It has long been rumored, now it's happening: Toyota is pulling out of Formula 1. The parent company announced that it was pulling out of the top level of racing due to the continuing financial crisis. Toyota now joins Honda and Bridgestone, in F1, and Suzuki in rallying last year, to leave top level motor sport because of the crisis. John Howett, the president of the F1 team, has told Autosport that the team itself will still be on the grid next year, however. It will be interesting to see how that happens.

The Bridgestone Tire Company, which has been supply cars with tires in Formula 1 since 1997 announced today that it would withdraw from the series at the end of 2010, when its contract runs out. It will be interesting to see which company steps in to take over the big job Bridgestone has been doing for the last few years as the only tire provider. Any ideas?

Anyone want to believe that maybe the real story of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was not the winner Sebastian Vettel, not Lewis Hamilton who might have won after his pole but he had brake problems, and not even Jenson Button who gave a great battle effort with Mark Webber for third place, but was Kamui Kobayashi?

After passing two world champions, Kimi Raikkonen at the start and Button after the first third of the race, Kobayashi managed to drive his Toyota to sixth position, ahead of his teammate Jarno Trulli. It was a beautiful, gutsy drive, and we would like to see more just like it! So would he, apparently....

"It was a really good race for me," Kobayashi said. "At the start I overtook (Kimi) Raikkonen and that was important in the end because it would have been difficult to finish in the top six if I had been behind him during the first stint. When I got past I was confident I had the race pace to fight for the points and my target was to be consistently fast. The team did a great job with the strategy and the pit stop which played a big part in helping me finish in the points. I certainly wasn't expecting to be racing in Formula 1 this season and I want to say thank you to Toyota for this opportunity. My target was to finish in the points today but I am a bit surprised to be in the top six. This is a fantastic result and I am extremely happy."

USF1 is based in Charlotte, North Carolina. But it needed a base in Europe too, in order to work on the cars between the European races, etc. It has found a very interesting location in bright and sunny Spain, according to its statement from Abu Dhabi:

"US F1 Team announced today that MotorLand Aragon, an 865-acre motorsports complex located in the northern part of Spain in the town of Alcaniz, has been selected as the team's European base. MotorLand will serve as the team's European testing, racecar development and logistics headquarters."

"'MotorLand Aragon is the ideal motorsports complex for US F1's European operation,' said Peter Windsor, executive vice president and sporting director for US F1 Team. 'From the excellent location and weather, to the rich racing heritage and diverse track configurations, MotorLand provides America's first Formula One team in more than 40 years with the perfect facility to manage the 2010 season and train for 2011 and beyond.'"