Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Max Verstappen claimed his second victory of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship, after winning the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in dominant fashion in what was an Oracle Red Bull Racing, one-two.

Verstappen won the race on a two-stop strategy. The Dutchman like everybody else started the race on the Intermediate tyres due to the weather and track conditions, before moving onto the yellow-walled Medium tyres. Verstappen also made an extra-stop with twelve laps remaining for a set of red-walled Soft tyres. The reigning World Champion claimed a full house at Imola, having taken pole, winning the Sprint race and the traditional race, as well as claiming the fastest lap.

Charles Leclerc was the first of the leading drivers to dive in late-on for a set of softs, to apply extra pressure onto Sergio Pérez in second. This plan failed miserably for Leclerc, who span at Turn fifteen having pushed too hard. The Scuderia Ferrari driver ended up finishing sixth.

Virtually every other driver only pitted once during the race, except for Daniel Ricciardo and Mick Schumacher, who both made what turned out to be an error in pitting for Hard tyres having used a set of Mediums first.

Pirelli’s Motorsport Director, Mario Isola, was very impressed by how well the tyres performed during the race, in what were mixed-conditions.

The Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was one which almost saw Williams Racing claim back-to-back points finishes, after Alex Albon put in a stellar performance to finish in eleventh-place.

Having started in eighteenth, Albon drove brilliantly all race at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari Circuit in what were challenging conditions. All drivers began the race on Intermediate tyres, due to a sudden downpour before the race took place. During the race though the track did dry up, with Albon timing the switch perfectly. This saw the Thai driver leap up the order and into twelfth-place.

Albon defended brilliantly from Pierre Gasly and Lewis Hamilton, whilst being in the dirty air of Esteban Ocon. In the end Albon held on for twelfth but was elevated to eleventh, following Ocon’s five-second time penalty for an unsafe release.

On the other side of the garage, it was another disappointing race for Nicholas Latifi, who brought his car home in sixteenth-place. The Canadian had an untroubled race.

Williams’ Head of Vehicle Performance, Dave Robson, believes the team took their opportunities well. Robson also praised Latifi for his stint on the medium tyres.

Alex Albon came within touching distance of back-to-back points finishes, after finishing eleventh at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Team-mate Nicholas Latifi finished sixteenth at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari.

Albon put in a defensive masterclass at Imola, after holding Pierre Gasly and Lewis Hamilton behind virtually the entire race. The Thai driver, who started eighteenth, drove superbly last Sunday and maximised every opportunity that arose.

Albon had actually crossed the line in twelfth but was elevated to eleventh, following Esteban Ocon’s five-second time penalty.

The Williams Racing driver was very happy with the result but was slightly disappointed to have just missed out on a points finish.

“I’m really happy with the result today. We maximised the opportunities and overtook some cars on track with the pace we had. We had a new rear wing configuration for the weekend which really helped us hold position, and was particularly important in the second half of the race when battling with Gasly. It’s a shame that we missed out on points by one place, but we are taking opportunities, doing things differently and showing that we can battle higher up despite not having the fastest car.

Jean-Éric Vergne arrives in Monaco for round six of the 2021-22 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship season at the head of the Drivers’ Championship standings, but the Frenchman has yet to taste victory this year, something he wants to rectify this weekend.

With the Paris E-Prix not on the calendar this year, Monaco represents the closest race Vergne has as a home event, and he and his DS Techeetah outfit are seeking to take their first wins of the year, even if the Frenchman sits on top of the standings after the first five races. He is two points clear of Envision Racing‘s Robin Frijns, and four ahead of Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team‘s Stoffel Vandoorne.

Vergne is the only driver on the grid to have scored points in each of the first five races, and he has two podiums finishes in that, a second place in Rome and a third in Mexico City.  However, he wants to replicate the result of team-mate António Félix da Costa, who took victory when Formula E raced in Monaco last year.

And with overtaking a much easier proposition in Formula E compared to Formula 1 – Vergne has experience both during his career – he is confident he can be fighting at the front of the field again this weekend and consolidate his position atop the standings heading into the Berlin E-Prix.

