Tavo Hellmund, managing partner of Full Throttle Productions LP, revealed Red McCombs as the primary investor for the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix�¢ racing project. McCombs, a business and sports legend, is committing financial resources, experience and the business relationships of McCombs Partners to complement Hellmund and his extensive motorsports�€™ background.

Hellmund and McCombs Partners have been working on potential site development as well as event and facility infrastructure. The end result will present one of the world�€™s most prestigious sporting events and the first ever purpose-built Formula One facility in the United States.

Hellmund, an Austin native, event promoter and former race car driver, has had a lifetime affinity for Formula One racing and has spent the last three years working to deliver the return of Formula One racing to the U.S. with his hometown of Austin as the event�€™s backdrop.

�€œThis project has been a tremendous undertaking,�€� stated Hellmund. �€œBut for at least the next decade, Texas will host a global sporting event on an annual basis in a new world-class multipurpose facility. Knowing that our hard work is being rewarded and that my dream is becoming a reality is extremely gratifying.

�€œIt is a great honour to have Red McCombs and McCombs Partners as our primary investor and partner. Red�€™s success in business and the professional sports arena is legendary. Working together as a team and under Red�€™s direction, we will ensure that this project will make all Texans very proud and will benefit our great State.�€�

�€œBringing Formula One back to the United States represents the opportunity of a lifetime and one that any city in the world would want,�€� stated McCombs. �€œThe size and scope of an F1 event is comparable to hosting a Super Bowl and will bring substantial economic benefit to Austin, San Antonio and the entire State of Texas.

�€œWe know Tavo has a clear vision for developing Formula One into a major event with year-round opportunities. Over the past few years, he has built a solid business foundation and has assembled a great team - one we are proud to be part of. We are ready to roll-up our sleeves and work alongside Tavo to make this project a huge success.�€�

McCombs, a Texas business and sports icon, is the former owner of the NFL's Minnesota Vikings and the NBA's San Antonio Spurs and Denver Nuggets. In addition, McCombs is the co-founder of Clear Channel Communications and has owned nearly 400 businesses in his career, including McCombs Automotive Group and McCombs Energy. McCombs Partners serves as the investment management division of McCombs Enterprises, the family office of Red McCombs.

In addition to McCombs Partners, Hellmund�€™s team includes Prophet Capital Management, an Austin based private investment company founded in 1995, and MotoGP World Champion Kevin Schwantz.

Hellmund also launched the event�€™s official website: www.formula1unitedstates.com, a site dedicated to the local, state, national and global communities interested in the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix�¢. The site�€™s objective is to provide racing and non-racing fans alike a view into the global sporting event where 'technology meets glamour'. Site content will include information on the event visionary and investment group, FAQs, the host city of Austin, event news, Formula One racing information and Formula1.com�€™s onboard lap driving experience. Fans will have the opportunity to register to receive additional information including updates on event ticket packages. The site will be continually updated with the latest news and developments for the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix�¢ project and respective racing industries.

Formula One racing is ranked among the top three most prestigious sporting events in the world along with the Olympics and Soccer�€™s FIFA World Cup. Formula One is considered the most technologically advanced sporting event in the world. It has a massive worldwide following, attracting more than 520 million viewers in 187 countries - making it the most-watched annual sport in the world. This project will place Austin and the state of Texas on the global stage. Its economic impact to the community is estimated to be approximately US$300 million on an annual basis, according to the Office of the Texas Comptroller.

Austin, Texas is located at the epicentre of a surrounding population of nearly 20 million people and provides 130 daily departing international flights within 180 miles. Austin also offers easy access from each U.S. coast, as well as from Canada, Europe, Mexico, Central and South America.

The track will be located on a 900-acre site in southeast Austin along the SH 130 corridor near FM 812. The majority of land involved in the project is formerly known as the Wandering Creek property. The site�€™s natural topography is expected to provide an excellent canvas for the world class facility.

