Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Toto Wolff says the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team are working hard to overcome the shortfalls in their W14 chassis after an underwhelming Bahrain Grand Prix earlier this month.

Lewis Hamilton ended fifth and George Russell seventh at the Bahrain International Circuit, well below their expectations, with Oracle Red Bull Racing, Scuderia Ferrari and the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team all seemingly ahead of them in performance.

Wolff, the Team Principal at Mercedes, has admitted that ‘open and honest discussions’ have taken place since the season opener about the performance of their 2023 challenger, and he insists they will be doing everything they can to improve the car and bring themselves back into contention for race victories.

“Our performance in Bahrain wasn’t where we want it to be,” said Wolff.  “But this is the position we find ourselves in and it is already full steam ahead on the car, understanding it and working to get it in a better place. That’s an exciting challenge for all of us.

“Since Bahrain, we have had open and honest discussions from which we started to plan our fight back. In the short term, leaving no stone unturned in the search for performance. In the longer term, focusing our development to determine how we get to the front.

Armindo Araújo hopes to be another driver with World Rally Championship experience to take part in the legendary Dakar Rally, having set his sights on racing the 2024 edition.

Araújo has forty-eight WRC starts to his name since 2001, seeing success at the turn of the decade when he ran much of the calendar and claimed the 2009 and 2010 Production World Rally Championships. After a five-year hiatus, he returned to the sport in 2017 in the Portugal Rally Championship while also entering the WRC’s Rally de Portugal every year since 2018.

While once again resuming his rally career, he is also keen on checking out rally raid with the possibility of committing to it full-time upon wrapping up his time in rallying. Indeed, his 2023 will be a blend of competing in the Portugal Rally Championship as well as the Portugal All-Terrain Championship (Campeonato Portugal de Todo-o-terreno, CPTT). He races a Can-Am Maverick X3 for Santag Racing in the latter with Luís Ramalho as co-driver.

His 2023 CPTT campaign began on a strong note in February when he finished third overall and won the T3 class at the season-opening Baja TT Montes Alentejanos, only placing behind a pair of top-level Toyota Hilux T1 entries.

Araújo had expressed interest in the CPTT after the 2021 PRC season, where he finished runner-up by just one point to Ricardo Teodósio.

The Polaris RZR Pro R is one of the top models for UTVs in the off-roading market, and it has unsurprisingly been a popular choice among racers in SCORE International and even the World Rally-Raid Championship. On Wednesday, Polaris Factory Racing revealed a beefed-up version that is strictly built for motorsport.

Dubbed the Polaris RZR Pro R Factory, the vehicle utilises a Polaris ProStar 2-litre, four-cylinder engine with 225 horsepower housed inside a lightweight chassis that meets both desert and FIA rally raid regulations along with rear-mounted radiators. FOX provides 3.0 Live Valve X2 internal bypass shock absorbers and a Polaris’ trademark DYNAMIX DV active suspension system to ensure stability in harsh desert conditions.

Polaris Factory Racing will field three of the Pro R Factory during the 2023 SCORE season and at Best In The Desert‘s Vegas to Reno for factory drivers Brock Heger, Cayden MacCachren, and Austin Weiland. Each of the trio’s cars have different liveries, with Heger’s #1896 being a neon yellow/green, MacCachren’s #1821 purple, and Weiland’s #1827 a bold blue. Their first race is the SCORE season-opening San Felipe 250 on 29 March to 2 April, where they will compete in the Pro UTV Open class.

Although Polaris Factory Racing is only competing in North American desert competition, it is capable of racing in the FIA’s T4 category for production side-by-side vehicles (SSVs); eight Polaris RZR Pro R entries took part at the Dakar Rally in January in T4. Although the RZR Pro R Factory is a racing-specific counterpart, it would not compete in the T3 class as those are for fully prototype models.

The Pro R was the best performing UTV at the 2022 Baja 1000 when Branden Sims finished twenty-fourth overall to also win Pro UTV Open. Sims, Andrew Carlson, Wayne and Kristen Matlock, Wes Miller, and Mitch Guthrie are Polaris RZR factory drivers though operate their own programmes and teams without full Polaris input like the flagship team.

After making his début in 2022, Layne Riggs will run his first NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race of 2023 on Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, driving the #1 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro for TRICON Garage.

