Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Charles Leclerc took Scuderia Ferrari back to where they belong, on the top step of the podium, after winning the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix with team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr making it a Ferrari 1-2 at the Bahrain International Circuit.

Leclerc has cemented his place as a serious championship contender, after a dominant display under the lights in Bahrain, the Monegasque driver controlled the entire race and when needed to battled Max Verstappen superbly. Leclerc made an excellent start from pole and was instantly in control of the race, this all changed though after the first round of stops, where Verstappen who went for the undercut was right behind the Ferrari driver.

The pair battled brilliantly for several laps, something which we will certainly be seeing a lot more of this season. Leclerc held on beautifully though and got back into complete control of the race, opening up a reasonable gap in the process. This gap disintegrated however when a late Safety Car was brought out due to a fiery Scuderia AlphaTauri. Pierre Gasly grinded to a halt on the exit of Turn 3, with his AT03 quickly going up in flames.

Leclerc would’ve been concerned about having Verstappen right on his gearbox all over again, however he had no reason to fear, the World Champion was forced into retirement just as Leclerc was about to restart the race. The Dutchman suffered multiple reliability issues at the exact same time, ending his hopes of victory.

It meant Leclerc was able to comfortably countdown the remaining laps to claim his third career victory, and his first perfect weekend, after claiming pole position, victory and the fastest lap.

Despite struggling for pace all weekend at the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton managed to capitalise on Oracle Red Bull Racing’s woes and salvage an unexpected third place. Team-mate George Russell finished right behind in fourth at the Bahrain International Circuit.

Hamilton who started fifth, made an excellent start and was quickly in fourth ahead of Sergio Pérez, it wasn’t long though until the Mexican was back past and driving off into the distance. Hamilton’s race quickly became a lonely one, after using the hard compound for his second stint, both Hamilton and Russell struggled with tyre degradation.

Just when it was beginning to look like a fifth place finish for Hamilton, Pierre Gasly’s Scuderia AlphaTauri went up in flames, bringing out a late Safety Car. This kicked-off a plethora of late drama, with Max Verstappen retiring straight from the Safety Car restart with a reliability issue, before Pérez spun on the final lap again down to a fault with the car.

It all meant that despite being well off the leading pace, Hamilton clinched yet another podium and the first for the W13.

Hamilton couldn’t believe he was on the podium with the Scuderia Ferrari duo; Charles Leclerc won the race ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr, but believes that soon enough he will be back fighting for victories.

The Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team were definitely not expected to feature on the podium at the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix, however an Oracle Red Bull Racing nightmare opened the third place door for Lewis Hamilton. George Russell secured a 3-4 for the Silver Arrows.

Despite both British drivers making excellent starts, especially Russell who rose from ninth to sixth in rapid fashion, it was a very lonely race for Mercedes. The Silver Arrows found themselves a second slower than race winner Charles Leclerc at periods during the race. Mercedes tried to do a long stint on the hard compound tyre, however it simply didn’t work.

The British duo sat in fifth and sixth for the vast majority of the race, until late drama opened a door for Mercedes to make up some places. Pierre Gasly’s AT03 went up in smoke, bringing out a late Safety Car. As Leclerc went to restart the race, Max Verstappen was forced into retirement due to a reliability issue. Hamilton then found himself right behind Sergio Pérez, who on the final lap also suffered a race ending reliability issue, the Mexican span round and was unable to start the car. This incredibly saw Hamilton cross the line in third with Russell in a solid fourth.

Mercedes Team Principal, Toto Wolff, believes it was a great result for the team, but that ultimately the team’s strategy and the W13 weren’t up to scratch.

“Today we were punching above our weight class, with the Red Bulls DNF-ing, but third and fourth is a fantastic result. I think with the Soft tyre, on pure pace before the tyre degrades, we are almost there – not where Leclerc is but with the others. Then degradation is too big and today we tried to do something different by putting the Hard on but it was a second slower every single lap so lesson learned.

Charles Leclerc won the season opener as he led a Scuderia Ferrari 1-2 at the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir.

Carlos Sainz stayed in the hunt and passed Max Verstappen in the final laps. Lewis Hamilton secured an unlikely podium position as both Oracle Red Bull Racing drivers retired in the final laps.

