Some news tidbits from the world of Formula 1:

Sutil Expects Usual Silverstone Cloud: A warm weekend of weather might be expected at Silverstone Circuit for the forthcoming British Grand Prix. The weather has been nice in England so far this week, with the mid-20s temperatures forecast to persist through to the Formula One event on July 9-11. But there has also been some cloud in the skies, and more possibilities of light rain are predicted for next weekend and an event that is so often blighted by bad weather. “I’m sure when we go racing the clouds will come in like every year, and it will start to rain,” said German driver Adrian Sutil, who drives for the locally-based Force India. Briton Lewis Hamilton won his home race in 2008 but last year, like the rest of the field, was annihilated by the dominant Red Bulls. And despite leading the World Championship, the 25-year-old is expecting Red Bull to again lead from the front. Hamilton, whose British countryman Jenson Button also drives for the British team McLaren, said: “It’s going to be tough. We can’t go into it thinking we’re the favorites because the Red Bull, as it stands, is definitely the fastest car.”

Sport Suing Beverage Maker For ‘F1 Racing’ Drink: Formula One has sued a Singapore drinks maker for selling a beverage called “F1 Racing Energy Drink.” In the Singapore High Court, Formula One Licensing BV is asking for damages and an order for the drinks to be destroyed against Speed Drinks Pte, according to Bloomberg and the Straits Times. A hearing was held on Wednesday. Speed Drinks, with an “F1″ logo registered in Holland and elsewhere, argued that the sport is wrongly claiming control of a generic term. Formula One argued that the drink has caused “irreparable damage” to its brand, and its future efforts to license official F1 drinks. In 2006, the sport successfully stopped Chinese fashion companies from selling clothes with “F1 Jeans” branding, but a year later failed to win exclusive rights to the “F1″ abbreviation by the UK Trademark Registry.

Total Test Ban A Mistake Says HRT’s Willis: Geoff Willis believes Formula One made a “mistake” in completely banning in-season track testing. The ban was imposed to cut costs, theoretically benefitting the smallest teams like HRT, where Briton Willis is the technical consultant. But he argues that the complete absence of testing means money is instead spent on expensive simulation technology. “The mistake, for me, is that while it was sensible to stop unrestricted testing, a better balance would have been to have certain fixed testing times common to all teams and wrap up a commercial operation around it,” he said. Willis also surprisingly backs the return next year of a 107 percent qualifying rule, even though HRT would have been excluded from some races if it had applied in 2010. “I think you have to expect the teams to operate at a certain level; that’s what we want from Formula One,” he said, advocating an even harsher 105 percent rule. “Obviously we would be a little bit uncomfortable with 105 percent in our current position but it wouldn’t surprise me in the future. It’s just the nature of Formula One.”