In October 1991, Nigel Mansell was on the brink of losing the World Championship having had a comfortable lead and certain victory thrown away by another pit lane drama in the Portugese Grand Prix at Estoril. He lost one of his wheels after what appeared to be a smooth and tidy pitstop and was later given the black flag. The next stop after Portugal was Spain, but this time the venue was not Jerez. The F1 circus was about to visit a brand new purpose built circuit near Barcelona, the Circuit de Catalunya.

After months of speculation about the future of the Australian Grand Prix, officials have announced that they have secured a new deal which will see Melbourne on the F1 calendar until at least 2015.

In response to the huge demand for tickets to the Singapore Grand Prix, organisers have increased the spectator capacity around the circuit.

Is it the end of the road for Silverstone? The renewal date for their new contract has already passed, and according to Ecclestone, negotiations over the contract to host the British Grand Prix have the status of a ‘dead duck’.

Magny-Cours will be hosting the French Grand Prix for the final time this year and Bernie Ecclestone has said that he hopes that Paris will be able to host a new French Grand Prix by 2010.

Organisers have announced that tickets for the European Grand Prix in Valencia have sold out. 122,711 tickets were put on sale at the beginning of the month, the last of which were sold last week.

The Malaysian F1 Grand Prix is currently held at the Sepang International Circuit (SIC). The track itself is 5.543 km (3.44 miles) long and was designed by renowned German circuit designer Hermann Tilke.

Hans Geist, the former manager of the Austrian and Bahrain Formula 1 circuits has been appointed to oversea the construction of a new F1-standard venue near Moscow in Russia.

The Gilles-Villeneuve circuit in Montreal, Canada, will be having a minor make-over. A government grant has been given to the track to reconstruct the paddock area with work due to be completed before the Canadian Grand Prix in June.

Fuji Speedway organisers have vowed to do a better job of hosting this season’s Japanese Grand Prix.