Double Formula 1 champion Mika Hakkinen will contest the Suzuka 10 Hours in a McLaren 720S GT3. The ex-DTM driver and 20-time grand prix winner will be partnered by Katsuaki Kubota and Hiroaki Ishiura for the August 23-25 event, which is a round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge. The team he will compete with is
Month: April 2019
Renault has “similar problems” with its 2019 Formula 1 car’s characteristics as last year, says its driver Nico Hulkenberg. The French manufacturer’s works team finished fourth in the constructors’ championship last season and had targeted eating into the gap to the big three of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull. However, at the start of the
Takuma Sato says his late mistake while leading IndyCar’s Barber race caused a “heart attack”, but described his victory as his “cleanest” in the series yet. Sato was left without an early threat in the race after Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team-mate Graham Rahal encountered throttle problems. The 2017 Indianapolis 500 winner was then able
Toro Rosso team principal Franz Tost says rookie Alexander Albon could become a “very successful Formula 1 driver” and has explained how he has impressed the squad. Albon, who had not driven an F1 car until the shakedown of the STR13 in February, has out-qualified team-mate Daniil Kvyat in both races. In the Bahrain Grand
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kurt Busch says he was willing to wreck his brother Kyle during the late restart in the NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol. The two brothers lined up on the front row for the restart with just 14 of the 500 laps remaining after Kyle recovered from a second lap crash to
McLaren has revealed Fernando Alonso’s Indycar for the 2019 Indianapolis 500, which sports a similar livery to the Formula 1 team. The #66 McLaren entry will be piloted by Alonso in what will be his second attempt on the Indy 500, with victory enough to seal the triple crown of motorsport. It has been designated
Red Bull sees potential for big ‘free gains’ with Honda in the future, just from improving the packaging of the Japanese power unit in its car. The Red Bull-Honda partnership began with a podium finish in Australia courtesy of Max Verstappen, who followed it up with fourth in Bahrain. Rob Marshall, Red Bull’s chief engineering
FIA officials are visiting both Japan and Kenya this week as part of preparations for both nations to potentially return to the World Rally Championship for 2020. Their return is likely to come at the cost of European events as the FIA and the WRC battle calendar congestion. Corsica replaced Japan when the Asian country
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Takuma Sato picked up his first victory of the 2019 IndyCar season with a dominant display at Barber Motorsports Park. Sato employed a three-stop strategy – the approach used by the bulk of the field – from pole position, pitting on lap 17 and 37 of the 90-lap race. Taking on
Kyle Busch survived a second lap crash to take his eighth NASCAR Cup series win at Bristol. The Joe Gibbs Toyota driver led home brother Kurt Busch, having made the call to stay out while his nearest challengers pitted for new tyres during a caution period in the final 20 laps. Busch, who has more
Kyle Busch survived an opening lap crash to take his eighth NASCAR Cup series win at Bristol. The Joe Gibbs Toyota driver led home brother Kurt Busch, having made the call to stay out while his nearest challengers pitted for new tyres during a caution period in the final 20 laps. Busch, who has more
IndyCar president Jay Frye admits that delaying the introduction of the 2.4-litre engines will be considered if the series believes it will help entice another engine manufacturer. The current plan is for the series to replace its current 2.2-litre twin-turbo V6s with the new 2.4-litre engines for the 2021 season, and then race the next-generation
The chances of the IndyCar Series returning to Japan for a championship race is not looking promising, according to Mark Miles, CEO of Hulman & Company, IndyCar’s owners. Japan last hosted an IndyCar race in 2011 at Motegi, when the race had to be run on the three-mile road course because the oval, used by
Kimi Raikkonen reckons the rule changes brought in for 2019 have made it easier for Formula 1 cars to follow each other closely in race conditions. Raikkonen followed up his eighth place in Australia by qualifying eighth and finishing seventh in Bahrain, right behind McLaren rookie Lando Norris. Despite having a pace advantage over Norris
Romain Grosjean supports Formula 1’s race stewards being more relaxed about driving clashes, but says “we don’t want Formula E” levels of contact. As Autosport revealed over the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend, the FIA stewards and race director Michael Masi met the drivers to discuss how best to implement rules of engagement in wheel-to-wheel racing.
