Formula One star Robert Kubica has been seriously injured while competing in a rally in Italy. The Lotus Renault driver, 26, was 4.6km into the stage in a Skoda Fabia when the car went off the road and hit a wall. His co-driver Jacub Gerber got out unhurt while Kubica had to be extracted and taken by helicopter to hospital. There were no immediate details of his injuries but a Renault spokesman confirmed he was conscious.

Local health authority officials in Italy said Kubica’s life was not in danger, and that the worst damage appeared to be to his limbs. “Certainly it is a very delicate situation, as the first hours always are after a huge trauma, one in which there could also have been a strong bleeding,” Roberto Carrozzino, a local health authority official, told Sky Italia.

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Narain Karthikeyan is set for his comeback with the Hispania Racing Team for the 2011 F1 season. While Indians are celebrating his comeback to Formula1, there is much silence over Karun Chandhok's move for the coming season.

Here I go evaluating where Karun could end up in the 2011 F1 season: 1. Team Lotus Racing: Tony Fernandes led Team Lotus Racing has confirmed Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen for the 2011 season. However, their test and reserve driver seat is vacant. (They relieved Malaysian rookie Fairuz Fauzy of his role after the 2010 season).

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Michael Schumacher''s hopesof turning around his return to Formula One began Tuesday intesting the new Mercedes car. The 42-year-old Schumacher, a seven-time F1 champion, wasset to drive at the Cheste Circuit after teammate NicoRosberg, who gave the car a positive review after a brieffirst spin in the morning.

Both Schumacher and Mercedes are looking to rebound froma disappointing 2010 season. Schumacher was ninth in thedrivers'' standings while Mercedes never really challengedchampion Red Bull or closest rivals Ferrari and McLaren.

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HRT hasn't been in the news for the best of reasons. First it was about them leaving (or made to leave) the Formula One Teams Association (FOTA). Then it was about their 2011 car - Team Principal Collin Kolles stated publicly that their 2011 challenger will be an evolution of their 2010 car. They are almost always in the news for either nonpayment of dues, or if they have the financial stability to make it to the grid in 2011. Lots of negative PR all around!

So then why did Narain Karthikeyan choose Hispania Racing Team? After all, HRT was the slowest team of the 2010 season and the only team to have not developed the car throughout last season. In fact, Narain had rejected HRT's offer of a race seat for the 2010 season. (Read: Challenges Narain will face in the F1 2011 season.

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The Renault F1 team, over the course of the off-season announced that it is to be re-branded as Lotus Renault GP. The announcement comes in the wake of the fact that Lotus, who had been musing a return to the premier four-wheeler racing series for quite some time, had bought a majority stake in the Enstone-based team. It also emerges that Renault had decided to sell its stake in the team, supposedly with a view to concentrating on being an engine supplier.

Eric Boullier announced late last week, that come season 2011, the team will be running under a British license rather than the French license that Renault has been running under, since buying out the former  Benetton team in 2001. While it is rather understandable, given that the headquarters of Renault F1 chassis division were in Enstone, Oxfordshire in England and the fact that Lotus is an English manufacturer; it is rather ironic. Ironic I say because with this change, the sport, which borrows words extensively from the French Dictionary, severs what could be named the last tangible thread that France has with Formula One.

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Narain Karthikeyan’s comeback into Formula One has surely surprised many. The fact that he is coming back after a five-season absence from the top form of motorsport is not an easy achievement. Seen as someone who has umpteen raw talent, the 33-year-old now has another chance to prove his mettle with the best in the world.

His last stint in F1 with the Jordan Toyota team in 2005 was modest but with things having changed in the sport, it could be a different ball game. However, he has had some good results and also wins in the now-defunct A1 GP World Cup of Motorsport and the Superleague Formula series (for Dutch team PSV Eindhoven). He has been driving in the Nascar World Camping Truck Series in 2010 and in Le Mans.

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A good news for India hit the shore of the nation as former Formula1 (F1) driver Narain Karthikeyan announced that he is all set to initiate his second innings in F1.Karthikeyan on Thursday, Jan 7 declared that he will join Spanish-based team HRT which had a torrid time in their first season in 2010.

"It's been a while in the making, but I am delighted to be racing again in Formula 1 in 2011. I have worked really hard to come back to F1," stated Karthikeyan. He also continued, "..it will be a dream come true to race in front of the home crowd in our country's debut Grand Prix. I hope that the Indian public will spur me on with their blessings and good wishes.

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The 2010 season saw five drivers from three teams score wins, with four of them still in the hunt for the championship at the very last race, where the title was claimed by the sport’s youngest ever champion - Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel. Some say it was Formula One’s best-ever season. Whether you agree or not, it’s certainly been unforgettable.

And as 2010 draws to a close, we'd like to thank you for your support over the past 12 months and wish our all our users the very best for the Christmas period. Needless to say the first few weeks of 2011 already look set to be busy ones, as the teams gear up to unveil and trial their new machines in February’s first test sessions, ahead of the opening round of the new season, the Bahrain Grand Prix, on March 13.

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F1 Update from the iSport F1 Pitstop: iSporter and Motorsport Expert Kunal Shah writes about the much needed ban on team orders in Formula1The FIA must be applauded for its consistency (in changing the same rules!) and yes of course ambiguity! While F1 fanatics were missing F1 action over the weekend, the FIA decided to make the sport more interesting by lifting the ban on team orders.

For history sake, team-orders have always been a part of Formula1, however, modern F1 got a crude taste of it at the 2002 Austrian Grand Prix. Ferrari notoriously decided to employ team orders and instructed race leader and no. 2 driver Rubens Barrichello to move over and allow Michael Schumacher to pass - thereby granting him the race win and an extra 4 points boost (those days 10-6-4-3-2-1 system was used) in the driver's points tally.

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Mike Gascoyne believes Lotus could mount a challenge on F1's midfield in 2011 as the team looks to build on their "dress rehearsal."Lotus was one of three newcomers to Formula One this past season and finished the Championship as the best of the newbies.

For next year, though, the team has already taken steps to improve, signing an engine deal with Renault and one with 2010 Championship winners Red Bull to use their hydraulic and gearbox systems. "We've got to do it all again but now as the big boys are doing it - you've just got to step up to that level," Gascoyne told the Norwich Evening News newspaper.

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