The son of NASCAR veteran Scott Riggs, he is a development driver for Toyota who ran three races in a second truck for Halmar Friesen Racing at IRP, Richmond, and Phoenix in 2022. He impressed from the start by finishing seventh in his maiden race; while his two other starts saw finishes outside the top ten, he qualified fourth and second for each.

He won the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national championship in 2022 with sixteen total victories at Dominion Raceway, Hickory Motor Speedway, South Boston Speedway, and Wake County Speedway. At the age of twenty, Riggs is the youngest driver to claim the title, surpassing Peyton Sellers‘ record set in 2005 by one year; incidentally, Riggs beat Sellers, the reigning champion, by four points for the championship.

TRICON Garage, in their first year as Toyota’s flagship Truck team, fields the #1 for multiple drivers: Jason White finished fifteenth in the season opener at Daytona while Kaz Grala was seventeenth at Las Vegas, while Jesse Love and William Sawalich will get their shots later in the season.. Dean Thompson (#5), Corey Heim (#11), Tanner Gray (#15), and Taylor Gray (#17) race full-time for the team, though Sammy Smith and John Hunter Nemechek piloted the #17 in the first two as Gray is too young for larger tracks. Nemechek was originally scheduled to drive the #1 at Atlanta before Riggs’ arrival.

Hendrick Motorsports might be on a two-race win streak with William Byron, but all of his and his team-mates’ progress have been wiped. On Wednesday, NASCAR announced Byron, Alex Bowman, and Kyle Larson as well as Hendrick ally Justin Haley have all lost 100 points and ten playoff points due to unapproved modifications of their cars’ hood louvers.

The fourth Hendrick car, the #9, was also penalised with 100 owner points. Driver Chase Elliott was not impacted as he was out due to injury, while his replacement Josh Berry is racing for Xfinity Series points.

The louver is an opening in the hood which allows air to travel between it and the engine to keep it cool while the car is in motioin. Like with many parts on the Next Gen car, the louver is supplied from a single vendor and therefore may not be modified at the risk of severe penalties. Infractions fall under Section 14.1 of the rulebook concerning vehicle assembly, with radiator duct violations being under 14.5.4.A.

The Chevrolets’ parts were confiscated prior to last weekend’s race weekend at Phoenix Raceway, which Byron won. Besides losing standing points, all five are docked ten playoff points and their crew chiefs Cliff Daniels (Larson), Ryan Fugle (Byron), Alan Gustafson (Elliott/Berry), and Blake Harris (Bowman) were suspended four races and fined USD$100,000 (€94,525). The $400,000 (€378,092) is the most fined for an organisation for a single penalty in NASCAR history.

In 2022, the first year of the Next Gen car, Michael McDowell and Brad Keselowski lost 100 points for such parts modifications.

After winning the 2023 Dakar Rally in T4, Eryk Goczał is climbing up the ladder. On Wednesday, he announced he will return to the race in 2024 in the higher T3 category for Light Prototypes.

“My big dream and goal is to start in the main category: in cars, together with the best drivers in the world,” said Goczał. “Moving to the T3 class is a step towards fulfilling this dream and a chance for new experiences and development. Before Dakar 2024, we will definitely start in several training events.”

Goczał became the youngest winner in Dakar history when he won four stages and the T4 overall in January at the age of eighteen. Although the victory made him the category’s World Rally-Raid Championship points leader, he elected to skip the season to focus on completing secondary school before heading to university at the EHL Hospitality Business School.

While academics take priority, he plans to continue racing in 2023 by competing in the Drift Masters European Championship, whose six-round season begins in Ireland on 6/7 May and ends in his native Poland on 15/16 September. Goczał won the 2022 Polish Drift Championship in the BMP class.

He also intends to take part in domestic rallies to prepare for Dakar, such as when he ran the Baja Poland ahead of the 2023 Rally.

Yuki Tsunoda is feeling somewhat optimistic ahead of this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, with the Japanese driver expecting the Jeddah Corniche Circuit to suit Scuderia AlphaTauri‘s AT04 better than the Bahrain International Circuit.

Tsunoda enjoyed a solid start to the season in Bahrain, with the AlphaTauri driver having successfully navigated his way into Qualifying Two, before narrowly missing out on a point in eleventh. Whilst he just missed out on the points, Tsunoda believes the Faenza-based team took “a step forward”, but that they’re still lacking performance in the car.