McLaren’s Zak Brown says his Formula 1 team is not expecting to regularly battle Red Bull in 2019, despite its promising performance in the Bahrain Grand Prix. McLaren has made good progress with its car this year, with Carlos Sainz taking on Max Verstappen, who went on to finish fourth, at the Sakhir track last
Takuma Sato led a Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 1-2 during IndyCar qualifying at Barber Motorsports Park, while Team Penske struggled for pace. Sato’s quickest lap in the Fast Six on Red Firestones was a 1m08.5934s, which pipped team-mate Graham Rahal to pole by just over a tenth of a second. Reigning champion Scott Dixon was
New Zealand rally star Hayden Paddon has ordered a Hyundai i30 TCR to help him refine his asphalt driving technique in 2019 Paddon, who lost his factory World Rally Championship seat to Sebastien Loeb this year, is working every possible angle to find a way back into the series. His team is now based out
Williams drivers George Russell and Robert Kubica reckon Patrick Head’s return in a consultancy role will be a boost for the struggling Formula 1 team. Team co-founder and former technical director Head is providing support to Williams’ engineering operations as it regroups following the departure of Paddy Lowe. The 72-year-old was last involved with Williams
Red Bull says it approved of Max Verstappen’s decision to swap helmet supplier to Schuberth despite its RB15 2019 Formula 1 car being created around an Arai design. Changes to the safety standards of F1 helmets this year – designed to provide extra protection for the forehead area – left a number of suppliers in
Pierre Gasly feels he needs better direction from his Red Bull Formula 1 team to help fix the struggles he is having with the handling of its RB15 2019 challenger. Gasly has had a difficult start to his Red Bull career after crashing twice in pre-season testing and then during a frustrating opening weekend in
Schmidt Peterson Motorsports driver James Hinchcliffe set the fastest time of Friday IndyCar practice at Barber Motorsports Park ahead of Austin winner Colton Herta. After Chip Ganassi racing driver Felix Rosenqvist had topped the damp first practice, Hinchcliffe set a best time of 1m08.999s in the second session. That put him 0.009s clear of Herta,
Ferrari has revealed that an unprecedented short circuit within the control systems of its Formula 1 engine was the cause of Charles Leclerc’s problem in the Bahrain Grand Prix. Leclerc had looked on course to take his maiden F1 victory but slowed with just over 10 laps to go as his engine dropped a cylinder.
Red Bull is confident it will have a fix for its aerodynamic issues by Formula 1’s Spanish Grand Prix at the latest, following some encouraging results in testing at Bahrain. A challenging Bahrain Grand Prix meant Red Bull could not challenge Mercedes or Ferrari, with Max Verstappen a distant fourth and team-mate Pierre Gasly in
Penske’s Brad Keselowski says he must add a road course victory to be considered a NASCAR Cup Series’ “great”, having won at all other types of track on the calendar. Keselowski has 29 Cup victories and has won two of the seven races so far this season, mostly recently at Martinsville. NASCAR currently has Sonoma
Factory Ducati MotoGP rider Danilo Petrucci says he must learn to manage races better if he is to establish himself as a regular podium threat. Petrucci had an up-and-down weekend at Termas de Rio Hondo, starting off with the “worst day” of his brief tenure as a works Ducati rider on Friday, before finishing sixth
The Williams Formula 1 team posted “solid” financial results in 2018, despite a poor performance on track leading to the outfit tumbling to last in the constructors’ championship. Figures announced today showed that both the F1 team and its sister company Williams Advanced Engineering generated increased revenue compared to 2017, although earnings before interest, taxes,
Fernando Alonso has hinted at contesting an off-road event to achieve “something that has no precedent” and insisted he is not just having “fun” in his post-Formula 1 challenges. Last year the two-time F1 world champion won the Le Mans 24 Hours alongside his farewell F1 season, and has added Daytona 24 Hours and Sebring
Formula 1 rookie Lando Norris has admitted McLaren’s race pace is “better than we anticipated” after an encouraging start to the 2019 season. Norris has qualified in the top 10 for the first two grands prix of his career as McLaren has surprised itself with its strong form at the opening races. The British driver
Honda ‘expects’ new MotoGP signing Jorge Lorenzo to be fighting for ‘top positions’, and Marc Marquez says Lorenzo’s start with the team has been more difficult than Honda anticipated. Lorenzo finished in 13th on his first outing as a Honda rider in Qatar last month, and followed that up with 12th place in last weekend’s