Fernando Alonso, Ferrari
2009 Qualifying - 1st, 2009 Race - DNF
�€œWe knew full before Hockenheim that our car was much more competitive and that was what made me so confident. Now we must continue in this direction, starting this coming weekend in Budapest. The Hungaroring is a special circuit for me. It was here in 2003 that I scored my first Formula 1 win and I was on pole here last year. Returning to that 24th August seven years ago, I don�€™t remember much about the events of the day, because it was so emotional I had the impression that everything happened incredibly quickly: it would be nice to relive that experience this weekend at the wheel of a Ferrari.

�€œThe track can almost be described as a go-kart track for Formula 1 cars. The corners follow on, one from the other, so there is nowhere for a driver to pause for breath and it is vital to have a car that deals with the many bumps in the track surface and handles riding the kerbs. From the physical and mental point of view it is a pretty demanding race, so it is important not to get impetuous and overcook things, because any mistake is heavily penalised, especially in qualifying. It�€™s best to stay focussed and concentrate on your own work, trying to put together the perfect weekend, one step at a time. That is what we plan to do, starting on Thursday. I have already said it many times before: there is still a long way to go in the championship.�€�

Felipe Massa, Ferrari
2009 Qualifying - n/a, 2009 Race - n/a
�€œGoing back to Budapest will be a very special weekend for me, for reasons which you can all appreciate as it was there, just over a year ago, that I was seriously injured when a spring from another car hit me on the head during Q2 on Saturday afternoon. My first meeting when I arrive at the Hungaroring circuit will be with all the marshals and medical staff who did such a very good job of carefully getting me out of the cockpit. I want to thank these people, with whom I now feel a special bond. I had to stay in hospital for a week after the accident and I got to know the staff, who all treated me so well and one unusual result of the whole unfortunate episode is that I know I now have a lot more fans in Hungary. Quite often this year, at press conferences at the track, journalists ask me if I feel I am back to normal and if I am driving as well as before and my answer is always the same: yes, in terms of my work, absolutely nothing has changed. But as a person, the accident did change me: it made me value life much more than before and I appreciate the ordinary things in life ten times more and it has put life and my health in perspective, not taking anything for granted and not just for me, but also for life in general and what it means to everyone. I know what it means now and I feel I am much more mature as a human being. However, on the professional front, nothing has changed, because once you shut the visor and go out on the race track, you just do everything as before, without thinking of the accident.

�€œIn Germany, we produced a great team result and if people were asking why Ferrari kept saying for several weeks before that the F10 had improved a lot, they got the answer in Hockenheim. But that does not mean we are sitting on our hands, because there will be even more updates coming this weekend and the result last weekend is motivation for everyone in the team to keep pushing even harder to keep the momentum going, improving race by race. There are other reasons to be optimistic about this weekend, including the fact that Bridgestone is bringing its Super-Soft and Medium tyres that have always suited the F10 very well, so maybe we can have another very competitive race. Throughout the year, we have seen that various teams�€™ performance has been very much related to the track characteristics, with the exception of Red Bull, who have been competitive everywhere. So let�€™s wait and see how we go at the Hungaroring. Personally, I have never had a good result at this circuit, but that has simply been down to circumstances, as I do enjoying driving here a lot and, in 2008 for example, the last time I actually raced here, I led for sixty laps until my engine failed. So all in all, there are many reasons why I am really looking forward to going back to Budapest in a couple of days�€™ time.�€�

Bernard Ecclestone and Michel Boeri met today in London and have agreed to extend the contract between Formula One Administration Limited and Automobile Club de Monaco for a further 10 years.

The next Monaco Grand Prix will take place on May 29, 2011.

Bernie Ecclestone admits a discussion on Formula 1’s team order regulations is needed in wake of the controversy caused by Ferrari at Hockenheim, with the commercial supremo in favour of allowing teams to manage their cars as they see fit.

Ferrari’s apparent coded message to Felipe Massa at Hockenheim has re-opened the debate about team orders in the sport, with several team bosses having suggested the incident has done fresh damage to F1’s image.

Article 39.1 which profits team orders that interfere with the race result was inserted into the sporting regulations by the FIA in 2002 following that year’s Austrian Grand Prix when Ferrari ordered Rubens Barrichello to make way for Michael Schumacher to win the race.

