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Sebastian Vettel says there are plenty of unknowns heading into this weekend’s first-ever Miami Grand Prix, and he is excited to hit the track for the first time on Friday.

The Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team driver arrives into the first race of the season in the United States with confidence after scoring his, and the teams, first points of the season in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix last time out, and he is eager to break into the top ten again this Sunday.

Vettel has experienced the Miami International Autodrome solely on Aston Martin’s simulator, but he admits there is no substitute for learning the track behind the wheel of a racing car.

“It’s great to see another street circuit join the calendar, and the Miami track looks really interesting,” said Vettel.  “From what we’ve experienced in the simulator, there are a few challenging corners.

“Turns 13-16 have a surprising amount of elevation-change to catch drivers out and there are long sections where overtaking should be possible with DRS.

Andreas Seidl says it is great to see the FIA Formula 1 World Championship head to the city of Miami for the first time this weekend and add to the ‘vast sporting legacy’ the city already has.

For the first time, Formula 1 will race around the Miami International Autodrome that surrounds the Hard Rock Stadium, although Seidl, the Team Principal of the McLaren F1 Team, admits that racing at a new venue poses many challenges to the team as they arrive without any data to base their set-ups on.

He knows the initial sessions on Friday will be important to gather that missing data and develop the car to suit the newest venue on the Formula 1 calendar.

After the highs of Lando Norris’ podium finish in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Seidl is excited by the opportunities that could present themselves to the team in Miami, and he hopes that both Norris and Daniel Ricciardo can enjoy the weekend and bring home a good haul of points for McLaren.

“Welcome to Miami!” said Seidl.  “A new track always poses great opportunities, and the circuit looks like an exciting one.

Lando Norris says he is coming to the inaugural Miami Grand Prix this weekend on a high after his first podium finish of the season last time out in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

The McLaren F1 Team driver is excited by the prospect of racing around the new track in the state of Florida as the FIA Formula 1 World Championship adds a second race in the United States alongside the event at the Circuit of the Americas.

Norris believes the Miami track will be a fun challenge, and he is eager to carry the momentum from his podium at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari into this weekend.

“I’m hyped for this weekend,” said Norris.  “New circuits are always something I look forward to, and when you add in the excitement around a US race, particularly in Miami, it’s going to be so cool.

“It’s looking fast with some great features and with the added element of being a street track, it’s going to be a fun challenge. 

Less than two months after winning the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge to become the first electric vehicle to win a rally raid overall, the Audi RS Q e-tron was shown off to the public alongside the Ducati DesertX at a joint event in Sardinia.

Representing Audi in the demo were Carlos Sainz and co-driver Lucas Cruz, Stéphane Peterhansel and navigator Edouard Boulanger, and Emil Bergkvist. Danilo Petrucci showed up on Ducati’s behalf. In January’s Dakar Rally, the RS Q e-tron made its competition début as Sainz won two stages with Cruz; two more stage victories came for the car courtesy of Mattias Ekström and Peterhansel, and Ekström finished ninth overall in the Cars category. Peterhansel secured the RS Q e-tron’s maiden win in March at Abu Dhabi.

“What Audi has achieved with this concept is technically unique and a real benefit for us drivers,” Sainz stated. “The event in Sardinia was great to communicate the benefits of the electric drive. All the media were impressed throughout.”

Petrucci is a longtime member of the Ducati family, racing for the stable in MotoGP from 2015 to 2020 with two wins and currently competing in MotoAmerica for Warhorse HSBK Racing Ducati New York. The latter came after a brief stint with KTM Factory Racing, which included dabbling in rally raid for the first time at Dakar. He won the Bikes overall in Stage #5 to become the first MotoGP alumnus with a stage victory in the legendary event.

As part of the test, Petrucci rode alongside Sainz in the RS Q e-tron and piloted the DesertX. The latter is Ducati’s first foray into off-roading and therefore has two riding modes intended for such purposes (Enduro and Rally) in addition to street use.