“Monaco is one of my favourite tracks, I love it,” said Vergne.  “It has a lot of history, the layout is also fantastic with up and down hills, fast corners, the swimming pool.

Jak Crawford will attend the first Miami Grand Prix next weekend (7/8 May) as a guest of Oracle Red Bull Racing, his first race weekend in this more relaxed role.

The American Red Bull junior driver finished 13th in the FIA Formula 3 Championship with Hitech GP in 2021, and sits fourth in the standings after six races so far this year, taking two podiums at Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari with Prema Racing last time out.

Third and second at the team’s home circuit brought him within four points of Victor Martins and team-mate Arthur Leclerc at the top of the Drivers’ Championship.

He finished marginally behind Martins in the Sprint Race, having moved up from ninth on the partially-reversed grid, building on his third-place qualifying result to finish second in the Feature race after Oliver Bearman and Gregoire Saucy collided at Rivazza 1 on the final lap.

“I get to go to a lot of Formula One races, but never just as a spectator with no racing duties,” he said.

Oliver Rowland has fond memories of racing in Monaco, and the Mahindra Racing driver is eager to add more special memories this weekend as the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship arrives in the principality for round six of the 2021-22 season.

Rowland has only scored four points in the opening five races – curtesy of the eighth-place finish in the Mexico City E-Prix in February, and he is keen to return to the top ten this weekend at a venue he has won at in the past in FIA Formula 2.

The British racer hopes the hard work Mahindra have done since the Rome E-Prix pays off this weekend, and he believes the team have what it takes to be a top ten contender in Monaco.

“Monaco is an iconic track – you grow up watching the racing here on TV and it becomes a unique place in your mind, with the boats and the casino,” said Rowland.

“It’s a reasonably quick street circuit and the track has pretty good conditions, it’s not so bumpy so it’s probably one of the smoother Formula E circuits that we go to.

James Barclay, the Team Principal of Jaguar TCS Racing, admits everyone within the team are excited by the Gen 3 Formula E car, which was unveiled to the world at the Yacht Club de Monaco on Thursday.

The quickest, lightest, most powerful and most efficient car to date will begin its tenure in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship in season nine beginning in January 2023, and Jaguar have unveiled a concept livery for the car.

Jaguar are one of seven automobile manufacturers to commit to the Gen 3 era of Formula E, and Barclay says the new regulations will see faster and more exciting racing from next season.

“Everyone is excited at Jaguar TCS Racing to reveal our test car concept livery for Gen3 with a fresh, modern design,” said Barclay.  “The abstract livery marks a bold look for the team as we prepare for the next era of Formula E.

“Gen3 is an important milestone for the World Championship with the most advanced electric race car we have seen. We expect the new Gen3 race cars to bring even faster, exciting and more dramatic wheel-to-wheel action in new city centre race tracks.

With inspiration from a fighter jet, the third generation of Formula E car was revealed by the FIA in a presentation at the Yacht Club de Monaco on Thursday ahead of this weekend’s E-Prix in the principality.

The car will debut in season nine of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship and it will see another evolution for the championship, with the latest car being the lightest, most powerful and the most efficient electric car to date.

As with its predecessors, the Gen 3 car will be designed to race around high-speed street circuits across the globe, while performance upgrades will be possible through software updates.  It will be the world’s first net zero carbon race car in the world’s first net zero carbon sport.

“The Gen3 represents the ambitious third age of Formula E and the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship,” said Alejandro Agag, the Founder and Chairman of Formula E.  

“With every generation of race car we push the boundaries of possibility in EV technology further and the Gen3 is our most ambitious project to date.

The NASCAR All-Star Race‘s second edition at Texas Motor Speedway will have four stages and an increased role for pit crews. NASCAR announced the weekend format for the event on Thursday.

Traditional single-car qualifying will be followed by a new twist as the top eight are placed in a head-to-head bracket. While a knockout qualifying system is already present in series like Formula E and Nitro Rallycross, the All-Star Race’s take will see both cars begin on pit road where their pit crews perform a four-tyre stop before they begin a one-lap dash. The winner of each duel advances to the next round, with the last two standing vying for the pole.

