Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

The Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team are on the brink of claiming the Constructors’ Championship, after a strong weekend at the London E-Prix sees them take a thirty-five point margin in the season finale in South Korea.

It’s not just joy for the team in the Constructors’, there is also reason for the team to celebrate the current Drivers’ standings, as Stoffel Vandoorne extended his lead to thirty-six points from Mitch Evans.

Vandoorne had a strong weekend, after finishing second in Race One, and then recovering to fourth-place in Race Two. Sunday’s race especially was a champion’s drive by the Belgian driver, who finished fourth despite having started thirteenth. None of his title rivals could capitalise on his poor Qualifying on Sunday, as they all failed to finish in the points.

Nyck de Vries‘ weekend ended better than it started, after being awarded a five-second penalty late on in Race One for moving under braking whilst defending third-place from Nick Cassidy. The penalty saw De Vries drop off the podium, much to his disappointment. He made up for it in Race Two, where this time he finished third but wasn’t awarded with a late penalty.

Mercedes-EQ Team Principal Ian James was very pleased with the team’s “healthy haul of points” across the weekend, but is aware that anything can still happen.

Mere hours after being announced as the new BWT Alpine F1 Team driver for the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season, Oscar Piastri has disputed the news and insists he will not be racing their next year.

The silly season moves started earlier this week when Fernando Alonso announced he would be leaving Alpine to move to the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team in place of the retiring Sebastian Vettel, and it was expected that Alpine’s current reserve driver Piastri would take his place.

The team announced Piastri earlier on Tuesday afternoon, but the press release lacked any comments from the driver, and the Australian has now released a statement on his social media accounts saying he will not be an Alpine driver next season.

“I understand that, without my agreement, Alpine F1 have put out a press release late this afternoon that I am driving for them next year,” said Piastri on Twitter.

“This is wrong and I have not signed a contract with Alpine for 2023. I will not be driving for Alpine next year.”

Austin Hill‘s NASCAR Xfinity Series rookie season has been blazing through with two wins and a sixth-place points position after twenty races. To reward him for his successes, Richard Childress Racing has given him a chance at a Cup Series start for the first time as he enters Sunday’s race at Michigan International Speedway in a newly opened #33 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.

“As a kid growing up in this sport, getting the chance to run a NASCAR Cup Series car is the ultimate dream, especially with a team like Richard Childress Racing that has so much history and success,” Hill stated. “I’m so thankful that Richard Childress and everyone at RCR have so much faith in me. It will be a learning weekend for sure, but I’ve had success at Michigan International Speedway in the past and can’t wait to take on the track’s wide, sweeping corners in a NASCAR Cup Series Chevrolet.”

Hill joined RCR for the 2022 season after an eight-win career in the Camping World Truck Series, and immediately made an impact by winning the season opener at Daytona. Another victory came in June at his home track of Atlanta. He has netted thirteen top tens in total and is the only rookie locked into the playoffs, which would guarantee him Rookie of the Year honours (which is set based on final points standing) if it remains that way.

The #33 was last used by Austin Cindric for his part-time Cup campaign with Team Penske in 2021. RCR fielded the number part-time from 2003 to 2008 before Clint Bowyer became its full-timer in 2009. In three seasons driving RCR’s #33, he scored three wins and a best points finish of tenth in Year #2. After Bowyer left for Michael Waltrip Racing in 2012, the #33 retracted to a limited slate for multiple drivers including current RCR Cup driver Austin Dillon.

“Austin Hill has shown talent in every series he’s raced in during his career, so I couldn’t be more excited to have him behind the wheel of a Cup Series car,” commented Childress. “He’s having a strong season in the Xfinity Series, and I know he will be just as competitive and eager to learn behind the wheel of a Cup Series car.”

Logan Sargeant will get his first run in an official FIA Formula 1 World Championship session later this year, and it will be in front of his home fans at the Circuit of the Americas.

The American racer, currently competing in the FIA Formula 2 championship, will take over the Williams Racing seat of Nicholas Latifi in the opening practice session for the United States Grand Prix.

Sargeant competing in the session will fulfil Williams’ requirement to run young drivers in two free practice sessions as part of the 2022 regulations after Nyck de Vries ran for them ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix.

And the twenty-one-year-old is delighted to be given a chance to show what he can do behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car during an official session for the first time having run in the Young Driver Test in Abu Dhabi with Williams at the end of 2021.

“I’m super excited to be given this opportunity to drive my first Free Practice in Austin,” said Sargeant.  “To be given the chance at the US Grand Prix is something extremely special to me.

Honda and Oracle Red Bull Racing have announced their technical partnership will continue until the end of the 2025 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season.