The race started under the lights in cool conditions with air temperatures at 24 degrees C and track temperatures at 30 degrees C at the Bahrain International Circuit. Leclerc was on pole position with Verstappen on the first row. Sainz and Sergio Pérez started on the second row.

Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas were on the third row. Kevin Magnussen, Fernando Alonso, George Russell and Pierre Gasly started at the sharp end of the grid.

The new 18-inch Pirelli tyres for this race is from the hardest range of Pirelli tyres. The Pirelli tyre choice for the race is the white-striped hard compound tyres (C1), yellow-striped medium compound tyres (C2), and red-striped soft compound tyres (C3).

Rally Jameel, the first all-women’s rally raid in Saudi Arabia, was held over the weekend with a three-leg battle from Hail to Riyadh. By the end, the #21 Swedish Challenge duo of Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky and Annie Seel were triumphant. The all-Swedish duo accumulated 2,166.590 points, over nine more than runner-up Atefa Saleh and Eleanor Coker of Galaxy.

Unlike other rally raids that are dependent on speed and time, Rally Jameel uses a points system that rewards teams based on their navigation skills. Sharing a Toyota RAV4, Åhlin-Kottulinsky and Seel racked up the most points in the first leg but was deducted twelve points due to penalties that sank them to third with a score of 544.552, trailing decorated Saudi off-roader Dania Akeel and Susana Hernando‘s 549.984 but still the best of the five AW4 class teams. Swedish Challenge took the lead in the second leg with a performance that totalled 856.545 points, giving them the edge over a trio of American teams led by the #27 of Rosamond Dana and Susanne Saxten. Leg #3 saw the U.S.-based Team Wild Grace of Lyn Woodward and Sedona Blinson lead the overall with 771.882 points, while Swedish Challenge ranked tenth with 763.476; despite the drop, the #21 still topped AW4 by thirty-one points.

By the end, Swedish Challenge’s 2,166.590 points topped the leaderboard while Galaxy finished second with 2,157.263. Rounding out the podium with 2,155.246 points was the Toyota Prado of Saudi driver Maha Al Hamly and Pochola Hernández.

Åhlin-Kottulinsky headlined the field of sixty-eight drivers as the current Extreme E Championship leader, where she is incidentally also paired up with a fellow Swede in Johan Kristoffersson at defending champion Rosberg X Racing. She posted on Instagram, “First ever female rally in Saudiarabia – and we got P1! We are of course really happy, but the main thing about this rally is the spirit it had, promoting female drivers, each one of us supporting each other throughout the event, and inspiring the young generation, or actually all generations that if you wanna become a female racer – you can!

“It’s been a pleasure sharing the car with Annie, I’ve learned so much from all her experience of navigation in the desert and how to tackle its obstacles […] And also for those average speed zones, Annie killed it / it’s not as easy to manage to keep average of 38/43/49 km/h as you may think!!”

Victor Martins took his first FIA Formula 3 Championship win of the season at the Bahrain International Circuit on Sunday, coming home ahead of Arthur Leclerc in the Feature Race.

Isaac Hadjar won Saturday’s Sprint Race after Prema Racing‘s Oliver Bearman crossed the line first but received a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits.

Franco Colapinto started on pole after Friday’s Qualifying session, alongside Roman Stanek.

The front two made it through the first sector intact, with Victor Martins just behind, with Juan Manuel Correa harassing Zane Maloney out of Turn 3.

Francesco Pizzi, Kaylen Frederick and Maloney all stopped on track throughout the first lap, with Maloney jumping out of his smoking Trident after spinning Pizzi in the middle sector.

The 19-year-old Ty Gibbs has won NASCAR Xfinity Series of many varieties, from his series début to dominating a road course, and now to winning on a pseudo-superspeedway with a last-lap overtime move. A strong run on the final lap propelled Gibbs to his sixth career Xfinity win and first on the reconfigured Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Noah Gragson, last week’s winner in Phoenix and who had one of his 2021 trips to Atlanta end with a fight with current Kaulig Racing Cup colleague Daniel Hemric, started on the pole and led the until the competition caution. Gragson continued to lead on the restart but JR Motorsports team-mate Josh Berry ultimately beat him to the stage win; JRM drivers locked out the top four with Gragson, Justin Allgaier, and Sam Mayer following. Behind were Trevor Bayne, Austin Hill, Jeb Burton, Brandon Brown, Brandon Jones, and Sheldon Creed.

