Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

After missing time due to injury, both Arrow McLaren SP‘s Felix Rosenqvist and Ed Carpenter Racing‘s Rinus Veekay have been medically cleared to return to NTT IndyCar Series competition this weekend at the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio.

Rosenqvist suffered a serious crash at the first race of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix doubleheader when he climbed the tyre barriers in turn six at the Belle Isle street circuit, caused by what the team called “a non-recurrent mechanical fault”. Rosenqvist was okay after the crash and sustained no serious injury, but the Swede was taken to a hospital for further evaluation and was forced to miss the second race at Detroit and also the REV Group Grand Prix at Road America.

After this announcement on Tuesday, Rosenqvist is itching to be back on track.

“I’m thrilled to be back racing this weekend at Mid-Ohio,” Rosenqvist said.

“I have been so well taken care of after the accident and I would like to thank Dr. [Geoffrey] Billows and the entire IndyCar medical team for their professionalism in getting me back in racing shape. I am fully ready to get out there and push to the limit again, and I really can’t wait!”

James Hedley scored his third victory of the season to maintain his lead in the 2021 British F4 Championship standings on a weekend that also saw maiden wins for Arden Motorsport’s Zak Taylor and Phinsys by Argenti’s Matias Zagazeta at Brands Hatch.

As the series arrived at the Brands Hatch Indy Circuit for the third race weekend of 2021, it was the Fortec Motorsport racer that had a 25-point advantage over the early season rookie qualifying master Matthew Rees.

And with the opening race of the weekend being designated as the reverse grid race specifically for this meeting, it was Arden Motorsport new boy David Morales that led away from pole position and held a strong lead before coming under pressure later on from team mate rookie Thomas Ikin, with the rookie cup contender passing exquisitely around the outside of the sweeping and rollercoaster-like Paddock Hill bend.

Eventual race one winner Zak Taylor would join in on the battle between Arden team mates and get past Ikin and Morales at Druids as they battled for the lead, and built up an advantage that would not be toppled, even with a safety car intervention that Taylor dealt with masterfully to take his maiden British F4 victory.

Ikin took a second podium in as many race meetings as well as a third rookie victory, JHR Developments’ Abbi Pulling took a well deserved podium finish after making a last ditch pass on Carlin’s Dougie Bolger on the exit of Clearways in what would be a photo finish across the line.

Zak O’Sullivan enjoyed a positive weekend as the BRDC British Formula 3 Championship travelled to Silverstone GP for the second meeting of the 2021 season.

The Gloucestershire driver took two second-place finishes in the first two races, fighting back from 15th to ninth in the reverse-grid Race 3, clawing back one point on early-season title rival Reece Ushijima, who won the first two races and finished 13th in Race 3.

Hitech GP‘s Japanese-American driver was fastest in the second testing session on Thursday, claimed pole position for, and won, the first two races at Silverstone.

O’Sullivan qualified second by 0.061s for Race 1, starting third for Race 2.

He limited the damage with two second places, withstanding pressure from Roberto Faria (Fortec Motorsport) at the end of Race 2.

After a poor qualifying performance, Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN will be pleased with their comeback in the Styrian Grand Prix, but slightly disappointed that they were unable to have at least one of their cars in the points position.

Kimi Räikkönen feels that if there were ten more laps in the Grand Prix he could’ve put his car in a points scoring position, but obviously this was not a viable option so although the comeback was good, it wasn’t quite good enough.

There are some positives to take from the race with the strategy being good and the pace of the car being good and Räikkönen had some good battles which was helped by a good start to the Grand Prix. Next weekend, it’s the Austrian Grand Prix at the same track so the Fin will be hoping for a better Saturday in order to achieve a points finish.

“Ten more laps and we probably could have scored a few good points, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case. I think we did the best we could today and achieved the best result from where we started: the strategy was right, we had good pace and the car felt good.

“I had a good start, some nice battles and passed a few cars in the process: in the end, it’s just the points that were missing. We will try to have a better Saturday next week and give ourselves a better chance for the race.”

Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda went into the Styrian Grand Prix with a real possibility of a double points finish, this possibility disintegrated before the first lap had even ended, with Pierre Gasly having to retire after being hit by Charles Leclerc. Yuki Tsunoda however finished in tenth place to at least bring a point back for the disappointed team.

Tsunoda did well to bring a single point home to the team, the rookie battled hard throughout the race which saw the midfield extremely close together. As a whole the weekend was possibly the most consistent of his Formula 1 career so far, giving him much hope ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix this weekend, of course again at the Red Bull Ring.

“It’s a good step up from last week and I’m happy to be finishing in the points today. I want to say thank you to the team, we’ve put in a lot of work over the last few weeks, so to be in the top ten is really positive. I think potentially there was the opportunity to even finish in P8 or P9, but we just need to analyse everything and work hard ahead of next week.

“I believe this has been my most consistent weekend so far and I have to say overall I am happy. It was a real shame for Pierre today, but the pace of the car is definitely there, so we just need to put it all together next week. I’ve got some cool activities planned with AlphaTauri and Red Bull over the next few days and then we’ll start preparing for the second race here in Austria.”

“I don’t believe there was a lot I could do” – Pierre Gasly

For Gasly it was an extremely disappointing grand prix which ended before it could really begin. Having started from sixth, Gasly had a great opportunity to add to the team’s tally as well as his own. Unfortunately on the opening lap he was hit by a clumsy Leclerc, who struck Gasly’s rear left tyre just after re-entering the circuit having run wide at turn one.

The Alpine F1 Team have announced that Guanyu Zhou will make his first appearance in a free practice session this weekend ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix.

Zhou, currently leading the FIA Formula 2 championship racing with UNI-Virtuosi, will become the second Chinese driver to participate in an official Formula 1 session after Ma Qinghua, who took part in five sessions between 2012 and 2013.

The Alpine Academy driver says taking part in the free practice session at the Red Bull Ring is the next step on his way to competing in Formula 1 in the future.

“Driving in FP1 at a Formula 1 Grand Prix weekend is like a dream coming true and another step closer to my ultimate goal of becoming a Formula 1 driver,” said Zhou.  “It’s going to be a very special moment.

“I’m preparing myself as much as I can to be ready and also ensure that I’m able to complete all the targets and plans that the team have set me to do. There have not been many Chinese drivers in Formula 1, so to be behind the wheel of an F1 car during a race weekend is going to be a very proud feeling.

Fernando Alonso made it three consecutive top ten finishes in Sunday’s Styrian Grand Prix, with the Spaniard ending his afternoon at the Red Bull Ring ninth.

The Alpine F1 Team driver was embroiled in the battle for points all afternoon long, and although he was passed by both Scuderia Ferrari drivers, he believed he got as much out of the weekend as he could.

With a second race at the Red Bull Ring coming this weekend, Alonso says he hopes the team can analyse what happened last weekend in a bid to improve their performance second time around.

“I don’t think we could do much more than ninth position today, but it’s good to score some more points for the team,” said Alonso.  “We had a good start and fought with two or three cars on the first lap.

“After the first pit-stop we were right behind Lance Stroll in eighth and fought with him for the rest of the race. In the end the Ferraris on fresh tyres were just too fast for us.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing have come together once again with 23-year-old Santino Ferrucci as he will pilot the No. 45 Honda for the team at the upcoming Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio, with midwestern United States grocery store chain Hy-Vee sponsoring the car once again.

After leaving IndyCar full time in 2021 to pursue a part-time NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule, Ferrucci joined the team at the 105th Indianapolis 500 in May. He finished the race in sixth, the highest-placing RLLR car of the day and his third top ten in three Indy 500 starts. He was then brought back for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix doubleheader, finishing sixth in the first race and tenth in the second race after recovering from a crash in qualifying.

Ferrucci is eager to work with RLLR again, especially at the track where he earned his career best qualifying position of second last season.

“I’m super excited to return to Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing to race the Hy-Vee entry at Mid-Ohio,” Ferrucci said.