“From the weekend in Bahrain, it’s clear that our performance is quite far away from where we wanted to be in the first race, especially as we are aiming to be at the front of the midfield. We still need to find a lot more performance from our car. We did make a step forward from Friday to Saturday, which meant I was able to get into Q2 which was good. In the end, we were not consistent enough with our pace to make it to Q3.

“Last year, we were fighting Williams for P9, P10 in the Constructors’. It means we have to focus on developing our car and for myself, I have to try and extract as much performance from the car as possible and I’d say I managed to do that in Bahrain on Sunday.

This weekend is expected to be much better for the Italians, with Tsunoda being “hopeful” that the result will be better than it was in Bahrain. Should that be the case come Sunday, then Tsunoda will likely score AlphaTauri’s first points of the season, something he’ll be targeting.

Having achieved a points finish at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake Representative Alessandro Alunni Bravi said that the result validates the team’s winter-long effort to improve their standing in the field.

“Scoring points on debut was a great way to kick-off our season, a reward for the hard work done by everyone in the team over the winter and a confirmation of the progress we have made.” 

The competitive atmosphere at Bahrain International Circuit saw Valtteri Bottas secure four points for the team with an eighth place finish, and Zhou Guanyu ended in sixteenth place with the fastest lap to his name. 

Even with such an encouraging result under their belt, Bravi points out that the tight margins between teams may indicate high variability in performance as the season progresses. 

“We must not rest on our laurels though, as we had proof in Bahrain of how tight the field around us is this year, and how just a few tenths can make a huge difference in terms of results.”

Reigning World Champion Max Verstappen enters this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in the hope that he can maintain his perfect start to 2023, after winning the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.

Verstappen was imperious in Bahrain, with many already suggesting that the crown is going to be his for a third consecutive season. The Jeddah Corniche Circuit, though, is a very different track to the Bahrain International Circuit, meaning that victory might not come quite as easily to Verstappen. He does enter this weekend with a brilliant record in Saudi Arabia, with the Dutchman having won last year’s race, whilst he came second at the first event in 2021.

The double World Champion certainly isn’t expecting “an easy task” this weekend and recognises the importance of his RB19 being quick, especially with the likes of the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula 1 Team looming large in his mirrors. Verstappen is pleased to have seen modifications made to the circuit following some previous visibility issues for the drivers, with the twenty-five year-old admitting that the track has previously been “definitely dangerous”.

“After a great start in Bahrain I don’t expect it to be an easy task in Jeddah, it is a completely different circuit and needs the car to be quick. Nevertheless, with the high-speed corners, I do believe we can have a strong car around this track. The track changes that have been made are mainly for visibility, so hopefully it has improved things a bit for us drivers, as it was definitely dangerous in some areas.

“It’s a really cool street circuit, with quite a lot of grip, so I always enjoy going back there to race.”

Saudi Arabian Airlines (SAUDI) has been named as the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team‘s new official global airline partner from the 2023 season.

Established in 1945, SAUDI is the national flag carrier of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The airline has grown to be one of the Middle East’s biggest air networks and currently connects guests from more than one-hundred destinations worldwide to the Kingdom, via its state-of-the-art hub at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah and other key airports around the Kingdom.

Since its inception over seventy years ago, SAUDIA has become one of the biggest airlines in the world and currently has over one-hundred forty aircraft, including, the most updated and modern wide-bodied jets presently available. The airline has invested significantly in upgrading its aircraft, and as a result, currently operates not just the most updated but the youngest fleet.

The airline covers an extensive global route network, covering around hundred destinations across four continents, including popular destinations featured on the 2023 Formula 1 calendar. Fans will be able to follow the 2023 Formula 1 season with SAUDIA flying to races in Bahrain, Italy, Spain, Monaco, Canada, Great Britain, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Singapore, Japan, the United States, Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

SAUDIA Group Chief Marketing Officer, Khaled Tash spoke about the recent partnership with the F1 team: “We are very excited to expand SAUDIA’s strategic sports partnership portfolio and announce our most recent collaboration with such a renowned name in the automotive and motorsport industry. At SAUDIA, we believe in the power of sports to unite people and create a borderless world. Therefore, we have been highly selective in choosing top global sporting teams that share our vision.”

It’s truly mind-boggling to believe that it’s almost three years’ since Pierre Gasly‘s famous maiden win at the 2020 Italian Grand Prix, with the Frenchman having claimed his first win at the same venue as Sebastian Vettel did in 2008.

