Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

The FIA have rejected the right to review brought up by the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team over the incident between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen during the São Paulo Grand Prix last weekend.

Mercedes felt there was evidence that had not been used during the race at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace when Verstappen and Hamilton went side-by-side into turn four on lap forty-eight. 

Verstappen’s front-facing camera that would have shown the steering input from the Red Bull Racing driver was not available when stewards deemed no action was necessary as both drivers ran off track.

However, the FIA felt that the camera view did not offer any more information than they already had about the incident, and they rejected Mercedes’ request, meaning Verstappen will escape without being penalised.

“The Stewards often must make a decision quickly and on a limited set of information,” said the FIA statement.  “At the time of the decision, the Stewards felt they had sufficient information to make a decision, which subsequently broadly aligned with the immediate post‐race comments of both drivers involved.

Valtteri Bottas finished on top of the time charts at the 2021 Qatar Grand Prix in the second free practice session. Pierre Gasly finished in second position for the second session in a row.

Max Verstappen was in third position just ahead of title-rival Lewis Hamilton at the end of the second practice session.

The sixty-minute long second free practice session started under the lights at the Losail International Circuit with air temperatures at 26 degrees C and track temperatures at 30 degrees C.

The Pirelli tyre choice at this race is the white-striped hard compound tyres (C1), yellow-striped medium compound tyres (C2), and red-striped soft compound tyres (C3), the hardest compounds in the Pirelli tyre range.

The two Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team drivers went out on the medium compound tyres, as did most of the drivers who followed.

Max Verstappen finished on top of the time charts at the 2021 Qatar Grand Prix in the first free practice session. Pierre Gasly was in second position and Valtteri Bottas was in third position at the end of the first practice session

In a season of intense battles for both championships, Formula 1 has arrived at the twentieth race of the 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship at a brand new circuit to add to the variables.

The Losail International Circuit with a lot of high-speed corners at this newly added race has been driven by most of the drivers in the simulator only.

Only Sergio Pérez and Nikita Mazepin have previously driven at this circuit in other motorsport categories.

The sixty-minute long first free practice session started under warm conditions with air temperatures at 29 degrees C and track temperatures at 43 degrees C. The dust particles and sand is also a factor at this venue.

Joey Gase is now a JGR driver. Sort of.

While the “JGR” abbreviation is synonymous with NASCAR powerhouse Joe Gibbs Racing, Gase has actually started his own team with his initials: Joey Gase Racing. On Thursday, he announced he will drive the #35 Chevrolet Camaro full-time for his operation in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2022.

“I am extremely excited to start a new chapter in my career and life,” said Gase. “To not only be a driver, but also a team owner, this is something I have been thinking about a lot the last few years. When I asked other team owners and mentors I expected to get a lot of push back saying not to, but to my surprise I got a lot of the opposite.

“I have learned a lot the past 10 years and have worked with a lot of great people from Jimmy Means (owner of Jimmy Means Racing), Bobby Dotter (SS-Green Light Racing), Carl Long (MBM Motorsports), Archie St. Hilaire (Go Fas Racing) and Rick Ware (Rick Ware Racing). They have all taught me a ton and have helped me every step of the way. It is not going to be easy by any means but I have a big support team behind me with my family and friends.”

Gase competed full-time in the Xfinity Series from 2014 to 2019, scoring three top tens and a career-best fifth at Talladega in 2015. He moved up to the Cup Series in 2020 on a regular basis, though he declared for Xfinity points. In 2021, he ran sixteen Cup races for Ware and five at the Xfinity level with SS-Green Light and Means. Much of his Xfinity career was spent with Means.

In what has already been an eventful week for the Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN team, with the announcement that Guanyu Zhou will be replacing Antonio Giovinazzi for next season, the team must now refocus as they prepare for the first ever Qatar Grand Prix.

