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Max Verstappen finished on top of the time charts at the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in the final free practice session. Lewis Hamilton finished in second position, 0.214 seconds behind Verstappen.

Sergio Pérez was in third position to complete a good practice session for the Red Bull Racing team.

The sixty-minute long final free practice session started at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit with air temperatures at 29 degrees C and track temperatures at 35 degrees C.

The conditions were very similar to the first free practice session. As with all night and twilight races, the first practice sessions of the day take place in conditions not representative of the qualification and race conditions.

In this street circuit, the qualification is very important as it will be hard to overtake even though there are three DRS zones.

The FIA have announced a clampdown on cars running unnecessarily slowly in the final sector of the Jeddah Corniche Circuit after several near misses with faster cars during Friday’s free practice sessions.

FIA Race Director Michael Masi has announced new guidelines heading into the rest of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekend after drivers felt approaching slow-moving cars whilst running a quick lap was potential dangerous.

Lewis Hamilton spoke of the dangers of slow-moving cars after Friday’s sessions, with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team driver feeling closing speeds were getting dangerous.

And as a result of these concerns, Masi said that drivers should not be running slowly in order to gain a clear track between corners twenty-three and twenty-five, and anyone doing so will be referred to the stewards and potentially penalised.

“Any driver intending to create a gap in front of him in order to get a clear lap should not attempt to do this around Turn 23 through to Turn 25,” said the FIA statement.  “Any driver seen to have done this will be reported to the stewards as being in breach of Article 27.4 of the Sporting Regulations.

Charles Leclerc wants to reward his mechanics with a strong weekend at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit after the Monegasque driver crashed heavily during Friday evening’s free practice session.

The Scuderia Ferrari driver crashed at turn twenty-two after losing control of his SF21, with the car suffering major damage as a result of heavy contact with the barriers. He was able to get out of the car unharmed, but the crash ended the session early.

The team says the chassis and engine have been checked and will be available to use for the rest of the weekend, alleviating fears of any kind of grid penalty for Sunday’s race.

“A day that unfortunately did not end up the way we would have wanted,” said Leclerc.  “On the upside, we ran through out planned programme and completed all the tests we wanted to in our two sessions.

“The potential is there and if we can put it all together tomorrow, we should have a good day. I am sorry for the team who will have to put in a lot of work to have the car ready tomorrow and I will do everything I can to bring home the best possible result to thank them.”

Pierre Gasly enjoyed his first taste of the Jeddah Corniche Circuit on Friday, with the Frenchman showing some good pace in both Free Practice sessions for Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda.

Gasly ended fourth fastest in the afternoon session in Saudi Arabia, while he was able to improve to third – ahead of championship leader Max Verstappen – under the floodlights in the evening session.

Heading into the rest of the weekend, Gasly admits there are things still to improve on, especially on the longer runs, but Friday’s running has given him confidence that AlphaTauri has some good pace on Formula 1’s first trip to Saudi Arabia.

“I really like driving this track, the corners are amazing and there’s a big rush of adrenalin when you’re out there,” said Gasly.  “The whole day has been really good for us and I’m pretty happy with the pace so far.

“We know that on Saturday we usually do quite well, so I’m fairly confident for tomorrow, as I think we can still improve.  I don’t feel quite as positive about the long runs though, so we still have some work to do to prepare for the race on Sunday.”

Max Verstappen says Red Bull Racing will need to look at getting more heat into the Pirelli tyres before Qualifying at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit after struggling with them during Friday’s two free practice sessions.

The current World Championship leader – who can clinch the title this weekend if he outscores Lewis Hamilton by at least eighteen points – was second fastest behind his title rival in the first session in Saudi Arabia, while he ended only fourth in the evening’s running.

Verstappen says the team will need to unlock more pace from the car if they want to challenge for the front row in Saudi Arabia, but he is confident he can be at the sharp end of the grid if he can avoid any issues with traffic.