Kevin Magnussen is pleased that the FIA Formula 1 World Championship is racing in Miami for the first time this weekend, with the Dane having enjoyed his previous visits to the state of Florida.

The Haas F1 Team driver revealed that he was in Miami when he received the call from the team to return in place of the ousted Nikita Mazepin as he was preparing for a year in endurance racing, and he expects a big ‘buzz’ around the event that runs around the Hard Rock Stadium.

“I have visited Miami quite a few times,” said Magnussen.  “Last year I competed in the IMSA championship in America and got to spend a bit of time there.

“I was also on holiday in Miami when this job came about again! I’m looking forward to going back there, I think there’s a real buzz around the race, so it’s going to be great.”

Magnussen feels the new regulations have made it easier to follow other cars and make for better racing, and he hopes this allows overtaking opportunities this weekend in Miami.

Guenther Steiner feels the VF-22 does not possess any particular strengths or weaknesses, but the 2022 car from the Haas F1 Team appears to be good for all kinds of circuits.

Haas returned to the points this year after a pointless 2021, with Kevin Magnussen claiming an excellent, if not a surprise, fifth place in the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.  He has subsequently scored points again in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and in both the Sprint and Feature race of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Despite scoring points at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari last time out, Steiner, the Team Principal at Haas, says the team were hoping for more from the weekend, and they have done a lot of data analysis since to understand why the pace was not as a strong for either Magnussen nor Mick Schumacher as they were looking for.

“I don’t think there any particular strengths or weaknesses, I think the car is pretty good all round,” said Steiner. “Obviously, in the main race in Imola, we were not performing as we would’ve wished so we need to look into the data and see how maybe we can get the tyres to work better and go again.

“I think the car in general is pretty good, we just have to keep on working hard and getting more points.”

The current FIA World Rally Championship points leader Kalle Rovanperä will switch from piloting a four-wheel-drive Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 car over to sliding a rear-wheal-drive Toyota Supra Gazoo Racing drift machine as he takes time to enjoy himself after the successful season start in rallying.

Rovanperä will be a wildcard driver at the 2022 Drift Masters European Championship season-opener at Mondello Park in Ireland this weekend (7-8 May) where the 21-year-old will take the wheel of his own Toyota Supra drift car, which has been built by the legendary Japanese drifter Daigo Saito.

He has also committed to enter another round later this summer in the DMEC series, in Sweden which takes place at the Drivecenter Arena on 1-2 July.

However this is not the first time the young Finn has competed in drifting and has done two domestic rounds back in 2021, he won the Venetsia Drifting event on the Venetsia Eve celebration weekend in Kokkola, Finland in his Toyota and that sparked an interest to continue with drifting to enjoy himself during the off weekends in WRC.

“I’ve been doing some drifting over the years, and it’s always been the plan to do some international events if possible,” Rovanperä said.

For the new all-electric era of FIA World Rallycross Championship this year, a newly formed team havs been put together during the off-season and will be on the grid for this season.

The new team called Construction Equipment Dealer Team announced a multi-year commitment to the new RX1E class and will have run a two-car entry. The team will be operated by PWR RX, which is a new sister company to the successful PWR Racing Team from Sweden.

PWR Racing Team is a multiple Swedish Touringcar Champions and the first team in the world to develop an all-electric touringcar called PWR001.

The CE Dealer Team will be managed by Emil Axelsson, who is a well-known face in the rallycross paddock as he is a former team manager at EKS RX and previously been a co-driver in rallying. Where he has claimed co-driver titles in FIA Junior World Rally Championship, Super2000 World Rally Championship (now WRC2) and the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship.

“We are pleased to announce our entry to World RX, which is a perfect fit for the CE Dealer Team and our push for a more sustainable future with our partners. The World RX programme provides us with an excellent activation platform, one where our partners can showcase their innovative products and solutions through the world’s most exciting electric motorsport category.” Axelsson, Sporting and Commercial Director, CE Dealer Team, said.

Last weekend the reigning World Rally Champion Sébastien Ogier confirmed to be entering the Rally de Portugal which will be his second round of the season as part of his part-time rally program with Toyota Gazoo Racing.

