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The Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN may look back on the Mexico City Grand Prix as an opportunity missed, after Valtteri Bottas could only claim one point after finishing tenth, whilst Zhou Guanyu claimed thirteenth.

After an unbelievably strong qualifying for the Finn, Bottas himself was expecting a strong haul of points at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez; however, it simply wasn’t to be. Bottas quickly slipped from sixth to eighth where he remained for a number of laps, before dropping to tenth late on as a result of struggling on the Hard compound tyres, something others also suffered from.

He did, nevertheless, claim a point, ending his run of races without a points finish, which dated all the way back to the Canadian Grand Prix.

Zhou had a quiet afternoon in Mexico City and was largely alone, during a race he hailed as the “toughest” of his rookie season so far. Traffic ultimately ended the Chinese driver’s momentum, resulting in him having no say over the points places.

The team did at least extend their lead over Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team to four points, in the battle for sixth in the Constructors’ Championship.

Valtteri Bottas left the Mexico City Grand Prix with mixed emotions, after the Finn had hoped for more than tenth-place at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez following a very strong qualifying.

Having qualified sixth, splitting the Scuderia Ferrari‘s, hopes were high at the Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN that big points were on the horizon; however, that wasn’t the case. After being overtaken instantly by Charles Leclerc and Fernando Alonso, Bottas ended up dropping to the bottom of the points due to a wrong tyre strategy, with the Hard compound having been a “struggle until the end”.

Bottas was nevertheless pleased to have least ended his top ten drought, which dates all the way back to the Canadian Grand Prix.

“We got one point out of this race, and this is a positive, but we expected more today. We were doing okay until the second stint: when we switched to the hard tyre, we just couldn’t get them to work. I never got them up to temperature and it was a bit of a struggle until the end.

“We thought the hards would be a good race tyre, but it wasn’t to be. It’s a shame as in the first stint we were on the pace with the cars around us, but at least we have something to show for it today and we increased our advantage in the championship.”

Daniel Ricciardo drove like a driver possessed in Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix, after overcoming a ten-second time penalty to claim the ‘best of the rest’ spot in seventh. It proved to be a solid race for the McLaren F1 Team at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, as Lando Norris was on hand to finish ninth, securing a double-points finish for the Woking-based team.

The race itself saw little overtaking, with Ricciardo having only been capable of doing so in the final twenty laps as a result of being on the Soft compound tyres. Ricciardo went for a long opening stint on the Mediums before switching over, making him one of the only drivers to do so. Norris did excellently to play the team game, after letting the Honey Badger past to pursue the BWT Alpine F1 Team drivers.

Ricciardo stormed his way into seventh and extended his lead over eighth-placed Esteban Ocon to beyond ten-seconds, eliminating his penalty for hitting Yuki Tsunoda on Lap Fifty-One, which saw the Japanese driver retire.

McLaren Team Principal Andreas Seidl was full of praise for Ricciardo, who was also awarded ‘Driver of the Day’.

“This was an intense Sunday for our team at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. After losing positions at the start, a great job from the drivers, excellent pitstops and brave strategy calls got us back into a competitive position, eventually finishing P7 and P9. Important points in our battle with Alpine for fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship.  

It was a good weekend for McLaren F1 Team, who gained more ground on BWT Alpine F1 Team at the 2022 FIA Formula 1 Mexico City Grand Prix.

Daniel Ricciardo, who is looking likely to not be on the grid next year, put in his best performance of the season as he managed to charge through the midfield into seventh, and finish in that position despite being given a ten-second penalty for an incident with Yuki Tsunoda.

The Australian started eleventh on the grid and fell back a few places in the first half of the race into thirteenth, after a poor start. That didn’t stop Ricciardo battling away, though, as he managed to climb back and get himself into twelfth ahead of Zhou Guanyu. The McLaren driver stayed out much longer than the rest of the grid and extended his Medium tyre stint, before diving into the pit-lane, where the team put in the fastest stop of the season, that was only 1.98 seconds.