Amazingly, two of the last three races in Kimi Räikkönen’s Formula One career will take place at tracks the 2007 World Champion has never raced at. The Finnish driver is interested by the fact he will be visiting two new venues across the next couple weeks, with this weekend’s race taking place at the Losail International Circuit.

Räikkönen is all too familiar with getting to grips with a new circuit for the sport, meaning that all his years of experience will be vital in Qatar.

“I am approaching the last three races of my career and to race in two completely new tracks is quite interesting: it sure adds a bit of variety and keeps things fresh. The track looks fairly straightforward, with a long straight, a good overtaking spot at the end of it and a twisty middle part in which passing will be hard. It will be all about setting yourself up in the best position to attack on the finish straight, but that’s as much as we can tell now.

“Practice will be important to find out what the grip is and how the tyres work, especially as we expect the surface to be dusty at first. We showed some good pace in the last few races, so hopefully we can get on top of the track quickly and have a good result.”

The Alpine F1 Team venture into the brand new for Formula One, Qatar Grand Prix, with a potential advantage, with Racing Director Davide Brivio having been to the circuit a number of times whilst with the Suzuki MotoGP team.

Fernando Alonso has a strong record when racing in the Middle East, the two-time world champion has won the Bahrain Grand Prix three times and has stepped foot on the podium five times in the Middle East, could he add to this at the Losail International Circuit?

The Spaniard has spoken to Brivio heading into this weekend in what could be a key advantage for the team.

“I always enjoy racing in the Middle East. Losail is a track we don’t know that well, but it’s been on the MotoGP calendar for many years, so we’re open minded heading there. I’ve chatted with Davide Brivio about the circuit to see what he had to say as he has the most experience there in the whole team.

“We race in quite a few circuits there and the facilities are good, and you’re usually guaranteed nice weather. We’ve had a look at the track on simulators and onboards and it does look fast with a nice flow to it. It’ll be interesting to see how a Formula 1 car behaves around the circuit compared to a motorcycle.”

Scuderia Ferrari go into this weekend’s first-ever Qatar Grand Prix, on the back of a near perfect triple-header so far with the Scuderia outscoring Constructors’ rivals Mclaren F1 Team.

Charles Leclerc goes into the first Formula One race at the Losail International Circuit having closed the gap right up to Lando Norris in the battle for fifth in the Drivers’ standings. The Monegasque driver sits just three points behind Norris, with three races remaining going into Qatar this weekend. The Losail International Circuit is new to virtually all the drivers, meaning that learning the circuit quickly could play pivotal to a strong weekend.

Leclerc knows the importance that the team keep moving forward, as they look to take complete control of third place in the Constructors standings.

“I was able to do a lap of the track by bike and it seems very interesting. I’ll be able to do a few more laps, but only when we get in the car and start looking at the numbers will we be able to understand what it’s really like. In order to be full tuned in to the track I think will require around 15 laps but we have three free practice sessions ahead of us, so I don’t think it will be a problem for anyone.

“We must continue doing everything perfectly, as that’s the only way to maximise our car’s potential. We managed it in the past two races, but we cannot let our guard down. As a driver, you want to finish as high up as possible and Lando is just three points ahead of me.

The GB3 Championship will continue its relationship with the British Racing Drivers’ Club (BRDC) into a tenth successive season in 2022.

The Championship will now be known as the GB3 Championship Partnered by the BRDC

The BRDC will also extend its support to GB3’s new feeder series, the GB4 Championship.

The BRDC and organiser MotorSport Vision (MSV) have worked together since GB3’s first season in 2013, as BRDC F4.

Notable BRDC members to come through the series throughout its various guises include McLaren F1 Team’s Lando Norris and 2014 Champion, Williams Racing driver George Russell, Aston Martin factory driver Ross Gunn, 2017 Intelligent Money British GT Championship Champion Seb Morris and Charlie Robertson.

Tom Lebbon has become the second driver to be announced for the 2022 GB3 Championship season. 