Speaking to media at a news conference ahead of the rally, Ogier is hoping to set up another battle against his rivalry compariot, the nine-time champion Sébastien Loeb, who will also be returning to WRC after his win at the season-opener at Rallye Monte-Carlo in January with M-Sport Ford World Rally Team, but, Ogier is optimistic that the legends will dominate the event.

Loeb and Ogier were creating headlines in Monte-Carlo as they were battling for the win in the French Alps, with Loeb taking the win as Ogier picked up a costly puncture on the penultimate stage of the rally, and now both of them are having eight wins each at Monte-Carlo.

However at Rally de Portugal, which will be the first proper gravel rally for the new Rally1 hybrid era cars and will be a different challenge compared to January’s season-opener. Ogier has the most wins in Portugal which is five times, that includes his maiden WRC win back in 2010 meanwhile Loeb has won two times in 2007 and 2009.

Ogier has scaled back his WRC commitments this season and will not defend his eighth title in the championship, this has allowed him to move into a new discipline in forms of circuit racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship, where he is doing a full-season in the LMP2 for Richard Mille Racing, and will be racing at Spa-Francorchamps this weekend.

Former Hyundai Motorsport’s WRC2 team and 2C Compétition rally driver Ole Christian Veiby has switched focus back to his roots and will make comeback in rallycross as he signs a full-time contract with JC Raceteknik for the 2022 RallyX Nordic season.

The Swedish outfit JC Raceteknik, who is runned by Joel Christoffersson has revealed Veiby will be joining in the squad’s 2022 line-up alongside Philip Gehrman and Sondre Evjen in top tier FIA World Rallycross Championship spec Audi S1 EKS RX Quattro 600bhp four-wheel-drive Supercars.

Veiby competed last time in rallycross in 2015, when he was racing for the Swedish team Kristoffersson Motorsport in a Volkswagen Polo Supercar in the FIA European Rallycross Championship where he finished third in the championship as well as doing selected outtings in the world championship.

After the 2015 rallycross season, Veiby switched focus to rallying and finished runner-up in the FIA Junior World Rally Championship driving for the Finnish rally powerhouse Printsport and continued later with success and rally wins in the WRC2 class for Skoda Motorsport.

For the 2019 FIA World Rally Championship season Veiby signed back with Kristoffersson Motorsport but this time in the rally department of the team in a Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 before joining Hyundai in 2020 but he also remained with KMS as they were also fielding a Hyundai i20 R5 for Veiby. His last WRC appearance was at Rally Sweden this year, but then back in a KMS backed Polo and finished runner-up in WRC2 to his compariot Andreas Mikkelsen.

Nico Müller put on a dominant display to win the second race of the DTM season opener at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimão. The Team Rosberg driver controlled the race from pole, winning by just over three seconds from Felipe Fraga.

The 30-year-old Swiss decisively fended off Mirko Bortolotti into turn 1 on the opening lap, the closest he came to being challenged over the 33-lap race distance.

Fraga did put up the fastest lap with a lap time of 1:41.681 seconds, more than four-tenths faster than the winner.

An impressive weekend for Fraga, who was making his DTM debut at Portimão.

Having to fight past Mirko Bortolotti, who started second, prevented Fraga from catching Müller in the Audi R8 LMS GT3.

Coming into the second round of the 2022 FIA World Endurance Championship, Sebring-winners Alpine Elf Team have been hit with a Balance of Performance (BoP) power reduction in an attempt to bring the competition closer in the Hypercar class.

As the only Hypercar to have a BoP change going into the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, the Alpine will run with a maximum power output of 410kW (550bhp), a reduction of 20kW (26bhp). This is the only element of the car that has been tweaked with minimum weight and maximum energy allowed per stint remaining the same as Sebring.

With no change to the Toyota Gazoo Racing BoP, the Japanese team will have an additional 70km/h it was allowed in dry conditions at the Circuit Spa-Francorchamps last year. Team Principal and driver in the #7 entry, Kamui Kobayashi, told Motorsport.com that he was feeling positive ahead of this race weekend and that the team will be more competitive that it was in Sebring.