Ferrari looks set to appear before the governing body’s World Motor Sport Council but Ecclestone - who sits on the WMSC - when asked if, as some pundits have suggested, the regulation should be written out of the rulebook, said it was his opinion that teams should be able to do as they like.

"I don't know, we'll have to see. It's something that needs to be discussed," he was quoted as saying by the Press Association.

"Nobody should interfere as to how they run their team.

"But of course if they do something that's dangerous then obviously they're going to be in trouble, otherwise get on with it."

Former McLaren and Red Bull driver turned pundit David Coulthard has been one leading F1 figure to call on the team orders rules to be scrapped, and Ecclestone admitted given that the image of ‘a team’ is a strong one in F1 then it should be the prerogative of the individual squad how it executes its race strategy.

"I must confess I would agree with anyone who thinks that," said Ecclestone.

"We make people call it a team, we say it's got be a team.

"All the cars have to be exactly the same, the drivers wear the same overalls, so everybody has to look like a team - a team of people that are racing.

Ferrari is confident that the World Motor Sport Council will understand its controversial actions at Hockenheim after it decided not to appeal against the $100,000 fine imposed on it by race stewards.

The Italian squad was engulfed in a team orders controversy after finishing 1-2 in Sunday’s race after Felipe Massa let team-mate Fernando Alonso through to win the race with 18 laps remaining.

Ferrari denied afterwards that it had given Massa any instruction to cede the position, saying that it had simply told him that his team-mate was faster and that the Brazilian took the decision to move aside in the interests of the team.

Nevertheless the radio message was widely interpreted as a coded team order and race stewards later judged that it had broken Article 39.1 of the sporting regulations forbidding team orders that interfere with the race result � while also referring the case to the FIA’s WMSC for further consideration.

On Sunday evening Ferrari confirmed that, in the interests of the sport, it would not be contesting the fine but added that it had faith that the FIA would assess the case in the right manner.

“As for the Stewards’ decision, given after the race, in the interests of the sport, we have decided not to go through a procedure of appealing against it, confident that the World Council will know how to evaluate the overall facts correctly,” team principal Stefano Domenicali said in a statement.

After Sunday’s race Domenicali, both drivers, Massa’s race engineer Rob Smedley and Ferrari team manager Massimo Rivola were all summoned to see the race stewards to explain the situation.

Later Domenicali was asked if he would have done anything differently during the course of the race, to which he replied: “Honestly, a way to handle it better? I don't think so.

“I think that the situation started really from the fact that we wanted to make sure that we shouldn’t have any difficult situation between our drivers.

“This is what we don’t want because we want to have the team’s best interests [put first].”

Felipe was leading the Germany GP before an obvious and clear decision was made by the Ferrari team to let Fernando through. Felipe also did it in such a way to let everyone know he let Alonso through by deliberately slowing on the exit of turn 6.

As a result, Ferrari have been fined US$100,000 by the FIA after race stewards deemed they had breached sporting regulations. The case has also been referred to the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC).

Ferrari driver Felipe Massa, who had been leading the Hockenheim race, moved aside to allow team mate Fernando Alonso past on Lap 49. A few moments before, Massa’s race engineer Rob Smedley had told the Brazilian "Fernando is faster than you. Can you confirm you understood that message?"

Although Ferrari maintained this did not constitute a team order, the stewards decided the Italian team contravened Article 39.1 of the sporting regulations, which regulates against team orders, and Article 151 (c) of the 2010 FIA International Sporting Code, which relates to bringing the sport into disrepute.

The decision will also be forwarded to the WMSC for its consideration, meaning Ferrari could in theory face further sanctions.

Ferrari took its second one-two finish of the season here in Germany, the eighty first in the history of the Maranello team. Fernando Alonso stood on the top step of the podium, having taken the lead on lap 49, while Felipe Massa was second, having made a great start to take the lead and keep it for over half the race. Sebastian Vettel joined them on the podium in third spot.

Ferrari thus picks up a lot of points to close the gap to the series leaders, with only a few days to go until the Hungaroring hosts the twelfth round of the Formula 1 World Championship on Sunday 1 August.

