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Lewis Hamilton finished in first position in qualification at the São Paulo Grand Prix at the nineteenth race of the 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship. Hamilton will start in pole position in the Sprint race on Saturday.

Max Verstappen was in second position, 0.438 seconds slower than Hamilton. Valtteri Bottas was in third position behind the Dutchman.

This is the third and final race with the Sprint Qualifying race. The qualifying session took place on Friday instead of the traditional session on Saturday. The qualification results set the grid for the Sprint race which will take place on Saturday.

The qualifying session started under overcast conditions with air temperatures at 15 degrees C and track temperatures at 25 degrees C at the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace circuit in São Paulo, Brazil.

The Pirelli tyre choice at this race is the white-striped hard compound tyres (C2), yellow-striped medium compound tyres (C3), and red-striped soft compound tyres (C4).

As rumoured, the JD Motorsport squad will leave the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine series after the end of the 2021 season and will be replaced by Trident Motorsport.

JD Motorsport competed in the inaugural FRECA campaign in 2021 with Eduardo Barrichello and Tommy Smith running full time, while Ido Cohen raced for four events in a third car.  None of the trio were able to break into the points, with JD one of two teams, alongside DR Formula, not to score in any of the ten events.

Michael Belov did run a one-off race for the team at Circuit Paul Ricard and finished second in both races, but the Russian was a wildcard entry and was not eligible for points.  It did give the team something to celebrate in a year where they generally struggled for performance.

Trident join the series and will add FRECA to their FIA Formula 2 and FIA Formula 3 teams.  They will go into 2022 as the reigning Teams’ Champions in Formula 3.  They will join the other eleven teams on the grid that have been retained from the 2021 FRECA season.

The twelve pre-selected teams for 2022 are:

Lewis Hamilton finished on top of the time charts at the 2021 São Paulo Grand Prix in Brazil in the first free practice session. Max Verstappen was in second position and Sergio Pérez was in third position at the end of the first free practice session

Formula 1 returned to the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace circuit in São Paulo after two years as the 2020 race was cancelled because of the Covid19 pandemic.

The sixty-minute long first free practice session started under cold conditions with air temperatures at 18 degrees C and track temperatures at 37 degrees C.

There was occasional drops of rain as the session unfolded. This is the third race with the Sprint Qualifying race deciding the grid positions for the race.

This session was very important as the teams had to get ready for qualification on Friday evening and do not have three free practice sessions and plenty of time to find the right setup for the cars.

George Russell says he is excited to be racing at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace again this weekend, especially after the race was one of those cancelled during the heavily disrupted 2020 campaign.

The Williams Racing driver has one start at the track back in 2019 and had one of his best finishes of that season in twelfth, but this weekend he will be hoping to be in contention for the points.

Russell has scored sixteen points so far in 2021 and is eager to add to that tally across the final four races of the season before he moves to the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team in 2022.

“Interlagos is another circuit that we unfortunately didn’t get the opportunity to visit in 2020, so I am really excited to go back there this year,” said Russell.  “It is a very old school track with plenty of character and lots of undulation.

“We also have the Sprint Qualifying format returning which holds some different challenges to the usual race weekends, so all in all I’m very excited.”

Pierre Gasly heads to the São Paulo Grand Prix with confidence after a superb performance throughout the Mexico City Grand Prix last weekend that saw him finish fourth.

The Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda driver felt the whole weekend at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez was a strong one for the team, and he was able to qualify fifth after a tow from team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, who Gasly feels is improving thanks to growing in confidence behind the wheel of the AT-02.

And Gasly feels the result in Mexico City will motivate the team as they bid to beat the Alpine F1 Team to fifth place in the Constructors’ Championship in 2021.

“My third fourth-place finish of the season and the team now equal fifth on points in the Constructors’ Championship,” said Gasly.  “Mexico really was a strong weekend, with the whole team working very hard to achieve this result, and only the two Red Bulls and Lewis were in front of me.

“We were immediately on the pace from Friday and then best of the rest behind the four drivers from the top two teams in Qualifying. Also good for the team is the fact Yuki is growing in confidence and he was a great help, giving me a tow in Qualifying.

Kimi Räikkönen returns to the scene of his World Championship triumph back in 2007 for the final time this weekend, with the Finn aiming for more points at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace.

The Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN driver will retire from Formula 1 at the end of the season but showed he is still more than capable behind the wheel in the Mexico City Grand Prix, with Räikkönen equalling his best finish of the season in eighth place.

Back in 2007, Räikkönen won the race whilst racing for Scuderia Ferrari and was able to beat both Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton to the Drivers’ Championship as a result, with the Autódromo José Carlos Pace holding happy memories for the Finnish veteran.

“I was pleased with our performance in Mexico and I hope we can be on a similar level in Interlagos,” said Räikkönen.  “Last week’s race was not that eventful for me, but we got points so I am happy with the outcome: in the end, the result was good so I don’t care if I was on my own for most of the afternoon.

