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George Russell’s points scoring form failed to continue at the Turkish Grand Prix, after the British driver crossed the line in fifteenth with team-mate Nicholas Latifi finishing in seventeenth place at the wet Intercity Istanbul Park Circuit.

It was a challenging grand prix for Williams Racing which they will be glad to see the back of, both drivers failed to make any significant progress during the grand prix. Russell in fact dropped places in the opening laps, after being caught out by Fernando Alonso spinning ahead and after fighting Esteban Ocon. The Alpine F1 Team were not Russell’s friend in Istanbul!

Russell believes that despite the difficult race, the team can still take many learning points away from it.

“It was definitely not an easy race today. The first 10 laps or so felt pretty good but as the intermediate tyre started to wear down on the dry line it became increasingly difficult. The conditions were quite unique as, even though that dry line was appearing, because of the cloud cover and the temperature it wasn’t close to switching over to the slicks.

“We can definitely learn something from today though as, even though we didn’t quite have the pace we would have hoped for, it was very difficult for everybody to manage.”

Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN could have scored points during Sunday’s Turkish Grand Prix had Antonio Giovinazzi obeyed team orders to allow team-mate Kimi Räikkönen through late in the race, according to head of track engineering Xevi Pujolar.

Giovinazzi ended eleventh and Räikkönen twelfth after the Italian failed to allow the Finn ahead despite the 2007 World Champion showing better pace at the time of the call.

Less than a second separated Giovinazzi from tenth placed Esteban Ocon at the chequered flag, with Räikkönen ending up on his tail, which makes it even more painful for Alfa Romeo, who currently sit ninth in the Constructors’ Championship with just seven points to their name.

“We asked to swap positions but then at this point Antonio was starting to pick up the pace and he himself decided that he wanted to stay ahead,” Pujolar said on Formula1.com. “Maybe that situation is a couple of laps that we potentially could have been faster as a team. Then it was just one more lap to catch Ocon.

“For sure for the team it was not ideal. I did not understand very well why we could not swap at this point because also then when you have got both cars at the end we can change it back depending on the situation.

Antonio Giovinazzi believes that had the Turkish Grand Prix been one lap longer, he would have been able to pass Esteban Ocon and score the final point on offer.

The Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN driver made up positions on the opening lap at Intercity Istanbul Park and waited until lap forty to make his one and only pit stop for fresh intermediate tyres, but despite the advantage of the fresher rubber, he was too late to catch Alpine F1 Team’s Ocon for tenth.

Giovinazzi believes the race in Turkey was harder than it could have been had he qualified better on Saturday afternoon, but the Italian feels Alfa Romeo are showing good pace at this part of the year, something he hopes they will capitalise on in the United States Grand Prix later this month.

“We were just one lap away from being in the points, and this is really frustrating,” said Giovinazzi. “The race wasn’t bad, despite starting from the back as a result of yesterday’s qualifying, which made everything harder.

“We gave it our best but unfortunately it wasn’t enough – for the smallest margin, just one second. We had good pace in the last couple of races, so let’s focus on getting back in the points for the next race in Austin.”

Marcin Budkowski was disappointed to see his Alpine F1 Team score only a single point during Sunday’s Turkish Grand Prix, but he was full of praise for the way Esteban Ocon managed his tyres throughout the race at Intercity Istanbul Park.

Fernando Alonso had started fifth after a superb Qualifying performance on Saturday, but the Spaniards race was compromised early after contact with Pierre Gasly at turn one on the opening lap spun him around. 

As he was attempting to regain ground, he made more contact, this time with Mick Schumacher, which earned him a five-second time penalty and some potential damage to his A521, and this left him sixteenth at the chequered flag.

Ocon on the other hand drove superbly after taking the gamble not to switch tyres during the race.  After starting twelfth, he ultimately finished tenth to secure a valuable point for the team and extend the outfits points scoring run to fifteen races.

However, with Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda scoring a sixth-place finish thanks to Gasly, Alpine saw their advantage over their rivals reduce to twelve points with just six races remaining, much to the disappointment of Executive Director Budkowski.