“It’s been a great track for me in the past and last year I started on the front row. I’ve always enjoyed the track and its fans. I cannot wait to be working with the team again and continuing our relationship and our growth as the season moves forward. Hopefully we can get the Hy-Vee car into the top five and on the podium!”

The McLaren F1 Team Principal Andreas Seidl has apologised publicly to Daniel Ricciardo after a power loss early on in the Styrian Grand Prix lead to a poor result for the Australian on Sunday.

Ricciardo started in thirteenth and by the end of the first lap made it all the way up to ninth, looking set for a stormer that would finally kickstart his season with McLaren. Very soon afterwards a power loss issue with his engine meant he dropped back to his starting posistion, where he stayed, stuck behind the Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN of Kimi Räikkönen until the end of the race.

“We still end the weekend with some mixed feelings as today felt like a little bit of a missed opportunity,” said Seidl.

“Daniel had a great start from P13 to P9 in the early stages, but then a temporary loss of power meant four cars overtook him, which pretty much ended his race… Daniel, sorry for that.”

Ricciardo remained optimistic after starting and finishing thirteenth, despite running as high as P9 during the race. The Australian was able to recover from the power failure, but after losing four positions in succession, his race was effectively over.

Sunday’s Styrian Grand Prix brought an end to another strong weekend for Lance Stroll, who after starting ninth battled hard throughout the race to finish eighth. Aston Martin Cognizant Formula One Team team-mate Sebastian Vettel finished twelfth.

Stroll was strong throughout the grand prix, the Canadian had an almost race long battle with veteran Fernando Alonso and also fought with both Scuderia Ferrari’s at times. The Ferrari’s were unfortunately just too quick for Stroll to keep behind, however the Canadian did finish ahead of Alonso.

He also did well to avoid opening lap contact between Pierre Gasly and Charles Leclerc, whilst all three of them went side-by-side on the run up to turn three.

Eighth is possibly the best result Stroll could’ve gotten from the race, he does get another chance to achieve higher though at the Austrian Grand Prix this weekend, the second of two races from the Red Bull Ring.

“We were racing well inside the points throughout the race and it was exciting to be in a battle from the first lap until the end. We made a strong start and ran in the pack with Fernando [Alonso], Charles [Leclerc] and Pierre [Gasly]. There was a little bit of contact ahead, which helped us gain some places, and I managed to overtake Fernando to move into sixth.

After a bitterly disappointing qualifying for Scuderia Ferrari at the Styrian Grand Prix, both Ferrari drivers did well to recover good points on Sunday, with Carlos Sainz Jr in sixth and Charles Leclerc in seventh.

After a disastrous qualifying on Saturday, Sainz did superbly well to recover a good haul of points after an excellent opening stint to the race. The Spaniard ran much longer than the majority of the midfield, giving him clean air to lap consistent times.

Amazingly when it came to his stop, Sainz managed to overcut a number of drivers and elevate himself up to sixth, with Lando Norris not too far ahead. Unfortunately for Sainz he got stuck behind Lewis Hamilton who had just lapped him.

Sainz did have stronger pace than Hamilton at the time but took too long to unlap himself, leaving Norris too far ahead with not enough laps left. Despite this, having not made final qualifying yet managing to finish in sixth is a great result, and one that gives him confidence for the second race at the Red Bull Ring this weekend.

“I had a strong race and it was a good result for the team! We had good pace from the very beginning, right until the end.  I managed to run a very long first stint, doing very good laps once I was able to make the most of running in free air to overcut almost the entire midfield. The pit stop was spot on and that gave us a chance to chase P5 as I had a lot of pace on the Hard tyre.

For the first time in the hybrid era, the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team have gone four races without a victory, after Lewis Hamilton finished second and Valtteri Bottas third at the Styrian Grand Prix.

There was nothing either Mercedes driver could do to stop Red Bull Racing and Max Verstappen who cruised to victory, in what was possibly the most dominant Red Bull win in recent years. It was the first real sign for Mercedes as to how far behind Red Bull the team are, as Hamilton could do nothing but watch Verstappen drive away into the distance.

