NASCAR newcomer Juan Pablo Montoya has blasted former F1 driver Michael Schumacher a ”nobody” after the German criticised the rookie’s new sport.

Schumacher has put serious question marks over the nature of the Columbian’s move to America from F1 but the former Williams and McLaren driver told SI.com: “People don’t understand what a big challenge this style of racing is.”

Current World Champion Fernando Alonso has set his first laps with his new team at Valencia this morning. The Spaniard, who switched from Renault to McLaren, posted an installation lap before completing two low-speed laps as the team checked the system for important data. 

Former World Champion Jaques Villeneuve will race for Peugeot in the Le Mans 24 Hours, his first taste of racing since his departure of F1. The 1997 winner left the F1 scene after falling out with BMW-Sauber in the summer and it looks like NASCAR is still the Canadian’s first choice.

Honda will launch the ‘RA107′ at Barcelona on the 25th of January but its new livery won’t be at the launch, instead it will be revealed in February.

The Japanese outfit, who won their maiden Grand Prix in Hungary, will show off the latest title contending car at the Circuit de Catalunya. It will have the same black livery they were using during winter testing. 

Adrian Sutil has been given a chance to shine as he is to partner Christijan Albers in the Spyker F1 team next season. The 23-year-old German will replace the outgoing Tiago Monteiro who had expected to race for the team in 2007.

Marco Andretti, son of former McLaren driver, Michael, and grandson of the 1978 World Champion, Mario, will test at the final winter session for Honda in Jerez next week.

The 19-year-old who was ‘Rookie of the year’ in the IndyCar Series is said to be delighted with a chance to break in the door of F1.

Renault F1 has set a date for the launch of their 07 car and will become the fourth team to do so. The ‘R27′ will be revealed in Amsterdam on 24th of January.

The new sponsor ING is based in Amsterdam so the Anglo-French team will reveal their new car at ‘The Factory’, an industrial exhibition space in the Oostenburg part of the city.

McLaren have confirmed that former F1 driver Mika Hakkinen will be testing for them in Barcelona on Thursday.

Retiring from the sport after the Japanese GP in 2001, this will be the first time the Finn will return to the cockpit of an F1. In the last few weeks, speculation was mounting that the 38 year-old would back be in the frame of an F1 car.

Michael Schumacher has spoken out about his relationship and rivalry with the late Ayrton Senna stating that the Brazilian belonged to a different generation of racing driver to him.

Even though there was close battles throughout before the curtain fell down on Senna, the two had clashed on several occasions in the German’s first three years in the sport.

My favourite track that was host to the Pacific GP. The Tanaka International Circuit (TI Circuit) was a twisty, slow 2.3-mile track deep in the countryside in Aida (near Kobe), Japan.