Esteban Ocon scored one point in Sunday’s Turkish Grand Prix, with the Frenchman becoming the first driver since the Monaco Grand Prix of 1997 to go through a whole race without making a pit stop.

Despite warnings from Pirelli, the Alpine F1 Team driver attempted to make one set of intermediates last the whole race, and despite losing ground in the closing stages to those who had made a pit stop, Ocon was able to hold onto the final point having started outside the top ten.

Ocon felt the tyre gamble was worth taking at Intercity Istanbul Park, and he believes the point shows that it was the right decision.

“Scoring one point today does feel sweet after a challenging weekend and a very long race,” said Ocon.  “It was good to take a risk today by going to the end on one set of tyres, which you don’t see very often.

“It was also nice to give the guys a break from doing pit-stops for the afternoon! I remember at this race last year the same could have been possible; it was difficult, but the tyres just about lasted and we have a small reward for that in the end.

If John Hunter Nemechek wins the 2021 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championship, 2022 will be his title defence campaign. If not, he will get another shot.

Despite speculation about potentially moving up to the Xfinity Series, Nemechek announced Thursday that he will instead remain with Kyle Busch Motorsports in the #4 Toyota for the 2022 season. Crew chief Eric Phillips will continue to serve as his crew chief.

Nemechek joined KBM for his first full Truck season since 2017, and has set the series on fire as he leads all drivers in wins (five), top fives (twelfve), and top tens (fifteen, tied with Todd Gilliland). He won the regular season championship and currently still leads the points with one more race before the Championship Round.

“I came to Kyle Busch Motorsports because it was an opportunity to get back to Victory Lane,” began Nemechek in a press release. “I accomplished my goal of being here for wins and I’m excited to be coming back for more next year. […]

“We have some unfinished business left trying to bring the championship trophy home to KBM this year and then we’ll go to work on the brand new 2022 Tundra so that we can compete for more wins and another championship next year.”

The 2021 GB3 Championship visits Donington Park this weekend (16/17 October), with the Leicestershire circuit hosting what is still mathematically a title race going into the final meeting of the season.

The series supports the Intelligent Money British GT Championship, which has several titles of its own still up for grabs this weekend.

TCF takes a look at the stories going into the season finale, and what they mean for next season.

What happened last time at Donington?

Wins in Race 1 & 2 for O’Sullivan, Mikkel Grundtvig took only win of the season so far for Fortec Motorsport in Race 3.

GB3’s first visit to Donington this season in July, when the series was still called British F3, brought two wins for Champion-elect Zak O’Sullivan after the Carlin man took pole for Race 1 and 2, putting him last for Race 3 which brought retirement after a clash with then-title rival Reece Ushijima in Sector 3.

Otmar Szafnauer felt Lance Stroll drove ‘superbly’ during Sunday’s tricky Turkish Grand Prix, with the Canadian securing two points for the Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team despite a slow pit stop costing him valuable time.

However, Sebastian Vettel’s chance of scoring points was ended when a gamble to switch to medium tyres backfired, with the German dropping like a stone on his out lap.  On his lap out of the pits, he twice went off the track and was forced to crawl back to the pit lane for fresh intermediate tyres.  With no tyre temperature he even suffered a half spin entering the pits, and he was restricted to running at the back of the field for the rest of the day.

Szafnauer, the CEO and Team Principal at Aston Martin, says Vettel’s gamble did not pay off, which sometimes happens when conditions are as changeable as they were in Turkey, but at least the team came away with points from the weekend.

“Lance drove superbly in incredibly tricky conditions, and, despite a slow pit stop, thereby scored two valuable world championship points as a result of his excellent ninth-place finish,” said Szafnauer.  

“Sebastian also started well and was running in a solid top-10 position for the first half of the race, but he then took a gamble on a change to dry tyres [Mediums] which did not work out – he had no grip at all. The very next lap he consequently had to come back in for new Inters, but by that time his race had been compromised too severely for a points-scoring finish to be a possibility.

Lance Stroll was happy to come away from the Turkish Grand Prix with a ninth place finish, with the Canadian feeling he got everything he could out of his AMR21 on Sunday afternoon.

The Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team driver was a points contender throughout the day at Intercity Istanbul Park, with Stroll admitting it was a challenging day due to the conditions, with the track drying out in places but never getting dry enough for dry weather tyres.

Despite losing some time during his pit stop, Stroll does not feel that cost him any positions, and he can now go to the United States Grand Prix with confidence after two top ten results in three races.

“I am happy with today’s result and I think we got everything out of the car, so it is a job well done by the team,” said Stroll.  “It was tricky out there because the track was so slippery.

“There was also the challenge of the circuit drying in some places, which was causing graining of the tyres, and the question mark about a switch to slicks was always there. All things considered, ninth was the maximum we could achieve today.

Franz Tost was happy that the decision to pit Pierre Gasly when they did enabled the Frenchman to finish the Turkish Grand Prix in sixth, despite a five-second time penalty for an opening lap, first corner collision with Fernando Alonso.

The Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda team saw Gasly finish inside the points for the first time since the Dutch Grand Prix, while team-mate Yuki Tsunoda ended down in fourteenth after a spin cost him a place inside the top ten.

Tost, the Team Principal at AlphaTauri, felt the team had a successful weekend at Intercity Istanbul Park despite the difficult conditions, and to see Gasly secure another good haul of points despite his penalty was pleasing.

“We have had quite a successful weekend here in Turkey,” said Tost.  “Yesterday, we finished Qualifying with both cars in the top 10, so Pierre started today’s race in fourth, after Hamilton’s penalty, and Yuki in ninth position.

“Unfortunately, Pierre had a collision with Alonso at Turn 1, and this resulted in a five second penalty for him, which he had to serve at the first pitstop. However, he managed to keep his sixth position, as [Lando] Norris was seven seconds behind him.

Andreas Seidl Team Principal of the Mclaren F1 Team, believes that Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo did everything they could at the wet Turkish Grand Prix, with Norris finishing seventh and Ricciardo thirteenth.

Sunday’s grand prix summed up what was a difficult weekend for Mclaren, the team saw Norris’s chances of finishing third in the driver’s standings take a turn for the worse, after third placed Valtteri Bottas won the race. The team also saw the gap shrink between themselves and Scuderia Ferrari in the constructor’s standings after the Scuderia had a strong race in what were tough conditions for all.

Norris did well to keep himself in the points whereas Ricciardo who started last after taking an engine penalty, struggled to gain any positions due to the challenge of keeping the Intermediate tyres in a good operating window. In the end it could have been a worse outcome for Mclaren, with Seidl highlighting that there was nothing more the team could do.

“We leave Istanbul with six more points in our Constructors’ Championship battle, after finishing P7 and P13. We achieved everything that was on the table for us today. With the pace we had all weekend and the picture unfortunately also not changing today in wet conditions, there wasn’t more we could do together with Lando and Daniel. “

Thanks to everyone here at the track, back home in the factory, our drivers and our colleagues at Mercedes HPP. Everyone worked very hard this weekend. On to the next one.”

It was a disappointing Turkish Grand Prix for the Mclaren F1 Team at the Intercity Istanbul Park Circuit, with Lando Norris being the sole Mclaren in the points after finishing seventh, with team-mate Daniel Ricciardo crossing the line in thirteenth.

Norris saw his chances of finishing third in the driver’s standings take a massive nose-dive, after Valtteri Bottas won the grand prix to open up his gap to Norris in third. To make matters worse for the team, Charles Leclerc finished fourth with Carlos Sainz Jr also finishing in the points, shrinking the gap between Mclaren and Scuderia Ferrari in the constructors.

Norris believes he did everything he could in the tricky conditions, where looking after the Intermediate tyres was a challenge for everyone.

“A very long and tough race today mainly because of the conditions. It was very difficult to keep the Inters in a good window during the race, but I think we achieved everything we could in the end, so I have to be happy with P7. It was damage limitation for us at this track, but we came away with the best result that we could. So, happy with that and we just need to make more improvements for the next one. It’s important we recover and keep pushing next time out!” 

“We had probably four good laps” – Daniel Ricciardo

Daniel Ricciardo had a difficult grand prix, the Australian who started last due to an engine penalty, struggled to make any ground during the race. The Honey Badger struggled with front grip, resulting in an early pit-stop for the Mclaren driver.

