Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Mick Schumacher is raring to go with the second half of the Formula 1 season, as the Belgian Grand Prix kickstarts a triple-header. It’s a challenging period for Schumacher, as the young German remains without a contract for 2023.

The Haas F1 Team are undecided on whether to retain the German, with other options, including, Antonio Giovinazzi entering the picture. It appears that Schumacher hasn’t thought to much about his contract situation over the summer break, as the German revealed all that he got up to during the much-needed summer break.

“I’m happy to be back. It’s been a good three weeks now out of the car and it felt weird at first and obviously pretty soon into the holidays I was itching to get back, so happy it’s finally here and we’re driving soon. I stayed on an island for the most part with friends and family and got to enjoy some time on a boat, enjoyed some time in the water and had some great dinners combined with some work – I’d say I haven’t gained too much weight which I’m happy about.

“What can we expect for the second part of the season, hopefully more points. We have some tracks ahead which should be good for us, and we have some tracks that will probably be difficult. Nevertheless, it’s Formula 1 and there’s a high chance of a crazy event where hopefully we’re not in the crazy part of it and we have the chance to score some big points, so I’m really looking forward to it. It’s a full grind back into it and we’ll give it our best at every event and hopefully reap the rewards. I’m fully recharged and ready to rumble!”

This weekend might possibly be the last Belgian Grand Prix for the foreseeable future, with a deal yet to be agreed between Formula 1 and the Spa-Francorchamps bosses. This would be heartbreaking for Schumacher, with the venue being “so historical”. The venue has been a “very special place” for him and his family, but it’s not been without its “ups and downs”.

On 14 August, The Checkered Flag had the opportunity to chat with off-road bike racer Ace Nilson, who was recently accepted to compete in the 2023 Dakar Rally.

Provided below is the full transcript of the interview. Some text has been altered from the actual dialogue to improve readability and remove verbal pauses. A subtitled version of the audio will be released soon.

An article summarising the interview can be read here.

Transcript

TCF: To start things off, can you recall what the feeling was when you found out you were accepted to race at Dakar? How long did it take to sink in that you had been accepted?

AN: Man, Justin, I got to tell you, I really didn’t believe it at first. It’s pretty unusual to get accepted on your first application. I thought I might be put into like a provisional status and need another result, but… Just super pumped when it finally sank in that all the work that I’ve been putting in had paid off and all the people behind me and just, you know, it was a little bit emotional. Super pumped.

Nissan E.DAMS have announced a completely new line-up for Season Nine of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, in the form of both Jaguar TCS Racing reserve drivers Norman Nato and Sacha Fenestraz.

Nato sat out Season Eight of the championship to compete in the FIA World Endurance Championship; however, he filled in for Sam Bird at the Seoul E-Prix double-header, due to Bird being forced to miss the season finale due to a hand injury from the London E-Prix.

The Frenchman has won in the championship before, after claiming victory at the Berlin E-Prix in Season Six. Nato is a great addition back to the championship, with Season Nine already looking set to be a thriller.

Nato is “very happy” to be returning to the series as a permanent driver, with the Frenchman ready for the “new chapter” of the all-electric series.

“I’m very happy to be making my comeback as a full-time driver in Formula E with Nissan. The Gen3 era will be a new chapter for the championship, and I’m excited to prepare for testing and drive the car. The hard work starts now – I have a lot to learn and areas to develop in with the team to be at my best for the first round of Season 9 in Mexico City.”

Audi legend René Rast has been announced as the new NEOM McLaren Formula E Team‘s first driver, as the German prepares for life back in Formula E.

The sports car icon has parted ways with Audi, in order to take up racing with BMW Motorsport; however, he will also be competing in Season Nine of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship with McLaren, who are joining the championship in 2023.

Rast is no stranger to the series, after racing for half of the 2019/20 season and competing the entirety of the 2020/21 campaign for Audi. He made a one-off appearance in 2015/16 for Team Aguri, at the Berlin E-Prix.

The three-time DTM champion has claimed two podiums previously in the series, with the German highly likely to build on that number in the first season of Gen3.

Rast is “delighted” to join the team, and is “extremely motivated” to get going in Season Nine.

Kimi Räikkönen might have been the high-profile NASCAR Cup Series newcomer in Sunday’s race at Watkins Glen International, but Mike Rockenfeller held his own as well. The endurance racing star and 2013 DTM champion finished thirtieth in the #77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Spire Motorsports, running as high as third in a tumultuous maiden NASCAR race.

