91Èȱ¬

When bolted their new Formula 1 car together for the first time on Thursday night in preparation for Friday's 2010 launch, they hit upon a problem. It wouldn't fit in the lift in the team's factory.

The engineers solved that little conundrum - caused by the car being longer than last year because of the bigger fuel tank needed following the banning of in-race refuelling - by taking the car around a different way. But McLaren might find other difficulties they face this year harder to resolve.

Friday's launch at title sponsor Vodafone's plush headquarters on the outskirts of Newbury in Berkshire was typical of McLaren for its smooth professionalism but, as last year proved, the realities of racing in the white heat of F1 competition are not always so easy to manage.

To McLaren's credit, they did not try to dodge the issues - in fact, they had clearly worked hard on coming up with an answer to them. But it remains the case that a number of big question marks hang over the team as they head into a season that promises to be one of the most competitive in years.

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Just to keep you up to date with what's going on in the worlds of Formula 1 and the 91Èȱ¬, we thought it was worth letting you know that 91Èȱ¬ Sport has won a second award for its Formula 1 coverage in 2009.

Following on from the Royal Television Society award won last December , our Monaco Grand Prix coverage won the award for Best Sports Programme at the on Wednesday evening.

The Monaco show won in the face of stiff competition from both within the 91Èȱ¬ and outside.

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This is a big week in Formula 1. The was launched on Monday, and new cars from and are due to break cover on Thursday and Friday. But another development that has made less of an impact could prove a seminal moment in a different way.

The announcement on Tuesday that the little-known has had minimal coverage compared to the fanfare afforded Mercedes's public presentation of their new livery and .

The general perception will be that this is just another pay-driver getting a seat with a struggling team, and that neither are likely to make much impact in 2010.

That assessment may well turn out to be factually correct - but the Lopez deal is rather more interesting than that. He has secured his drive thanks to backing from the government of itself. His appointment was announced by the President, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

As far as I am aware, this is the first time a national government has ever financially supported a driver's entry into F1 to any significant degree.

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The decision by a French court to for fixing the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix leaves Formula 1 in a state of limbo.

The judgement effectively means that, for the time being at least, F1's governing body, the FIA, cannot hand down any punishments to members of F1 teams if they are found guilty of any wrongdoing.

The has characterised the decision as "procedural not substantive", but I'm not so sure it's as simple as that.

What we're talking about here is that, following a scandal that the newspaper described as "the worst case of cheating in the history of sport", there has effectively been no punishment handed down by the governing body in question.

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