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Sebastian Vettel scored two points in Sunday’s British Grand Prix – on his birthday – and from eighteenth on the grid, he feels it was a good recovery drive at Silverstone.

The Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team driver believed it was a ‘decent’ result on Sunday despite being involved in the crash at the first start prior to the red flag.

Vettel was behind Alexander Albon as everyone raced towards the first corner, but with everyone backing up as the crash involving Pierre Gasly, George Russell and Zhou Guanyu unfolded, the Aston Martin driver hit the back of the Williams F1 Team drivers’ car and pushed him into the inside wall.

The four-time World Champion said he did everything he could to avoid Albon but ultimately, he was unable to avoid the contact, but he was relieved that no one was injured in the accident.

“It is nice to score points on my birthday and in the team’s home race, especially when you consider where we started,” said Vettel.  “Overall, I think it was a decent race and a good recovery.

Guenther Steiner was delighted for the whole Haas F1 Team as they scored their first two-car points finish since the 2019 German Grand Prix in Sunday’s British Grand Prix.

Despite having started well outside the top ten after falling short in Saturday’s Qualifying session at Silverstone, both Mick Schumacher and Kevin Magnussen drove strongly to bring home points, with the former finally breaking into the top ten after several near misses.

Steiner, the Team Principal at Haas, says it was not luck that brough them points at Silverstone as they were able to show they had a fast car all race long, and should they be able to qualify higher then scoring points would become a more regular occurrence.

“I’m very happy for the whole team to have scored double-points today,” said Steiner.  “We deserved it – it wasn’t by luck – starting from P17 and P19 and ending eighth and tenth, we couldn’t have wished for more.

“The cars were fast, the guys did a good job, the pit-stops were good, so what we need to do now is a very good qualifying and a very good race and then we’re back in the game.”

Bobby McCarty has been the class of late model racing in the CARS Tour, winning the championship thrice in 2018, 2019, and 2021. On 16 July, he will see if he can turn his successes into something good for the struggling Mike Harmon Racing team in the NASCAR Xfinity Series as he makes his series début at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. He will drive the #47 Chevrolet Camaro.

“We are excited to see what Bobby can bring to the table at New Hampshire Motor Speedway,” said Harmon. “His long career in racing and his accomplishments within the series is impressive, we look forward to seeing him behind the wheel of the #47.”

Racing in the series since 2017, McCarty was the first driver to win three CARS Late Model Stock Car championships after capping off a three-win campaign in 2021. He also won at South Boston Speedway‘s Late Model Stocks that year, the same location where he clinched the CARS title. He has twenty-four wins across his career including ten in the CARS Tour.

“I want to thank Mike Harmon Racing and my sponsors, Kirk and Lynette Ipock at Solid Rock Carriers and Barry Nelson with autobynelson,” McCarty commented. “Without them, this wouldn’t be possible.”

While certainly a major opportunity for him, the 29-year-old faces an uphill battle with a small MHR operation that has failed to qualify for ten of sixteen races in 2022 with Gray Gaulding, Brennan Poole, and Ryan Vargas. Gaulding holds the team’s best finish of the year when he placed twenty-first at Talladega in his lone start so far, while Poole has attempted the bulk of the schedule but failed to finish the four races that he made. Vargas, who did not qualify for last Saturday’s Road America event, finished twenty-third in his début for the team at Portland. The #47 is currently forty-second in owner points.

It was a bittersweet weekend for BWT Alpine F1 Team at the British Grand Prix, as Fernando Alonso earned a season-best finish of fifth place, while Esteban Ocon had to retire due to a mid-race fuel pump issue.

Alpine Team Principal Otmar Szafnauer was happy to see all the drivers involved in the first-lap incident make it out okay, considering the magnitude of the crash that ensued– adding that this outcome was made possible due to Formula 1’s safety standards.

“First of all, it’s good news that the drivers involved in the incident at the beginning of the race are OK. It’s testament to the extraordinary safety standards and implementation in Formula 1 that everyone was OK after a quite frightening incident. 

Szafnauer was pleased with Alonso’s result after the “brilliant” race, which saw him implement a successful strategy and allowed him to engage in a dynamic battle with the frontrunners for the final podium places. 

“From there, this afternoon, we’ve witnessed a quite brilliant Grand Prix, which, for Formula 1, is a great advert for the exceptional entertainment of this sport. We’re very pleased with Fernando’s fifth place. He drove a well measured race and credit to the team for the pit-stop under the Safety Car, which allowed him to importantly jump Lando [Norris] and fight at the front towards the end.”

