Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Haas F1 Team Principal, Günther Steiner, said the team’s result in Imola left something to be desired, as he hoped for a stronger finish to the sprint weekend. Kevin Magnussen took ninth-place, earning three-points total with his eighth-place sprint finish, while Mick Schumacher was unable to convert his tenth-place grid position to a finish in the points due to a first-lap incident with Fernando Alonso. 

“We would have wished to have got a little bit more today but after four races, and three with points, we took something home and I think there is more to come.”

Ultimately, Steiner felt that Haas’ competitors outpaced them at Imola, which made it difficult for Schumacher to recover and for Magnussen to move forward in the field. 

“It wasn’t an ideal race for us with Mick spinning on the first lap, which put him to the back, and with the field like it is now recovering is almost impossible. Kevin was fighting hard, was going well on the inters and then on the dry tires – we were just not fast enough for the others.”

Steiner said that the team needs to keep developing as the season progresses. With Haas currently occupying eighth-place in the Constructors’ standings, he wants to see the team improve and put themselves on the sharp end of the tight midfield pack.

Brayton Laster is nicknamed “The Pizza Man” to symbolise his love for pepperoni pizza, and the moniker is represented with his pepperoni-themed helmet and accompanying pit sign. In June, he will aim to add a little pizza flavour to the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series when he makes his series début at Knoxville Raceway for Reaume Brothers Racing. He announced his plans on Wednesday night, though a number and sponsorship were not immediately revealed.

“We’re going NASCAR Camping World Truck Series racing! If you would’ve told me 4 months ago I’d even be practicing at Daytona in January in the ARCA Menards Series I would’ve called you crazy,” Laster posted on Facebook. “The planets have definitely aligned these past couple of months. This is the culmination of 12 years worth of blood, sweat, and a lot of tears, along with the help from countless people over the years. I just gotta thank my parents Tamara Laster and Dane Laster for all the support, no matter how many birthdays or social events we had to miss.”

Savvy with figure-eight racing, Laster began his career on pavement in karting, hornets, and outlaws but did not pursue the traditional path of paved late models due to funding. Instead, he opted for dirt track racing under the wing of dirt great C.J. Rayburn. Much of his experience came at his fifth-mile hometown Indianapolis Speedrome, where he acquired the originally dubious nickname “Master of Disaster” for his propensity to end up in crashes, though he has since embraced the title. However, it perhaps pales in comparison to “Pizza Man”.

Speaking with J.A. Ackley of Outside Groove in 2021, Laster explained: “At [the Indianapolis] Speedrome, the concession stand sold only Papa John’’ pizza. I’, go up throughout the race night and get pizza. Early on in my racing career, I got the nickname ‘Pizza Man’. It almost became my identity. Throughout middle school, I had a jacket that looked like pepperoni pizza. I had shoes, pants, and my backpack was a pizza. All my friends and teachers at school called me ‘Pizza Man’. That transferred over to the racing world.”

The 19-year-old began racing in the ARCA Menards Series in 2022 with starts coming at the two superspeedways Daytona and Talladega in the #03 for Mullins Racing in partnership with Alex Clubb. He finished thirteenth at Daytona before being involved in a wild wreck at Talladega that saw Richard Garvie go airbourne after hitting Laster’s nose.

Many motorsport figures, teams, and associations around the world have contributed to relief efforts in Ukraine in the two months since Russia began its invasion of the country. For off-road racer David Caspino, he is delivering his support firsthand.

In March, Caspino spent two weeks in Ukraine on a humanitarian mission with the Little Angels Project, including bringing over $60,000 USD in goods like body armour and insulin. He also worked as a combat medic, a position he previously served in the United States Army, and taught battlefield medicine to the populace during curfews. He transported 401 refugees to Poland via van in an effort supported by the Red Cross; much of those he brought were at risk of sex trafficking, such as teenage girls and orphans. Such a task, although certainly stressful as it entails navigating around treacherous war-torn roads, was perhaps fitting for Caspino as a longtime SCORE International desert competitor.

He returned to America after hitting a land mine and suffering back injuries. Despite the setback, he intends to return on 1 May and launched a GoFundMe to raise more money.