Gasly’s win at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza remains as one of the greatest and most unexpected in the history of Formula 1, with Carlos Sainz having claimed second for the McLaren F1 Team, with Lance Stroll in third for Racing Point. It was truly an unpredictable podium, with Gasly’s maiden win having been Scuderia AlphaTauri‘s first since Vettel’s maiden win in 2008.

It was well and truly Gasly’s “time to shine”, with his AT01 now set to be displayed in Madrid at the world’s first official Formula 1 Exhibit, which opens in Madrid on March 24. His car will be placed in the Exhibition’s Design Lab room, where fans will be able to see the AT01 in all its glory.

To this day, Gasly still believes that being known as a “Formula 1 race winner” is one of the greatest things in his life, with the race being one that he’ll never forget.

“There is nothing better than being called a Formula 1 race winner. I would say in my life, this is probably what has sounded the best out of everything. It was an incredible moment,” Gasly told the Formula 1 Exhibition team.  

Here are some famous dirt race tracks around the world:

1. Eldora Speedway - Rossburg, Ohio, USA
2. Knoxville Raceway - Knoxville, Iowa, USA
3. Williams Grove Speedway - Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, USA
4. The Dirt Track at Charlotte - Concord, North Carolina, USA
5. Calistoga Speedway - Calistoga, California, USA
6. Perris Auto Speedway - Perris, California, USA
7. Kokomo Speedway - Kokomo, Indiana, USA
8. Volusia Speedway Park - Barberville, Florida, USA
9. Ohsweken Speedway - Ohsweken, Ontario, Canada
10. Western Springs Speedway - Auckland, New Zealand

These are just a few examples, but there are many other famous dirt race tracks in different parts of the world.

Ten years’ on since it returned to the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, Formula 1 have today announced that the Austrian Grand Prix has been granted a four-year contract extension, meaning the Red Bull Ring will remain on the calendar until at least 2027.

The Austrian GP returned to the calendar in 2014 after being removed from the calendar in 2004, with the event having been dominated by Max Verstappen in recent years. Verstappen has claimed three victories at Oracle Red Bull Racing‘s home race in the last five seasons, whilst it was Charles Leclerc who claimed the honours in 2022.

303,000 people were in attendance at last year’s sold-out Grand Prix, with the exact same expected later in the year when Formula 1 goes to Spielberg. This weekend’s Austrian GP will also host a Sprint Race for the second consecutive season, with it adding an extra exciting element to the weekend at the historic venue.

Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali explained why the Austrian GP as awarded a new deal, whilst the Italian also paid tribute to Red Bull co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz, who sadly died last year.

“The Austrian Grand Prix brings together the perfect mix of a challenging track, high-speed racing, and a beautiful venue for our fans, so I am delighted that we will be coming back to the Red Bull Ring until at least 2027 under this new agreement.

Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake’s Valtteri Bottas is looking to ride the momentum of his solid result at the Bahrain Grand Prix to aim for even stronger results at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and beyond. 

Bottas’ qualifying at Bahrain International Circuit resulted in his starting twelfth place, a position from which he was able to move up into the points, with several drivers ahead facing issues that were detrimental or ended their race altogether. 

The Finnish driver was pleased with the teamwork Alfa Romeo displayed this weekend, which resulted in his securing eighth place at the season opener and four points on the board. 

“We have been off to a great start in Bahrain, scoring a top-ten finish at the first race of the season. We were among the top five teams for the entirety of the race, and also gave proof of excellent teamwork throughout the weekend.”

Bottas said that upgrades are being prepared back at the factory currently, which he hopes will bring the team greater performance and the opportunity to earn more points in coming rounds.

Andrea Stella, Team Principal of the McLaren F1 Team has admitted that there is work to do, as the team prepares for this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

The Bahrain Grand Prix saw a number of issues for McLaren, with Oscar Piastri‘s Formula 1 debut being cut short after he had to retire with a mechanical issue and Lando Norris having to pit a staggering six times throughout the race after having a pneumatic problem.

Stella says he is pleased to see the adaptations to the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, after some safety concerns were expressed due to a lack of visibility for the drivers in certain parts of the track and dangerous kerbs.

“The Jeddah Corniche Circuit is a fast and sweeping circuit with some interesting features that provide a good challenge for the drivers. There have been a few tweaks to the circuit since we raced here last year.

“We are pleased to see adaptations have been made to address some of the safety concerns expressed, with better visibility for the drivers and smoother kerbs.”