Former Formula 1 driver Rubens Barrichello has reassured fans he is "feeling great" after revealing he was in hospital following a health scare earlier this week.

Best known as the teammate to Michael Schumacher at Ferrari in the early 2000's, the Brazilian retired from the sport in 2011 following further stints with Honda, Brawn and Willams.

One of the most popular drivers in his time, in recent years he has become a pundit and still has a large social media audience and it was that which triggered Barrichello to announce his situation.

“I can see everyone is sending me messages and everyone is worried," he said in a video on Instagram, "so I decided to tell you.

"On Saturday I decided to wake up and have a shower and I felt a terrible headache, luckily my wife was there and she called a friend doctor who took me to the hospital, they took really good care of me.

“I had a small problem on a vein, but I want to tell you that I am feeling great."

Barrichello remains in hospital recovering as further tests are carried out, but the 11-time Grand Prix winner is in high spirits adding: "The difficulties in life are the ones who show us how to grow and how to be better.

“I am so thankful, thank god for the opportunity and soon I will be back on the race track. So good to speak to you guys.”

Valtteri Bottas admits he was doubting himself during the dip in performance he had in the second half of 2017.

The Mercedes driver had proven a worthy replacement for Nico Rosberg alongside Lewis Hamilton, often keeping his teammate on his toes and beating him in some cases, taking wins in Russia and Austria.

The Finn was just about in title contention too after the summer break, but as the Brackley team struggled to cure all weaknesses with their 'diva' W08, Bottas lost his way, struggling to get within half a second of the eventual world champion in qualifying.

“After struggling quite a lot for a couple of races, it wasn’t easy mentally because I was quite confused in the beginning – like ‘what’s going on?’,” he told Motorsport.com.

“For sure you also start to doubt what you’re doing. When you need to change some things with your driving style and need to adapt to many different things suddenly you realise it’s not that simple.

“Then you easily overthink things and then it becomes less natural driving."

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The 27-year-old would regroup in the final races, taking a third and final win of the year in Abu Dhabi, but now finds himself under pressure with just a one-year extension to his contract and plenty of drivers vying for his seat.

Should he find himself facing struggles again, however, Bottas feels much more prepared.

"I’ve learnt massively from those difficult races so I think I’m a lot better driver as well than for example in Spa or Malaysia or Japan,” he claimed.

The former GP3 champion also thinks the knowledge Hamilton has of how the Mercedes behaves in certain situations played a role in the speed difference between them.

“What he’s been doing better than me, I think it comes mainly from experience. Mechanically, the car hasn’t really changed much from the last few years, in terms of how it behaves and it was very different how the Williams car behaved," Bottas claimed.

“So there’s been many things for me to learn, and I’ve been kind of catching up on things all the time.”

Formula 1 bosses have confirmed earlier reports that the start times for all Grands Prix will be altered by at least 10 minutes in 2018.

Fron now on, each race will start at 10 minutes past the hour in an attempt to offer fans - who's broadcast starts at the top of the hour - a chance to see the atmosphere build on the grid before the formation lap.

All European rounds and Brazil will be pushed back by an additional hour with Continental Europe races starting at 3:10pm as oppose to the traditional 2pm, while Britain sees its race move to 2:10pm.

The only exception in the returning French Grand Prix at Paul Ricard which will begin at 4:10pm to avoid clashing with key matches at this year's FIFA World Cup in Russia.

This comes after research suggested later start times in Europe would help increase TV audiences across many major markets.

The Asian and American races only see the 10-minute change, while Bahrain has officially joined Singapore as a full night race with the Abu Dhabi finale remaining a twilight round.

Practice and qualifying have also been moved back by an hour to coincide with the change in race time.

Though he earned most of the attention this past weekend at Daytona, Fernando Alonso believes the performance of his teammate and McLaren reserve driver Lando Norris shouldn't be ignored.

At just 18, the Briton is already earning a healthy reputation after winning the European Formula 3 title last year and impressing on his McLaren debut at the Hungary test last year, both of which resulted in his promotion to third driver for this season.

Driving alongside Alonso and Phil Hanson, Norris, who will compete in F2 in 2018, admitted the Daytona experience was about learning from and comparing himself with the double F1 champion and the Spaniard certainly noticed.

"It’s not a surprise [to me], but for the people that don’t know Lando, it will be a surprise for them,” Fernando said. “The things he did were very impressive. The teamwork, the preparation, the focus."

