent clashes between security forces and demonstrators can make travel in and around Bahrain dangerous without advance warning.

“The US Embassy restricts its employees from traveling to specific areas and advises all US citizens to do the same. The recent increase in violent demonstrations along the Budaiya Highway corridor has led to traffic disruptions, effectively restricting travel for those living in the area. The resulting inability to leave one’s home for an extended period poses significant safety and security concerns. As a result, Embassy employees and their dependents are being relocated to different neighborhoods. We continue to urge US citizens to follow the latest security guidance and to avoid demonstrations.”

The travel advice lasts until April 19, which is three days before the race is due to take place.

This is interesting but not disastrous for the event, although any travel advisory from the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office is likely to be much more influential, as this would affect the insurance status of all the British-based Formula 1 teams. At the moment there is no travel advisory but the FCO is warning that “there has been an increase in protests and disruption across various parts of Bahrain in recent weeks. Some groups have called for a general increase in such activity in the period running up to and including 14 February (the anniversary of the ‘Day of Rage’), and one group has called for action to begin from 24 January onwards. We cannot confirm where or when any such activity or resulting disruption will take place, but you should maintain a high level of security awareness, exercise caution, particularly in public places and on the roads, and avoid large crowds and demonstrations”.

F1 can be blind to the world if it chooses to do so, but F1 teams will not be blind to their insurers.

There is no doubt that the authorities and many others in Bahrain want the Grand Prix to happen, but the radical opposition is also aware that a big international event would provide them with an opportunity to stir up trouble as any potential protests at the F1 track would have to be stopped and that would likely result in conflict. As the extreme opposition is trying to stir up trouble, this suits them well…

His manager Oksana Kosachenko is making no comment about rumours that Petrov might land the second Caterham drive, replacing veteran Jarno Trulli. The Italian has been announced as one of the team’s drivers for 2012 but this has not stopped rumours that he will stand down to make way for a younger driver.

The problem at the moment for Pirelli is that the Toyota that they have used for testing is now out of date and it is not clear what car Pirelli can use this year, as the teams are wary of one chassis or another being used to develop the tyres, lest the resulting tyres suit one team better than another. Pirelli F1 tyre boss Paul Hembery said that the matter needs to be discussed by the F1 Commission as having actual testing is important in tyre development.

A Pirelli testing contract would not stop Petrov joining a team if a race deal was on offer.

When asked if Petrov might become the Pirelli test driver, Pirelli’s F1 boss Paul Hembery dodged the question.

The main story this year is that the tyres will be “squarer” than previously. This may sound a little Flintstonian, but it means that the tyres should have more stable contact patches, which should reduce the blistering by spreading the temperatures more evenly. It also means that the tyre markings are going to become bigger and easier to spot. In addition the name Cinturato is to make a comeback. The Cinturato brand was used in F1 in the 1950s. It will now be used for the wet and intermediate tyres. The wet tyres will be blue-coded and the intermediates will be green.

Pirelli says it intends to use the brand to promote greener, more environmentally-friendly tyres.

As last year there will be four slick tyre compounds in F1: supersoft, soft, medium and hard. All but the supersoft are new softer compounds and all tyres will have the new profile. The aim is to provide teams with more grip and a longer performance peak, while also closing the performance gap between them. Each tyre will have its own “passport” so that Pirelli will have a virtual database to provide information for future tyre designs.

Pirelli says that it will supply 45,000 F1 tyres this year

The 26 year-old Belgian will be ready to stand-in for either of the two race drivers if required.

“It’s a great feeling to be joining Lotus F1 Team,” he said. “It’s an exciting next step in my career. I contested a complete season in F1 as a race driver for a smaller team where I learnt a lot about Formula 1. Now, I have the opportunity to work with one of the top teams with great potential for my future development. With my recent race experience, I know I can make a valuable contribution. Of course, I would love to be racing, but racing with a top team. Being associated with Lotus F1 Team should be more beneficial and this is the choice I have made. This opportunity is one I couldn’t afford to miss. My desire to get back in a race seat in the future is motivating me to do the best job possible in my new position.”