Ricciardo’s second stint on the Soft tyres gave him the opportunity to move himself up the grid, and he gave the Mexican fans his best performance of the season as he managed to overtake Tsunoda, Lando Norris, Valtteri Bottas, Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon to climb into seventh. However, the work wasn’t done there with the Australian being given a ten-second penalty after the stewards deemed that his move on Tsunoda was too late and optimistic. This didn’t stop Ricciardo; however, who had pace to burn and built a big gap on Ocon to keep seventh place.

“It was a rollercoaster of a race. Ultimately, I’m happy. I wish it was more of a smooth race in terms of you never want to have contact, and you never want to receive a penalty. So that’s a little bit of a cloud over what was otherwise a good day, but ultimately it still didn’t change the outcome for us.

The Japanese Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT outfit is expected to reveal the secret Rally2 project at the season-finale of FIA World Rally Championship in Rally Japan in about two weeks time as Toyota’s CEO Akio Toyoda has told to the Japanese automobile news publication Car Watch.

The four-time world rally champion Juha Kankkunen is reported to be the driver to show off the new Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 car at the special stage in Okazaki during the Saturday evening of the rally.

The former TGR team principal Tommi Mäkinen will also be presented there driving the hydrogen powered Toyota Yaris rally concept car which made its rally debut at Ypres Rally Belgium with Kankkunen and the CEO behind the wheel.

Some reports came in from several Finnish sources for a couple of weeks ago stating the new Rally2 machine have completed some secret tests on gravel roads in Finland far away from the public could access and the team have developed the car in silence at their Jyväskylä base.

Beside the Rally2 program, Toyota is also expected to announce their 2023 driver line-up in Japan.

Scuderia Ferrari failed to bring any fight in the FIA Formula 1 World Championships Mexico City Grand Prix, with both drivers finishing behind both the Oracle Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team drivers.

Carlos Sainz Jr. had a consistent race and managed to drive sensibly to finish fifth, but had no pace to challenge the frontrunners, so much so that George Russell managed to do an extra stop for a fastest lap attempt without having to worry about a threat from a Ferrari car.

Charles Leclerc did have some joy in the opening laps; however, as he managed to climb above Valtteri Bottas and get into sixth place after qualifying in a lowly seventh place on the grid. Despite managing to jump Bottas on the start, that was the end of the action for Leclerc who lapped around with his team-mate for the rest of the Grand Prix with no pace to challenge the front runners.

Team Principal and Managing Director Mattia Binotto labelled the race as difficult, and has demanded that the team improve heading into the final two races, with Mercedes mounting a late challenge for second in the Constructors’ Championship.

“It was a very difficult weekend for us and it was clear that we were already struggling yesterday in qualifying and that was accentuated even more in today’s race. There is a lot that needs to improve, but when faced with a difficult weekend like this, it is essential to bring the cars home and pick up as many points as possible.

It was an extremely disappointing weekend for Scuderia Ferrari, who struggled for pace throughout the weekend and finished fifth and sixth at the FIA Formula 1 World Championships Mexican Grand Prix.

Carlos Sainz Jr. started fifth after a poor qualifying session, and managed to maintain his position off the race start and defend from Valtteri Bottas and his team-mate Charles Leclerc. However, from that point onwards, Ferrari struggled for pace and fell well behind the frontrunners, so much so that George Russell was able to stop with a lap to go for a fastest lap attempt without losing a position to Sainz.

Sainz was honest after the race and admitted that he or the team had no pace compared to the front, and struggled to make an impact despite the car being in a good place throughout the weekend.

“Today we did everything we could to get the best result possible, but unfortunately the pace was not there, so P5 was the maximum we could aim for. From my side, despite the overall picture, I had a good race and the feeling inside the car was positive this weekend.

“We will try to build on that ahead of Brazil and make sure we are ready for the last two races.“

Oracle Red Bull Racing claimed yet another victory at the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championships Mexico City Grand Prix, and there seems to be no sign that they will let their foot off the gas despite already securing the Constructors’ Championship.

