Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda went into the 2021 Formula 1 season with an eye on breaking into the top five in the Constructors’ Championship, and for much of the season they were on course to do just that.

Pierre Gasly was once again sublime as he carried to the team for much of the year as his rookie team-mate Yuki Tsunoda adapted to life in Formula 1 after being promoted by Red Bull following an impressive year in FIA Formula 2 in 2020.

He significantly outscored his team-mate and brought the team a well-deserved podium in Azerbaijan, but it was not enough for AlphaTauri to place fifth, thanks mainly to Esteban Ocon’s win in the Hungarian Grand Prix and Fernando Alonso’s podium in Qatar that gave the Alpine F1 Team the advantage.

In the final year of Honda being officially their engine suppliers – Red Bull Powertrains will take over in 2022 – AlphaTauri gave it all they could, with Gasly in particular a shining star.  He was superb in Qualifying – making it into Q3 eighteen times – and he scored points on fifteen occasions.

The Highs

Gasly’s podium finish in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was a just reward for the way the Frenchman was driving in 2021, and he did so despite pressure from Charles Leclerc in a Scuderia Ferrari that ought to have had the advantage around the Baku City Circuit.

The 2021 Formula One World Championship will remain in the memory of all involved at Williams Racing for a very long time, not only did they accomplish a front-row start for the first time in years but the famous side also managed their first podium since 2017, all thanks to their brilliant Brit. The British team righted the wrongs of their dismal 2020 season, which saw them end the year without a point for the first time in their history. The brilliant George Russell and an improved Nicholas Latifi, guided Williams’ to not only twenty-three points but also eighth in the Constructors’ Championship.

On the track, 2021 was a year which firmly reinstated Williams’ ambition to be at worst a midfield team for the time being. Off the track though and the team had to cope with the greatest tragedy possible to Williams Racing, the tragic loss of founder Sir Frank Williams who sadly passed away in November. Across the paddock, teams and drivers celebrated the life and remembered the incredible man that was Sir Frank, there will never be someone quite like him in Formula One ever again.

It was announced mid-season that after months of speculation Russell would be replacing Valtteri Bottas at the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team for the 2022 season, it was easy to see why! Russell yet again was the mainly predominate figure in the Williams camp and led the team to greatness once again. The Belgian Grand Prix will go down in history for Williams as the day they struck back. Russell landed an incredible second place in Qualifying under immense pressure due to the torrential rain hammering the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps.

The race’s effective non-existence due to a continuation of the poor weather, meant Russell’s second place start was essentially converted into a second place finish, the team’s first podium since Lance Stroll in 2017 at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. It was also the British driver’s first podium in the sport. Russell’s brilliant 2021 season led him to a fifteenth place finish in the Drivers Championship.

Canadian Nicholas Latifi may not have enjoyed the same highs as Russell did in 2021, the 2019 Formula 2 World Champion did however show significant improvement in his second season of Formula One. The season actually started poorly for Latifi, however mid-season brought the best out of the Canadian who proved to be a fan of challenging conditions. Latifi claimed back to back points finishes at the Hungarian and Belgian Grand Prix’s which led to a seventeenth place finish in the Championship.

2021 was another weird year for Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN. The Swiss-Italian team spent yet another year near the back of the field in an uncompetitive car, fighting for the top end of the points instead of for podiums or wins. There was also the spectre of the future of its drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi hanging over the team for the entire year, something which only got heavier on everyone’s minds as Raikkonen’s retirement (and replacement by Valtteri Bottas) was announced and it started to become apparent that Giovinazzi might be bumped out of the team for the up and coming Chinese driver Guanyu Zhou and the big Chinese financial backing he brings with him. There was also the temporary blip of Raikkonen falling victim to COVID-19, forcing him to stay away from the F1 paddock for 2 weeks. Thankfully, the much-loved Robert Kubica fulfilled his duties as reserve driver well and kept the ship afloat before The Iceman was able to return.

Alfa Romeo also brought its fair share of its own internal drama to the discussions regarding the 2021 season. There were big rumours that Michael Andretti would buy into the team, leading to an Andretti-backed driver (most likely the young IndyCar superstar Colton Herta) getting a Formula 1 drive for 2022 as a result. This was something that whipped motorsport media all across the world into a frenzy in the hope that it could actually happen and we could see the Andretti name on the side of a Formula 1 car. Unfortunately for those who really wanted it, though, it was not to be.