Initially the deal was to run until the end of 2023 but has been extended by two more years until the end of the current engine cycle, with Honda giving technical assistance to Red Bull Powertrains, which was born following the decision by Honda to leave Formula 1 as an official engine manufacturer at the end of 2021.

The Red Bull/Honda relationship worked well together last year to take Max Verstappen to his maiden World Drivers’ Championship, while the first year of the technical alliance between them sees the Dutchman on top of the standings again heading into the summer break whilst the team is also leading the Constructors’ battle.

Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner has welcomed the announcement, and he hopes the success the two parties have enjoyed in recent years can continue through the next three years.

“Red Bull’s partnership with Honda has been an incredibly successful one and we are pleased that this will continue until the end of the current era of the FIA’s power unit regulations in 2025,” said Horner.

Oscar Piastri has been confirmed as Fernando Alonso’s replacement within the BWT Alpine F1 Team when the Spaniard moves to the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team in 2023 – or have they?

The Australian had moved into prime position for the seat alongside Esteban Ocon after Alonso made the surprise switch to Aston Martin earlier this week.

And now the 2021 FIA Formula 2 champion has earned a promotion from his reserve drive of 2022, with Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer announcing the decision on Tuesday.

“Oscar is a bright and rare talent,” said Szafnauer.  “We are proud to have nurtured and supported him through the difficult pathways of the junior formulae.

“Through our collaboration over the past four years, we have seen him develop and mature into a driver who is more than capable of taking the step up to Formula 1.

Extreme E stands out from other championships in its mission for providing women with opportunities in the racing world, especially with the requirement that teams field a female driver alongside their male counterpart. During July’s Island X Prix in Sardinia, the series invited four female students from its Student Ambassador programme to study and experience the doubleheader, and they will also join the championship for the rest of the 2022 season.

The Student Ambassador project is organised in partnership between Extreme E and McLaren Racing, who plans to launch a similar model for Saudi citizens as part of their partnership with Island X Prix and team title sponsor NEOM. As part of their duties, the ambassadors work directly for the series along with the Legacy Programmes and Scientific Committee; the former is a series of environmental efforts in the race sites’ areas, with the Island X Prix’s being blue and green carbon stores, while the latter is a joint panel between professors from the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford concerning the series’ climate and sustainability actions. Other responsibilities include focusing on hospitality for guests while also talking with media and the teams themselves.

“It was incredibly busy at times, but I enjoyed being part of the work that goes into making these events happen,” Student Ambassador Ioana Ispas, an aerospace student at Queen Mary University, said in an interview with Extreme E. “The heat definitely made working outside a challenge, but we were all able to adapt to the conditions pretty well.”

Fellow ambassador Amanda Kangai, who studies engineering at Cambridge, also spoke to XE about her experience in Sardinia. Kangai served as a paddock tour guide while Ispas oversaw tours onboard the series’ roving ship St Helena.

“As I oversaw the tours, there are many facts that I have learnt about the paddock,” commented Kangai. “In addition to the statistics, watching and talking to the engineers, mechanics, drivers and team principals was great. They are really patient and open to give advice to activate my future in motorsport.”

Team Principal and Managing Director of Scuderia Ferrari, Mattia Binotto, admitted that the Italian outfit was unable to match their Friday pace in Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix, as the team lose crucial points to Oracle Red Bull Racing at a race they very much should have won.

Having started on the Medium tyres and fitting another set at their first pitstop, Ferrari’s biggest mistake was not extending Charles Leclerc‘s stint instead of reacting to the Max Verstappen‘s undercut. While Leclerc was able to pass George Russell for the lead in the second stint, the Monégasque was forced onto the Hard tyre in the third stint, which was hard to warm up as a result of the low track temperature. The Soft tyre was unable to make it to the end of the race, so this strategy call was a huge blunder as the Red Bull cars charged through the pack.

Ferrari performed a better strategy with Carlos Sainz Jr., keeping him out longer on his second set of tyres, meaning he could switch to the Soft compound for the last stint. However, the Italian outfit still pitted the Spaniard a little too early, as graining and a later-pitting Lewis Hamilton would out-perform them on an identical strategy. Overall, it was a day to forget for the Scuderia, who will be heading into the summer break with two disappointing races in a row.

“Today’s result is unsatisfactory,” said Binotto after the race. “In general, we did not perform well, with the car unable to reproduce Friday’s pace and in terms of how we managed the strategy and pit stops.

“Analysing every aspect of this race is our top priority over the coming days, in order to prepare as well as possible for the remaining Grands Prix.“

For the first time in team history, Jordan Anderson Racing will field two cars in a NASCAR Xfinity Series race as Myatt Snider‘s #31 Chevrolet Camaro partners up with Jordan Anderson in the #32 who will hope to make Saturday’s race at Michigan International Speedway.