Mick Schumacher can finally celebrate his first points in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship, after the German impressed to finish eighth in Sunday’s British Grand Prix, despite having started down in nineteenth.

The Haas F1 Team driver, who has come close before to the top ten only to fall short, pitted for fresh tyres under the late race safety car for Esteban Ocon’s on-track stoppage, and he was able to convert his pace into eighth place.

Schumacher was also able to put a lot of pressure onto World Champion Max Verstappen across the final laps, although he was unable to find a way passed the ailing Oracle Red Bull Racing driver.

“We’re really happy,” said Schumacher.  “Coming back from P19, I said we have the speed to go forwards and we definitely showed it today.

“It’s great for the team, a double-finish in the points, so that’s obviously very helpful in the constructors. For me, I’m happy now to focus on what’s really important and that’s the racing and the driving.”

Andreas Seidl says the McLaren F1 Team can take a lot of positives away from Sunday’s British Grand Prix, with Lando Norris returning to the points with a strong drive to sixth place at Silverstone.

However, the Team Principal of the Woking-based team says the biggest positive was to see the drivers involved in huge crashes in both the FIA Formula 1 World Championship and FIA Formula 2 on Sunday all walk away unscathed.

Zhou Guanyu, Alexander Albon and George Russell were involved in a big crash at the opening corner of the race at Silverstone, while Roy Nissany and Dennis Hauger were involved in a crash of their own during the Formula 2 Feature race earlier in the day.

And Seidl says the safety improvements implemented in recent years went a long way in protecting the drivers in both incidents.

“The most important thing is that all drivers involved in accidents today, F1 and Formula 2, are doing well,” said Seidl.  “Motorsport works hard to improve safety and what we saw today demonstrates why that is essential.”

BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso earned a season-best result at the eventful British Grand Prix with a fifth place finish, after taking part in an exhilarating battle for the podium positions. 

“It was a fun race today and we are happy to finish in fifth position. I was hoping there would be some drama at the end, and we might have sneaked a podium with all of the action, but it was fun to be fighting amongst it inside the top five places.”

Although pleased with the fifth place result, Alonso said that fourth would have been in the cards had Charles Leclerc been given a penalty for weaving across the circuit in his late-race battle with Lewis Hamilton. Alonso was given a penalty for this offence last time out at the Canadian Grand Prix, and therefore felt Leclerc was deserving of the punishment as well.

“I think our final position should realistically be fourth because I saw Charles [Leclerc] weaving multiple times in front of Lewis [Hamilton] and, compared to what happened to me in Canada,  I guess it’s not allowed and should be a penalty.”

Alonso was happy with the performance of the A522, and felt he was at his most competitive so far this season– a momentum he hopes to ride for the races to come. 

Lando Norris finished the British Grand Prix in sixth place, but the British racer felt fifth was on the cards had he pitted immediately when the safety car was deployed.

Firstly, the McLaren F1 Team driver was thankful that Zhou Guanyu, Alexander Albon and George Russell all escaped injury in what was a horrible first lap crash at Silverstone, and he praised the way the cars held up under the circumstances.

However, looking back at his own race, he was running ahead of BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso for much of the afternoon, only to fall behind him when he pitted a lap after the Spaniard behind the safety car, ironically caused by the other Alpine driver, Esteban Ocon.

“Firstly, it was great to see Zhou, Alex and George get out of their cars safely today, it’s never nice to see an accident like that, so I’m glad the safety equipment did its job properly,” said Norris.

“On our side, a decent race. I felt like we deserved P5, but unfortunately we lost out at the final pit-stop under the safety car. I think we drove a good race.

Christian Horner says the way Sergio Pérez drove during Sunday’s British Grand Prix was ‘phenomenal’, with the Mexican climbing from the back of the pack to finish second after being forced to pit early with a broken front wing.

Pérez was hit on the opening lap after the restart by Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, an incident that broke the front wing and necessitated an early pit stop for repairs.  He fell to the back of the pack but fought back superbly to get himself into the points, and then benefitted from Esteban Ocon’s on-track stoppage and the subsequent safety car to pit for fresh tyres.

The Mexican was then able to fight passed both Lewis Hamilton and Leclerc to claim second place and score a good number of points on a day where it looked like it was not going to be possible.

“It was a phenomenal performance today from Checo after the damage he sustained to the front wing end-plate on the first lap, we had to change the nose and his drive back through the field was just sensational,” said Horner, the Team Principal at Oracle Red Bull Racing.

“He benefitted from the safety car which enabled us to put on a fresh set of tyres, but his pace and race-craft was just exceptional.”