After qualifying thirty-third, problems arrived almost immediately when his windshield wiper to combat the rain needed to be switched, though the severe weather led to a delay that gave his team time to address the matter. It only took ten laps for Rockenfeller to enter the top twenty, even passing Räikkönen at one point, and he finished Stage #1 in twenty-fifth.

Rockenfeller spent much of the second stage in the top twenty before spinning on lap 33 while racing Tyler Reddick. Forced to recover after ending the segment in thirty-fourth, he eventually climbed as high as third as teams experimented with different pit strategies. A pit stop on lap 68 would drop him back down the order and place him thirtieth but he was able to finish on the lead lap.

“In all my years of racing, my NASCAR Cup Series début was up there when it comes to being a wild experience,” said Rockenfeller. “However, all of the challenges we faced really helped me get up to speed much quicker than expected with the car and the team. When the race started after the delayed start, the track was incredibly slippery, and the racing in NASCAR is so intense and close. I also had a collision with Tyler and was running with the leaders at one stage; it was a race of pretty much everything.”

Rockenfeller was the first German to compete in the Cup Series since fellow sports car veteran Klaus Graf was a road course ringer in 2004. Three other Germans raced in NASCAR’s highest level in the 1970s with Lothar Motschenbacher, Rolf Stommelen, and Fritz Schultz. Of the five foreign-born road course ringers in the race, Rockenfeller was the highest finisher; the Finnish Räikkönen crashed out and finished thirty-seventh, one spot behind Russia’s Daniil Kvyat but ahead of Britain’s Kyle Tilley‘s thirty-ninth, while the Dutchman Loris Hezemans was thirty-third.

After the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series season, Josh Williams ended his six-year tenure at DGM Racing by joining B.J. McLeod Motorsports. When that stint did not work out, Williams found himself back at DGM for the rest of 2022. He will drive the #92 in his first race back at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday.

Williams drove for DGM from 2017 to 2021, and on a full-time for the final three years with top-twenty points finishes in each and eight top tens. In 2021, he notched a top ten at Mid-Ohio and placed eighteenth in points.

For 2022, he moved to BJMM with the intention of getting Cup Series experience, which was fulfilled as he ran the Bristol Dirt Race and Indianapolis for Cup sister team Live Fast Motorsports. However, he struggled with BJMM with more races in which he failed to qualify than top-twenty finishes. Sitting twenty-eighth in points, he left the team after the Michigan race.

“I am extremely thankful for the opportunity to work with everyone at DGM and pick up where we left off last fall,” Williams stated. “I want to extend a huge thank you to all my partners for trusting and believing in me every step of the way. Without the support of these great organisations, that have become like family, I wouldn’t be where I am today. Thank you.

“Over the years we have accomplished so much together, and I can’t wait to get back to the same great finishes we’re known for. “I know this is the right call for myself and my partners. This year has been the most competitive field in my Xfinity career. We’ve had our ups and downs so far, but I’m ready to turn a new leaf and get this season back on track. I can’t thank the Gosselin family enough for the opportunity to come home to DGM Racing.”

When the 2023 Dakar Rally begins on 31 December 2022, Ace Nilson will hope to fulfill a longtime dream. The Bike rider received his acceptance message from race organisers in late July, bringing him one step closer to competing at the legendary event for the first time. Of course, in order to take part in the race, one would actually need to be there, and that has its own challenges.

Last Sunday, approximately two weeks after getting the fateful letter, The Checkered Flag spoke with Nilson about his career prior to Dakar, his fundraising efforts to afford the trip, and parallels between rallying and his primary occupation of working in the medical field during COVID-19.

A transcript and subtitled audio will be released soon.

Dreaming of Dakar

A California native-turned-Oregon resident, Nilson submitted his application for Dakar to potential teams followed by conducting interviews to “see if there’s a good fit. I interviewed with, had discussions with BAS Dakar and then talked with Filip (Dabrowski) at DUUST.CO, and just felt a good vibe there and good fit. Invited me to send additional information and results and things of that nature, received an offer from him to me on the team.“

Headquartered in Poland, DUUST is a satellite of Red Bull KTM Factory Team that previously fielded Dakar bikes for the likes of 2016 winner Toby Price and two-time FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Champion Pablo Quintanilla. DUUST supported five applicants, with Nilson, fellow American Jacob Argubright, and twice-Dakar starter Konrad Dąbrowski ultimately being granted entry: “They send in all of the information together as a team. [Dabrowski] compiled all our résumés, filled out the applications, and really made it easy on the riders.”

The FIA Formula 1 World Championship makes its return from its summer break this weekend at the legendary Spa-Francorchamps, and despite some big changes to certain corner profiles, Pirelli’s Mario Isola says it will still be a big challenge.