The 2020 Ginetta Junior champion returns for a tilt at the title with Elite Motorsport, in what will be his fourth season with the team.

Lebbon won the 2020 Ginetta Junior Championship with Elite, and spent his maiden GB3 campaign with the team who also made their first move into single-seaters last year.

Though he only took one podium, in Race 3 at Donington Park in July, the 16-year-old was one of the season’s most consistent performers. From 24 races, Lebbon took 18 top-ten finishes and qualified inside the top ten at every roun, setting the fifth-highest qualifying average on the grid.

Of those top-ten finishes, nine came in the top six, and the #34 Elite Motorsport car only retired from one race, that being Race 1 in the Championship’s first visit to Silverstone.

The legendary SCORE International Baja 1000 is set to kick off its fifty-fourth running on Thursday, 18 November, with 302 entries. Among those in the grid are a quintet who is also familiar with the art of turning left. While NASCAR and off-road typically do not go hand in hand, four drivers have won races in both disciplines while another is a full-time competitor in the former.

The #77 SPEED Energy trophy truck features a pair of NASCAR veterans in Robby Gordon and Casey Mears, both of whom have proceeded on very similar career paths. Gordon is a three-time Cup Series race winner while Mears has one victory, and both raced against each other at the top level on a weekly basis in the 2000s. The two also have experience in open-wheel and sports cars.

Of course, Gordon and Mears’ current activities are more within the off-road realm. Gordon is a three-time winner of the Baja 1000 (1989, 1990, 2006) while Mears’ father Roger was recently enshrined into the Off-Road Motorsports Hall of Fame; an encounter between the two at the induction ceremony led to Gordon inviting Mears to his team. Mears has also competed in Gordon’s Stadium Super Trucks, making fourteen starts from 2017 to 2019. Perhaps fittingly, Gordon and Mears finished 1–2 in the 2019 SST Mid-Ohio NASCAR Race 1.

“It’s good to have [Casey and Roger Mears] on the team this year,” said Gordon in an interview with SCORE. “Obviously, Casey’s been a fellow competitor at the NASCAR and in Mickey Thompson (Entertainment Group, the spiritual predecessor to SST) and in IndyCar stuff, so he’s another one that has a lot of experience.”

In the 2020 Baja 1000, Gordon finished thirteenth overall and seventh in the Trophy Truck class. Mears’ maiden 1000 start came in 2019 where he finished twenty-eighth overall and twelfth in Trophy Truck. Their truck will begin with Gordon behind the wheel as he starts twelfth.

The Uralkali Haas F1 Team go into the final part of the last triple-header of the season with a real chance of being closer to those in front, with the whole paddock set to experience the first-ever Qatar Grand Prix at the Losail International Circuit.

Mick Schumacher goes into the weekend on an equal playing field with the rest of the drivers, with an F1 car having never gone around the Losail International Circuit. It gives the rookie hope that with the track being new to Formula One, the grid maybe slightly closer than usual.

The German rookie is hoping that he will be able to fight some of those ahead, in a weekend which is set to be a real test for all the teams.

“I think we all know that MotoGP goes to Qatar a lot and we haven’t been but I’m sure it will be an experience for us all. I don’t know what to expect as I haven’t been there so it’s brand-new for everybody and I hope it will bring us closer to the top teams and at least we’ll be able to fight on track with others.”

I’ve raced there [Qatar] in my first-ever race!” – Nikita Mazepin

Amazingly, Nikita Mazepin has actually raced at the Losail International Circuit before, in his first-ever race back in 2014. It means that Mazepin goes into the weekend with at least some basic knowledge of the circuit, something which the vast majority of the field don’t.

Williams Racing go into the final part of the last triple header of the season this weekend, at the brand new for Formula One, Qatar Grand Prix held at the Losail International Circuit, the team will be hoping to get back into the points this weekend.

George Russell will be hoping to end his final triple-header for Williams in strong fashion, the British driver finished an admirable thirteenth at last weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix, a weekend which saw the team struggle overall.