In a more minor role, Callum Ilott also ended up doing some work for the team in 2021 as a test driver. It was hoped that this would be a prequel to him finally getting the F1 seat that many thought he deserved. Unfortunately, that was not to be, as he’s now in the states focusing on a career in IndyCar. There was also the massive oddity of the infamous Mahaveer Raghunathan doing a private test for the team in Hungary, although that seems to have just been passed off as a moment of odd comedy and not too indicative of any serious scouting of the former Formula 2 driver.

The Highs

Perhaps the most obvious high point that came out of Alfa Romeo’s 2021 season is that thanks to the Ferrari power unit being better, the team was more competitive than it was in 2020. Whilst points finishes were still rare, they happened more often than in 2020. The team also achieved significantly better results in qualifying than in 2020, most markedly in Monaco where Giovinazzi managed to just sneak into Q3 for the first time in his Formula 1 career!

There’s also the surprise high point that happened with Robert Kubica‘s return to driving an F1 car in anger. Kubica put in a more than decent performance during his unexpected return, managing to stay ahead of both of the Haas and both of the Williams drivers at Zandvoort and kept his nose clean during the (at points) rather chaotic race at Monza. His surprise return to Formula 1 was also very well-received by fans, thanks to his status as a beloved elder statesman of the sport who many believe should have won a championship earlier on in his career with the same team back in its BMW Sauber days.

When the Uralkali Haas F1 Team announced at the end of the 2020 Formula One season that they wouldn’t be putting any development towards 2021, with all focus placed onto 2022, the team knew they would be in for the most challenging season they’d ever experienced. This wasn’t the team’s only challenge for 2021, with Haas fielding a brand-new line-up, Formula Two graduates Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin.

Haas were consistently last the entire season, a year which has seen both rookie drivers have to adjust to the challenge of driving the VF-21. Both Schumacher and Mazepin became all too familiar with the tyre barrier during their rookie season but did show glimpses of talent during the year, especially from Schumacher the 2020 Formula Two World Champion. Schumacher managed to escape Qualifying One twice in 2021, and towards the end of the year was right in the mix with the Williams Racing and occasionally the Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN drivers.

Mazepin’s rookie year was considerably more difficult, the Russian struggled to drive the VF-21 and was much further off the pace compared to his team-mate. The Russian driver certainly didn’t make himself popular amongst the other drivers at the start of the season, after constantly failing to observe blue flags on Sunday’s. Mazepin was under the spotlight before the season had even begun, the Russian was at the centre of a social media scandal before pre-season, resulting in fan and media backlash resulting in a statement by Team Principal Guenther Steiner.

The Highs:

Despite all the difficulties, the team did have moments during the season to be proud of. Qualifying for the French Grand Prix was a particularly proud moment for the team, with Schumacher making it into Qualifying Two for Haas’s first time in 2021, the moment was slightly downsided by the fact Schumacher was unable to take part in Qualifying Two after heavily crashing at the end of Qualifying One. Nevertheless it was a big moment for the team who for the majority of the season started with both cars on the last row.

The Hungarian Grand Prix was Haas’s best single result of the season, with Schumacher again excelling for the team, this time in difficult conditions during the race at the Hungaroring. For a brief moment it looked like the team were heading for their first points of the season, the German unfortunately just missed out though but did claim the team’s best result of 2021 in twelfth, and even enjoyed a brief battle with Max Verstappen!

Floyd Mayweather Jr. is the newest celebrity to dip his feet into the world of NASCAR team ownership. On Tuesday, The Money Team Racing announced it will begin Cup Series competition at the Daytona 500 with the #50 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. Kaz Grala will drive the car while veteran crew chief Tony Eury Jr. oversees the pit box.

“I love fast cars and I love to compete,” stated Mayweather. “I know NASCAR will not be easy, but anything easy isn’t worth doing to me. With that being said, this move into auto racing seems to be a perfect fit for the Mayweather brand.”

The Money Team, named after Mayweather’s lifestyle brand, initially planned to run the 2019 season finale at Homestead before aborting it in favour of preparing for 2020. At the time, Mayweather was simply lending his brand’s name to the team rather than having an actual commitment like what is suggested in Tuesday’s announcement. Presumably due to reasons like the COVID-19 pandemic and/or sponsorship, the team instead went without any statement over the next two seasons. During this stretch, TMT became somewhat of a running gag in the NASCAR community, with many fans regarding it as a sports version of vapourware. Now that the team has formally confirmed itself to be real and ready to race, the #50 will hope to make its Cup Series début at Daytona. As a part-time team, TMT is not locked into the race and therefore must qualify on speed or Duel performance.

