Williams have abandoned this weekend's test at Barcelona a day early after failing to completely resolve the wing problems that have marred their running.

"We had a reliability issue with the front wing at Barcelona during testing," a Williams spokesman said. "We could not implement an appropriate short term solution so we decided to return to the factory to address it in time for the Jerez test in just over a week's time."

Kazuki Nakajima plunged off the track at the first corner on the first morning of the test on Friday after suffering a front wing failure, which was the result of a cracked front wing mounting stay.

These are the changes to the Formula 1 calendar, compared to 2007 season:

Singapore will host a Grand Prix from 2008 for the next 5 years. It will be a street circuit, with the route designed by Hermann Tilke. It has been confirmed that the Grand Prix will be a night race with a start time of 20:00 local time and run in an anti-clockwise direction to enhance safety.

The European Grand Prix will take place at the Valencia Street Circuit in 2008, changing from the Nürburgring which hosted the event up until 2007. Because both German circuits share the right to host an F1 race, the German Grand Prix will take place at Hockenheim in 2008. It will continue to alternate between these two circuits yearly.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway will not hold a Grand Prix in 2008.

In damp and foggy conditions, Williams’ 2008 challenger FW30 made its track debut on Monday morning, January 21st. Test driver Nico Hulkenberg was the man behind the wheel on the car 's first laps.

Poor visibility, however, meant that the German driver could complete just one installation lap in the Toyota-powered car before the session had to be suspended. The team are hoping to be able to continue work later in the day, assuming conditions improve.

Williams will be joined at Valencia by the rest of the Formula One teams from Tuesday, with testing scheduled to continue until the end of Thursday.

Nico Hulkenberg took over testing duties from Nico Rosberg in Jerez with Kazuke Nakajima testing again in the sister FW29.

Nakajima completed 57 laps with a best lap of 1:20.758s, ninth fastest, while Hulkenberg recorded a 1:24.023s best which was 13th best on the day.

Sam Michael, Technical Director
"At Jerez we concluded a three day test with all our drivers working on the reliability of the 2008 transmission. We also continued work on electronic set-up for the standard ECU. Next week we’ll be in Valencia with our new car."

Kazuki Nakajima
"This week’s testing was quite badly affected by the weather conditions. It was wet for most of day one and then for half of the session today as well.
Apart from that, it’ s been a productive three days for us."

Formula One racing’s governing body, the FIA, has published the official entry list for the 2008 world championship.

Force India are the only team still to finalise their race line-up, with their 2nd seat, besides Adrian Sutil, still to be confirmed.

Kimi Raikkonen will take charge of the number one car after winning the title with Ferrari last season, while McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen will be numbered 22 and 23, following the teams' exclusion from the 2007 constructors’ championship.

The full entry list is as follows:

Ferrari
1 Kimi Raikkonen (FIN)
2 Felipe Massa (BR)

BMW Sauber
3 Nick Heidfeld (D)
4 Robert Kubica (PL)

Renault
5 Fernando Alonso (E)
6 Nelson Piquet (BR)

Williams Toyota
7 Nico Rosberg (D)
8 Kazuki Nakajima (J)

This is the list of rule changes for the 2008 Formula 1 season:

Bridgestone will be the official tyre supplier for the 2008-2010 seasons

A standard Electronic Control Unit (ECU) supplied by McLaren Electronic Systems (badged as Microsoft)

Gearboxes to last 4 Grands Prixes, 5 place grid penalty for a gearbox change

Restrictions on the ability of the teams to change their aerodynamics during the season

Restrictions on the ability of the teams to change their engines during and between the season(s) (engine homologation)

Rev-limited engines

Traction control banned

Tyre-warming blankets banned

Heikki Kovalainen will race for McLaren alongside Lewis Hamilton next year, the team has announced.

The 26-year-old Finn joins the Woking outfit after a strong rookie season with Renault – completing a seat swap with double world champion Fernando Alonso, who last Monday confirmed his return to the French manufacturer after a turbulent year at McLaren.

Kovalainen was widely seen as the logical choice for the McLaren drive after Renault opted to pair Alonso with its test driver Nelson Piquet Jr and Nico Rosberg committed to two more years with Williams.

McLaren confirmed that Pedro de la Rosa will remain its third driver and Gary Paffett will continue in a testing role.

This is the 2008 Formula 1 race schedule:

Round Grand Prix City / Location Date
1 Australian GP Melbourne March 16
2 Malaysian GP Kuala Lumpur March 23
3 Bahrain GP Sakhir, Manama April 6
4 Spanish GP Barcelona April 27
5 Turkish GP Istanbul May 11
6 Monaco GP Monte-Carlo May 25
7 Canadian GP Montreal June 8
8 French GP Magny Cours June 22
9 British GP Silverstone July 6
10 German GP Hockenheim July 20
11 Hungarian GP Budapest August 3
12 European GP Valencia August 24
13 Belgian GP Spa September 7
14 Italian GP Monza September 14
15 Singapore GP Singapore September 28
16 Japanese GP Oyama October 12
17 Chinese GP Shanghai October 19
18 Brazilian GP São Paulo November 2

The Singapore Grand Prix will be a night race (the first on for F1) on a street circuit.

Formula One racing’s governing body, the FIA, has published a series of measures that they intend to introduce which have been designed to reduce costs within the sport. The plans, agreed by the World Motor Sport Council in Monaco on Friday, include a variety of aerodynamic testing restrictions for next year.

One of the new measures will limit teams to using just one wind tunnel, with squads only permitted to carry out 15 runs over each eight-hour day. Weekend wind tunnel testing will also be banned and the FIA also plans to introduce limitations to prevent teams from diverting wind-tunnel resources into Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD).

Philips Shavers today signed a new multi-year sponsorship agreement with the AT&T Williams team. The agreement, which runs through to the end of the 2010 Formula One season, includes exclusive access to promotional collateral and an increased level of branding with the team.

“Over its first two years, Philips partnership with the AT&T Williams team has yielded significant returns for our shaving business and raised the global profile of the Philips Shavers brand,” said Nico Engelsman, Senior Vice President, Philips Shavers.