Qatar presents the team with a good opportunity, with no one in the paddock quite sure what to expect from the upcoming weekend. Russell is excited going into Losail and believes that with the right set-up, the rewards could be incredible.

“It is always very exciting to visit new tracks, so I am looking forward to heading to the Losail International Circuit in Qatar this weekend. I’ve driven the layout in the simulator at Grove and I think it has a very nice flow to it, with lots of medium and high-speed corners. When these are coupled with the long straight, I think it will offer a lot of variability in terms of set-up options for all teams and therefore means that if you get it right the rewards could be great.”

“The team will have to get up to speed” – Nicholas Latifi

Nicholas Latifi will be hoping to better his finishing position from Brazil this weekend in Qatar. The Canadian crossed the line in sixteenth last weekend after unfortunately being caught out by the VSC.

For the last leg of the final triple-header of the 2021 season, Formula One will this weekend visit the Losail International Circuit for the first ever Qatar Grand Prix, presenting Pirelli with a brand new challenge.

The whole paddock enters somewhat of an unknown atmosphere going into this weekend, with only simulation data available for the circuit. The data shows that the circuit is very demanding with lots of high speed corners and quick direction changes, putting the tyres under enormous stress. For these reasons Pirelli have brought their hardest range of tyres for the fifth and final time this season, the C1, C2 and C3 compounds.

With the main straight being over a kilometre long and with the added factor of sixteen corners in quick succession, tyre wear is expected to be very high this weekend, opening the door to a number of strategies. The race will also be held under the floodlights meaning there is a strong chance of a big drop-off in track temperature, clearly a number of variables for the teams to consider this weekend.

There is no support races this weekend either so the track will be slippery on the opening day, especially as the circuit hasn’t been used recently resulting in a possibly dusty surface.

Nevertheless Pirelli’s Head of F1 and Car Racing Mario Isola, is very excited for the sports first visit to Qatar, where there is much to be discovered.

Sebastian Vettel says free practice this weekend will be extremely important as Formula 1 arrives at a new venue, the Losail International Circuit, for the first Qatar Grand Prix.

The Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team racer arrives in Qatar on the back of missing out on points in the São Paulo Grand Prix last weekend despite running as high as seventh in the early laps. 

Vettel has never raced at the Losail circuit before, and he knows there is plenty of learning to do on Friday to get the best out of his AMR21 for the rest of the weekend.

“This weekend will mark the first time that we have raced at the Losail International Circuit, so at this stage, there are a lot of unknowns,” said Vettel.  

“Because we have very little to no data, other than our recent telemetry from Mexico and Brazil, it will be incredibly important to have a productive Friday and Saturday before qualifying and the race.”

Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda go into the last part of the final triple header of the season at the new for Formula One, Qatar Grand Prix, on the back of a mixed Sao Paulo Grand Prix with Pierre Gasly performing valiantly and Yuki Tsunoda again underperforming.

It was another brilliant performance from Gasly in Brazil, not quite matching his podium from 2019 but nevertheless a solid seventh place for the Frenchman. Gasly’s points in Brazil keep the team in the fight for fifth in the Constructors’ championship. Fifth in the Constructors’ would be a huge achievement for the Italian team.

Going into this weekend at the new for Formula One, Losail International Circuit, Gasly is very interested to see how the fast and flowing circuit will suit an F1 car, the Frenchman is expecting it to be a physical weekend under the floodlights.

“After Brazil, we are still in the fight for fifth place in the Constructors’ Championship but it was a pretty tough weekend. It was nice to be back in Sao Paulo and all the media were keen to remind me that I finished second at Interlagos the last time we were here.

“No podium this time, but after poor starts in both Sprint Qualifying and the main race, to manage to come back to seventh and enjoy some good overtaking moves was a positive result and a boost as we head to the next round. I’ve driven the Qatar track on the simulator and watched the MotoGP races from there.