“Interlagos is a place that holds some very good memories for me: it’s where I won the world championship in 2007 so to race here one last time is going to be nice.

Sebastian Vettel hopes to make it three consecutive races of scoring points this weekend in the São Paulo Grand Prix, although the four-time World Champion knows the Sprint Qualifying format might make it a more unpredictable weekend.

The Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team racer drove a strong race to seventh last weekend in the Mexico City Grand Prix, and he is hopeful that he can break into the top ten again this Sunday, although he will need to navigate Saturday’s Sprint Qualifying race first.

To maximise his potential, Vettel knows the team will need to have a productive Friday at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace before racing hard on both Saturday and Sunday afternoon to bring home the desired result.

“We come into Brazil off the back of a run of points scores, so we want to keep the momentum going,” said Vettel.  “We’ll be racing in the Sprint format again, which might make things more unpredictable.

“But the goal doesn’t change, and we’ll be looking for a productive Friday and Saturday before aiming for more points on Sunday.”

The McLaren F1 Team are looking to bounce back from their disappointing weekend in Mexico City this weekend in São Paulo, and Lando Norris hopes the team learns from their experiences at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

Norris was able to score a single point in the Mexico City Grand Prix after starting at the back of the pack following an engine change grid penalty, whilst team-mate Daniel Ricciardo ended outside the top ten after a first corner collision with Valtteri Bottas.

And heading to the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, Norris is looking for a better weekend for McLaren, and he says there is opportunities for progress throughout the third race weekend of 2021 that includes the Saturday Sprint Qualifying race.

“I’m excited to be racing in Brazil after missing out last year because of the pandemic,” said Norris. “Interlagos is an iconic circuit with a rich history in F1. The atmosphere there is unique thanks to the passionate fans that make it a fun place to race.

“Hopefully we can take our learnings from Mexico into this weekend and improve as a team. We’ve got four more races left on the calendar so every session counts. Sprint qualifying has shown that there are plenty of opportunities to make good progress across the weekend.

Inaugural Teams’ Champions Carlin have moved first in the GB3 Championship driver market, promoting 15-year-old Ginetta Junior race-winner Callum Voisin for 2022.

Born in Switzerland, he took seven wins, 11 podiums and two pole positions on the way to sixth place in the standings with R Racing, while older brother Callum Voisin won the GT4 European Series Silver Cup with United Autosports.

He won the joint-most races over 2021, including a clean sweep of three at Brands Hatch in June.

Prior to his debut car racing season, he finished third in the British Karting Championship in 2020, and fourth in the same series in 2019.

The announcement follows a test day with Carlin in the outgoing Tatuus MSV F4-016, with extensive simulator work ongoing before teams receive the new, halo-shod Tatuus MSV-022 chassis for future seasons.

Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team go into this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix close to losing top spot in the Constructors’ standings, with Red Bull Racing now just one point behind the Silver Arrows.

Mercedes will be looking to rebuild their Constructors’ lead over Red Bull after seeing their lead shrink dramatically in recent races, especially after Red Bull’s double podium at the Mexico City Grand Prix last weekend and with Valtteri Bottas out of the points.

Not only this but the team will be doing everything they can to give Lewis Hamilton a car capable of closing the gap to championship leader Max Verstappen, the British driver has seen the gap grow to the biggest it’s been almost all season.

This weekend does offer Mercedes an exciting opportunity, with the final sprint race set to take place on Saturday with qualifying on Friday, meaning that more points than usual are up for the grabs in Brazil.

Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff is excited for Formula One’s return to the Autódromo José Carlos Pace Circuit this weekend, the race was cancelled last year due to the pandemic. Wolff is fully aware that anything is possible this season and that they will give it everything they’ve got in Brazil and beyond.

Red Bull Racing move into this weekends Brazilian Grand Prix on the brink of taking the Constructors’ championship lead, after moving to just one point behind the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team last weekend in Mexico City.

Similar to the Mexico City Grand Prix last weekend, this weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace Circuit, will be the first since 2019 after last year’s race was cancelled due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Max Verstappen goes into this weekend in somewhat control of the drivers championship after winning at Mexico City, the Dutchman is now nineteen points ahead of rival Lewis Hamilton with four races to go.

Verstappen of course won the last Brazilian Grand Prix after an epic battle with the Mercedes duo, he is expecting another close fight this weekend.

“Heading to Brazil, it’s difficult to say how competitive we are going to be. In 2019 we won the race but it was a close battle all the way through and I expect something very similar again this year. Let’s see what the weather forecast is going to be because that can impact the performance quite a bit. It’s also a sprint race this weekend; I tend to do well in the sprint race but then get bad race results so let’s try and turn it around.”

2021 Indy Lights champion Kyle Kirkwood has been announced by A.J. Foyt Enterprises as the pilot of the No. 14 car for the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series season.