“Overall, it’s a really cool track, there are a lot of fast corners and it’s fun to drive,” said Verstappen.  “We struggled to get heat into the tyres in FP2, which we will of course look into.

“Then we made a few changes from FP1 to FP2 which didn’t quite work but hopefully we can find the right balance come qualifying tomorrow. There are of course a lot of things to work on and improve so we’ll see what we can do to get more pace out of the car overnight.

Lewis Hamilton says the closing distances between cars as they prepare for quick laps was getting dangerous during free practice for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Friday.

The Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team driver topped both sessions at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit as Formula 1 began its first weekend in Saudi Arabia.

However, he was unhappy with the way cars were backing up in the final sector ahead of starting their flying laps, with those coming through already on their laps having to dodge traffic as they looked to complete their laps.

“The track was rapid – unbelievably quick and with a lot of grip as well,” said Hamilton.  “Once you get in the rhythm, it’s beautiful to drive.

“The grip was very high from the moment we went out and was similar in both sessions. Traffic can be a problem here, it’s Monaco-esque and the closing distances to other cars was definitely getting dangerous.”

Parker Retzlaff has turned his regional series and sim racing exploits into a part-time NASCAR Xfinity Series ride. RSS Racing announced Friday that Retzlaff will race in the Xfinity Series for the first time in 2022 on a ten-race schedule. He will drive a Ford Mustang with a number that has yet to be revealed, a new entry for RSS as the team plans to expand from its one-car scheme.

His first start will come at Phoenix Raceway on 12 March. Additional starts are planned for Richmond Raceway (2 April), Martinsville Speedway (9 April), Dover International Speedway (30 April), Nashville Superspeedway (25 June), Atlanta Motor Speedway (9 July), Pocono Raceway (23 July), Kansas Speedway (10 September), Bristol Motor Speedway (16 September), and the season finale at Phoenix (5 November).

“This is an incredibly humbling opportunity for me next season,” said Retzlaff. “I realise this is a huge next step for my career, but I believe with the support of RSS Racing and the Sieg family, the transition can be seamless and I can help the organization build their second car into a top-notch programme.

“I feel very confident in my ability as a race car driver and with the tracks that we have laid out for my rookie season. I believe that we can turn some heads and make significant gains start to finish that can help us build on hopefully a full-time programme in 2023.”

The 18-year-old Retzlaff has raced in the ARCA Menards Series East since 2019, which included the full 2020 season and all but two events this past year. Driving for Cook-Finley Racing, he scored four top tens and a best finish of fourth at Southern National Motorsports Park en route to a seventh-place points finish in 2021. His 2020 campaign saw him finish fourth in the standings with five top tens.

Lewis Hamilton topped the second practice session at the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Valtteri Bottas was in second position, just 0.061 seconds slower than Hamilton.

Pierre Gasly was in third position as he set the third fastest lap on the soft compound tyres.

Both the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team drivers set their fastest time on the medium compound tyres as neither driver could get in a clean lap in the qualification simulations.

The second free practice session at this newly-added race on the Formula 1 calendar at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia took place under the lights in the night session.

The sixty-minute long second free practice session started with air temperatures at 28 degrees C and track temperatures at 30 degrees C..

Lewis Hamilton finished on top of the time charts at the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in the first free practice session. Hamilton pipped his title-rival Max Verstappen by just 0.056 seconds.

Valtteri Bottas was in third position, 0.223 seconds behind Hamilton. The first-ever practice session at this new venue was incident-free as the Formula 1 drivers had the measure of the track.

The first session at this newly-added race on the Formula 1 calendar took place at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The track is located in Corniche, a 30 kilometer-long stretch of a coastal resort in the city of Jeddah. The track is estimated to have an average speed of 252 km/h. This is second only in speed to Monza in Italy, the “temple of speed”, on the F1 calendar.

The track has 27 corners and is a superfast flowing track. It is a temporary street circuit with the barriers close to the track. The drivers negotiated the first session without any major incidents.