“The NASCAR All-Star Race highlights our best athletes, from the driver to road crew to the pit crews, and this year’s edition brings that to another level,” commented NASCAR competition senior vice president Scott Miller. “Fans will have a full weekend of exciting competition starting with a unique qualifying format and an All-Star Race that features the top talent in our sport.”

As usual, the Open will allow drivers who have not locked themselves into the All-Star Race to qualify. Those who are already in the event did so by either winning a race in 2021 or 2022, or being a former All-Star Race winner or Cup Series champion who is running the full season. The Open is split into three segments of twenty, twenty, and ten laps. The winner of each will advance to the All-Star, as will the winner of the Fan Vote.

The All-Star Race is four stages long, with the first three being of twenty-five laps. The winners of the three will comprise the top three to start the final, fifty-lap segment. After the first two stages, the pit crews once again play a role as the team with the fastest four-tyre stop will start fourth in Stage #4. However, each of the four must also finish fifteenth or higher in the third stage in order to keep their starting position.

David Coulthard MBE, Ted Kravitz, and Lee McKenzie have been presenting W Series since its first ever season in 2019. For its third season, they will be joined by Alex Jacques, Billy Monger, Amy Reynolds, and Naomi Schiff. Jacques, Monger, Reynolds and Schiff all joined W Series’ broadcast team last year after the all-female-championship started its Grand Prix support weekends with Formula One.

The 2022 W Series Championship will race at eight Formula 1 Grand Prix weekends, with double headers in Miami at the start of the season and Mexico City at the end of the season. The 10-race calendar kicks off in Miami on 6-8 May 2022 and will be broadcast by Sky Sports, after it was announced the Series had signed a three year deal for its coverage. Previously, W Series was shown on Channel 4 but now only highlights will be available, apart from the British Grand Prix at Silverstone which will be shown live alongside Sky.

Lee McKenzie will be W Series’ 2022 presenter. She is a broadcast journalist and presenter working in Formula 1, presenting international rugby, Wimbledon, the Olympics and the Paralympics.

Alex Jacques will be the lead commentator. Jacques is also a lead commentator for Formula One coverage on Channel 4 as well as being a lead commentator for FIA Formula 2.

David Coulthard will be the championship’s co-commentator. Coulthard has won 12 Formula One Grand Prix races and is a commentator and co-presenter for the F1 coverage on Channel 4. He is a Chairman of W Series’ Advisory Board and President of the British Racing Drivers’ Club.

It’s not often that you get a chance to purchase an original FIA World Endurance Championship LMP1 car, but there is now a rare opportunity to own an Audi R18 e-tron Quattro, as raced by Lucas di Grassi, Loïc Duval, and Oliver Jarvis.

Up for sale is the 416 chassis, as raced in the FIA WEC by Audi Sport Team Joest, the car entered the three races in the 2015 season, the 6 Hours of Fuji, 6 Hours of Shanghai, and the 6 Hours of Bahrain where it finished fourth, fourth, and sixth.

While the car never finished on the podium, it did help di Grassi, Duval and Jarvis take fourth place in the championship along with assisting Audi to second place in the manufacturers championship ahead of Toyota.

The price is not listed, but it is estimated that the 2014 model cost around £24m, so this Audi will not be a cheap purchase, but for those interested to find out more about the car, you can get in touch with the company selling the car here.

The Alpine F1 Team suffered a highly-disappointing Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, as the team saw their points run come to an end after Esteban Ocon finished fourteenth and Fernando Alonso retired.

It was a race to forget for Alpine, with Alonso retiring very early-on in the race following a collision with Mick Schumacher. The collision saw Alonso pick-up heavy damage to his right side-pod, leaving the team no choice but to retire him from the race.

Ocon actually crossed the line in eleventh-place, but was demoted to fourteenth after being awarded a five-second time penalty for an unsafe release. The Frenchman’s pit-crew released him straight into Lewis Hamilton, in what could’ve been a nasty pit-lane crash.

Alpine CEO, Laurent Rossi, was extremely disappointed with the result, Rossi went as far as saying “We must make sure this does not happen again”.