“It’s very rewarding and very fulfilling, but it’s pretty crazy,” Caspino told The Willits News on 22 March.

On Wednesday, PCI Race Radios—an official partner of SCORE International—announced it will donate 100 two-way VHF (very high frequency) radios to the Ukrainian Army and Territorial Defense Forces, the latter of which includes a unit for foreign volunteers like his fellow Americans, with Caspino overseeing their delivery. In a Facebook post made last Tuesday, Caspino stressed a need for Individual First Aid Kits, while off-road racing shop SDHQ Motorsports chipped in stickers and apparel; Caspino quipped on Instagram that he believes “kids in Ukraine love stickers more than Baja kids.”

Haas F1 Team’s, Kevin Magnussen, added more points to the tally after a successful weekend at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. He earned himself a point in Saturday’s sprint, finishing eighth, and then two more with a ninth-place finish in the race. 

Magnussen was pleased with the “decent weekend”, even if the result wasn’t on par with the “high hopes” that came with his fourth-place qualification. 

“We scored points again – both yesterday and today – so that’s a good weekend. When we qualified P4, hopes were very high at the beginning, but we’ve got to be realistic as well and getting away with points in both the sprint and the main race, that’s a decent weekend.”

Magnussen benefitted from the eventful opening lap, reaching a peak position of fifth before dropping back down the order as a result of his disadvantageous pit-strategy.  

“At the beginning of the race, I was on intermediates and got up to P5 and the pace was pretty good. Then the track dried up and we were a bit late to come in for slicks, so we got undercut by a couple of people. We came out and fought for points – got two today, three points over the weekend – so it was pretty decent.”

The Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team earned their first points of the season at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, with a double-points finish. Sebastian Vettel took eighth, and Lance Stroll rounded out the points positions with a tenth-place result. 

Aston Martin Team Principal Mike Krack, recounted the “faultless” drives of the Aston Martin pilots, who were able to maximise the opportunities the unique conditions offered them. Vettel’s amazing start and early switch to slicks allowed him to secure the impressive result, while Stroll’s opening lap brought him from fifteenth up to the edge of the points.

“Both Sebastian and Lance drove faultlessly in today’s tricky wet-to-dry race. In wet conditions, Sebastian vaulted into ninth on lap one, then comfortably raced inside the top 10 for the whole race. As the track dried, he was one of the very first drivers to roll the dice and switch from Intermediates to the Medium tyre. The team and he judged that stop perfectly and Sebastian then ran smoothly in P7 until the closing laps, when he dropped to eighth.

“Equally, Lance didn’t put a foot wrong this afternoon. He too made a strong start, made up positions on the opening lap, and enjoyed a fantastic, spirited tussle with [Yuki] Tsunoda. After his stop, he settled down in 10th place, withstood race-long pressure from a train of cars behind him and scored his first point of the season.”

Krack said that the team’s performance in Imola boosted morale, as the British outfit will be looking to keep developing in order to move further up the field as the season progresses. With five points on the board, Aston Martin have overtaken Williams Racing for ninth in the Constructors’ Championship.

Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team’s, Sebastian Vettel, finished eighth at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, earning his first points of the season. Benefitting from an eventful opening lap, Vettel was able to move from thirteenth up to ninth soon after lights out. The Four-Time World Champion went on to secure a points finish with a solid drive. 

The German driver said that several factors played into the team’s season-best result in Imola, from the weather conditions to a solid tyre-strategy. 

“The team did really well today and we maximised everything to finish P8. It is an important result for the team because they have worked so hard in a challenging season so far. It is clear that we benefitted from the cooler and damp conditions on Friday and Sunday, but we still needed to capitalise on the opportunities that came our way. We also achieved that through good strategy, making our pit-stop for dry tyres at the right moment.”

With the team still struggling to find pace in their 2022 contender, Vettel said that tyre management was key to their successful result. Having added the first points to the tally, he now shifts his focus to the upcoming Miami Grand Prix.

“We may not have had the pure pace in this race, but we managed the tyres well and we got both cars into the points. It is nice to get off the mark and get points in the bag and now we are looking forward to Miami.”