GMS Racing has yet to even run a NASCAR Cup Series race, yet the team has already made massive waves in the industry. On Wednesday, Richard Petty Motorsports announced they have sold their two charters to GMS owner Maury Gallagher Jr., who also gains a majority stake in RPM.

“Richard Petty Motorsports has agreed to sell a majority interest to Maury Gallagher, owner of GMS Racing,” read a joint statement from the two parties. “Two charters are included in the agreement and will be operated during the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season. This is a special moment for both organisations, as the Next Gen car allows a new chapter to be written.”

Before anyone hits the panic button regarding the fate of the Petty name in NASCAR, Adam Stern of the Sports Business Journal reported that Gallagher purchased the stake from RPM co-owner Medallion Financial Corp. Medallion, which is run by Andrew Murstein, joined RPM in 2010. In May 2020, Murstein said in a company call that although the team was not for sale, he would be open for the right offer.

A perusal of RPM’s financial details, which have been available in Medallion’s Securities and Exchange Commission reports since 2019, by FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass revealed that the team lost $2.148 million through 30 September 2021, while also owing $7.442 million with interest to a trust operated by Petty. Despite the Petty legacy, the team has struggled with funding and sponsorship since its predecessor Petty Enterprises’ demise in 2008, which sparked rumours about a potential merger or sale. For 2022, RPM’s #43 received a massive monetary boost when brain health supplement FOCUSfactor came aboard as a primary sponsor for twenty-six races.

According to Stern, GMS beat out four undisclosed groups for the RPM charters. One will remain with the #43 of Erik Jones, which many have speculated will continue to operate under the RPM banner for name recognition. The other charter came from a partnership between Petty and Rick Ware Racing called Petty Ware Racing, which was fully fielded by RWR in the form of the #51, and will head to the GMS #94 for Ty Dillon.

Want to drive a NASCAR truck? Are you savvy with Super Late Models on dirt? If your answer to both is yes, Niece Motorsports has what you’re looking for!

On Wednesday, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team announced the launch of the “Win & You’re In” programme, organised in collaboration with the Gateway Dirt Nationals. Held at the Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis, the Nationals’ Super Late Model class is the scope of the programme as the winner of the feature on 3 December will get to race in the Truck Series event at Knoxville Raceway, one of two dirt rounds on the Truck calendar, on 18 June 2022.

The “Gong Show” is not a new concept in racing. Prior to the 2021 season, fellow Truck team McAnally-Hilgemann Racing formed the BMR Driver Academy, a series of late model events for a pool of candidates with the winner entering the Truck season finale. However, the plan fell through after the winning driver, whose identity was not disclosed by the team, failed to receive approval by NASCAR. Other contests to place drivers in NASCAR seats included RFK Racing‘s Driver X show in the 2000s and Michael Waltrip Racing’s PEAK Dream Stock Car Challenge in 2012, though both programmes and the BMR Academy span multiple events rather than just one race.

“So many of us at this organisation cut our teeth in racing at dirt tracks,” said Niece Motorsports general manager Cody Efaw. “I truly believe that these drivers are some of the most talented in the country, so we’re excited to give someone another platform to showcase their abilities.”

The Gateway Dirt Nationals Super Late Model race was won by Tyler Carpenter in 2019. Previous winners include Scott Bloomquist and Bobby Pierce, both of whom have made Truck starts at Eldora when it was the lone dirt track on a NASCAR calendar.

The number of drivers confirmed for the 2022 GB3 Championship season rose to four on Wednesday, as Douglas Motorsport announced the signing of 2021 Walter Hayes Trophy winner Max Esterson.

The 19-year-old contested his first full karting season in 2019 after an impressive journey in sim racing since the age of 11.

Supported by iRacing, he is one of the top five iRacers in the US, and became the Road to Indy eSports Champion this year after a race-winning US F1600 Championship Series season in 2020. 

He also experienced winged single-seaters in a partial US F2000 Championship Series campaign last year, winning his only race in the category. 