Following a number of high-profile big crashes at the Eau Rouge/Raidillon section in recent years, the corner has seen major changes to its run-off zones, while other parts of the track have also seen some changes.

Isola, the Motorsport Director at Pirelli, says the challenge of racing at Spa-Francorchamps is still going to be extreme, and with several additional gravel traps beside the track, it give drivers an even bigger challenge to stay within track limits.

“New changes bring new challenges, but the epic nature of Spa is still the same,” said Isola.  “This year, Spa has undergone some of the biggest changes we have seen since we started going there in the modern era of Formula 1.

“But we know something of what to expect thanks to the 24-hour race last month – our biggest event of the year in terms of people and tyres – as well as some asphalt samples that we have taken.

Antonio Giovinazzi will take part in two free practice sessions later this year with the Haas F1 Team, with the Italian being linked with a full-time return to the FIA Formula 1 World Championship with the team next season.

Giovinazzi lost his seat with Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN at the end of the 2021 season after three seasons, and he has been racing this year in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship with Dragon/Penske Autosport, albeit with very limited success.

However, he has previously hoped that his time in Formula 1 was not over, and he will get the chance to jump in the VF-22 for Haas in both the Italian and United States Grand Prix.

It is a return to Haas for Giovinazzi, who spent the 2017 season acting as their reserve driver and participating in seven free practice sessions across the year.  And the return to the team this year could potentially see him replace Mick Schumacher within Haas in 2023.

“I’m so glad to have the chance to drive again in official F1 sessions,” said Giovinazzi, who will replace Schumacher in one of the free practice session and Kevin Magnussen the other. “Besides simulator driving it is important to test a true car and I can’t wait to put my suit and helmet back on.

Chase Elliott might have secured the NASCAR Cup Series regular season championship during Sunday’s Watkins Glen International event, but he was not in a celebratory mood by the end when Hendrick Motorsports team-mate Kyle Larson moved him aside on the final restart with five laps remaining for the win.

A caution for Loris Hezemans‘ beached car on lap 84 set up a late restart with Elliott in front of Larson. However, Larson made an aggressive move on the inside as they approached the first corner that resulted in contact. Elliott was shuffled behind Larson and A.J. Allmendinger and ultimately had to settle for fourth.

Larson also won Saturday’s Xfinity Series race to mark his first career weekend sweep. Allmendinger finished second in both events, making the pair the first 1–2 finishers in a given weekend’s Cup and Xfinity races in those exact positions since Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch at New Hampshire in 2014.

“I had the restart before, I kind of got put in a bad spot because he had the dominant position on me with the nose ahead,” Larson explained in his post-race press conference. “Every time I was in the right lane yesterday in Xfinity, I was in the same spot, I would always get pinched into the kerb. A lot of times I got passed by the time we got to turn two.

“I figured it was probably going to be the last restart of the weekend. I told myself if I had a nose ahead of him before we got to the braking zone, I was going to have to try my best to maintain that, not let him get a nose ahead of me, pinch my corner off, end my chance of winning. I had a good restart. I got in there hot. Did what I had to do to win. Again, I’m not necessarily proud of it, especially with a teammate, but I feel like I had to execute that way to get the win.”

Kimi Räikkönen‘s first NASCAR Cup Series race began with plenty of fanfare, but ended in disappointment when he was involved in a crash that ended his day after forty-four laps. Despite the retirement, he remained upbeat about the experience and what is currently a one-off could become more starts in the future.

The 2007 Formula One World Champion qualified twenty-seventh for Sunday’s race at Watkins Glen International, and was able to gain eleven spots by the end of the first stage. Pit strategy and an overall strong performance enabled him to enter the top ten, where he battled with the likes of pole winner and Cup regular season champion Chase Elliott before pitting prior to Stage #2’s conclusion to finish it twenty-fifth.

On lap 44, Trackhouse Racing team-mate Ross Chastain collided with Austin Dillon as they exited the Bus Stop chicane, sending Dillon into a spin. Räikkönen was running on Chastain’s left when he and Loris Hezemans were sent off course, with Räikkönen hitting the wall. With front damage terminal, he retired and was classified thirty-seventh.

“I had a good line there but everybody came from the left and unfortunately, I had no time to react,” Räikkönen told NBC Sports’ Parker Kligerman. “The impact was small, but the first thing was somebody hit the tyre or the wheel directly and the wheel spun and something went wrong with the race, but that’s how it goes.”

Despite the disappointing finish, he described the race as “good fun. I felt more confidence all the time and had some good battles and it’s a shame. I think the car felt like it had a lot of speed in there, but that’s how it goes some day.”