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Though their United Autosports entry ended in disappointment, with a puncture and brake issues resulting in an eventual 38th place finish, Norris' pace in one part of the race particularly stood out to Alonso.

“At night if you look, when we switched to wet tyres for one stint, we were fifth, one minute behind the leader, then we switched to slick tyres again in damp conditions – all this with Lando driving – and we were 27 seconds behind the leaders," the 36-year-old stated.

“So even in wet conditions, his first time in a prototype, first time in Daytona, first time with Continental tyres, he recovered 33 seconds in 20 laps or something like that, so that is quite impressive…”

Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko believes Honda has an unfair reputation in Formula 1 after Fernando Alonso "did everything he could" to tarnish the engine supplier.

During the three seasons which McLaren and the Japanese manufacturer re-collaborated, the double world champion became known for his controversial radio messages and remarks about the engine, as it struggled for both reliability and performance.

Now that junior team Toro Rosso are working with Honda, however, Marko has remained largely positive about their potential, floating the prospect of the main Red Bull team also using their engines from 2019.

"Honda is very active and has already found something," the Austrian claimed, "Perhaps they will manage to be on Renault's level with their second engine (specification)."

The head of Red Bull's young driver academy also suggested the British team didn't particularly help their engine supplier.

"Honda had to compromise because of the McLaren chassis and were not able to develop freely and Alonso did everything he could to make the engine look bad," he stated.

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Now McLaren will be using the same Renault engines as Red Bull in 2018 and the Woking outfit has been touting the potential to challenge for race wins this season.

For all his negativity about Honda, Alonso is much happier now he is back working with the company he twice drove for.

"We are very confident," he was quoted by ESPN. "I think at McLaren we have made a few changes for this year, the most obvious being the power unit with the Renault, which I think is quite a high motivation now in the team.

"The mood for all of us is quite different this year compared to the last three years. We always had expectations that the season could be a good one for us but I think this year we have more facts than any previous years, that they were only hopes. This year we have more numbers that we can touch, finally."

Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost is setting a lofty goal of fourth in the constructors' championship for his team in their first season with Honda, after confirming the new STR13 will be revealed in Barcelona next month.

The junior Red Bull team agreed to take on the Japanese manufacturer after McLaren's patience finally ran out following three difficult years and the progress made in the second half of 2017 is giving both Austrian-backed outfits reason for optimism.

With hopes Honda could even jump Renault and become the third best power unit on the grid, the main concern will be reliability but should it come together, Tost sees no reason to lower expectations.

"It's difficult," he acknowledged talking to Racer. "We must be within the top five once more, it's the same story as in 2017.

"The first three positions are gone, forget it, this is another league but then from position four onwards, everything is possible because Force India is running with a similar budget to us, Williams as well."

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The battle for 'best of the rest' is setting up to be one of the closest ever despite Force India comfortably taking fourth by over 100 points last year. Two sleeping giants are widely expected to move up just behind the big three, but the Toro Rosso chief doesn't think they will be out of reach.

"I expect that McLaren will become quite competitive as well and Renault will make a step forwards, but it means from fourth position onwards everything is possible." Tost reiterated. "Once more we have to build a good car, a competitive car, and we have the ingredients together to fight for a successful position."

The Italian team retains the pairing which ended last season, with Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley, though neither driver would score a point in the troubled final races and they remain the least experienced line-up on the grid.

Regardless the new car will be launched on the first morning of pre-season testing in the Barcelona pit-lane on February 26th.

Williams technical director Paddy Lowe has once again defended the team's line-up for 2018, with Sergey Sirotkin alongside Lance Stroll, as a long-term "investment" in both drivers.

There was disappointment after the Russian, who impressed at the post-season test in Abu Dhabi last year, got the nod for the second seat over former Grand Prix winner Robert Kubica, with the Pole instead signed as reserve and development driver.

In doing so, the British team has created the youngest pairing on the grid for 2018, with a combined age of just 41, but Lowe insists Sirotkin was the top driver of the plethora they considered to replace the now retired Felipe Massa.

"We chose him as the best driver available to us," he told Russia's Sportbox. "We are sure that he will be very fast, consistent and calm in his work."

With Williams needing a strong year, after falling behind Force India and others last season, many see the still immature Stroll and Sirotkin as a risk, especially against the line-ups many of their midfield rivals enjoy.

"I would not compare it to gambling," the former Mercedes boss claimed, however. "We understand that there are some disadvantages, but at the same time, we're making an investment.