Gragson’s race began to deteriorate after hitting the wall on lap 51 which dropped him a lap off the leaders. At stage’s end, A.J. Allmendinger led Hemric, Jade Buford, Tommy Joe Martins, Sage Karam, Creed, Brown, Hill, Trevor Bayne, and Jeb Burton. Lap 105 saw the first wreck of the day involving Buford and Jeremy Clements, which was followed by an accident claiming Joe Graf Jr. and Hemric. Mayer spun on lap 128, followed by Creed, Berry, and Brown spinning together ten circuits later. The largest accident of the night came on lap 152 with twelve drivers being collected on the frontstretch.

Myatt Snider was the leader under the ensuing caution laps, but a shower of sparks led to him being off the pace coming to the restart before he was clipped from behind by Herbst on the frontstretch, though he avoided impact with the field. The incident resulted in overtime, only for another caution to wave after multiple drivers crashed again which necessitated a twelve-minute red flag for cleanup.

Ryan Sieg and Hill comprised the front row for the second overtime attempt. Hill was the leader as he took the white flag, but Gibbs found a run on the inside as they approached turn one and cleared him for the lead and eventually the victory. He is the first repeat winner of the 2022 Xfinity season after winning at Las Vegas a fortnight ago.

The reconfigured Atlanta Motor Speedway is widely regarded as a cross between a standard intermediate oval and a superspeedway with its higher banking while retaining the original 1.5-mile length. Like a classic superspeedway finish, Corey Heim made a final-lap pass on Kyle Busch Motorsports team-mate Chandler Smith to win his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race in just his fifth career start.

Smith, the most recent Truck race winner at Las Vegas a fortnight ago, started on the pole while Heim was further back nineteenth as a driver change between races (Kyle Busch finished second at Vegas) impacted his starting position in the qualifying formula. Stewart Friesen, who started second, took the lead on the first lap and led the entire opening stage to win ahead of Grant Enfinger, Derek Kraus, Christian Eckes, Matt Crafton, Tanner Gray, Smith, Ross Chastain, John Hunter Nemechek, and Tyler Ankrum.

While the first stage did not see any cautions, Hailie Deegan‘s race ended when she suffered a flat tyre after contact from Colby Howard, eventually resulting in it catching fire. It has been a difficult West Coast stretch for Deegan, who crashed out at Las Vegas followed by her Mint 400 début last weekend being hampered by a power steering failure.

Deegan was not injured by the blaze and subsequently posted on social media, “Yes I’m okay now. Our truck and times were super fast. First flat was caused from the 91 plowing into me on lap 7 on the back stretch for no reason. I was on fire for multiple laps. I started suffocating and couldn’t breathe when the fire extinguisher and black smoke engulfed the truck on pit road. I couldn’t get out because I couldn’t see the window net. I declined my interview because I couldn’t say 2 worsd without coughing/choking”.

Save for a debris caution on lap 51, the second stage was also relatively clean. Nemechek won with Ty Majeski, Smith, Eckes, Ankrum, Crafton, Dean Thompson, Gray, Carson Hocevar, and Ryan Preece rounding out the top ten.

It was a welcomed return to Qualifying 3 for Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN, with Valtteri Bottas qualifying an incredible sixth and rookie team-mate Guanyu Zhou in fourteenth at the Bahrain International Circuit.

Very few would’ve predicted that Bottas would be qualifying on the third row for the Bahrain Grand Prix, let alone alongside his former Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team team-mate Lewis Hamilton, or three places ahead of George Russell, the man who replaced Bottas at Mercedes! The Finnish driver looked brilliant in qualifying but most importantly he looked comfortable, something he rarely appeared to be in his latter days at the Silver Arrows.

Bottas is very pleased to be starting sixth and is hopeful of a strong points haul on Sunday, he also wouldn’t mind a battle against his former team!

“To be on the third row in our first qualifying together is a big achievement and we need to be satisfied – both me and the team. My session was really smooth and I improved a little bit in every run, which is what you set out to do in qualifying. It’s an important moment for us as it shows we can be up here. I am proud of the job everyone did, here and at the factory: we knew we had a chance to be in Q3 but it was good to actually do it when everyone turned up with everything they had.

“Now we focus on the race: our long run pace looked even better than on the single lap, so we can be in the fight. The top four are probably out of reach for everyone, but it would be nice to have a battle with Mercedes. In any case, this is the start of our journey and I want us to look forward and not back: the objective is to be up here at the flag and bring home good points.”