The #50 Chevrolet will receive engines from ECR Engines; ECR is operated by Richard Childress Racing, who fielded a car for Grala in the Xfinity Series in 2019 and 2020. Executives from StarCom Racing, who folded after the 2021 season, have a “vested interest” in TMTR, particularly StarCom CFO William “Bill” Woehlemann, CEO Michael Kohler, and president Matt Kohler.

Grala has four Cup starts to his name, including his maiden series race with RCR as a subsitute for Austin Dillon in 2020, with top tens in two. Much of his NASCAR career has been as a part-timer after finishing seventh in Camping World Truck Series points in 2016 and running the first half of the 2018 Xfinity Series, and this will continue in 2022 as he intends to run four Xfinity races for Alpha Prime Racing. He is also APR’s reserve driver.

Like its inaugural season, the Superstar Racing Experience will run a six-race schedule in 2022. The series announced its calendar on Monday, and will once again be a summertime show beginning in mid-June and ending in late July.

“When I look at the 2022 schedule, I see varying kinds of race tracks in six different locations throughout the USA,” said SRX CEO Don Hawk, who was appointed to the position in early January. “These tracks and fanbases have a passion for racing and they all were extremely excited to land an SRX on CBS date on this schedule.

“The drivers will need multi-faceted discipline and skill with four pavement and two dirt tracks of all different shapes and sizes. We couldn’t be more excited as nothing is better than superstars on a short track on a Saturday night with CBS Sports delivering an innovative motorsport broadcast showing the intensity and grit that our fans love.”

Only two tracks return from the 2021 season in Stafford Motor Speedway and the Nashville Fairgrounds, which are respectively the third and fourth races for 2022. Stafford, a half-mile track and staple on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule, hosted the inaugural SRX race. Fittingly, the race was won by six-time Modified champion and Stafford star Doug Coby. The historic Fairgrounds is currently the target of a revitalisation project by Speedway Motorsports, and was the site of the SRX season finale won by 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion Chase Elliott.

“We’re honoured to have the SRX series back at Stafford,” Stafford CEO Mark Arute commented. “The 2021 race was a moment in Stafford history that none of us will ever forget between the incredible driver line-up, amazing atmosphere, and great story with the hometown hero Doug Coby getting the win. July 2nd will be another event that race fans will not want to miss.

Lucas di Grassi’s first weekend with ROKiT Venturi Racing saw him take a well-deserved podium finish in race two of the Diriyah E-Prix, but the veteran Brazilian was disappointed to lose out to Robin Frijns for second place.

After a fifth-place finish in race one on Friday, di Grassi showed much better pace in Qualifying for race two and lined-up inside the top four.  He was involved in the lead battle right from the get-go, and even led some laps as he used his second attack mode to good use.

However, team-mate Edoardo Mortara used his own attack mode to pass him for the lead, and di Grassi was then forced to defend from Envision Racing’s Frijns.

Despite having more usable energy than the Dutchman, di Grassi found himself passed by his rival, moments before the safety car was called for a crash by Mahindra Racing’s Alexander Sims.  Therefore, he was unable to use his additional energy to attack back on Frijns, and he was forced to settle for the bottom step of the podium.

“I’m very happy to score my first podium for ROKiT Venturi Racing,” said di Grassi.  “Starting from fourth we deployed our Attack Mode very well and with the strategy I was able to move all the way up to first position.

Hitech GP announced all three of their 2022 GB3 Championship contenders on Tuesday.

The Silverstone-based team confirmed Bryce Aron, Luke Browning and Cian Shields would join for its third season at this level.

In its first season, Oliver Oakes’ team took Kush Maini to second place in the 2020 Drivers’ Championship, finishing second in the inaugural Teams’ Championship in 2021.

GB3 Team Manager, Phil Blow said the team was “confident [Aron, Browning and Shields] will give us the best chance possible to fight for the title and we look forward to a strong season.”

Former Team USA Scholar Aron joined the GB3 grid with Carlin for 2021, and finished all 24 races, only disqualified from Race 3 at Silverstone following a collision with Dexter Patterson.

Robin Frijns put the disappointment of his no score from race one in Saudi Arabia behind him as he claimed his first points and first podium of the 2021/22 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship season on Saturday evening.

The Envision Racing driver ended Friday’s opening race outside the points in sixteenth after picking up a penalty for a collision with Mahindra Racing’s Oliver Rowland, but he had no such problems in race two as he converted a top four start into a second-place finish on Saturday.

