Red Bull is planning a “fairly subtle” upgrade for the Spanish Grand Prix, having “closed the gap” to Formula 1 pacesetters Mercedes and Ferrari since the start of 2019. The team scored a podium in the first race of the season on its debut with Honda engines but finished fourth in the three races that
Month: May 2019
Romain Grosjean says it is “almost like everyone’s going to have a B-car” at the Spanish Grand Prix, as his Haas Formula 1 team readies a major upgrade package. The first non-flyaway race of the season is traditionally when teams bring significant updates, although it has become more common for those with greater resources to
NASCAR Cup Series points leader and Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver Kyle Busch says the series’ new aero package for this season “sucked” at Dover. Busch – who equalled Morgan Shepherd’s 1990 record of 11-straight top 10 finishes to start the season – struggled in the rain-delayed race on Monday, hitting the wall in what
Formula 1 teams are edging towards an October compromise over the finalising of the 2021 car regulations, in a bid to make things fairer for all teams. As Autosport revealed earlier this year, teams have pushed for a delay in publishing the new 2021 regulations because of fears that going too early with them could
Martin Truex Jr stormed from the back of the NASCAR Cup Series field to take his second victory of the season for Joe Gibbs Racing in the rescheduled Dover race. Truex was sent to the back ahead of the race after his Toyota machine failed pre-race inspection prior to yesterday’s abandoned race. The 2017 champion
Record breaking MotoGP polesitter Fabio Quartararo set the fastest-ever MotoGP lap of Jerez in the post-Spanish Grand Prix collective test at the same circuit on Monday aboard his Petronas Yamaha. The 20-year-old rookie ended the day with a best effort of 1m36.379s, which was half a second quicker than the lap that had made him
Mercedes Formula 1 team boss Toto Wolff believes the thinner-gauge tyres introduced for this season have made what teams learned last year about the vital “science” involved less relevant. In 2018, Pirelli introduced tyres with a slightly thinner tread for the races in Spain, France and Britain to prevent blistering, and decided to make that
MotoGP manufacturer Yamaha will reduce the target mileage on the component that failed on Fabio Quartararo’s Yamaha M1 bike in the Spanish Grand Prix. Rookie Quartararo, who became MotoGP’s youngest-ever pole-sitter the day prior to the race, was running a comfortable second with what he described as “incredible pace” and looked on course for a
Reigning Super GT champion Jenson Button says he was concerned he might not even score points at Fuji after qualifying only 12th for the season’s second-longest race. Button and Kunimitsu Honda team-mate Naoki Yamamoto failed to progress to Q2 for the first time since last August’s Fuji 500-mile event, and 12th place marked their worst
Honda rider Jorge Lorenzo says the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez left him “sad, disappointed and worried” about his current MotoGP form. After a difficult start to life at Honda, Lorenzo had high hopes for the first race of the European leg but his second place in Friday morning practice proved a false dawn. The
Alex Albon believes Toro Rosso is not getting the results it deserves in Formula 1, and has the potential to be higher than ninth in the constructors’ championship. Although the Faenza-based team had looked strong throughout practice and qualifying at the last race in Azerbaijan, Albon and team-mate Daniil Kvyat were unable to turn their
Alex Rins says he was amused by the footage of a marshal at Jerez taking a minor component from his Suzuki MotoGP bike at the end of the Spanish Grand Prix. Rins finished second in the race and stopped on track to celebrate, which is when the onboard camera on his GSX-RR captured a track
The NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover has been postponed to Monday after persistent rain in Delaware left cars unable to run more than a handful of formation laps. Running of the race has been pushed back to 12:00pm Eastern Time, (17:00pm in the UK), on Monday. Monday’s forecast is for clear and sunny skies,
Black Falcon Mercedes pair Maro Engel and Luca Stolz won the second Brands Hatch Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe race of the season-opener, after surprise poleman Fabian Schiller dropped back. Reigning Endurance Cup champions Stolz and Engel had finished runner-up to Silver Cup competitors Nico Bastian and Thomas Neubauer in a Akka ASP Mercedes in
Petronas Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo says his “incredible” race pace was in part due to learning from his front-running rivals in the Spanish Grand Prix. Quartararo, 20, qualified on pole position for the Jerez race – becoming the youngest rider to do so, beating the previous record held by Marc Marquez – but fell back