The team did well however to have both drivers beat Sergio Pérez and be on the podium, a surprisingly poor Red Bull pit-stop allowed Bottas to overcut the Mexican, putting the Mercedes driver in control of third place.

The result see’s Hamilton now eighteen points behind Verstappen and the team forty behind Red Bull. Team Principal Toto Wolff knows that his team will fight with everything they’ve got, despite their main focus now being on 2022!

“A double podium with the second fastest car was the best damage limitation we could do today – we fought with everything we had but it wasn’t enough. Red Bull clearly had the quicker package this weekend, and we didn’t have the pace to apply strategic pressure to Max who could have covered every move we made; he simply controlled the race from the front.

It was damage limitation for Lewis Hamilton at the Styrian Grand Prix, the world champion finished in second place behind championship leader Max Verstappen, team-mate Valtteri Bottas finished third.

It was a quiet race for Hamilton at the Red Bull Ring, neither of the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team drivers had any answers to Verstappen’s relentless pace.

The only consolation for Hamilton is that after pitting with only a couple laps to go for soft tyres, the world champion did get the fastest lap to gain an extra crucial point. Hamilton now sits eighteen points behind Verstappen, with Red Bull Racing clearly having much stronger pace than the silver arrows.

“Today was a bit of a lonely race for me – I was trying to keep up with the Red Bull but with the speed they have, they have obviously made some big improvements over the last couple of races and it was impossible to keep up. I don’t know where we are losing all the time, I think their long runs seem to be a bit better, plus on the straight it feels like we lose a lot.

“It’s a serious challenge, we need to figure out what we can do to elevate the package and give us more performance but it was a really good result to get second and third. We got good points as a team today and we have just got to keep pushing.”

Max Verstappen took his third win from the last four races with a dominant performance at the Styrian Grand Prix, to extend his lead to eighteen points in the championship; Sergio Pérez finished fourth.

Verstappen was unbeatable at the Red Bull Ring to take a victory that will go down as one of Red Bull Racing’s strongest in recent years. The Dutchman was never troubled and hardly had to look back, as he stormed to the win at the team’s home grand prix.

Pérez was unfortunate not to make it a double podium for Red Bull, a slow pit-stop cost Pérez and forced the team to change his strategy to what they did with Verstappen in France. This time however it didn’t work out as the Mexican crossed the line only half a second behind Valtteri Bottas.

Nevertheless it was a victory that Team Principal Christian Horner believes demonstrates all the hard work being done by the team.

“It’s been a great day and to win at our home track, secure four back-to-back wins and a 10th victory with Honda is a real achievement. It was a clinical drive from Max who managed the race out front so well. I believe it has been our strongest race of the season so far and for the first time this year Max managed to open out a bit of a gap to Lewis and put some fresh air between them.

Max Verstappen extended his world championship lead in imperious style with a dominant victory at the Styrian Grand Prix, team-mate Sergio Pérez narrowly missed out on the podium and finished fourth at the Red Bull Ring.

At the home of Red Bull, Verstappen proved why he is at the top of the standings, the Dutchman reacted brilliantly off the line from pole and simply never had to look back. Title rival Lewis Hamilton had no answers to Verstappen’s pace and more importantly his ability to look after his tyres, all the world champion could do was watch Verstappen drive away into the distance.

The win extends Verstappen’s lead over Hamilton to eighteen points, putting Verstappen in further control of the championship.

“I am super happy to win here and doing it at home at the Red Bull Ring is always so special. I had a really enjoyable race, the car was working well and I always enjoy driving on this track.  I just focused on my own race, concentrating on hitting the apexes in the places I wanted to, looking after the tyres and it worked out well.

“You never know how competitive or how close it’s going to be on a Sunday and to be honest I really wasn’t expecting it to be like it was today as the long run pace between the two teams was very closely matched all weekend. Overall, we’ve had a really positive weekend and of course it’s not going to be completely the same next week.