After a nightmare opening to the British Grand Prix on Sunday, the safety car came at the perfect moment for Sergio Pérez, with the Mexican capitalising to finish second behind Carlos Sainz Jr.

The Oracle Red Bull Racing driver suffered a damaged front wing on the opening lap after being hit by Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, and the pit stop to replace it saw him fall to the rear of the field.

He was making good progress and was fighting for points but was in need of a pit stop before the end of the race to switch tyre compounds.  Esteban Ocon’s stoppage brought out the safety car, and Pérez was able to stop for fresh soft tyres, enabling him to jump up to fourth at the restart.

Pérez was then involved in a great battle with Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton as they fought over the podium places, with the Mexican coming out on top to finish second, a superb recovery after falling to the back of the pack early on.

“It is a good day for us and the Team after such a messy weekend for us,” said Pérez. “Physically I wasn’t one hundred percent this week and after lap one I was last, so to come away with second place is a great result.

One does not need to be a political scientist to be aware of the crisis in Eastern Europe as Ukraine continues into its fourth month of defence from Russian invasion. Those closer to the conflict naturally feel more of its brunt, and this is especially prevalent in Ukraine’s ally and eastern neighbour Poland who has supplied weaponry, humanitarian aid, and a safe location for Ukrainian troops to train.

While Poland is not sending troops across the shared border to assist Ukraine, military activities made the annual Rallye Breslau, the largest amateur off-road rally in Europe, significantly more challenging to oversee for organiser RBI Sport Ltd. The 2022 rally formally began on Monday in Żagań, where the 11th Armoured Cavalry Division is headquartered alongside a rotation of American armoured combat units, before heading to a Polish army training grounds in Drawsko Pomorskie by Wednesday. As it took place on military land, routes were approved by the Army.

Motorsport on active military installations is not a new concept. Also in the off-road realm, Extreme E‘s upcoming Island X Prix takes place on an Italian base in Capo Teulada while Global Rallycross raced on the United States Marine Corps’ New River Air Station in 2015 and 2016. Such events are coordinated between race organisers and the host armed forces, which can present challenges if the area is being used in a time of crisis; the Island X Prix had been delayed to July as the Italian Army launched exercises while keeping an eye on the Russo-Ukrainian War. Extreme E also concluded its 2021 season finale on the British Army’s Bovington Training Area.

With the Polish Armed Forces on increased alert as the invasion happens next door (prompting an increase in defence spending to raise more troops), its actions forced RBI to be proactive in ensuring the rally continues without a hitch as early as the start, when the first leg was delayed as racers had to wait for on-base actions to conclude. Once the race began, the Extreme Cars and Trucks categories had to settle for different terrain from what their vehicles are accustomed to as their preferred routes were unavailable.

Perhaps the biggest hurdle came on the third day as army training was extended and overlapped with the rally, forced the leg to be shortened and postponed to nighttime. Access routes for the bivouac also had to be relocated, a matter exacerbated by incorrectly parked race assistance vehicles.

As Extreme E restarts its 2022 season with the Island X Prix doubleheader on 6/7 and 9/10 July, ACCIONA | Sainz XE Team will wrap a new livery on its Spark ODYSSEY 21. Revealed Monday, the new look retains the red, white, and grey colour scheme but sports a different pattern and smaller logos.

The car keeps the same red base, though the presence of grey is increased significantly along the sides such as below the windows. The white stripes running down the centre of the hood, reside on the headlights, and across the roof are removed; conversely, the colour is now used at the roof’s rear. Along the rear wheel well, the white dominating the corner is reduced to a stripe that connects with a grey pattern on the car’s back.

Stickers generally remain the same, though exceptions include the front wheel well where the #55 is replaced by the team and Extreme E logos, and the rear of the roof where Santander and ACCIONA are featured rather than Continental.

Drivers Carlos Sainz and Laia Sanz will also sport new firesuits. After wearing predominantly red suits with dark grey trim, light grey is now featured more prominently as it paints the upper torso.

The team also débuts a new emblem that situates the ACCIONA leaf and “SAINZ XE TEAM” within a five-sided shape akin to a computer chip. The previous logo simply had “ACCIONA | Sainz XE Team” written in script form next to ACCIONA’s leaf.

The open-wheel/NASCAR pipeline appears to be active and booming once more as Jacques Villeneuve adds a Daytona 500 to his résumé and Kimi Räikkönen prepares for his maiden Cup Series start. Now, Daniil Kvyat wants to join his fellow Formula One alumni in stock cars.

