In brief, May 2010

* Bernie Ecclestone confirmed to the World Motor Sport Council in Bahrain that plans for an Indian Grand Prix in Delhi are on schedule, with a first race likely in 2011. Ecclestone intends to have a 20-race calendar.

* The FIA has decided to take its December World Motor Sport Council meeting and annual prize-giving ceremony ‘on the road’ after this year’s event, which will be held as usual in Monaco. Dr Vijay Mallya has already volunteered India as a possible host for 2011.

* Renault is carrying Lada branding this season (left), reflecting the commercial links between the French and Russian manufacturers as well as the presence of driver Vitaly Petrov. The deal was first revealed to the world by none other than Russian President Vladimir Putin following a meeting with Renault head Carlos Ghosn.

* Force India’s veteran commercial boss Ian Phillips left the team in March nearly two decades after joining the fledgling Jordan GP outfit. The former journalist and Leyton House man has overseen dozens of sponsorship deals and driver contracts in that time.

* Ecclestone has given the go-ahead for an F1 documentary planned by Hollywood producer Michael Shevloff, which will focus on the period bookended by the deaths of Jim Clark and Gilles Villeneuve. British director Paul Crowder and writer Mark Monroe have previously made films about the New York Cosmos soccer team of the 1970s and The Who. Monroe also wrote anti-dolphin hunting film The Cove, which recently won an Oscar for Best Documentary.

* McLaren has signed Kevin Magnussen to its young driver scheme. Kevin is the son of former GP driver Jan Magnussen, who was also in the programme as a young driver. Magnussen Sr only scored one point in his 18-month F1 career, but McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh is expecting great things from his son.