Kyle Larson is one of the NASCAR Cup Series‘ top road course racers today with three wins on such tracks. He finally added an Xfinity Series version on Saturday at Watkins Glen International, even if he had basically been gifted the victory after Cup team-mate William Byron spun while battling Ty Gibbs for the lead with five laps remaining.

Larson was doing a one-off with JR Motorsports as part of a road course-only slate in the Xfinity Series, his first starts in NASCAR’s second tier since 2018; he won the pole and finished runner-up to Gibbs with his Cup employer Hendrick Motorsports at Road America in July. He started third behind Byron and Gibbs, and those two were the class of the field as they combined to lead sixty of eighty-two laps with Byron also winning Stage #2.

However, the Byron/Gibbs Show got physical on lap 75 as they ran next to each other through the Bus Stop chicane. Gibbs, who was on Byron’s left, collided with him and sent the two into a spin across the racing surface. Larson and A.J. Allmendinger slipped across as the caution came out.

“We had a good start and [Byron] kind of washed up a little bit, but we had a good start,” explained Gibbs. “I stayed side-by-side with him and I felt like I had a good side draft going with him heading into the Bus Stop to where it helped me get position, and I remember coming to however many laps to go, so I felt like if I just let him by, it was game over. I had good position, I just didn’t put myself in a good spot on the kerbs and and it just got me loose, I washed up into him and wrecked us both.

“It was my fault, but I was going for the win. I didn’t just want to pull over and let him go. Sorry to the #17 guys and to William. We put on a great show and I feel like he raced me well and I raced him well until I wrecked him. It was a good battle.”

The 2022 FIA Formula 2 campaign has been a rollercoaster and a half for the rookie ART Grand Prix driver Frederik Vesti.

A proven race winner from his time in FIA Formula 3 where he appeared on the podium nine times including four trips to the top step over the course of two seasons more than earned himself a promotion to the second tier of single-seater racing for 2022.

The Checkered Flag sat down with Vesti on the evening before he headed to Belgium for round eleven of the F2 championship to talk through his thoughts about his rookie campaign in Formula 2 and his hopes for the future of his racing career.

The Mercedes junior spoke of “one of the biggest moments of my career” as well as a period of the season where he feels like “struggled so much”.

Vesti looks relaxed and composed as we speak, coming off the back of a weeks holiday in Italy with family and friends and straight back into hard physical training in preparation for the upcoming triple header.

After a two hour and ten minute rain delay, Josef Newgarden took home his fifth win of the season in the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 and third straight win at World Wide Technology Raceway, closing Will Power‘s championship lead down to only three points.

After losing the lead in pit lane before the weather delay, Newgarden took the lead back from teammate Scott McLaughlin as the race restarted with 37 laps to go. He held the lead from there, even through lap traffic, to take his fourth career win at Gateway. Rookie David Malukas stunned the IndyCar world with his first career podium finish in second, with McLaughlin finishing third.

“We just had to have a good start,” Newgarden said post-race of the final restart. “I knew Scott was going to be good at the end there and he had a great restart, I just tried to work the high lane. The high lane worked earlier for me and I tried to do it again at the finish there and we just had enough to get by him.”

“[McLaughlin] was no slouch this weekend, he was very very good. Scott’s done an amazing job, he could have easily won this race himself so you’ve got to give him credit, but I’m glad we were able to come back out on top. We’re gonna have a lot more races together, that guy and I.”

Understanding that rain was in the area, IndyCar moved the race start up to try and get to at least halfway for an official race. Power led the field to green after tying Mario Andretti for the all time IndyCar pole record Friday at 67, with the top seven drivers in the points occupying the top seven spots on the grid.

Sebastian Vettel says the FIA Formula 1 World Championship should do more to help promoters reduce their carbon footprint if they are to fulfil their ambitions of being a carbon-neutral sport by the end of the decade.

Back in 2019, Formula 1 announced ambitious plans to run to a net-zero carbon footprint by 2030, and they are looking into what they can do to reduce their carbon usage when it comes to logistics, renewable fuels and the reduction of waste.

The current hybrid power units are amongst the most efficient engines in the world, and the sport are turning to renewable fuels from 2026, which will help the reduction of their carbon usage.

However, Vettel says the sport needs to go even further, perhaps giving some of their profits to promoters to help reduce their carbon footprints, particularly when it comes to getting to and from the event and reducing wastage whilst there.

“Any type of event that attracts a big crowd has to live up to the responsibilities that come with our times,” Vettel is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com at a summit hosted by World eX.