Arguably no Formula 1 team faced as big a challenge as McLaren heading into last weekend’s Bahrain testing, given the switch of power unit supplier from Renault to Mercedes. Even at a time when much on the 2020 cars was frozen by the FIA, allowing teams to carry over parts without having to devote R&D
Month: March 2021
As the third and final day of pre-season testing wound down at the Bahrain International Circuit, the TV feed showed Sainz and Alfa Romeo’s Raikkonen running closely together off-track at the exit of Turn 10. Sainz had been attempting a final flying lap on a set of soft tyres in the closing minutes of the
Having last claimed victory at Martinsville back in June, Truex fought off Joey Logano, who was first off pitroad in the race’s final pitstops, but on a restart with 25 laps remaining Truex powered around the outside of Logano and grabbed the lead through Turns 1 and 2. The race remained caution-free from there and
Verstappen ended pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit with the fastest lap time, recording a best effort of 1m28.960s. The lap saw him finish 0.093s clear of AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda in second place, and more than a second clear of reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes. Verstappen has downplayed the favourite tag for
Ferrari slumped to its worst season for 40 years in 2020 as the team struggled with both a draggy car and a poor performing power unit, making its straight-line speed a particular weakness. The team worked hard over the winter to resolve the issues, with an all-new power unit being designed ahead of the 2021
Raikkonen’s Alfa Romeo team was hindered by a poor performing Ferrari power unit throughout last year as the Italian manufacturer lagged behind rival engine suppliers Mercedes, Honda and Renault. Ferrari’s struggles followed a private settlement with the FIA over its 2019 power unit, and left both the works and customer squads slumped at the bottom
From the boss of the world motorsport governing body, to Formula 1 title winners he commentated on and drivers who grew up listening to his broadcasts, messages have flooded in paying their respects to Walker after his death was announced on Saturday. In a career talking about motorsport that spanned seven decades, he was known
F1 is planning to hold sprint races for the first time at three grands prix in 2021, running a 100km race on a Saturday to set the grid for the Sunday grand prix. F1 managing director of motorsports Brawn used the term “sprint qualifying” to describe the races during an interview on the world feed
The Dutchman and then team-mate Alex Albon struggled at times in 2020 with the aerodynamic anomalies of the RB16 that resulted in a nervous rear end and a car that was hard to be fully committed with. With the team having worked hard throughout last season to address the problems, the new RB16B has proved
High winds left Losail circuit covered in sand for the final day of the Qatar pre-season test, with only five riders completing laps due to the conditions. Suzuki duo Mir and Alex Rins didn’t venture out at all during the eight-hour session, with the former admitting the lost day has proven to be problematic as
McLaren raced without its own nominated reserve driver last season after agreeing to call on Mercedes’ back-ups if needed, with the agreement to remain in place this year should circumstances arise where a stand-in driver is required. Mercedes currently has Formula E drivers Stoffel Vandoorne and Nyck de Vries already locked in as its official
The world champion outfit had launched its W12 earlier this month but been open that it was not fitted with a real version of the floor that it would be running in 2021. With F1’s aero rules having changed this year in a bid to cut back on downforce, teams have been forced to rework
A report from the Financial Times in December claimed that F1 was in “advanced” talks with Amazon over streaming races in 2021, building on an existing partnership with Amazon Web Services. Amazon has been expanding its live sport offerings in recent years, picking up rights across Premier League football, tennis and the NFL. Speaking to
The seven-time NASCAR Cup champion has tested at Barber Motorsports Park, Sebring and Laguna Seca, and has found that aside from trying to exploit his Chip Ganassi Racing Honda’s aerodynamic grip, he’s also been too “gentle” on his tyres on out-laps. He described an IndyCar as “a monster”, and has added Formula 3 outings to
The one-time MotoGP race winner has had a difficult pre-season so far, ending the first test 1.5 seconds off the pace in 16th following two crashes on the last day, and was 20th on the opening day of the second outing on Wednesday after another tumble. Branding his Wednesday “a bit of a shocking day”,
