Mercedes is working on developments to improve its high-downforce performance in Formula 1 this year, but Valtteri Bottas does not expect them to be ready for the Singapore Grand Prix. While Lewis Hamilton has won three of the last four races to take the lead in the drivers’ championship for the first time this year
Month: September 2017
Red Bull is certain it will take more engine grid penalties before the 2017 Formula 1 season is over. Both Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen dropped to the back of the Italian Grand Prix grid last weekend as Red Bull switched to new engines to ensure no risk of problems in Singapore – where it
Citroen team principal Yves Matton says signing Sebastien Ogier is now his priority for the 2018 World Rally Championship. Four-time WRC champion Ogier has been in discussion with his former employer over the last month and Matton can now see no major obstacles to a deal to bring Ogier back to the team he left
Reigning IndyCar champion Simon Pagenaud says he has found defending his title a “harder” task compared to winning his maiden championship last season.
Pagenuad won five races on his way to the title in 2016, but his only triumph this year came at Phoenix – which marked his first oval victory in the series.
The
Valentino Rossi has started light physiotherapy on his broken leg as he bids to return to MotoGP action as soon as possible. The Italian will miss at least the next two races at Misano and Aragon, and it is not yet clear if he will be fit enough to return at the following race at
Indy Lights racer Zachary Claman DeMelo will make his IndyCar debut for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in the season finale at Sonoma. The 19-year-old Canadian finished fifth in Lights with Carlin this season, winning at Road America, and has conducted two IndyCar tests with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports (pictured below). He will drive the second RLLR
Formula 1 sporting chief Ross Brawn says he plans to discuss with the FIA ways to change the under-fire grid penalty system. Fans were in uproar ahead of the Italian Grand Prix when nine drivers had been handed grid penalties totaling 150 places – with only Lewis Hamilton unaffected and guaranteed to start in the
MotoGP championship leader Andrea Dovizioso has praised title rival Marc Marquez for his ability to “play with the limit” on a bike. Marquez led the standings heading into the recent British Grand Prix, but he fell back behind race winner Dovizioso due to retiring with engine failure. The Honda rider was spectacular through practice and
Kris Meeke will keep his Citroen seat and lead the team for the next round of the World Rally Championship in Spain next month. Meeke’s team-mates for Rally Catalunya will be Stephane Lefebvre and Khalid Al Qassimi, leaving no space for Craig Breen. Andreas Mikkelsen, who has contested three rallies for the manufacturer this season,
Andreas Mikkelsen has switched from Citroen to Hyundai for the remainder of the 2017 World Rally Championship, ahead of an expected full 2018 campaign with the Korean manufacturer. Mikkelsen will replace Hayden Paddon at the Rally of Spain next month and is expected to take Dani Sordo’s i20 Coupe for Rally GB and Rally Australia.
Felipe Massa and Lance Stroll’s last lap battle in the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix was “scary” to watch, says deputy team principal Claire Williams. Stroll, who started the Monza race from second, was running seventh when he picked up a flat spot, which allowed Massa and Sergio Perez to put pressure on him on
LCR Honda MotoGP rider Cal Crutchlow has sustained a finger injury but expects to be fit for this weekend’s San Marino Grand Prix at Misano. An LCR statement said Crutchlow sliced the index finger on his left hand with a knife during an accident at his training base in Italy on Sunday. He sought medical
Citroen’s all-new C3 R5 for categories such as the World Rally Championship’s WRC2 class and the European Rally Championship will test for the first time this week. Team principal Yves Matton said Citroen wants the car, which will not be homologated until 2018, to “set new standards in the category”. Citroen WRC drivers Craig Breen
Honda fears it cannot do enough to convince McLaren to continue their Formula 1 partnership into 2018, but will not stop trying. McLaren is expected to make a final decision on its future with Honda this week, with their relationship at breaking point after a season of unreliability and poor performance. If McLaren decides it
Scott Dixon says he will not “overcomplicate” the IndyCar season finale at Sonoma after cutting Josef Newgarden’s championship lead from 31 points to three after last weekend’s Watkins Glen race. Four-time series champion Dixon finished second in Sunday’s race behind eventual winner Alexander Rossi, while Penske’s championship leader Newgarden collided with the pit exit barrier