Anderson founded JAR for Camping World Truck Series competition in 2018 before opening an Xfinity programme three years later. Although the owner was supposed to race for 2021 Rookie of the Year honours in the #31, the plans were dropped when qualifying for the team’s début race was rained out, locking them out of the grid for much of the season’s non-qualifying rounds. A rotation of drivers, including Sunday’s Cup Series winner Tyler Reddick, was eventually installed with Anderson running six races himself, scoring a fifth-place finish at Talladega. The #31 had eight different drivers and finished twenty-fifth in the owner’s standings with six top tens.

Snider joined JAR for the 2022 season after previously driving for technical ally Richard Childress Racing. After twenty races, he is nineteenth in points with four top tens and a runner-up finish to current points leader A.J. Allmendinger at Portland.

Longtime JAR partner Bommarito Automotive Group will sponsor both Anderson and Snider’s cars and provide identical liveries.

Anderson posted on social media on Monday, “Going to be seeing double this weekend! Pretty cool opportunity to have the 31 and 32 hit the track Saturday in Michigan with Myatt Snider and myself behind the wheel in matching Bommarito Automotive Group Chevrolets! Grateful to have Sefton Steel, EasyCare, Impact Racing, Capital City Hauling and Towing, Dometic, TaxSlayer, Superior Essex, Louisiana Hot Sauce, Crest Industries Inc., Tailored Media, Lucas Oil, Chevrolet, and so many other amazing partners support to help keep this team growing.”

Andreas Bakkerud succeeded in getting the gold with a win at Nitro Rallycross Strangnas after beating out teammate Robin Larsson and Johan Kristoffersson.

Bakkerud started second on the grid next to Oliver Eriksson getting the better run into turn one taking the lead from there. Robin Larsson would slot into second place after Eriksson suffered an issue retiring him from the race on lap 1. Meanwhile, from behind Johan Kristoffersson bolted to third with a move around the outside surpassing most of the field as he started from the back of the grid. 

From then on the RX Cartel teammates battled times as they each went quicker in different sectors making the occasional rear bumper tap. A good joker strategy from Larsson almost took the lead from Bakkerud but the swede would later make a mistake costing him the time and positioning to make a move. Kristoffersson would keep his position at third to round out the podium.

In the Supercar class, Fraser McConnell took home the event win and Euro NRX Championship win. The Jamaican driver was able to top Yuri Belevsky to win the European leg of the championship. Other drivers like Pat O’Donovan and Per Eklund had issues between mechanical faults or false starts that prevented their weekends from being prosperous. 

Tommi Hallman would win in the NRX NEXT support class after Mattis Jansson lost the lead on the last lap after going just a bit wide and spinning a corner later. Casper Jansson would slot in his place to take second while George Megennis would bring up the rear in third. 

The final race before the summer break was one to put behind for Scuderia Ferrari, as the Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday yielded a second consecutive disappointment for the Italian team. Having qualified second and third on the grid, and with their Oracle Red Bull Racing rivals starting in tenth and eleventh; Budapest should have gone Ferrari’s way – but poor strategy cost them a potentially big haul of points.

Charles Leclerc started well on the Medium tyre, following his team-mate around as they chased after George Russell, who took his maiden pole position on Saturday afternoon. The Monégasque was able to jump Carlos Sainz Jr. in the first round of pitstops, overtake Russell on track and take the lead of the race, however, the call to switch to Mediums would turn out to be a mistake.

A charging Verstappen would attempt an undercut, and pit early for his second stop (which was the Medium tyre, having started on the Softs and switched to the Mediums in his first stop). Ferrari would keep Sainz out in the lead, but pit Leclerc for a set of Hard tyres, as the Softs would not make it to the end of the race. A handful of drivers had already struggled to bring the Hard tyres up to temperature with the cooler track conditions, and Leclerc had the same struggle. After being overtaken by Verstappen twice in the race, the number sixteen driver would pit a final time for a set of Soft tyres in the dying laps, and cross the line to finish sixth.

“It’s a shame we didn’t bring home a better result, because the car felt good and we had a strong pace on Medium tyres today. Unfortunately, the Hards just did not work in these conditions,” said the Ferrari driver, who was the fastest car with the Medium tyre attached.

“We now need to see what we could have done better, recharge our batteries over the break and be ready to fight in the second part of the season.“

After being awarded a five-second time penalty in Race One which dumped him from the podium, Nyck de Vries finally stepped-foot on the London E-Prix podium in Race Two, after finishing third.

The Dutchman had finished the first race in third; however, he was given a late penalty due to moving under braking in-front of Nick Cassidy. The Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team driver was more careful whilst defending in Race Two, where after some breathtaking pace and great overtaking moves, he sealed a third-place finish.