“We expect to be fighting at the front and everyone is fully committed to get our first win of the season. Since Sebring, which was a disappointing result for us, the whole team has pushed hard to improve by working together with the drivers, particularly at our test in Portimao earlier this month.

“We worked on some things for Spa as well, which should suit our car better than Sebring, where the bumps had a big impact on car balance and performance.”

2022 W Series racing driver Alice Powell has joined FIA Formula 1 World Championship’s Alpine Academy and Affiliate Programme. She will focus on finding young talent across junior racing series, observing and reviewing their potential as well as integrating them into the Academy or Affiliate programme. Once accepted into Alpine’s Academy, the British racing driver will act as a mentor, guiding them through fitness training and career opportunities.

As well as mentoring talent coming into the industry, she will work with fellow Brit and W Series driver Abbi Pulling who joined the Affiliate Program earlier this year ahead of her W Series 2022 campaign. Pulling debuted with the championship last year, racing with PUMA. She made history earlier this year alongside Aseel Al Hamad by becoming the first women to drive Formula One cars on the streets of Saudi Arabia. Pulling secured a podium in her previous season with W Series at the Circuit of the Americas, finishing seventh overall in the drivers’ standings.

After finishing second to reigning champion Jamie Chadwick in 2021, Alice Powell will complete the 2022 season racing with Click2Drive Bristol Street Motors. She made history back in 2009 after becoming the youngest female driver to compete in the Formula Renault UK Championship. A year later she further broke records by becoming the first female to win a Formula Renault Championship race in the BARC competition.

The 29-year-old took five podiums and three wins in the eight-race W Series 2021 season, ending the championship 27 points behind Chadwick. She will return for a full campaign starting at the Miami International Autodrome for the season’s first double-header this weekend.

“I’m delighted to join the team. More and more opportunities for women within motorsport are emerging now, but budding drivers often lack guidance and experience in the early days of their career,” said Powell.

Ken Schrader is no stranger to the Superstar Racing Experience. Even before its inaugural season in 2021, he tested the spec series’ vehicle on various occasions; last month, Schrader tested an SRX car alongside Jeff Fultz at Five Flags Speedway to prepare for the season opener at the Florida short track on 18 June.

On 16 July, he will finally get a chance to race one at I-55 Raceway. The series announced his entry as a guest driver on Tuesday.

“It’s super exciting for me to be working with Kenny again after knowing him for so long,” said series CEO Don Hawk. “He returns in 2022 as an SRX test driver, but more importantly a superstar driver in the race at I-55 Raceway. He belongs in there I can’t wait for this race.”

Schrader has a long background of racing on both dirt and pavement. From 1984 to 2013, he raced in the NASCAR Cup Series, winning four races for Hendrick Motorsports during the legendary organisation’s early years. He is one of thirty-nine drivers with victories in all three national series (Cup, Xfinity, Truck).

Now mainly a grassroots racer, he dabbles in a variety of disciplines across the United States. From 2013 to 2017, he entered the Truck Series’ dirt race at Eldora Speedway, winning the pole for the inaugural race and scoring a best finish of fourth in 2014. His dirt specialist background is currently used for ARCA Menards Series competition, and he is a three-time series winner at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds.

Last week it was confirmed the eight-time WRC champion Sébastien Ogier would return for his second outting in the 2022 FIA World Rally Championship at Rally de Portugal on 19-22 May, a rally that he has won five times before, including the maiden win in 2010.

Throughout the past couple of days the teams have completed their usual pre-event tests and on Tuesday Ogier joined Toyota Gazoo Racing on for the team’s pre-event testing in Portugal for the first time since Rallye Monte-Carlo.

Some local videographers have been out on the stage where the team have carried out the Tuesday’s test. The video is showcasing the first run for Ogier on gravel in the new Toyota GR Yaris Rally1 machine.

The reigning champion have said that he was excited to return to a WRC car after three months away, which is his longest rally break of the career so far.