Frijns was involved in the lead battle for much of the race, and he had just passed ROKiT Venturi Racing’s Lucas di Grassi for second when the safety car was deployed for the crash of the other Mahindra of Alexander Sims.

The race was to end behind the safety car, ending the possibility of a grandstand finish to the race, and ending the chances of Frijns winning the third E-Prix of his career.  But despite this, he was pleased to bring home a good haul of points to kickstart his season.

“After a difficult day yesterday, scoring no points, and seeing how quick Mercedes were yesterday, we knew it would be a tough job today,” said Frijns.  

Edoardo Mortara proved that the form he and his ROKiT Venturi Racing team showed during season seven of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship was not a fluke as he started season eight with a victory in race two of the Diriyah E-Prix last weekend.

The Swiss driver came out on top of a battle that involved team-mate Lucas di Grassi, Envision Racing’s Robin Frijns and Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team’s Nyck de Vries to claim his third career Formula E victory, with the win also moving him to the top of the Drivers’ Championship after he finished sixth in race one.

Mortara said it was a calm start to his race in Saudi Arabia on Saturday evening as he settled into a rhythm behind early leader de Vries, and it was clear early that the pace of the Venturi car was looking strong.

He used his attack modes to good use to hit the front, passing first de Vries and then di Grassi (who had used his attack mode earlier to pass them both) to take the lead, a position he would hold until the end despite late pressure from Frijns.

“What a day and what a result!” said Mortara.  “The first part of the race was quite calm and I settled into a nice rhythm following Nyck [de Vries].

The Rolex 24 at Daytona is a time when drivers come from all across the world to compete in one of the most coveted endurance races in the world, but the NTT IndyCar Series can boast the cream of the crop as Helio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud helped Oliver Jarvis and Tom Blomqvist pilot Meyer Shank Racing to the overall win in the 60th running of the event this past weekend.

This marks the eighth time in the last 12 years that an IndyCar driver has been a part of the overall-winning team and second consecutive victory for Castroneves, who was a part of the Wayne Taylor Racing effort that won in 2021.

Castroneves battled back despite two flat tires before the halfway point in the race as well as a pit road speeding penalty to be right in contention for the win against his former team. After the final restart with 30 minutes to go, Castroneves pulled away from Ricky Taylor as the two made their way through slower traffic to win by a 3.028 second margin.

The 46-year-old Brazilian has found a second wind in his career as of late with Meyer Shank, winning his fourth Indy 500, Shank’s first, and now the team’s second ever Rolex 24 victory.

“Forty-six feeling like 22, brother,” Castroneves said post-race.

Kyle Weatherman has joined DGM Racing for a part-time NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule in 2022, the team announced Monday. He will run at least the first five races of the season in the #92 Chevrolet Camaro: Daytona International Speedway (19 February), Auto Club Speedway (26 February), Las Vegas Motor Speedway (5 March), Phoenix Raceway (12 March), and Atlanta Motor Speedway (19 March). Additional races may be added depending on sponsorship, which he has from the Peace Officers Research Association of California (PORAC) for the five scheduled rounds.

Weatherman spent the last two seasons racing for Mike Harmon Racing, which included running the full 2021 season. During this stretch, he recorded his and the team’s maiden top ten when he finished eighth at Kentucky 1 in 2020. His 2021 campaign saw him record a best finish of fifteenth at Daytona and Richmond as he placed twenty-fourth in points. He departed the team in early January.

“I’ve watched Kyle grow year after year, and I’m really impressed with what he’s been able to achieve on the track,” commented team owner Mario Gosselin. “We’re looking forward to working with Kyle and seeing what he can accomplish at DGM as he embarks on the next chapter of his racing career.”

He moves to DGM, who also has Mason Massey for a “majority” of the schedule in the #91. In 2021, DGM fielded the #36 and #92 full-time for Alex Labbé and Josh Williams, as well as a multi-driver #90 and #91. Williams moves to B.J. McLeod Motorsports for 2022, while Labbé, who notched three top tens in 2021, has not revealed his plans.

Prior to the Xfinity Series, Weatherman primarily competed in the now-ARCA Menards Series, winning once at New Jersey Motorsports Park in 2015. He also recorded eleven NASCAR Cup Series starts between 2017 and 2019, and the Camping World Truck Series season finale in 2015.