It could’ve possibly been even better for De Vries who had the pace for second, this wasn’t possible, though, as he revealed after the race that he had been suffering from some damage late on.

Despite this, the reigning Formula E World Champion was “delighted” with his result.

“I am delighted. I think the team executed a great race, getting all the Attack Modes and major decisions just right, so I am very satisfied with what we accomplished today. Seven or eight laps before the end, something broke on the left front suspension, so I was really worried that I wouldn’t be able to finish the race.

Immediately after an excellent recovery drive at the second race of the London E-Prix, British driver Sam Bird was sent to hospital for precautionary checks following an injury sustained on the first lap.

The Jaguar TCS Racing driver didn’t go to the media pen after the race, and instead went straight to hospital. An X-ray on his left hand showed that the Brit had a displaced midshaft fracture. The Brit somehow persevered the entire race, and managed to rescue eighth-place despite having started towards the bottom end of the grid.

With the season finale in South Korea just under two weeks away, his participation has been thrown into doubt. The first lap saw carnage on the exit of Turn Six and at Turn Sixteen, where drivers piled into each other. Bird’s injury sums up what was a dire home weekend for him, where in Race One he retired on the opening lap following a collision with Edoardo Mortara and Jean-Éric Vergne.

Bird’s team released the following statement Sunday afternoon, to clarify what had happened and what the plan is going forward.

It read: “Shortly after the race, Sam Bird was taken to hospital for precautionary checks on an injury sustained during the first lap in Round Fourteen in London. Following an X-ray he has sustained a displaced midshaft fracture on his left hand. Sam will see a specialist as quickly as possible to determine the best treatment. Sam’s participation in the upcoming Seoul E-Prix on August 13-14 will be assessed in the coming days.”

Volkswagen Dealerteam BAUHAUS have announced their three-strong driver line-up for the 2022 FIA World Rallycross Championship, featuring defending champion Johan Kristoffersson.

The four-time world champion will be partnered by European Rallycross event winner Ole Christian Veiby and rising Swedish teen star Gustav Bergström as the KMS (Kristoffersson Motorsport) team make their entry into the all-new all-electric era of World RX.

Although more familiar to rally fans, being a consistent frontrunner in the supporting WRC2 category of the FIA World Rally Championship, Veiby is no stranger to rallycross. The 26 year old Norwegian driver took victory Barcelona on his way to third place in the 2015 Euro RX championship. While continuing to rally, Veiby is ready to commit to his first full World RX campaign, saying “I think it’s time for a change and it will be interesting to do something new. Rallycross with electric cars just feels right and it’s great to be back with KMS,” the two having first worked together when Veiby was just 16.

Speaking about his legendary teammate Kristoffersson, Veiby said “In my opinion, he is the world’s best driver and there’s no doubt that his experience is worth its weight in gold. He has incredible knowledge in rallycross and together, we have produced a good package that should put us in strong shape for the season ahead and enable us to fight at the front.”

Stockholm’s Bergström may only have begun competing last year, but is determined to make a name for himself at the pinnacle of rallycross. Team Manager Tommy Kristoffersson is excited about the teen’s future, saying “Gustav started from absolute zero last year, but I could see right away that he had a good feeling for the car – he is a promising talent. We will not put any pressure on his shoulders, because he is the new guy on the block and for him, this season is all about developing, but he is young, full of confidence and eager to learn.”

With Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team getting another double podium, the Hungarian Grand Prix has historically been a good stomping ground for Lewis Hamilton. This season, he had a good opening stint on medium tyres, moving up from seventh position to fifth.

George Russell also had a secure first stint where he fought off the Scuderia Ferrari cars, holding on at the front from pole position before falling back to third. The weather often plays a big part in Hungary but it wasn’t going to be the biggest threat for drivers this weekend. Instead, the issue affecting a lot of drivers was the tyres.

Toto Wolff, the team principal of Mercedes, said, “George had a great qualifying session with pole and drove a solid race. He was in the fight utilising the tyres but ran out of them in the second stint. Lewis’ fight today was unbelievable, Budapest continues to be a success story for him. He came out of nowhere and was quicker than everyone else.

“I think we lost the race with him yesterday with the DRS failing. Otherwise, we would have been able to fight at the front for the victory today. Second and third twice in a row is great but we want to fight for the win.“

Hamilton got to second place and Russell fell back to third. Toto Wolff continued, “We have a result we can work with, given we had a really bad Friday. It’s very frustrating and not easy to pick yourself up and stay motivated, so it’s a learning process.

“Today, we had good pace, but we need to stay humble and look at race weekend after race weekend so we can try to gain more learnings and experiment to put us in a situation where we can actually fight for wins at the end of the season.”