NASCAR Cup ‘regular season’ champion Martin Truex Jr says he was caught by surprise when his front-right tyre failed late on while leading Sunday’s round at Darlington. Truex won the first two stages of Sunday’s Southern 500 and had led the closing stages of the race from eventual winner Denny Hamlin. But on worn tyres,
Josef Newgarden accepted full responsibility for his pit-lane crash at the Watkins Glen IndyCar round, which resulted in his championship lead being slashed to just three points. Going wide as he raced Penske team-mate Will Power out of the pits after his final stop, Newgarden made contact with the pit exit barrier and was then
Formula 1 bosses are doing ‘everything they can’ to keep Honda in the championship beyond the end of the 2017 season. McLaren is expected to reach a final decision on its future with Honda this week, as it works to secure a supply of Renault engines instead. Should that happen, Honda will be forced out
Jorge Lorenzo says he is prepared to help Ducati team-mate Andrea Dovizioso’s MotoGP title chances before the end of the season, but he feels the time has not come yet. Dovizioso leads the standings with six races to go following his fourth win of the season at Silverstone, with Honda’s Marc Marquez and Yamaha’s Maverick
Denny Hamlin recovered from a costly mistake in the final stage of the Southern 500 to sweep NASCAR’s throwback weekend at Darlington. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver’s chances of victory looked to be over when he locked up coming into the pit entry with 53 laps to go, missed the pits and was forced to
Alexander Rossi took his first IndyCar victory since his 2016 Indianapolis 500 triumph, as Josef Newgarden’s championship lead was slashed by a pitlane crash at Watkins Glen. Newgarden smacked the pit exit wall at the final stops and was then hit by Sebastien Bourdais, causing rear suspension damage. A long stop for repairs left Newgarden
Italian Grand Prix winner Lewis Hamilton said he is happy to play the villain for the partisan Monza crowd after being booed on the Formula 1 podium. Hamilton suggested it was normal that Ferrari fans would not give him a good reception on a day when Sebastian Vettel finished only third. “I had a real
Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne says his Formula 1 team “screwed up” at the Italian Grand Prix after seeing Mercedes cruise to a dominant 1-2 finish. Just one week after Sebastian Vettel pushed Lewis Hamilton hard for victory in Belgium, Ferrari had no answer to the pace of its main championship rival. Vettel finished 36 seconds
Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi clinched his first IndyCar pole position at Watkins Glen, edging four-time champion Scott Dixon. Rossi’s lap time of 1m22.4639s, a new track record, came in the final seconds of the ‘Fast Six’ section of qualifying, denying Chip Ganassi Racing’s Dixon by little over half a tenth of a second. Rossi, who
The Williams Formula 1 team was at a loss to explain why it was so strong in a rain-hit Italian Grand Prix qualifying session considering its usual struggles in wet conditions. Lance Stroll was quick throughout the three segments of qualifying to end up fourth fastest while team-mate Felipe Massa was ninth. Williams has regularly
Sebastian Vettel admits he is at a loss over Ferrari’s disappointing performance in wet-weather Formula 1 qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix. Vettel, who entered his team’s home event with a seven-point cushion over title rival Lewis Hamilton in the championship, was among the frontrunners in Q1 and Q2 on intermediate tyres – even though
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon set the fastest time in third practice for Sunday’s IndyCar race at Watkins Glen ahead of Alexander Rossi. Ryan Hunter-Reay completed the top three, with Helio Castroneves in fourth. Dixon, who also topped second practice on Friday, waited until late-on in the 45-minute session to show his true pace, as
Seven-time MotoGP champion Valentino Rossi has been discharged from hospital and will continue his rehabilitation from injury at home. Rossi had suffered tibia and fibula fractures in his right leg on Thursday in a motocross training accident. His leg was successfully operated on overnight on Thursday at the Ospedali Riuniti in Ancona. After staying at
Indy Lights race winner Zachary Claman De Melo is likely to race a second car for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing in IndyCar’s season finale at Sonoma. The Carlin driver, who lies fifth in the Lights championship coming into this weekend – the series’ last race of the year – won at Road America in June,
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon led the way in a red flagged second practice session for the penultimate IndyCar race of the season at Watkins Glen. Dixon’s team-mate, Max Chilton, caused the session to be stopped briefly with 22 minutes to go after slapping the barrier. Chilton lost control of his car in the second