When Bill McAnally began racing in NASCAR’s local series in the 1990s, his operation used Chevrolets, and since 2008, Bill McAnally Racing has raced under Toyota power. For 2022, McAnally will rejoin the Bowtie. On Wednesday, McAnally announced BMR and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series programme McAnally-Hilgemann Racing will switch back to Chevrolet beginning in 2022 as part of a technical alliance with GMS Racing.

BMR began racing in what is now the ARCA Menards Series West in 1992 and blossomed into the premier team in the series. Since 2010, BMR drivers have won the ARCA West championship in all but four years, including five of the last six and the last two titles with Derek Kraus and Jesse Love. The team also operates a driver development academy in partnership with NASCAR.

Kraus currently pilots the #19 Tundra for MHR, where he sits thirteenth in points in his and the team’s second year of competition. MHR is operated by McAnally in conjunction with Bill Hilgemann. Colby Howard will join the team for the 2022 season.

“We are grateful for the opportunity to work with a team the caliber of GMS Racing as we prepare to partner with Chevrolet next season,” McAnally stated. “We’re anxious to move ahead and we’re confident that our alliance with GMS will be beneficial to both teams.”

For GMS, the alliance gives them a new friend as the team prepares for their largest season yet. In addition to fielding multiple full-time trucks as usual, GMS is also débuting a full-time Cup Series team with Ty Dillon.

Pierre Gasly reckoned finishing sixth in the Turkish Grand Prix – and less than ten seconds away from the podium places – was a good effort, particularly after taking a five-second time penalty for colliding with Fernando Alonso at turn one on lap one.

The Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda Driver was deemed to have been at fault for the incident that saw Alonso spin around and lose significant ground on the opening lap, although he felt over the radio that he had been unable to avoid the contact as Sergio Pérez was inside him coming to the turn.

Nevertheless, Gasly drove superbly throughout the race and was able to take his penalty without losing a position and was closing down the cars in front of him in the closing laps.

“I’m really happy to be back finishing in the top six, I think this is probably one of our best performances this season, particularly in these difficult conditions,” said Gasly.  “To be finishing just 10 seconds from the podium, after a five second penalty, is really good for us.

“The Turn 1 incident was a bit unfortunate, I was sandwiched between Sergio and Fernando, we touched a little bit but it was just enough to spin Alonso, so I want to say sorry to him.

The second and final day of the seventeen NASCAR Cup Series teams testing the Next Gen car at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval took place on Tuesday.

Twenty-one cars piloted by twenty-three drivers (a one-person increase from Monday) took to the track. The shared #19 Joe Gibbs Racing car of Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. set the fastest lap time of 1:18.573, though the number is greatly skewed as the car had missed a chicane. Hamlin eventually also took over the 23XI Racing machine from Bubba Wallace, which he co-owns, after his regular #11 car experienced issues that prevented him from turning laps in time.

Much of the driver roster remained the same with the exception of Team Hezeberg, who had Loris Hezemans share the #27 with Jacques Villeneuve. Villeneuve, the 1997 Formula One World Champion and a current NASCAR Whelen Euro Series driver like Hezemans, last raced in the Cup Series at Sonoma in 2013; coincidentally, his Cup début in 2007 came in a #27 car for Bill Davis. With his unsurprisingly impressive road racing background in open-wheel cars and road ringer status in NASCAR in the early 2010s, Villeneuve helped record the twelfth-best time. It was not all smooth sailing for the Canadian as he got loose re-entering the oval portion of the track, but was able to keep the car off the wall.

Another new team on the grid for 2022 is GMS Racing, whose Ty Dillon posted the slowest time of the twenty-one cars but set a faster pace than on Monday (1:24.011 on Tuesday versus 1:24.143 the day prior).

“It was a lot of fun getting to drive the new Camaro,” said Dillon. “These things are very fast and you can be really aggressive driving them. We got a lot of information and learned a lot about this new car that we have to fix system-wise, so we’re working really hard on that. There’s going to be a lot of learning up until next year, but boy, am I excited to drive these things full time.”