Adam Cooper F1

Jolyon Palmer will run in FP1 sessions with Lotus this year

Palmer made his F1 test debut with Force India in Abu Dhabi in November, and thus had looked well set to land a role with the Silverstone-based team.

Team principal Gerard Lopez said: “Jolyon is a fantastic talent and a very credible driver to fulfil the role of Third Driver at Lotus F1 Team. Romain and Pastor are both GP2 Series Champions, so we know what a fantastic proving ground GP2 provides. For Jolyon to have enjoyed such a successful season as he took his title last year shows his superb potential for the future. We are looking forward to seeing him in team colours and behind the wheel of our 2015 car, the E23 Hybrid, which represents an exciting new era for Lotus F1 Team.”

Palmer added: “My goal has been to become a race driver in a competitive F1 team for 2016 and Lotus F1 Team is a great opportunity for me, particularly with Mercedes engines now. To be able to learn with a major F1 team by working closely with them in every area and getting a lot of mileage in the car is the best way possible, as Valtteri Bottas proved. I am delighted to be joining Lotus F1 Team at such an exciting time and my objective is to earn a long term future with them.”

Marussia could yet be saved before the start of the season after this week’s auction of the team’s remaining assets was cancelled.

A team source told this writer last month that an earlier auction, which took place before Christmas, would not seriously compromise the chances of saving the team. However, the second included the key equipment required to go racing, and thus represented a deadline.

The team remains in administration and still owes a huge amount of money, including over £16m to power unit supplier Ferrari.

A statement from adminstrators FRP Advisory said: “A planned auction of the Company’s remaining assets due to commence on Wednesday 21 January 2015 has been halted to allow for discussions to continue with a third party. Given the confidential nature of the negotiations underway we are unable to provide further details.”

Team principal John Booth told the BBC today that talks were “at a fairly advanced stage with a new investor – a credible investor. He added that “postponing the auction gives us a bit more time to explore it.”

Like Caterham if Marussia can be saved the team is expected to get dispensation from the FIA to use its 2014 cars, despite a rule change that affects the nose.

The new Mercedes W06 Hybrid will be unveiled at Jerez immediately before official testing commences on February 1.

Mercedes has a tradition of showing its new cars in the flesh at the last minute, rather than online, as other teams often do.

Nico Rosberg will drive on the first and third days of the test, with Lewis Hamilton in action on the second and fourth days.

“The workload this winter has been as great as ever,” said Mercedes motor sport boss Toto Wolff. “Where last year we were preparing for an all-new formula of racing, we are now faced with the big challenge of making the next step in our development. We know that we went into the winter with a target on our backs for the other teams – and we are certain that our rivals will be competitive from the opening race in Melbourne. So we have to focus on every detail if we want to build any advantage this year and that is what we have done.

“This is an exciting time of year as our collective efforts all come together in the new car. Everybody in Brackley, Brixworth and Stuttgart has put a great amount of effort into creating the latest Silver Arrow and I thank them for their efforts so far. We are excited to see how the car performs when it begins running.”

Bernie Ecclestone says that this year’s German GP will take place at Hockenheim, rather than at the Nurburgring.

Although the FIA did not specify a venue in the F1 calendar this year should have been the turn of the Nurburgring, which last hosted the race in 2013. However Ecclestone has not concluded a deal with the track, which has changed ownership amid serious financial problems.

“It’s going to be at Hockenheim, we’re in the middle of doing something with them,” he told Reuters. “It can’t be Nurburgring because there’s nobody there. We’ve got a contract in place [with Hockenheim], we just have to amend the years of the contract. It was alternating with Nurburgring so we’ll just take that out. Providing the contract goes through as we expect it to, we’ll be in good shape.”

Ecclestone confirmed that he’d tried to acquire the Nurburgring.

“We wanted to buy the Nurburgring, we made an offer and somebody topped us with a few dollars and bought it. And then they couldn’t pay and it went on sale again. I said I’d be interested and then they found somebody else. So I don’t know what’s happening.”