Scuderia AlphaTauri driver, Yuki Tsunoda, was happy with his seventh-place finish at Sunday’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix – which is tied for his third best finish in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship. The Japanese driver started in twelfth-place after gaining three positions in Saturday’s Sprint Qualifying session, and would work his way up to eighth place in the full-distance race to score six hard-earned points for AlphaTauri – with good overtakes on Magnussen and Vettel along the way.

It has been a good start to the year for Tsunoda, who finds himself leading team-mate, Pierre Gasly, in the the standings by a four-point margin. Tsunoda loved having AlphaTauri team members cheering him on from the grandstands, in what was the team’s home race. Tsunoda would’ve certainly made all of them very happy!

“I’m super happy with today, especially to score points at our home track. There are a lot of people from the factory watching here in the grandstands today, every lap I could see the AlphaTauri flags being waved and it gave me a great boost, so it feels like a big thank you to everyone that works so hard in the team.

“The pace of the car has been really good today, I didn’t expect it to be quite that strong heading into the race, but we’ve made progress through the week and I’m pleased with the performance we showed this afternoon.”

“We were all stuck in a DRS train” – Pierre Gasly

One of the main battles that was showcased during the 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was the battle between Lewis Hamilton, Pierre Gasly and Alexander Albon for what would become eleventh-place after post-race penalties were applied.

Franz Tost, Team Principal of Scuderia AlphaTauri believes the 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix saw good progress for the team, with the upgrades that were added to the car. Tost believes that with only a few more minor changes, both Yuki Tsunoda and Pierre Gasly will start scoring points consistently.

There was happiness and frustration splitting the garage of the Italian-based team over the weekend, with Gasly being unable to score points after taking damage in the Sprint Qualifying session on Saturday, then being stuck in a DRS train behind Alexander Albon for the majority of the race. Tsunoda however, gained three places in the Sprint and a further five in the race to take an impressive seventh-place finish in changing-weather conditions.

AlphaTauri now find themselves seventh in the Constructors’ Championship, just one point ahead of the Haas F1 Team, who have found a lot of performance in the early stages of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship.

Speaking on the successes and failures of the weekend, Tost firstly congratulated AlphaTauri’s sister team on their one-two result on Sunday.

“It was a very exciting race today. I would like to congratulate Oracle Red Bull Racing for their well-deserved one-two. Max and Checo controlled the pace for the entire race, they did a really fantastic job.

MBM Motorsports will return to a two-car operation for the rest of the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series season. On Tuesday, the team announced the part-time #13 will expand to see out the remainder of the year with Timmy Hill, Chad Finchum, and Natalie Decker expected to make starts. Finchum is entered for Saturday’s Dover Motor Speedway event.

After years of fielding multiple entries, MBM downsized to a single-car stable in 2022 with the flagship #66 piloted by J.J. Yeley. Running the full season, he sits twenty-first in points after nine races with three top twenties and a best finish of eleventh at Atlanta.

Meanwhile, the #13 has come back for five races so far with Decker (Talladega), Finchum (Atlanta and Martinsville), and Stan Mullis (Las Vegas and Phoenix). However, the car failed to qualify for each. To give the car some help in qualifying, MBM has purchased owner points from RSS Racing‘s #28.

Others like Takuma Koga and John Jackson have also been expected to be part of the roster, though specific starts were not revealed.

The team posted on Facebook, “MBM Motorsports is excited to announce that the MBM #13 is back for the balance of the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule! We are also proud to announce that Timmy Hill will be back in the seat for some upcoming events!!! Chad Finchum will be in the 13 this weekend at Dover Motor Speedway in the UNITS Moving & Portable Storage / Garrison Homes Toyota and then Timmy Hill will be behind the wheel at Darlington Raceway, Texas Motor Speedway, and at Charlotte Motor Speedway!! Natalie Decker will also be driving the MBM #13 at Nashville Superspeedway! More info will be coming soon!!”

NASCAR Xfinity Series team JR Motorsports is closely connected to Cup Series operation Hendrick Motorsports, for whom JRM owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. drove while HMS leader Rick Hendrick has a stake in JRM. To further consummate the relationship, JRM will field the #88 Chevrolet Camaro in five Xfinity races for Hendrick drivers William Byron, Chase Elliott, and Kyle Larson.