Max Verstappen started on pole position after an impressive qualifying performance and led the race throughout, mostly down to a crucial first stint that saw him stay ahead of both Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team cars on the run down into Turn One. A faster strategy of Soft compound tyres to the Medium compound saw Verstappen outpace Lewis Hamilton for the rest of the race, and build a healthy gap of over ten seconds by the chequered flag.

Sergio Pérez had a slightly more eventful race after a poor qualifying session, which saw him start fourth behind both Mercedes cars, meaning he needed a good start to get back into the podium positions. George Russell lost out into Turn One meaning he was easy pickings for the Mexican driver, who was able to get himself into third position. Despite looking close to catching the seven-time World Champion Hamilton, Pérez was unable to claim second place from the Brit and had to settle for third on the road.

Team Principal Christian Horner was full of praise for both of his drivers, and was pleased that the team managed to find the best strategy to win another race.

“Both drivers were impeccable today and we got our strategy absolutely right. The soft and medium tyres were definitely the quickest. After both drivers’ first pitstop, we saw that the tyres were in really good shape, so it was a no brainer to put on the mediums.

Oracle Red Bull Racing‘s Max Verstappen claimed yet another win in 2022, at the FIA Formula 1 World Championships Mexico City Grand Prix.

Verstappen has already secured his second World Championship earlier this season in Japan, but the Dutchman is keen to keep winning and end a special season for Red Bull on a high. Despite an early challenge from Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, it was a comfortable race for the Red Bull driver, who easily outpaced Hamilton on the Medium tyre.

Verstappen started on pole position after an impressive lap in qualifying and managed to get away the quickest and take advantage of the fight between both Mercedes’ cars behind him into Turn One. Hamilton managed to keep pace with the Dutchman but heavily lost out on the first and only round of pit-stops, which saw Verstappen put on faster tyres.

“The first stint of the race was critical today and we managed to stay in the lead after turn one,” Verstappen explained after the race.

“We were obviously on a different strategy to the cars around us and we had to look after our tyres a lot. We had quite good pace on the soft tyre even though it wears a bit more, we then drove the medium to the end.“

As Christopher Bell took the checkered flag to win Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Round of 8 closer at Martinsville Speedway, Denny Hamlin was cruising to a fifth-place finish that would have placed two Joe Gibbs Racing cars in the Championship Round.

That was when Ross Chastain decided to pretend he’s a superman. Instead of simply braking for the sharp final two corners and settling for tenth to miss out on the final round, Chastain continued at full speed and brushed the outside wall. Despite sacrificing his #1 car’s right side, he rode the wall and blew by five other cars before stealing fifth and the final Championship Four slot from Hamlin.

The move, which shaved off so many seconds that the lap time of 18.845 was the Martinsville track record, quickly set the racing world on fire as many compared it to a video game strategy. Indeed, Chastain recalled in his post-race press conference that his younger brother Chad won a round of NASCAR 2005: Chase for the Cup on the Nintendo GameCube with the tactic at the fictional Dodge Raceway Stadium.

“I never thought about [the move]. Our prep this week, it never crossed my mind,” said Chastain. “I’ve done a lot of sim work this week, a lot of iRacing, a lot of stuff, laps here virtually. Never once did it cross my mind or ever try it. I want to make that clear. The last time would have been a long time ago before I was even thinking about being a NASCAR driver.

“It flashed back in my head on the white flag, and I double-checked off of (turn) two. Through one and two, I thought, ‘I think we need two spots.’ They said, ‘Yes. If it wrecks, okay, we don’t make it. It might not work, but I’ll try it.’ That’s a motto that some buddies and I have back home. We live by ‘Why not?’ To apply that to the Cup Series in this scenario, there are rules. There are a lot of rules out here.

Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team Principal Toto Wolff was pleased with both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell’s performances at the Mexican Grand Prix, where they finished second and fourth respectively. The team had the potential for a double podium or even a race win, but saw this possibility slip away due to an inferior tyre strategy. 

Wolff said that Max Verstappen’s winning strategy, a one-stop starting on softs followed by mediums, was not one the team was considering at Circuit Hermanos Rodriguez. 

“Lewis and George did an amazing job today. We discussed whether the soft-hard was a viable strategy, but we didn’t really have the soft-medium strategy on our radar going into the race.” 

Wolff said that despite the strategy error, he said that the team’s pace was extremely competitive, with nearest rivals Scuderia Ferrari only a minimal threat on race day. He asserted, however, that they shouldn’t be overconfident going into the final two races, as Ferrari may still have the upper hand moving forward.

“So, we just got it wrong today in hindsight, but we still showed strong performance and secured valuable points. Our performance gap to Red Bull today was small, and we had a good margin to Ferrari – however, we need to be careful about jumping to quick conclusions about the latter and wait to see what happens in Brazil.”

Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team’s Lewis Hamilton finished in second place at the Mexican Grand Prix after a competitive weekend for the team at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. 

In contention for a possible win after a solid start, Hamilton said that his tyre strategy– which saw him start on mediums and switch to hards– was not the optimal choice and hindered his ability to battle Max Verstappen for the top spot.

“It was a good race for me today, although we didn’t choose the right tyre strategy in hindsight. Nonetheless, to be this close to Red Bull makes me very proud of my team and I’m very grateful to them for the hard work they’ve put in to keep on moving us forward.”

Red Bull Racing ended up having a pace advantage to Mercedes on race day, having implemented the better tyre strategy. Hamilton said that the soft-starters had the upper hand, ultimately able to move onto the more competitive mediums rather than the hard tyres, which proved to be a difficult race tyre.  

“The race pace generally was quite good, but we were offset on tyres for most of the race. Maybe we should have started on the soft, but obviously we went for the medium, then took the hard to make the one stop work; it looked pretty good on the first stint, but then the Red Bull was just too quick for us – and had the better tyre strategy today as well.”

Max Verstappen has won the Mexican Grand Prix after a dominant performance for Oracle Red Bull Racing on Sunday afternoon. The victory sees the Dutchman break a long-standing record of the most victories in a single season, which had been tied between Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher at thirteen. After becoming level with the record last week at Circuit of the Americas, USA, Verstappen now finds himself with fourteen victories – and potentially two more to come – as the season approaches its final two races.

After taking pole position on Saturday afternoon, a good start and a controlling pace saw the double champion comfortably lead the pack on his used Soft tyres. The number one driver pitted on lap twenty-six of the race for a set of new Medium tyres, leaving many unsure if they would make it to the end of the seventy-one lap race. Team-mate, Sergio Pérez, made the same strategy call and both were comfortably setting fastest laps and sectors in the dying stages of the race, as Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team failed to make an impression.

Verstappen cruised to victory, while Pérez was able to cross the line in third place, a great result at his home event.

A step forward for Mercedes…

The end of the 2022 Mexican Grand Prix sees the gap between Scuderia Ferrari and Mercedes close down to just forty points – meaning the fight for second place in the Constructors’ Standings will likely go down to the last race. At a track with such long straights, Mercedes surprised many when they showed up to the track with a lot of pace on Friday. After an impressive two-three finish in Qualifying and some side-by-side racing on the first lap, Lewis Hamilton took second place from his team-mate and was able to keep up with Verstappen during the first stint.

George Russell conceded a place to Pérez on lap one, and remained in fourth for the majority of the race, pitting to take the fastest lap on the final lap. Both Mercedes drivers started on new Medium tyres, and switched to the Hard tyre in their one-stop strategy. Had the strategy team decided to make a two-stop instead, there was a chance for the Silver Arrows to take their debut victory in 2022; however, the Hard tyres just couldn’t compete with Red Bull’s Medium tyres, which they didn’t expect to make the end of the race.

