Rio de Janeiro - Surprised over the poor pre-season performance of the McLaren-Mercedes team, but worried about the excellence of Brawn GP and the evolution of Toyota, Ferrari's Brazilian Formula 1 driver Felipe Massa travelled to Australia Monday.

"So far it is difficult to have a clear idea, because it is the first race that counts, but I think we have never seen a McLaren so far behind, a McLaren with so many difficulties as this year," Massa said in comments that were made public by his press team Monday.

Hamburg - Former world champion Kimi Raikkonen appears to be standing before a make-or-break season at Ferrari.

"As a driver and a Ferrari man, he is well aware that it's an important season. He's intelligent enough to understand that," Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali told Monday's Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper.

The 2009 season getting underway this weekend with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, and Domenicali said Raikkonen's performances this year were certainly important as to whether he has a long-term future with the Italian marque.

Stuttgart- World champion Lewis Hamilton could start near the back of the grid at this Sunday's season-opening Australian Formula One Grand Prix, Mercedes motorsport director Norbert Haug has admitted.

"We have to reckon with starting in the last third on the grid but we will guarantee ourselves that we'll improve race by race and slowly return to the front," Haug said in an interview with German Press Agency dpa.

Hockenheim, Germany - Hockenheim's regional council will discuss the future of the Hockenheim Formula One circuit at a private meeting later Monday with a decision expected Wednesday.

"This meeting will serve only for a discussion and to exchange information," regional mayor Dieter Gummer told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa.

"The decision will be made at a public meeting on Wednesday."

Hamburg - The world economic crisis appears to be a blessing in disguise for Formula One racing.

Not only have the grim economic realities drastically sped up major cost-cutting, they have also led to unique harmony between teams for the common goal of a bright future.

Luca di Montezemolo, the boss of Ferrari and the newly founded F1 team organisation FOTA, spoke of "an unprecedented moment in the history of Formula One" after the teams agreed to various measures to improve the sport.

Hamburg  - The 2009 Formula One season sees a raft of rule changes with the driver's championship decided by number of race wins, tighter aerodynamic regulations, the return of slick tyres, the introduction of Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS) and the end of in-season testing.

The most comprehensive rule changes in recent years are all part of the sport's attempt to make racing more entertaining while also cutting costs in an effort to ride out the global economic crisis.