On his Formula 1 return, Kevin Magnussen qualified an unbelievable seventh for the Uralkali Haas F1 Team at the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix, team-mate Mick Schumacher qualified in twelfth, the best result of his career so far.

On his returning weekend to the sport, Magnussen enjoyed arguably one of the best Qualifying performances of his entire career. the Danish driver was fast throughout the session and wasn’t even too far off putting his VF-22 on the third row. Magnussen made it into Qualifying 3 having only done one lap in Qualifying 2, the Haas driver had a hydraulic issue which meant he wasn’t able to do another lap.

In the end Magnussen didn’t even need another go at it, as his first lap in the second part of qualifying was enough to see him through into Qualifying 3, where he performed valiantly. A top six finish is well and truly possible for Magnussen on Sunday, in what would be an incredible change of fortune for the Uralkali Haas F1 Team, who sacrificed so much in 2021.

Magnussen can’t believe how amazing Saturday went and now can’t wait for the race to begin!

“It’s crazy. This is all we ever could’ve hoped for – I’m speechless. The last couple of weeks have been insane. Getting here, learning about the car, seeing that it is maybe a pretty good one and being so anxious about this qualifying to really see how it is and then finding out it is really good.

It was not the usual Qualifying dominance that the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team have become so used to over recent years, after Lewis Hamilton qualified fifth and George Russell ninth at the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix.

Considering where they were at the end of Friday, ending qualifying just over six tenths behind pole-sitter Charles Leclerc is actually a very good result for Mercedes and for Hamilton. The Seven-Time World Champion made it clear to the media plenty of times that the Silver Arrows were behind, understandably no-one believed him. Qualifying proved though that Mercedes are in fact the third fastest team as it stands, so starting the first race of the year from fifth is a positive start to the season for Hamilton.

The British driver is known for his ‘never give up’ attitude, something which will benefit him in what looks to be a difficult start to the season for Mercedes. Hamilton is very proud of what his team have achieved in regards to closing the gap to the frontrunners, the British driver is also more than ready for the challenge ahead.

“The session was tough but I’m really proud of what we’ve managed to do, given the issues we’ve had the past week. Those guys ahead of us are on another level at the moment but there’s a lot to play for tomorrow at the start and with strategy so I hope I can at least stay with them and stay in the fight. We’re not quick enough to win but I told you that before the weekend.

“It was looking like we were further behind last week, we’ve made some improvements and we’re closer, so I’m proud of what we’ve achieved and where we’ve got to. I hope we’ll make another step next week and bit by bit, we’ll hunt those guys down. The improvements come from our collective efforts, we’re working as hard as we can and I know it’s a long, long way to go but I love a challenge.”

World Champion Max Verstappen had to settle for a second place start for the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix, after narrowly missing out on pole to Charles Leclerc at the Bahrain International Circuit.

Verstappen was just a tenth away from claiming the first pole of the 2022 season, however the Dutchman struggled with finding the right balance between each Qualifying session. The World Champion would’ve been hoping to have taken the first pole position in the new era of Formula 1, second place though is historically the place to be at Bahrain!

The World Champion has looked flawless all weekend and is still the vast majorities favourite to take the win on Sunday, Verstappen is aware though that the Ferrari’s are very close.

“Overall, it’s not a bad position to be in, of course you always want more but this is a positive start to the season. I think we have a good race car which is important and with it being the start of the season, there are still a lot of things to learn. Q2 was good but Q3 was a bit more hit and miss with not really getting the right balance. There was some oversteer and understeer so you can’t really attack the corner which makes it quite difficult to put that lap together, so that’s something we’ll need to look into.

“The Ferraris are of course very close and it’s going to be a tough battle, they have two strong drivers so it’s going to be exciting. The weather is meant to be warmer tomorrow so it’ll be a bit tougher on the tyres. As a Team we just have to see how competitive we are in the race, it’s a long season and a lot can happen.”

Arrow McLaren SP‘s Felix Rosenqvist will start on pole position for tomorrow’s 2022 NTT IndyCar Series XPEL 375 at Texas Motor Speedway. The Swedish driver would beat championship-leader Scott McLaughlin to the top spot by just fourteen-thousandths of a mile an hour, with the top five separated by just one-tenth.