"A young driver is an investment in a long-term future and a long-term success that can come to the driver and the team. We prefer to see a rising star in Sergey and hope to work with him for long-term and joint success."

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As for Stroll, he has also reiterated his sole commitment to Williams for this year, despite joining Fernando Alonso and other F1 personalities at the Daytona 24 Hours last weekend.

“My focus is F1, I do want to become a world champion one day and I want to have a good year this year,"  the Canadian told Racer.

“Last year there were a lot of things that we could have improved on and that’s what I want to do. I want to improve my weaknesses.

“This was a one and only thing at Daytona; after this, it will be F1 all the way until Abu Dhabi and then, next Daytona!”

Renault has become the sixth team to confirm the launch date for their 2018 car, with the R.S.18 to be unveiled on February 20th.

The French manufacturer made significant strides forward in their second season back as a works team last year, taking sixth in the constructors' championship at the final race in Abu Dhabi but arguably ending as the fastest midfield team.

Managing director Cyril Abiteboul has already claimed this year will be the last of the re-building phase after picking up the remains of the old Lotus team and Renault continues to set a target of challenging for the title by 2020.

They also have one of the strongest midfield driver pairings in Nico Hulkenberg, set for his second year with the team, and Carlos Sainz, who will be on loan from the Red Bull program.

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The big challenge for Renault, however, will be competing against their engine customers with Red Bull and now McLaren both eager for wins and the championship but the factory outfit remains a step behind.

"I think there are more positives than there are negatives in those relationships," Abiteboul told Motorsport.com when asked about the likelihood of being the worst team using a Renault engine.

"There is clearly pride to be supplying engines to other great teams and their fantastic drivers and it's interesting because it's challenging. But at the same time, it's providing motivation to everyone."

Formula 1 will no longer see grid girls in front of each car before every Grand Prix, following a decision to end the tradition on Wednesday.

Following in the footsteps of the WEC and other sports which have previously used models in similar roles, it was revealed last year that F1 bosses were reviewing the use of girls holding boards to signify each driver and it was later claimed the practice would be modernised.

Now, with movements such as #MeToo dominating headlines, commercial director Sean Bratches has confirmed it will be axed altogether to meet with changes in society.

“Over the last year we have looked at a number of areas which we felt needed updating so as to be more in tune with our vision for this great sport," he said in a post on the official F1 website.

"While the practice of employing grid girls has been a staple of F1 Grands Prix for decades, we feel this custom does not resonate with our brand values and clearly is at odds with modern-day societal norms.

"We don’t believe the practice is appropriate or relevant to Formula 1 and its fans, old and new, across the world.”

This move comes as Liberty Media look to overhaul the spectator experience and last year, offered a glimpse with the pre-race events at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, though it was met with a mixed reaction.  

Pirelli motorsport chief Mario Isola admits his team is facing a minor headache ahead of Formula 1 pre-season testing, due to the recent resurfacing of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

The Spanish track has undergone several renovations in recent weeks as it looks to maintain its place on the MotoGP calendar with a new tarmac and expanded run off at Turn 13 just two of the changes made.

While the latter is irrelevant, the new surface is likely to play an interesting role in testing with grip levels to be very low initially around one of the hardest circuits on tyres that F1 visits.

"They [circuit officials] told me that the target is to make a tarmac that is similar in terms of roughness to the old one," Isola told Motorsport.com. "[However], it is clear that it is not possible to have a new tarmac that is exactly the same.

"Usually we measure the tarmac roughness on Wednesday before each event. The idea now is that next week we send a couple of engineers to measure the tarmac to compare the old one with the new one."

Also Read:

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• Pirelli sure fans won't be confused by expanded 2018 tyre range

Last year's Spanish Grand Prix at the same circuit was the only race to see the hard compound used and with this year's rubber more aggressive it would be expected to be used again, but Isola admits it is too early to tell.

"The problem is that maybe we need to reconsider the allocation because we select three compounds for each event depending on the tarmac roughness, layout and the energy that's going through," he said.

"Obviously if you have a complete change of Tarmac, like Sepang [in 2016] - they resurfaced the circuit and it was completely different from the past. [Before] Sepang was one of the most aggressive circuits and we had the opportunity to go one step softer after resurfacing."

As for the potential impact on testing, which begins on February 26, he added: "It is probably true that the first day of testing, or maybe couple of days, there will be a lot of evolution but then we should have consistent conditions."