In brief, March 2010

* Former Renault tester José María López has signed for US F1. The Argentine won the 2003 World Series by Renault title, and then raced in F3000 and GP2. Since ’07 he has dominated his native touring car series. US F1 has also hired Indycar veteran John Anderson as its team manager. The 64-year-old has worked for many leading teams including Forsythe, Foyt, Galles, PacWest and Andretti Green.

* McLaren’s Martin Whitmarsh has replaced Luca di Montezemolo as chairman of FOTA, but Ferrari will still have a strong voice in the organisation as team principal Stefano Domenicali has become vice-chairman. Red Bull’s Christian Horner is chairman of its Sporting Regulations Working Group, while Ross Brawn retains his role on the technical side.

* Eric Boullier is the new team principal of Renault F1, taking over from ‘caretaker’ Bob Bell. The 36-year-old (left) was previously involved with the French A1GP and DAMS GP2 teams, and used to run driver management company Gravity. The latter is owned by new Renault F1 shareholder, Genii Capital Group.

* Father and son management team David and Steve Robertson have signed Formula BMW Europe champion Felipe Nasr, beating competition from Red Bull. The Brazilian, 17, is only the third driver the Robertsons have had a direct involvement with after World Champions Jenson Button and Kimi Räikkönen. He will drive for their Double R team in British F3.

* Scuderia Toro Rosso has finally confirmed that Jamie Alguersuari will stay with the team this season. The Spaniard became the youngest F1 driver in history when he replaced Sébastien Bourdais last August. Without any testing he did little to impress, but Red Bull is giving him another chance.

* In the New Year honours Ross Brawn was awarded an OBE for his services to motor sport and Jenson Button received an MBE for his performance in 2009. Brawn has helped to win eight drivers’ and eight constructors’ titles over 30 years in F1.