Elliott will be the first to race as the Cup points leader enters the Darlington Raceway event on 7 May. Byron and Larson have two starts apiece as the former races at Texas Motor Speedway (21 May) and New Hampshire Motor Speedway (16 July), while the latter is in at Watkins Glen International (20 August) and the second Darlington race (3 September). HendrickCars.com, which is run by the Hendrick Automotive Group and sponsors Larson’s #5 Cup car, will appear on the #88 for each date.

“The NASCAR platform has been instrumental in helping us build HendrickCars.com into a national brand, and we look forward to continuing that momentum through this expanded effort,” commented Hendrick Automotive Group president Greg Gach. “We are committed to our racing programmes and supporting our Hendrick Motorsports teammates whenever we can, and we know these additional races will benefit our drivers and teams. We’re also excited to work with Dale Jr. on this opportunity. He’s a terrific partner whose dealerships have created tremendous value for our General Motors customers. It’s a win-win for everyone.”

Byron and Elliott are former Xfinity champions, respectively winning the titles as rookies in 2017 and 2014 for JRM. Since winning four races and the championship in his lone season before moving up to the Cup Series, Byron has not raced in the Xfinity Series since. A five-time Xfinity race winner who won at Darlington in 2014, Elliott last raced in the series at Indianapolis last year as an injury replacement for Michael Annett.

Larson, the reigning Cup champ who has twelve Xfinity victories, made his most recent start in 2018 at Bristol, an event he ultimately won. Unlike his peers, he has never raced for JRM in the Xfinity Series though he finished seventh in a Camping World Truck Series one-off with the organisation in 2015.

Scuderia Ferrari will not be remembering the 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in a hurry, as Charles Leclerc finished sixth after spinning out of third late on and Carlos Sainz Jr retired from the race on the first-lap.

The Tifosi would’ve gone to the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix with high hopes, after Ferrari’s impressive start to the season, unfortunately Imola would turn out to be the team’s worst result of the season so far. Both Leclerc and Sainz were slow off the line, resulting in both losing places. Sainz’ race was quickly over though, after being spun round by Daniel Ricciardo accidently at Turn Two on the first-lap, resulting in the Spaniard’s F1-75 becoming beached in the gravel.

Leclerc managed to recover to third after his own poor start and was involved in a great battle with Sergio Pérez, until the Monegasque driver got too greedy late on at the Variante Alta Chicane. Leclerc took too much kerb after entering the chicane at a much higher speed than usual and as a result span into the barrier, breaking his front-wing. After making a late stop to replace the front-wing, the Championship leader did well to recover from the foot of the points to sixth.

Ferrari Team Principal, Mattia Binotto, was understandably very disappointed with his driver’s results, especially at their home Grand Prix.

“Of course we are disappointed as we wanted a better result than this in front of all our fans. It was a difficult race. Our drivers did not get perfect starts, possibly being on the worse side of the track. Charles’ first pit stop was not the best either, which meant he was back out on track without the gap that might have allowed him to fend off Perez and then he made a mistake trying to overtake him.

It was the worst home Grand Prix possible for Scuderia Ferrari, with Charles Leclerc finishing sixth after spinning out of third late-on, and with Carlos Sainz Jr retiring on the opening lap after colliding with Daniel Ricciardo at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari Circuit.

Leclerc’s race got off to the worst possible start, after dropping to fourth on the opening lap after a poor getaway from the lights. The Monegasque driver was quickly up to third though and right behind Sergio Pérez. Leclerc managed to successfully overcut the Mexican, when changing from Intermediate to Medium tyres but quickly found himself back behind the Mexican who had much better grip.

In front of the team’s home crowd, Leclerc gave it his all to take second off of Pérez, however the Monegasque driver went over the limit. Leclerc span late-on at the Variante Alta chicane, after carrying too much speed and taking far too much kerb. Leclerc’s spin saw him hit the barrier and break his front-wing, resulting in a late unnecessary pit-stop. This dropped Leclerc almost to the foot of the points places, the Championship leader did well though to recover back to sixth.