The 23-year-old American is the only driver to win championships at every level of the Road to Indy ladder, starting with USF2000 in 2018, Indy Pro 2000 in 2019 on top of last season’s Indy Lights championship. Kirkwood’s historic Lights campaign included seven pole positions and 10 wins in 20 races, tying the season win record set by Greg Moore in 1995.

“…His record speaks for itself,” said Team President Larry Foyt.

“This deal came together rather quickly, but I’ve already been impressed with how Kyle thinks about racing and the maturity he seems to have for such a young driver. The NTT IndyCar Series is as competitive as ever, and the challenges are great, but we feel Kyle will be a great asset as we take on those challenges and work to grow as a team.”

In a press conference after the announcement of his signing, Foyt revealed that this deal came together in just ten days.

After one season, Anthony Alfredo has departed Front Row Motorsports. On Tuesday, the team announced its plans for the 2022 NASCAR season, which includes continuing as a two-car operation in the Cup Series and fielding a truck for Todd Gilliland in the Camping World Truck Series. However, while Michael McDowell will return to the #34 Ford Mustang, Alfredo will not be back in the #38.

Alfredo signed with FRM to compete for Cup Series Rookie of the Year in 2021, a move that raised some eyebrows as he had never competed full-time in any of NASCAR’s lower national series. He ultimately finished thirtieth in points, a distant second to Chase Briscoe in the ROTY battle, with a best finish of tenth at Talladega in the fall. His last start for the team saw him place twentieth in the finale at Phoenix.

Prior to debuting in Cup, he recorded nineteen Xfinity Series starts in 2020 for Richard Childress Racing with nine top tens, two top fives, and a best run of third. The year prior, he made thirteen races in the Trucks with now-David Gilliland Racing, notching two top tens. 2018 marked his last full-time campaign in any series before 2021 when he finished fifth in what is now the ARCA Menards Series East.

“We would like to thank Anthony for being an outstanding ambassador of our team as well as for our #38 partners,” team manager Jerry Freeze stated. “He showed a lot speed in what was very difficult circumstances. He is a true professional and we wish him nothing but success in his future racing endeavours.”

Alfredo’s departure means the #38 will have a different full-time driver for the fourth straight year. Following David Ragan‘s retirement after 2018, Cup newcomer Matt Tifft ran much of 2019 before health issues forced him out of the car. Matt Crafton and John Hunter Nemechek, both of whom made the 2021 Truck Series Championship Round, finished out the 2019 season, and the latter was tabbed to run the full 2020 slate in the #38 before dipping down to the Trucks.

When the NASCAR Cup Series visits the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for the first time in February 2022, the Busch Light Clash will also be unprecedented. On Tuesday, NASCAR revealed the format for the exhibition race, which entails four heat races, a Last Chance Qualifier, and a twenty-three-car grid for the main event.

As the 2022 Clash will be held on a short track in a stadium, a concept that was last tried at the Cup level in 1971 with Bowman Gray Stadium, the format leans heavily on a grassroots style. Heat races are also quite rare for NASCAR’s national series, having only been used for the dirt races at Bristol and Knoxville and on an experimental basis in the Xfinity Series (the Daytona 500 also features a pair of qualifying races).

To raise the stakes, forty teams may enter the Clash, a far cry from the exhibition only allowing pole winners and drivers who meet certain criteria. Of course, a quarter-mile short track cannot feasibly fit that many cars, meaning qualifying races will whittle the grid down.

“There has already been an enormous amount of buzz around next year’s Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum, and we feel that this race format and the accompanying programming throughout the entire weekend will only build on that already established momentum,” said NASCAR senior vice president of strategy and innovation Ben Kennedy. “The unprecedented nature of this event, coupled with the fact that our sport will be in the spotlight in the middle of downtown Los Angeles, makes this a can’t miss event when we get our 2022 season underway next February.”

Saturday, 5 February 2022 will see the first day of action with practice. Single-car qualifying will take place to determine the starting lineup for the four 25-lap heat races on Sunday. The top four in qualifying will start on the pole for each heat, and will be joined on the front row by whoever finished fifth through eighth. The rest of the grids are filled in increments of four, such as Heat #1 having the ninth, thirteenth, seventeenth, and twenty-first fastest cars and so on.

Nikita Mazepin ran in the dizzy heights of eleventh early on in Sunday’s Mexico City Grand Prix, but the Russian was unable to maintain that position and eventually dropped to the rear of the field at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

The Uralkali Haas F1 Team driver had hoped to at least keep Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi behind him, but a slow pit stop put paid to those chances, and once at the back, he did not have the pace to fight back. 

Mazepin believes Haas lacked the downforce levels needed to fight their nearest rivals on Sunday, and as a result, he ended down in eighteenth position, three laps down on race winner Max Verstappen.

“It was a very long race,” admitted Mazepin.  “We had a good start, we got through nicely and the first part of the race was going well.

“Then we decided to protect from Williams and unfortunately our pit stop was too slow – we just got done by them but I think we had the pace to probably keep them behind considering how hard it is to overtake on this track. Unfortunately it didn’t happen.