“Plain and simple, this weekend was a disappointing one for the team and it’s the first race of the season where we leave without scoring points. We must make sure this does not happen again this year as we have much stronger potential than that. As a team there are many areas we must improve, and we must also eradicate errors quickly if we are to achieve our ambitious goals.

It was a disappointing Emilia Romagna Grand Prix for the Alpine F1 Team, with Esteban Ocon finishing fourteenth and Fernando Alonso retiring early-on at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari.

Ocon had been running close to the points for almost the entire race, the Frenchman occupied eleventh-place for the majority of last Sunday. Ocon did actually cross the line in eleventh, but was demoted to fourteenth after being awarded a five-second penalty for an unsafe release earlier in the race.

The French driver was frustrated with how the race panned out, and wants to find out exactly how his pit-lane incident happened. Ocon will be hoping for better luck at the next round.

“It was a frustrating race for us in the end where we’ve not scored any points. For me, it’s been a tricky one since the beginning and the Qualifying result compromised the rest of my weekend so if you think about it, where we ended up today before the penalty is not too bad. We lacked a bit of race pace and in the end we were not quick enough to get into the points even without the five second penalty.

“It’s a really tight pit-lane but we’ll be looking at exactly what happened in the debrief tonight to see if it could’ve been avoided. We’ll learn and move on from this one, and I’m already looking forward to Miami.”

After hosting the opening round of the 2021 season, Barber Motorsports Park plays host to the fourth race of the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series season for the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. Nobody has yet to beat Team Penske, as Josef Newgarden made it three wins in as many races for “The Captain” at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, taking the championship lead in the process on 118 points.

He took the lead from Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin, who had a weekend to forget at Long Beach and now sits second place in the championship five points behind Newgarden. Alex Palou returns to the track where he earned his first career victory maintaining third place in the standings on 103 points, with Will Power falling behind the Spaniard to fourth on 102 points. From there, it’s a 19 point gap back to Scott Dixon who rounds out the top five.

Barber is known as an extremely physical, high-speed track, but also as a driver’s favorite. This was the first year since 2012 that Penske has won the first three races of the season, will we see someone finally topple the juggernaut? Will we see another first time winner or championship run sparked here like Palou last year? Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama.

WHAT HAPPENED LAST YEAR?

Barber opened the 2021 season in spectacular fashion, with Palou taking home the first win of his career. Pato O’Ward led the field to green, but on the first lap a spectacular crash took out Newgarden, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Colton Herta and more. The race re-started on lap eight, but by lap ten another caution came out for Jimmie Johnson who spun out in turn 13.

The race then went caution-free to the finish, with O’Ward leading the field back to green on lap 13. The Mexican driver complained about the condition of his alternate red tyres, pitting on lap 18 for the primary black tyres, with second-place Alexander Rossi coming in as well to cover him off in case of another caution. Palou inherited the lead, and along with the other frontrunners, was able to make his tyres last much longer to attempt the two-stop strategy.

So guys, my 2022 season is now well and truly underway as is my life away from the racetrack – more of that later! My year in competition began with the GT Cup Championship a few weeks ago at Donington Park and I enjoyed getting back out in the McLaren MP4-12C Can Am again. We had to use the McLaren at times last season and to be honest, we weren’t super competitive as the car is almost 10-years-old now. 

But the car’s owner, Paul Bailey and I, had some great fun, and it was good to score two, second place finishes to get our GTO title defence off to a solid start. I’d done no testing in the McLaren prior to the race weekend. Paul did a good job in the first pit-stop race before I took over and I enjoyed coming through the traffic and having a bit of fun.

The second race was a little less straightforward having to make a late pit-stop with a sensor failure but the SB Race Engineering team did a great job getting me back into the race and everything came good in the end enabling us to collect more valuable points.

Since my last column, an exciting opportunity arose for me to return to the GT4 category of the British GT Championship eight years after I claimed the title. I’m sharing a Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport with Valluga Concierge team-owner Benji Hetherington.

I won the 2014 British GT4 “crown” after scoring six podiums, including three wins, from eight races driving an Aston Martin and prior to the opening BGT weekend over Easter, the last time I’d raced a GT4 race car was six years ago at the Gulf 12 Hours in in Abu Dhabi.