Johan Kristoffersson has broken his own world record by claiming his fifth world title in the FIA World Rallycross Championship. The KMS driver shook of the disappointment of round 8 and, after a performance which was dominant even by his own standards, wrapped up the title at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya with an event in hand, while his team managed to secure the constructors title too.

After finishing fifth in the final in round 8, also at Barcelona, Kristoffersson really was in a class of one. He stormed to victory in the superpole, completing his lap in 58 seconds, almost an entire second ahead of his rival and 2019 world champion Timmy Hansen. The winner of round 8, Hansen was the only one who could get close to Kristoffersson all day, posting the second fastest time in each race, but always behind Kristoffersson.

Kristoffersson is not only the most successful world rallycross driver of all time, but also the first ever champing in the new all-electric RX1e class. After his extraordinary day, Kristoffersson was naturally emotional, saying “We started out from scratch with this car. It’s our baby, and so many people have put their whole lives into the project. This is such a team effort, and it’s been a real pleasure to have been a part of that journey. Today, the Volkswagen was flying, and I really enjoyed showing off its pace and potential in the final – that was a lot of fun, pushing flat-out for five laps. I think every driver dreams of having a car like that.”

It was no exaggeration to say the Volkswagen Polo RX1e was flying; Kristoffersson finished the final a full 5 seconds ahead of Hansen, a gap of very rare size in a race not marred by major contact. Kristoffersson’s teammate, Ole Christian Veiby, managed to snap himself out of his run of bad luck, taking the final spot on the podium and with it securing the constructors championship as well. The CE Dealer Team duo of Klara Andersson and Niclas Grönholm took fourth and fifth respectively, rounding off a strong weekend for the PWR drivers. If they can carry this momentum into the next round, there is no reason why they couldn’t be fighting for consistent victories.

Elsewhere, two drivers were conspicuous by their absence in the final. The third KMS driver Gustav Bergström once again demonstrated superb pace, but unfortunately the speed of the other drivers was too much for him to contend with and he was knocked out at the semi-final stage. Hansen’s brother and Hansen World RX Team teammate Kevin Hansen also faced elimination at that point, having spun at turn 1 in his semi-final. He managed to rescue the situation, but didn’t have the pace to close down the gap to the other cars.

Fraser McConnell beat out Oliver Eriksson for the top qualifier at Glen Helen Raceway for round 4 of Nitro Rallycross. This comes as McConnell’s first overall win as the top qualifier in the Nitro Rallycross series. Fraser has finished atop the podium before but this marks a significant step in his performance as it puts him in the first heat to make the most of his advantageous position for heat racing.

His competitor, Oliver Eriksson made another great performance through the battle brackets after successfully beating Travis Pastrana who coincidentally was the fastest in free practice earlier in the day. Oliver then continued on to beat his own brother Kevin Eriksson in his second round of battles. However, his momentum was stopped when McConnell won in the final as he finished second on the day.

Dreyer & Reinbold teammates and RX Cartel heads Andreas Bakkerud and Robin Larsson raced a mixed first day. Bakkerud beat Conner Martell in his first battle bracket whereas Larsson lost against Kevin Eriksson. The Norwegian superstar would ultimately fall short in his battle with Oliver Eriksson after the second battle bracket concluded. 

The Vermont Sportscar drivers would struggle Saturday as Travis Pastrana and Connor Martell wouldn’t make it too far in the battle brackets. Martell battled fiercely with Bakkerud as they swapped places turn after turn but the ladder would come out successful. Pastrana struggled with a turn that dropped him back a bit but he could never recover to bring the fight to his competition in his first bracket.

XITE Energy Racing would have a troubling first day after it was announced that Jenson Button would not be racing this weekend due to damage to the car after his first practice and his lack of confidence with the gap jump. This would be Button’s first attempt at racing with a gap jump so the team decided to run with Oliver Bennet solely. Bennet would be beaten in his first battle bracket after having a fierce battle with Fraser McConnell.