Fernando Alonso controversially led a Ferrari one-two at the German Grand Prix after Felipe Massa was given coded orders to let his team-mate past.

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel was third at his home Grand Prix at Hockenheim, 5.1 seconds adrift of the Spaniard.

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button never threatened the leaders but Hamilton's fourth-place finish means he still leads the drivers standings.

Mark Webber was one place off Button in sixth for Red Bull after engine issues.

The result was a first one-two for Ferrari since the first race of the season in Bahrain, a race Alonso won, but the Spaniard's victory in Germany was soured by the coded team orders given with 18 laps to go.

Ferrari, however, insisted the incident was "a driver decision" and said no instructions were given to their drivers.

Massa, who trailed his team-mate by 31 points prior to the race, was told by Ferrari chief engineer Rob Smedley over team radio: "Alonso is faster than you. Can you confirm you understand?" - to which he responded by letting Alonso through on Turn Six moments later.

Following the move, Smedley added: "Good lad. Just stick with it now, sorry."

Formula 1's governing body the FIA, state in Rule 39.1: "Team orders which interfere with a race result are prohibited," and, after a post-race stewards inquiry, Ferrari were fined $100,000 for breaching sporting regulations.

The controversy marred what was in fact a dominant display by Ferrari as the Italian team were consistently quicker than their rivals.

Massa took advantage of a battle between Alonso and Vettel to take the lead at the start but on lap 21 the Ferrari pair traded places on Turn Six before Massa regained the lead - resulting in Alonso saying on team radio: "This is ridiculous".

Asked to comment on the call afterwards, Massa, who was denied a potential win one year to the day after he fractured his skull in the Hungarian GP, said: "I don't need to say anything about that. He passed me."

And Alonso added: "Sometimes you are quick, sometimes you are slow.

"It's a very strong result for the team. I think it was a good weekend overall, we improved the car a lot. We performed very well."

Alonso's win took him to within 34 points of Hamilton, who has 157 points. Defending champion Button is second with 143 points, while Webber and Vettel are equal third with 136 points.

And 2008 world champion Hamilton was philosophical about his performance.

"Unfortunately the guys in front were phenomenally quick, and I was struggling a little bit with the balance throughout the race. Nevertheless we look forward, we scored some relatively decent points," he said.

Meanwhile, the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher finished in sixth and ninth place respectively while Robert Kubica was seventh for Renault with his team-mate Vitaly Petrov completing the top 10.

Schumacher, a four-time winner at Hockenheim, began the race brightly, gaining three places from the start but the seven-time world champion began losing time half way through and fell behind team-mate Rosberg.

Kamui Kobayashi took 11th in the BMW Sauber, ahead of Williams' Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hulkenberg.

Out of the six German drivers racing at their home Grand Prix it was Vettel who finished top, securing a place on the podium for the first time in front of his home crowd.

And the 23-year-old said: "Finishing on the podium is very special for me, it's very nice and I am very emotional."

Not classified: Heikki Kovalainen, Lucas di Grassi, Sakon Yamamoto, Jarno Trulli, Sebastien Buemi

Ferrari are back on the front row after what seems a very long time for the Scuderia team. Fernando Alonso topped p1 and p2 but a stunning lap by Vettel pipped Alonso in P3 by just 0:002 of a second, underlying the pace of the Ferrari's. Felipe Massa qualified third place, a massive half a second behind Alonso.

If sceptics were unconvinced at Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro�€™s claims that the F10 has been a much improved car over the last few races, then they were given clear proof in this afternoon�€™s qualifying for tomorrow�€™s German Grand Prix. Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa will start the eleventh round of the World Championship from second and third places on the grid and, although pole is pole, whatever the margin, Red Bull�€™s Sebastian Vettel only took the coveted number one slot by a mere two thousandths of a second. Today�€™s excellent showing, during a very exciting battle in Q3, puts the Scuderia duo in a very strong position to fight for the win or, at the very least, to bring home a big number of points. In the past few races, the F10�€™s race pace has been excellent, but poor qualifying performances or unusual race situations have prevented the Prancing Horses from galloping at top speed. It seems the time has come for that to change tomorrow.