Leclerc saw his championship lead reduce, after rival Max Verstappen claimed an easy victory. Leclerc knows he should’ve remained in third but is determined to come back stronger following his mistake.

“It was a very tricky race. Third was the best result we could have secured today, as our competitors were very strong. I struggled on the Soft tyres but when I saw an opportunity to overtake Perez for second, I went for it, pushing a bit too much, when I should have stayed put to secure those points. We will analyse all the data and come back stronger.“

The Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN took home an impressive twelve points from the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, all courtesy of Valtteri Bottas who performed brilliantly in both the Sprint race on Saturday and the main race on Sunday, at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari Circuit.

Bottas performed strongly during the race and recovered well following a slow pit-stop, the Finnish driver was so close to finishing fourth after closing George Russell down in the closing stages but had to settle for fifth at Imola.

Guanyu Zhou had an uneventful race, which after crashing out of the Sprint race, may not have been the worst thing that the rookie could’ve experienced as he gained plenty of valuable data. Zhou finished the race in fifteenth place, having started from the pit-lane.

Alfa Romeo Team Principal, Frédéric Vasseur, was very happy with the team’s overall performance but was especially pleased to see the upgrades they brought to the weekend working well.

“It has been a strong weekend from the team and to bring home 12 points between yesterday and today is a deserved reward. We delivered upgrades that worked well, a brilliant job by the team at home, and the crew were incredible both on Friday and Saturday night, with two rebuild jobs they undertook with strong spirit.

Valtteri Bottas signing for Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN, continues to look like the best driver transfer for this season, after the Finnish driver crossed the line in an impressive fifth-place at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Team-mate Guanyu Zhou finished a disappointing fifteenth at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari Circuit.

Bottas made an electric start and was challenging the top-five by the first corner, he did brilliantly though to avoid an early retirement after Carlos Sainz Jr and Daniel Ricciardo collided directly ahead of him at Tamburello. The nose of Bottas’ C42 was clearly scuffed, however the Finnish driver soldiered on. He was unfortunate however to suffer an incredibly slow pit-stop whilst changing from Intermediate, to Medium tyres.

This dropped Bottas back a few places, although it didn’t take him long to make his way back up to sixth. Sixth became fifth when Charles Leclerc span up ahead late on, it was actually almost fourth for Bottas who closed George Russell down rapidly late-on but to no avail.

Considering his race could’ve ended within the first twenty-seconds, fifth was a stellar job by Bottas who was pleased to see the upgrades the team brought to the weekend working well.

“It was a fun race for me today! It’s always good to get points, we had a strong race in a car that felt really good. I am happy with how everything went, even though we lost a bit of time in the pit-stop, but we bring home ten points today so we’ll take it. I had a bit of a scare at the beginning of the race, when I couldn’t avoid Ricciardo when he tangled with Sainz, but luckily we didn’t have any damage.

The Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, suffered a very mixed Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, with George Russell salvaging an incredible fourth-place finish, whilst Lewis Hamilton languished in thirteenth.

Russell drove superbly in the changing conditions at the Autodromo Internazionale Enzo e Dino Ferrari Circuit to bring home a solid fourth-place, despite starting just outside the top ten. Hamilton on the other hand didn’t recover from a poor Qualifying and Sprint race quite as well, after being stuck in a DRS train behind Pierre Gasly virtually the entire race.

Hamilton failed to make the sort of progress through the field that Russell did early on, leaving him stuck in a queue of cars. The Seven-Time World Champion’s race was also massively hindered after being hit in the pit-lane by Esteban Ocon, after the Frenchman was released unsafely. Incident aside though the story remains perfectly clear at Mercedes, the drivers don’t have a car capable of fighting for the championship.

Team Principal Toto Wolff was full of praise for Russell after the race, whilst acknowledging the team hasn’t produced a car “worthy of a World Champion” like Hamilton.

“What is clear from the entire weekend is that we have work to do to deliver our drivers a quick enough car. We saw with George what our car can do in clear air but it’s still not good enough. We missed out on adjusting George’s front flap at the pit stop due to an issue which meant he had a car that was setup for wet for the majority of the race so a great drive from him to hold on the P4 at the end.