Weekend review and result round-up

The F1 world had been extremely busy during the summer break, with news of Michael Schumacher's abortive return and BMW's exit providing plentiful headlines.

Both stories continued to develop in Valencia, as Mario Theissen worked to rescue his team, and Luca Badoer failed to get to grips with the Ferrari F60 in Schumacher and Felipe Massa's absence.

A new team pull-out story also appeared to be developing, with growing questions over Toyota's commitment.

Away from the F1 paddock, Nico Hulkenberg recovered from a feature race defeat by GP2 title rival Vitaly Petrov to take an important victory in a chaotic sprint race.

The constantly fluctuating IndyCar championship battle also continued to ebb and flow, as a disastrous Sears Point weekend for Scott Dixon allowed Ryan Briscoe and Dario Franchitti to move ahead in the standings again - although the event is likely to be remembered mainly for the vicious practice crash that left Will Power and Nelson Philippe injured.

The F1 sessions

Barrichello fastest in first practice

Alonso tops Valencia second practice

Sutil fastest in final Valencia practice

Hamilton leads all-McLaren front row

Barrichello wins again five years later

The F1 headlines

Todt plans to improve FIA transparency

Vatanen unveils election manifesto

Theissen: Team has offers to consider

Vettel extends contract with Red Bull

McLaren awaits Alonso Ferrari move