Alonso, runner-up in 2010, is ruing his run of bad luck this season

Fernando Alonso reckons his 2011 season has been blighted by bad luck, adding that at the last race in Canada "not one damned thing went right". Alonso retired in Montreal after crashing with McLaren's eventual race winner Jenson Button but the Ferrari driver is confident he will be more competitive at this week's European Grand Prix.
Full story: Fernando Alonso's blog

French prime minister Francois Fillon has created a taskforce charged with restoring the French Grand Prix to the calendar. The race was last held in 2008 at Magny-Cours but the idea is to resurrect the GP at the Paul Ricard circuit by 2013.
Full story: Var Matin (in French)

Formula 1 tyre supplier Pirelli will introduce the new medium tyre at the European race in Valencia. The medium compound, which is not quite as durable as the hard tyre, joins the soft tyre as the two options for Valencia.
Full story: Pirelli

Red Bull driver Mark Webber says if he could add a race to the F1 calendar it would be in the Californian city of San Francisco. The Australian also names Malaysia's Sepang circuit as his favourite track and says he would pick Ferrari's Fernando Alonso as his first choice driver if he was a team principal.
Full story: formula1.com

F1's governing body, the FIA, has written to the teams to tell them that they will no longer be allowed to change engine maps between qualifying and the race. The new directive comes into effect at the European GP.
Full story: autosport.com

Renault technical director James Allison predicts there will be "plenty of overtaking" during Sunday's grand prix in Valencia, despite its reputation as a street circuit where it is difficult to pass. Renault will bring a top rear wing to the race which Allison says should make the car's moveable rear wing more effective.
Full story: planetf1.com

The news that Red Bull is going to pull out of Nascar and leave its team to find other partners has led to the suggestions that the Austrian drinks company will probably be spending its US motorsport budget on something else - and the suggestion is that this will be as the title sponsor of the United States Grand Prix which is due to return to the calendar in 2012.
Full story: Joe Saward's Grand Prix blog

There is growing interest in staging a grand prix in Hong Kong after 43,000 people turned out to watch Toro Rosso driver Jaime Alguersuari in a demonstration run. The city's motorsport president Wesley Wan said: "This was the first step and I hope it will lead to Hong Kong hosting a grand prix race."
Full story: South China Morning Post (subscription only)

This story will be updated throughout the day.

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