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On the eve of perhaps the most telling two days in the Formula One season, several drivers bravely talked up their chances of challenging Mercedes, while fearing that Friday's practice session at the Australian Grand Prix and Saturday's qualifying were likely to show the silver cars remain in a class of their own.
     

Fernando Alonso's mysterious crash has put McLaren on the back foot before the Formula One season has even started in what threatens to be another tough year for the team.
      
Speculation over the accident during testing is increasing rather than abating as Alonso prepares to sit out this week's season-opener in Australia on medical advice.
     

Lewis Hamilton starts the Formula One season as red-hot favourite to become a triple world champion but Niki Lauda, who knows how that feels, fears the battle could be tougher than ever.
   

McLaren's racing director Eric Boullier has warned any more setbacks in the Woking-based team's pre-season testing schedule will be reflected in their performance once the campaign gets underway.
      

McLaren unveiled their new car, the MP4-30, which will be piloted by former world champions Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button in 2015, in an online presentation on Jan. 29.
      
The British marque will be running Honda engines for the first time since 1992 and they hope that Alonso and Button will help them end two years in the Formula One wilderness.
      

Formula One organisers the FIA on Jan. 20 announced earlier starts for five grand prix this season, the move introduced as one of the recommendations after Jules Bianchi's near-fatal crash.
      
The 25-year-old Frenchman was left fighting for his life when his Marussia car ploughed into a recovery vehicle at the Japanese Grand Prix last October.
      

The Formula One circus set up camp for a controversial inaugural Russian Grand Prix on Oct. 9 with the sport's top drivers leading emotional calls for improved safety on the track.

Championship leader Lewis Hamilton won a wet Japanese Grand Prix from Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg on Sunday in a chaotic finish after the race was red-flagged.

The McLaren Group is interested in organizing races of its Formula 1 team in Montenegro, the government in Podgorica has announced.

Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic on Thursday in Podgorica met the President of the McLaren Group F1, Ray Bellm, and discussed the possibilities of the Adriatic country hosting sports car racing events.

Former F1 champion Michael Schumacher has been discharged from a Swiss hospital and is returning home, where he will continue his recovery after the devastating skiing accident last year.

"Considering the severe injuries he suffered, progress has been made in the past weeks and months," Schumacher's spokeswoman Sabine Kehm said, as quoted by the CNN.