Qualifying at Texas Motor Speedway saw each driver head out in the reverse order of owner’s points for two flying laps, with the fastest average speed across both laps determining who would start on pole position. The track was hot – with temperatures nearing triple figures – and the pace would be hotter still, with the vast majority of drivers averaging speeds of over 220-mph.

Rosenqvist’s #7 Chevrolet would head out on track inside the first half of the session. His two-lap average of 221.110-mph would comfortably put him on top of the time-sheets at the time, but as driver after driver took to the track after him, few could get close to him on the speed charts.

Ultimately, only five drivers would finish the session with a two-lap average in the 221-mph range. Dale Coyne Racing‘s Takuma Sato would be the first to seriously challenge the provisional pole time, but the Japanese driver would fall short by a tiny margin of just sixteen-thousandths of a mile an hour; a ridiculously tight margin.

However, Scott McLaughlin’s qualifying run at the very end of the session would see the New Zealander get even closer than Sato managed! The Team Penske Kiwi would slot into second on the grid, just two-thousandths of a mile an hour faster than Sato and only fourteenth-thousandths off of Rosenqvist.

After turning their first laps in preparation for the 70th running of the Twelve Hours of Sebring, the #62 Risi Competizione Ferrari GT3 Evo GTD Pro team is hopeful for a strong performance in the IMSA WeatherTech Championship race. Drivers for the Houston, Texas-based Ferrari team at Sebring include Davide Rigon, Daniel Serra, and Eddie Cheever III. Risi has three wins (2010, 2009, 2007) and nine total podiums over 23 races and 17 years.

“It’s very nice to be back here with the family of Team Risi. The first practice went well. It’s very warm here and we expect a warmer weekend,” Rigon stated, “The car looks fine, but we still need to work a little bit. It’s very early to say something as far as where we are in the group. We need to focus on having a good balance for the race. We’ll continue to work with our engineer and the mechanics, and we’ll see.”

The three drivers all have some Sebring experience under their belt and the common concerns about the track remain the same. Sebring was paved in the 1950s, so bumps and rough surfaces are the norms, causing drivers to be cautious this weekend. Along with the track surfaces, the heat and lack of lighting pose other concerns for drivers.

“It’s great to be back for the second round of IMSA in Sebring. It’s a really nice track to drive. The challenge here is it’s always big with the bumps and the heat, as well as finishing the race in the night,” Serra remarked,

“Here, it’s darker than a lot of tracks. It’s a really nice race to be doing and I’m happy to be back with Risi. The first session was ok, and the car is feeling good. Let’s see what we can do for the rest of the weekend.”

Ferrari currently holds 12 overall and 37 class victories at the challenging Sebring International Raceway. The Marque of the Prancing Horse will have three cars entered between both GTD classes at this weekend’s Twelve Hours of Sebring. 2022 marks the 50th anniversary of Jacky Ickx and Mario Andretti piloting a Ferrari 312 to win at the Twelve Hours of Sebring, a fact made more special by Ickx being selected as Grand Marshal for this year’s event.

Ferrari’s sole GTD Pro entry is held by the #62 Risi Competizione 488 GT3 Evo with Daniel Serra, Davide Rigon, and Edward Cheever III behind the wheel. Serra and Rigon, along with Alessandro Pier Guidi and James Calado, placed second at the season opener at Daytona in January. Cheever has his own endurance experience, having raced the Twelve Hours of Sebring in 2018 and in the 2019 FIA WEC 1000 Miles of Sebring.

“We have a great deal of history at Sebring, including three victories,” said Risi team principal, Giuseppe Risi, “Returning to a track we have experienced much success over the years certainly gets everyone excited. It will be a big weekend with the WEC (World Endurance Championship) teams competing on Friday and our 12-hour race on Saturday.”

GTD will feature two Ferrari 488 GT3 Evos, the #21 AF Corse and the #47 Cetilar Racing cars. AF Corse’s entry will be piloted by Simon Mann, Luis Perez Companc, and Toni Vilander. The trio, along with Nicklas Nielsen, placed fourth at the Rolex 24 at Daytona earlier this year.

Mann and Vilander will be racing in both the Twelve Hours of Sebring and the WEC race this weekend. Roberto Lacorte, Giorgio Sernagiotto, and Antonio Fuoco will all co-drive the #47 car this weekend in the Twelve Hours.