Honda rider Marc Marquez says the dominant manner of his victory at Jerez was a way of proving to his rivals that his confidence hadn’t been knocked by his Austin crash. Marquez fell from a comfortable lead at the Circuit of the Americas, marking the first time he had been defeated at the venue. But
Reigning MotoGP champion Marc Marquez dominated the Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez, becoming the first repeat winner of the 2019 campaign. Marquez grabbed the lead off the line and swiftly escaped from the chasing pack, his job made easier when rookie Fabio Quartararo – who had succeeded him as MotoGP’s youngest-ever poleman on Sunday –
Silver Cup competitors Nico Bastian and Thomas Neubauer took a sensational Blancpain win in the Brands Hatch season-opener in a Akka ASP Mercedes, having seized the lead during the pitstops. Reigning Silver Cup champion Bastian ran a close third from the off in his #89 Mercedes, behind poleman and reigning Endurance Cup champion Luca Stolz,
Haas team principal Gunther Steiner believes the large impact that Pirelli’s 2019 tyres are having on the Formula 1 pecking order is “not the right thing” for grand prix racing. The American outfit has been affected badly by tyre warm-up issues at the start of the campaign, scoring just one top-10 finish in the first
Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto says Mercedes currently has a “slightly better” Formula 1 car, but insists the gap between the two squads in the championship is not representative. Ferrari’s new SF90 was the benchmark in F1’s pre-season testing in Barcelona, yet it was Mercedes instead that picked up four consecutive 1-2 finishes to begin
Aprilia rider Andrea Iannone has been declared unfit to participate in MotoGP’s Spanish Grand Prix at Jerez following a crash on Saturday. Iannone hurt his left ankle in a heavy tumble at Turn 11 in FP4, which took place right before qualifying. He was taken away on a stretcher and was later seen to be
Valentino Rossi says the factory MotoGP Yamaha he could only qualify 13th at Jerez and the Petronas versions Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli put on row one are “very similar”. Both the works M1s had to go through Q1 in Spanish Grand Prix qualifying after struggling in practice, and only Maverick Vinales made it into
Black Falcon’s Luca Stolz and Akka ASP’s Fabian Schiller – both in Mercedes – took the pole positions for tomorrow’s Brands Hatch Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe races after rain-impacted qualifying sessions. The opening round of the Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe season, which also kicks off a new era for what was formerly the
Jorge Lorenzo insists he is “closer than ever” to making a breakthrough with his Honda MotoGP bike, despite being “frustrated and disappointed” at qualifying 11th at Jerez. The three-time MotoGP champion, who counts Jerez among his stronger tracks on the calendar, narrowly advanced to Q2 directly from practice but crashed on his decisive qualifying run.
Christian Horner is “totally confident” Max Verstappen will remain at Red Bull team beyond this season, following recent speculation Mercedes is interested in Formula 1’s youngest race winner. Last month Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff laughed off rumours he had been calling Verstappen and the young Dutchman’s father Jos in a bid to lure him
Defending Super GT champions Naoki Yamamoto and Jenson Button recovered from a sluggish start to grab the final podium spot in the Fuji 500km race, as the Cerumo Lexus won. Yamamoto was in the driving seat of the #1 Kunimitsu Honda for the first part of the race but struggled on a wet track, dropping
Ducati rider Danilo Petrucci set the pace in a frantic third MotoGP practice of the Spanish Grand Prix weekend at Jerez, as the works Yamaha bikes were consigned to Q1. Sixteen riders were quicker than Petrucci’s own benchmark from Friday, meaning that automatic Q2 spots were decided on practice three alone – and both factory
Carlos Sainz Jr has revealed he has learned “a few interesting bits” about McLaren that used to leave him “puzzled” when racing for its Formula 1 rival Renault last year. After losing his drive for the works Renault team, which finished fourth in the championship last year, Sainz moved to McLaren to try to help
Leading NASCAR Cup Series drivers expressed concerns after nearly two dozen cars went faster than the Dover qualifying record in Friday afternoon practice. Kurt Busch posted the fastest average lap speed in practice at 168.445 mph, which is nearly 4mph faster than the track qualifying record of 164.444mph set in 2014 by Brad Keselowski. This
Valentino Rossi said the Yamaha MotoGP team is “in trouble” at the Spanish Grand Prix after ending Jerez Friday practice only 16th fastest overall. Rossi was 18th and 14th in the two Friday practices and was nearly eight tenths of a second slower than pacesetter Danilo Petrucci’s Ducati. Jerez has been a difficult circuit for