Joining the Richard Mille Racing team in their revamped 2022 driver line up, eight-time World Rally Championship winner Sebastien Ogier will make his FIA World Endurance Championship and 24 Hours of Le Mans debut this season.

The Richard Mille team joined WEC as a full time entry last year, competing in all eight rounds with an all-female line up after joining the series at sporadic races in 2020 as part of their European Le Mans Series campaign. Their best result of the season was sixth in class, achieved at the 8 Hours of Portimao and the 6 Hours of Bahrain. For their second year as a full season LMP2 entry, the team has decided to exchange their all female crew in favour of a diverse range of talents from the world of motorsport.

Hot of the heels of establishing himself as one of the greatest rally drivers of all time, Ogier has come to Richard Mille and the WEC looking for a fresh challenge and to prove his talents in a new discipline of racing. Having been a partner of the Richard Mille brand since 2016, the synergy of Ogier’s debut fits perfectly in line with the new direction the team are looking to go this season, attempting to establish themselves as front runners in LMP2.

“I know it’s a big challenge, but I have been looking for a programme that motivates me more than the easy option.” Ogier said in the team’s press release, announcing his new career direction. “Up until now, I have focused on my rally career, but it has been on my mind for a long time that endurance racing could be a good challenge.

“All drivers tend to be a bit self-centered, but there comes a time you want to share more when you are lucky enough to have had a successful career. LMP2 is a fantastic category and the best way for me to reach the highest level of endurance racing and improve in this discipline.

NASCAR‘s presence at the 2022 Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona was relatively limited compared to previous years as full-time Cup Series drivers were busy gearing up for the arrival of the Next Gen car. The lone exception was Austin Cindric, who was the only active national series driver to run the prestigious endurance race. The Cup Series rookie and his #15 WeatherTech Racing/Proton Competition team finished fifth in the GTD Pro class and twenty-third overall.

Cindric, making his Rolex 24 début, drove the #15 Mercedes-AMG GT3 alongside Patrick Assenheimer and Dirk Müller. He began the race in the car and started third. Seven hours in and a few driver swaps later, he spun in the West Horseshoe but avoided further damage. Cindric’s next final stint came during the graveyard shift, where he ran third in the class, before he closed it out by finishing fifth. He spent the most time on track of the trio with eight hours, forty-four minutes, and fifteen seconds.

P5, best in AMG in the GT field, a smile on my face, and a tired body,” Cindric tweeted. “Thanks @RaceWeatherTech (WeatherTech Racing), @muellerdirk, Patrick, and the whole team. Love this race.”

While Cindric was the only active Cup regular, series part-timer James Davison was in the #32 GTD for Gilbert Korthoff Motorsports as a late replacement for Guy Cosmo. Sharing the car with occasional NASCAR road ringer Mike Skeen, Scott Andrews, and Stevan McAleer, Davison’s stint began five hours in. In his first IMSA start since 2017, he recorded slightly over five hours of track time, the fewest of the quartet. The #32 finished third in class.

Although no longer a NASCAR regular and is instead grouped with the twelve NTT IndyCar Series drivers, seven-time Cup champion Jimmie Johnson watched as his #48 Ally Cadillac DPi got off to a hot start with Kamui Kobayashi. Unfortunately for Johnson, his late-night stint ended in disaster when contact with the #15 of Assenheimer resulted in the #48 spinning and substantial damage to the rear suspension. The team was able to restore the car and return it to the race, though multiple laps down, and placed fifth in DPi and twenty-two laps down.

Edoardo Mortara secured victory in the second race of the Diriyah E-Prix weekend in a race full of intrigue that ended behind the safety car.

The ROKIT Venturi Racing driver passed team-mate Lucas di Grassi for the lead as he utilised his attack mode to perfection as early leader and race two polesitter Nyck de Vries slid down the order after leading the early laps.

A late race safety car, caused when Alexander Sims crashed his Mahindra Racing car at turn six, prevented any racing in the final five minutes, and Mortara was able to hold on ahead of Envision Racing’s Robin Frijns, who had passed the second Venturi of di Grassi on lap twenty-nine.

De Vries kept hold of the lead at the start and was followed into turn one by his fellow front row starter Mortara, and the early laps were fairly uneventful, compared to what was to come.

The Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team driver held onto the lead through the first round of attack modes, but when di Grassi made an early move to activate his for a second time, the race began to turn.  The veteran Brazilian jumped Frijns for third and then took over second as Mortara took his second attack mode, with di Grassi then using his additional power to catch and pass de Vries for the lead.