Latest F1 news in brief
- Google to pay Barrichello $500,000 for online libel
- Button absent as Brawn celebrate in local town
- Toro Rosso confirms Buemi, no Alguersuari deal 'yet'
- After F1 exit, Toyota staying in NASCAR
- December 'young driver' test lineup takes shape
- Senna insists he's no F1 pay-driver
Google to pay Barrichello $500,000 for online libel
(GMM) Rubens Barrichello has won a legal case against the internet giant Google.
The official Sao Paulo government gazette said the formula one veteran is to receive $500,000, because the Google-hosted Brazilian social networking service hosted hundreds of false profiles bearing Barrichello's name.
The damages will almost certainly rise above $500,000, because Google faces additional $590 fines for each day the profiles continue to be online.
When checked on Tuesday, many of the profiles cast the 37-year-old Paulista in a negative light, including some depicting him as a 'tartaruga' (turtle).
According to O Globo, he would not comment on the case, but his lawyer is said to have confirmed that the damages will be donated to the Instituto Barrichello Kanaan charity.
Google did not comment, but Brazilian reports suggested the damages are unprecedented for online libel.
Button absent as Brawn celebrate in local town
(GMM) Ross Brawn has declined to confirm reports that his Brackley based team has finally agreed a deal with Jenson Button.
The claim by the Swiss newspaper Blick seems unlikely, given that the 2009 champion elect was conspicuously missing during a team parade through the streets of Brackley on Monday.
Members of the locally based F1 team, winners of the constructors' title, rode through the Northamptonshire town in open-top buses, while team heads Brawn and Nick Fry sat on the back shelf of a Mercedes convertible.
Asked about Button – who is currently holidaying with his girlfriend in Japan – and the fact he is yet to be confirmed as an ongoing driver for 2010, Brawn said: "I can give you 99 per cent on Jenson Button (staying)."
The parties were recently several million pounds sterling apart on the amount of Button's retainer for next season.
Brawn added: "We have nothing more to say at this time except that we expect to be in good shape for next year."
He also refused to be drawn on the likely deepening of Brawn GP's collaboration with Mercedes, with Germany's Auto Motor und Sport claiming an announcement is due within days.
"No," answered 54-year-old Brawn, when asked if he would like to comment. "It's too early to say anything."
Toro Rosso confirms Buemi, no Alguersuari deal 'yet'
(GMM) A team spokesman has confirmed reports that Sebastien Buemi will be staying at Toro Rosso in 2010.
The European reports had added that while the 21-year-old Swiss rookie's teammate Jaime Alguersuari is likely to also be retained, the Spanish teenager has not yet signed a contract.
"We have re-signed Buemi for next season, but we have not yet signed Jaime," the spokesman confirmed to BBC Sport.
Alguersuari said in Spanish reports that he expects to stay in 2010.
"I hadn't done almost a single kilometer (of testing) when I debuted so it was like going to the slaughter-house," he explained in an interview with EFE news agency, referring to stepping into the ousted Sebastien Bourdais' car mid-season.
"But I am satisfied with what I did, especially towards the end. I hope that next year I have less technical problems," said Alguersuari.
After F1 exit, Toyota staying in NASCAR
(GMM) Toyota is staying in the premier American racing category NASCAR, despite deciding to pull out of formula one.
Toyota Racing Development president Lee White said the Japanese carmaker's F1 retreat "has no bearing on its NASCAR program".
"It (the decision) should have no effect whatsoever on our NASCAR program, our NASCAR plans and our NASCAR future. We remain completely committed to NASCAR and NASCAR is completely committed to us," he added.
Toyota's Japanese rival Honda pulled out of F1 at the end of 2008, but remains the exclusive engine supplier to the premier American open wheel category IndyCar.
December 'young driver' test lineup takes shape
(GMM) A novel driver lineup for next month's rare formula one test is taking shape.
General end-of-season testing is banned, but three days for the purposes of "young driver training" in December are permitted according to the 2009 Sporting Regulations.
Only drivers with less than three races of F1 experience are eligible. The teams have decided to run at Jerez between 1-3 December.
Ferrari has allocated the days to the top three finishers in the Italian F3 championship: Italians Daniel Zampieri and Marco Zipoli, and the Mexican teenager Pablo Sanchez Lopez.
Red Bull will run the British F3 champion Daniel Ricciardo, a young Australian, and New Zealander Brendon Hartley will be at the wheel of the Toro Rosso.
Williams confirmed this week that Spaniard Andy Soucek will be driving on the first day as his prize for winning the F2 title, before the team's 2010 race driver Nico Hulkenberg takes over.
BMW-Sauber will be running with Formula BMW champions Alexander Rossi, a Californian, and Mexican Esteban Gutierrez.
Like Brawn, McLaren's lineup is not known, but occasional test driver Gary Paffett, 28, is eligible. Toyota had been expected to run Kamui Kobayashi until the carmaker announced its immediate withdrawal from F1.
Renault will use the new World Series champion Bertrand Baguette, a Belgian, as well as team test driver Lucas di Grassi.
Force India is expected to turn out at the Spanish circuit with the Indian hopeful Karun Chandhok and Neel Jani, a Swiss whose father is Indian.
Senna insists he's no F1 pay-driver
(GMM) Bruno Senna insists he is not a pay-driver.
The 26-year-old nephew of the late Ayrton Senna will make his formula one debut with the new Spanish team Campos in 2010, with the deal to be formally launched in Spain on Tuesday.
It has been rumored in recent months that Senna comes bundled with sponsors including Brazilian companies Embratel and perhaps the oil giant Petrobras.
But he denied these claims to Brazil's Radio Bandeirantes.
"The contract I have done does not depend on taking sponsorship to the team," Senna insisted, clarifying that he will now work with the team to attract sponsors to Campos.