Mark Webber finished fourth in the second Red Bull, while fifth place went to Jenson Button, who pipped his McLaren team-mate and championship leader, Lewis Hamilton. At only slightly over four and a half kilometres in length, it takes no less than 67 laps of the Hockenheimring to make a race distance, so tomorrow afternoon�€™s event will be a tough one, where two key elements could play a vital role: the first is not one that even this high-tech sport can influence, namely the weather, which has been so unpredictable this weekend, while the second will be the tyre strategy in terms of how best manage to switch from the super soft to the hard tyre. With the rain affecting much of practice, the track surface is finally producing much more grip, which means predicting tyre behaviour is more complex than usual.

Full qualifying times

The Ferrari of Fernando Alonso set the fastest time (1.16.265) of the second session of free practice for the German Grand Prix that has just finished at Hockenheim. At the end of the 90-minute session the Spanish driver led the way, ahead of Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull (1.16.294) and his Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa (1.16.438). The session took place on a track with a dry line but that remained wet in some parts due to the morning’s rain at the German circuit.

On a first day of action that was complicated by the unstable weather conditions, the team managed to get through a good session, evaluating the performance of both tyre compounds. The Ferrari drivers carried out an important test on how the soft tyres behave with a high fuel load with an eye on the race before finishing on the harder set.

The rain that arrived yesterday in the Baden Wuerttenberg region that is home to the Hockenheimring was still with us at the track today, mainly in the morning, when the first ninety minutes of practice was held either in the rain or at least on a damp track. The second free practice session was held under ominous clouds, but apart from a few drops, it held off long enough for teams to carry out a proper evaluation of the dry specification Bridgestone tyres.

The Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro cars seemed competitive in all track conditions, as Felipe Massa was second fastest in the morning and third fastest in the afternoon, when his team-mate Fernando Alonso topped the time sheet, followed by the ever present Red Bull threat in the shape of Sebastian Vettel. Winner of the last round at Silverstone, Mark Webber, was fourth fastest in the other Red Bull, with Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher in their Mercedes finishing fifth and sixth to ensure there were three German drivers in the top six for their home race.

Needless to say, the changing weather made for a very busy, but somewhat erratic practice, but the Scuderia concentrated on its programme, which included evaluating some components on the F10, as part of the policy of introducing updates at every race. Despite today’s good showing, the Scuderia is keeping its feet firmly on the ground, as the changing track conditions made it even harder than usual to understand what all the teams were doing and timing runs dependent on the weather made a big difference to lap times. At the moment, there is no reason to believe that Red Bull will not be the dominant force in tomorrow’s grid-deciding qualifying session, but it is equally clear the Fernando and Felipe should definitely put up a good fight.

With the generally stormy weather affecting the area, accurate predictions are hard to come by, but the current status is that the rain tyres could be required in tomorrow morning’s final free practice session, but for the rest of the weekend, they can stay at the back of the garage. Either way, the fact the Hockenheim lap is quite short � Fernando’s quickest one today only took 1.16.265 � means that the whole field will be very closely matched, so that everything will have to work perfectly for qualifying as the slightest slip-up can mean the difference between a place on the front row or something much further down the order.

The first free practice session for the eleventh round of the Formula 1 World Championship, the German Grand Prix, has just ended under cloudy skies, having started in the rain, at the Hockenheim circuit. The rain eased off towards the second half and, come the end, Felipe Massa was second for Ferrari in 1.26.850, behind the Force India of Adrian Sutil (1.25.701) and ahead of Jenson Button in the McLaren (1.26.936.) Fernando Alonso set the nineteenth time, (1.29.684) having completed just fifteen laps in the other F10, opting to save his tyres for the afternoon, confident that the track conditions will be more settled. Both Ferrari men started on full wets, before switching to intermediates halfway through and then trying some practice starts at the end.

Heikki Kovalainen and Karun Chandhok did not take part, with Lotus’s Finn replaced by Malaysian test driver Fairuz Fauzy, while the Indian Force India driver was substituted by Japan’s Sakon Yamamoto.