Lucas di Grassi worked with Pirelli last year after losing his race seat at Virgin. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Di Grassi In Pirelli Test Talks: Lucas di Grassi is in talks about returning to the role of Pirelli's official test driver. The Brazilian worked with F1's official supplier last year at the wheel of its Toyota test car, after losing his race seat at Virgin. Pirelli has now acquired a 2010 Renault for its private development this year. Di Grassi is "in advanced talks with the manufacturer" for a deal that could be "announced shortly," Brazil's Globo said. The first Pirelli track test of 2012 is scheduled for May.

2013 French GP Comeback Weeks From Collapse: The race to put the French Grand Prix back on track will be over in three weeks. That is the claim of Nicolas Deschaux, the president of the country's motor sport federation who admitted concern the deal to put Paul Ricard on the 2013 calendar is not yet done. France has been missing from the calendar since Magny-Cours last held a Grand Prix in 2008, but efforts have been made to annually alternate a race between Paul Ricard — a track in Le Castellet, near Marseille — and Belgium's fabled Spa-Francorchamps. Deschaux told RMC the project needs to reach the finish-line within three weeks. "We have always been working very hard," he said. "We have arrived in the home stretch, where either we come to finalize within three weeks, or we will go on a path that forces us to postpone."

Chaleo Yoovidhya formulated the Red Bull energy drink in the 1970s. (Photo: Getty Images)

Red Bull Creator Dies At 89: The original creator of the Red Bull energy drink has died. Chaleo Yoovidhya formulated the drink — Krathing Daeng, which translates to 'Red Bull' in English — in the '70s, before co-founding a company with Austrian Dietrich Mateschitz in 1984. Thai state media MCOT on Saturday said billionaire Yoovidhya, 89, died of natural causes. Billionaire Mateschitz owns the Red Bull and Toro Rosso Formula One teams.