By the time the Qatar Grand Prix rolls around, Espargaro will have had just five days of riding on the Honda this winter having spent the last four years on the KTM. After a solid opening test at Losail last weekend, Espargaro was just seven tenths off Miller’s record pace of 1m53.183s on the first
Quartararo dipped underneath the old outright lap record at the Qatar Grand Prix venue on Wednesday, ending the day 0.080 seconds behind Ducati’s Jack Miller in second. But despite also showing strong long run pace on his Yamaha, Quartararo was some 12km/h down through the speed trap relative to Ducati and admits he doesn’t “feel
Ferrari slumped to its worst season in 40 years in 2020 as it struggled with both a draggy SF1000 car and an underperforming power unit, the latter a consequence of a private settlement with the FIA over its 2019 engine. It limited Ferrari to sixth place in the constructors’ championship and just three podium finishes,
The 2014 IndyCar champion and 2018 Indy 500 winner finished fifth in last year’s championship after two wins, five poles, a string of misfortunes and a couple of driving errors. Now as he approaches contract renewal time, Power says talk about his future won’t affect his style or approach to the season his 13th with
With the arrival of Scott McLaughlin from Supercars, Jimmie Johnson from NASCAR and Romain Grosjean from Formula 1, Rahal says that he believes every driver in the IndyCar Series has the potential to win. This makes it very different from his debut year at the top level, driving for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing in Champ Car, the
This year’s campaign consists of 12 rounds, with Matton “confident” that number can be fulfilled. While acknowledging the challenges ahead, Matton says the global COVID-19 vaccination roll-out and the “tireless work and commitment of the entire FIA rally family”, can help to minimise possible disruptions. The 2020 WRC season was stopped during Rally Mexico because
Reigning Moto2 world champion and Avintia Ducati rider Enea Bastianini says it was “not that important” to be the fastest MotoGP rookie after the first Qatar test. Bastianini steps up to the premier class this season with Ducati and Avintia, joining Moto2 runner-up Luca Marini, Pramac’s Jorge Martin and Aprilia’s Lorenzo Savadori as MotoGP rookies
London, Tuesday 9th March 2021: Motorsport Network has partnered with leading licensing company Difuzed BV to launch a new apparel line and business division: Motorsport Collection B.V. The first project under the joint venture will be the launch of the Motorsport Collection product line, which will include apparel, accessories, and headwear. The first release of the
The Mexican youngster earned huge praise from rivals for his first full IndyCar season after completing eight races with the Harding Racing and Carlin squads, finishing fourth in the championship with four podium finishes to his name. The 2018 Indy Lights champion finished runner-up three times, including at Road America to new team-mate Felix Rosenqvist
Television executives must have fielded pitches for every conceivable workplace comedy. Following the success of The Office (on both sides of the Atlantic), the likes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Parks and Recreation have both commanded legions of fans and airtime across the world. Adding to the extensive list of workplaces, a down-on-its-luck NASCAR outfit now
The change, which has been strongly rumoured for most of the off-season, has been introduced for two primary reasons. The first is to reduce accommodation costs for the teams and the series, and the second is to reduce personnel’s potential exposure time while the America is still grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic and awaiting vaccinations
Speaking on the Rusty’s Garage podcast, Power explained that he met with Chip Ganassi Racing’s IndyCar boss Mike Hull at the end of 2007 to discuss a drive. However the Australian says Hull hinted that he lacked the “Chip Factor” and talks didn’t progress beyond the initial meeting. “We met at Starbucks,” said Power. “I’d
New factory Yamaha signing Fabio Quartararo topped the test outright as he got work evaluating the M1’s new chassis, though wasn’t totally sold on it just yet. Ducati debuted a new aero concept, with Jack Miller going second fastest overall, while Aprilia made encouraging steps forward with its all-new RS-GP after Aleix Espargaro ended the
The Canadian was abruptly dropped by Arrow McLaren SP at the end of 2019, leaving him scrambling to find a ride for 2020. Genesys, a “global leader in cloud customer experience and contact center solutions” stepped up to sponsor him in the #29 Andretti Autosport-Honda for three races – at Texas Motor Speedway, the Grand Prix
Yamaha has brought a new chassis to the Qatar test which is derived from the 2019 bike, after all M1 riders suffered a lack of consistency on the 2020 machine. Rossi worked with both chassis on the second day of the Qatar test, but admitted he didn’t feel much of a difference after finding the