He then took on the British Formula Ford scene, competing in the 2020 and 2021 Formula Ford Festival and Walter Hayes Trophy.

Kimi Räikkönen says preparation and concentration will be key this weekend at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit as he aims to score points in what will be his penultimate race in Formula 1 before retirement.

The Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN driver will leave Formula 1 at the end of the season and will be replaced in the team by fellow Finn Valtteri Bottas, but he will be looking to end his successful career on a high.

Räikkönen says he curious to see how strong Alfa Romeo will be in this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – the first time Formula 1 has raced in the country – and if the team do their homework they could in contention for the top ten come Sunday evening under the floodlights.

“We are heading to another new track and, like last time out in Doha, preparing for the race in the most effective way will be crucial,” said Räikkönen.  “The track looks fast and, as a street circuit, it’s a place where you need to be focused all the time: I am curious to drive it and won’t form an opinion about it until then.

“It’s going to be interesting and I don’t see any reason, if we do our job properly, why we wouldn’t be as competitive as we have been in the last few months.

For the first time in team history, Hattori Racing Enterprises will field two entries in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. A day after signing GMS Racing driver Chase Purdy to drive a new #61 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, the team has added his team-mate Tyler Ankrum to pilot the flagship #16.

Ankrum’s first Toyota Truck stint with what is now David Gilliland Racing came with a bang when he scored his maiden series win at Kentucky in 2019. The victory locked him into the playoffs, where he finished eighth in points which secured him Rookie of the Year honours. The previous year, he piloted a DGR Toyota Camry to the championship in the now-ARCA Menards East.

He moved to the Chevrolet-powered GMS in 2020. After placing ninth in points with ten top-ten finishes and three top fives, his performance declined in 2021 as he dropped to fifteenth in the standings with half the top tens (though he equalled his top fives). Ankrum also won the pole for the inaugural NASCAR race at Circuit of the Americas.

“This is a great opportunity to join a tight-knit team with a really strong foundation,” said Ankrum. “I couldn’t be more excited to join HRE and return to the Toyota family. To be able to work with (crew chief) Scott Zipadelli and his team on the LIUNA Toyota Tundra TRD Pro is a big opportunity for me. I want to get back to Victory Lane, be a threat in the playoffs, and continue this team’s winning ways. I think we can do that together and I’m looking forward to putting in the work to make that happen.”

Ankrum will have big shoes to fill as the #16’s previous driver Austin Hill won eight races in three seasons along with the 2020 regular season championship. Hill’s predecessor Brett Moffitt won the 2018 title.

Miguel Paludo has returned to JR Motorsports for a second stint as a road course ringer in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. On Wednesday, JRM announced Paludo will drive the #88 Chevrolet Camaro at Circuit of the Americas (26 March), Road America (2 July), and Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s Road Course (30 July).

After seven years away from NASCAR, Paludo joined JRM in 2021 for a trio of road races at Daytona (finished seventh), COTA (thirty-fourth), and Mid-Ohio (twenty-seventh). He raced full-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series from 2011 to 2013, but departed the sport afterwards due to a lack of funding. During his three full seasons in the Trucks, he scored twenty-three top tens, a pole at Daytona in 2012, and a best points finish of ninth in 2013. While he did not win, he came close at Pocono 2013 when he placed second.

Upon leaving NASCAR, he returned to his native Brazil, where he was a two-time Porsche GT3 Cup Brasil champion prior before moving to America. In his comeback, he scored four more titles, most recently claiming the Porsche Carerra Cup in 2020.

“We are back for 2022,” commented Paludo. “Last year proved to me that JRM has the best team in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and I can’t wait to get back to the track with this group, especially now that we will have the opportunity to practice and qualify this season.”

BRANDT will continue their sponsorship of Paludo’s #88. The agriculture company, which maintains a heavy presence in Brazil, also sponsors JRM driver Justin Allgaier. The #88 serves as JRM’s multi-driver car; at the moment, only Paludo and team owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. (Martinsville on 8 April) have been confirmed as pilots.