Kvyat attended this past weekend’s Cup race at Road America as a guest of Team Hezeberg, who fields the #27 Ford for Loris Hezemans and Villeneuve. A longtime fan of the sport, Kvyat previously stopped by Martinsville Speedway to put out feelers and has driven a Whelen Euro Series car, the latter of which’s EuroNASCAR PRO championship was won by Hezemans in 2021.

Speaking with FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass on Saturday, Kvyat confirmed he has received approval from NASCAR to race if he finds a ride, which he hopes to do in order to run a Cup road course event.

“This is different but a very fascinating world for me,” Kvyat told Pockrass. “I always really liked NASCAR and was very curious about it. In fact, I was at Martinsville last year to watch the race, now this year I came to look for opportunities to race here. I think something might come alive very soon, hopefully, and soon you will see in a NASCAR Cup car.”

“We kind of started talking with Josh (Reaume, technical partner of Team Hezeberg) and his team a couple of months ago. It seemed like there was an opportunity here, they’re willing to give me a shot here. It would be amazing to have an opportunity here in NASCAR, to show my face here and thrive here most importantly because I obviously want to do the talking on the track and to start getting experience here.

All three NASCAR Cup Series road course races so far in 2022 have seen a driver score their maiden top series win. In Road America‘s case, that honour belongs to Tyler Reddick whose long overdue first victory came after beating Chase Elliott for the lead on the final cycle of pit stops halfway through the last stage.

Reddick is the forty-first driver to win a race in all three NASCAR national series—Cup, Xfinity, Truck—and the nineteenth to have his first Cup win come on a road course. Fellow Chevrolet drivers Ross Chastain and Daniel Suárez respectively claimed their first triumphs at Circuit of the Americas and Sonoma earlier in the year. Although the win is his first on a road course and he is typically not regarded as one of the best drivers on such tracks, Reddick admitted he believed “that’s where the first one would come. I thought last year it would come here.”

“You look back over the history of time and ten years ago, you would say road course ringers come in here like A.J. (Allmendinger), like Marcos Ambrose, Juan Pablo Montoya, they come in here and just make us look like fools. I think that’s because as drivers when we only had two of these races a year, we weren’t really maximising, we’s just kind of get to the road courses, kind of like I was a couple years ago, ‘Oh, we’ll get through it.’

“You still see it to a point. A lot of the drivers have really done a great job of really figuring out road course racing and maximising the whole lap and figuring out the braking zones, what they need in their car. But still to a degree, when you see a guy like Daniel go out there and win at Sonoma, you can still just find a whole new level, if you will, in your car and as a driver. If you’re on it one day, you’re just going to be on it that day. Seeing him go out and win Sonoma the way he did, it wasn’t surprising because I know that he’s capable of that. That team is capable of that. But over the last couple years, the drivers, the teams have really been honing in on it, but you still see days where someone just hits it, hits it really good, doesn’t make the mistakes, executes their strategy and they win.”

The win ends a long, three-year and ninety-two-start wait for the 26-year-old, who recently confirmed he will return to Richard Childress Racing‘s #8 for the 2023 season but has been a hot topic on the free agent market. He is the first RCR driver to win a Cup road race since Kevin Harvick at Watkins Glen in 2006, and the #8 last visited Victory Lane that year as a Dale Earnhardt, Inc. entry driven by Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Richmond.

The NEOM Island X Prix doubleheader on 6/7 and 9/10 July will be contested on a 6.2-km course that is mostly similar to the one used in the 2021 edition (pictured below), save for some major changes. Located on the Capo Teulada military site in Sardinia, the track is shorter than the seven kilometres of 2021 but still maintains the same basic layout and rocky terrain, the latter of which is especially impacted by the hot Italian summer.

The track runs counter-clockwise and begins with multiple lane choices that drivers can run before rejoining at a left-hand turn that traverses bumpy terrain. A series of hills and a downhill drop take cars to a water hazard that begins the Continental Traction Challenge. This “super sector” ends with another water crossing.

A sector nicknamed The Hilltop follows, the incline of which is evident by its name, and a fork in the road where drivers can once again select their direction. Upon merging into a pair of left-hand turns, the final run to the start/finish line begins with a large jump and the “Rollercoaster” chicane, both of which feature multiple elevation changes. The switch bay is located before the multi-lane zone.

The jump and Rollercoaster are new additions to the course for 2022, replacing the downhill section of the previous year. The fork after the Hilltop was also not present in the 2021 layout.

“Extreme E has been working closely with Automobile Club d’Italia—the national sports federation co-organising and coordinating the event—the Region of Sardinia, and its Tourism Department plus the Ministry of Defense and the Italian Army to deliver what promises to be a week of double the racing and double the excitement,” reads a statement from Extreme E.