Vienna  - The Toro Rosso Formula One team is now completely owned by the Red Bull drinks company after the Austrian firm confirmed Tuesday that it has bought out former F1 driver Gerhard Berger's 50-per-cent share in the team.

"I am very grateful to Gerhard for his huge input," said Dietrich Mateschitz, head of the Red Bull Racing team.

"Together we made Toro Rosso into a team that qualified on a regular basis in the top 10 and collected world championship points."

The team also secured its first F1 win thanks to Sebastian Vettel's victory at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza.

Stuttgart - Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton expects next season's title race to be as difficult as this year's one.

The 23-year-old Briton managed to overtake Germany's Timo Glock on the final bend on the final lap of the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday to move to fifth place, thereby winning the title by one point from race winner Ferrari's Felipe Massa.

Speaking at the traditional Stars&Cars function in Stuttgart on Saturday - Hamilton greeted the 65,000 racing enthusiasts in German - the McLaren-Mercedes driver said that he will obviously try to repeat his success.

Hamburg  - The Force India Formula One team announced Friday that it has brought to an early end its engine deal with Ferrari, opening the way for a possible switch to Mercedes for next season.

The team, which is controlled by Indian billionaire Vijay Mally and has Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil as its drivers, had agreed a deal in 2007 to take Ferrari engines until the end of the 2009 season.

"Force India Formula One Team today announces it has ended its contract with Ferrari," the team said in a statement.

London, Nov. 7 : Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton has said that he is keen to put the racism row that threatened to derail his bid for the world title behind him.

However, he does not share Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone''s view that it was blown out of all proportion.

According to The Telegraph, Hamilton was abused during a pre-season testing at the Circuit de Catalunya, near Barcelona, in February. Some spectators were pictured mocking Hamilton by wearing wigs, dark make-up and t-shirts with the slogan ''Hamilton''s Family''.

Paris - Formula One engines will have to last for three instead of the present two race weekends from the 2009 championship season, motorsport authorities decided Wednesday.

The decision was taken by the world motorsport council of international motorsport federation FIA in a further effort to save costs in F1 racing.

The council also agreed to some adjustments in its officiating system following a number of controversial rulings by race stewards in the just-ended 2008 season.

Hamburg  - Former world champion Fernando Alonso has renewed his contract at Renault until 2010, the French Formula One team announced on Wednesday.

Team-mate Nelson Piquet Jr was given another one-year contract.

The Spaniard Alonso hopes to relive his glory of the past at the team for which he won the world title in 2005 and 2006. He spent the 2007 season at McLaren but was unhappy there and returned to Renault.