Barrichello tips Williams to surprise By Jonathan Noble and Matt Beer Sunday, February 28th 2010, 11:48 GMT Rubens Barrichello is optimistic that his Williams team will prove to be one of the surprises of the year after encouraging times in recent tests. Williams has spent much of the winter doing long runs and proving its reliability, but Nico Hulkenberg was quickest on Friday at Barcelona - and Barrichello thinks that performance has changed perceptions of their team.

Hamilton shows pace on final morning By Jonathan Noble Sunday, February 28th 2010, 12:06 GMT Lewis Hamilton delivered the perfect evidence of the step forward McLaren has made at Barcelona as he set the quickest time of the week on an exciting final morning of pre-season testing on Sunday. With the leading teams all spending their morning running through some low-fuel qualifying simulations, it offered a proper glimpse of the current competitive order - and it was Hamilton who eventually emerged on top shortly before the lunch break. Getting his first experience of the raft of updates that McLaren had brought onto its MP4-25 for this week’s test, Hamilton’s best effort of 1m20.472 seconds was just six hundredths of a second quicker than Felipe Massa in the Ferrari.

Brawn: Mercedes is close to the pace By Glenn Freeman and Kevin Turner Sunday, February 28th 2010, 14:43 GMT Ross Brawn believes the new Mercedes will be competitive at the start of the Formula 1 season, but has admitted that the team does not enjoy the advantage it held at the start of 2009, as Brawn GP. Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher hinted yesterday that the W01 was more competitive than he initially thought. Team boss Brawn agrees the car is good, but believes it is currently not the best.

Stefan GP confident of F1 place By Pablo Elizalde Sunday, February 28th 2010, 15:10 GMT The Stefan Grand Prix team is still hopeful the FIA will allow the Serbian squad to race in Formula 1 this year. In a press release issued on Sunday, the team said it wanted to reconfirm its ability to race in the 2010 season, despite not yet having an entry. Stefan GP is expected to unveil its first F1 car to the press this week and, as revealed by AUTOSPORT, former world champion Jacques Villeneuve will have a seat fitting at its Cologne factory tomorrow.

Hamilton on top as F1 testing ends By Jonathan Noble Sunday, February 28th 2010, 16:05 GMT Lewis Hamilton rounded off his pre-season preparations with a strong performance on the final day of testing at Barcelona in Spain on Sunday - setting the quickest time and delivering an impressive race distance simulation run. Getting his first taste of the raft of aerodynamic updates that McLaren brought to the MP4-25 on Saturday, Hamilton spent the morning focusing on qualifying simulation work. His best time of 1m20.472 came while most of his potential title rivals were working on qualifying simulations too - and showed how competitive the field will be this year at least in terms of single lap pace

McLaren tops combined times again By Pablo Elizalde Sunday, February 28th 2010, 16:23 GMT The McLaren team finished its 2010 preparations in the best possible way, topping the combined testing times at Barcelona. Lewis Hamilton’s quickest time on Sunday meant the British squad has being quickest overall in three of the four pre-season tests ahead of the start of the 2010 season. Hamilton was quickest overall in the first Jerez test, while team-mate Jenson Button was fastest in the second one

Massa: Ferrari has no advantage By Kevin Turner and Glenn Freeman Sunday, February 28th 2010, 16:56 GMT Felipe Massa is happy with Ferrari’s preparation for the 2010 Formula 1 season, but does not believe it heads for Bahrain with any advantage over its rivals.

Schumacher says McLaren very strong By Jonathan Noble and Pablo Elizalde Sunday, February 28th 2010, 17:07 GMT Michael Schumacher says McLaren was ‘very strong’ in the final day of testing at Barcelona, where Lewis Hamilton set the quickest time of the week. But the Mercedes GP driver admits it is virtually impossible to know what the order will be in the first race of the season in Bahrain in two weeks’ time.

Virgin still hindered by hydraulic issue By Pablo Elizalde Sunday, February 28th 2010, 18:26 GMT Virgin Racing is hoping new components will help the team solve the hydraulic leaks that have been hitting the newcomer during pre-season testing. The team has been unable to get as much running as it was hoping due to continued hydraulic problems in the VR-01 car, both at Jerez last week and at Barcelona in the final test of the pre-season

LAS VEGAS — Nationwide Series driver John Wes Townley has been cited for underage possession of alcohol.Townley, who is 20, was cited Thursday.He apologized to NASCAR and his Richard Childress Racing team in a statement issued late in Saturday’s race by his race team.”I made a big mistake and feel terrible about it,” he said.