World Rally Championship leader Thierry Neuville is ‘making the difference’ for Hyundai while its car awaits upgrades, says team boss Andrea Adamo. Hyundai now leads the WRC manufacturers’ championship by 37 points over Toyota after its one-two in Argentina last weekend, where Neuville and co-driver Nicholas Gilsoul followed up their Corsica win with a second
World Rally Championship leader Thierry Neuville is ‘making the difference’ for Hyundai while its car awaits upgrades, says team boss Andrea Adamo. Hyundai now leads the WRC manufacturers’ championship by 37 points over Toyota after its one-two in Argentina last weekend, where Neuville and co-driver Nicholas Gilsoul followed up their Corsica win with a second
The Honda MotoGP team is confident that the chain issues that have affected Marc Marquez and Jorge Lorenzo in the last two rounds have now been resolved. Marquez was first to suffer as his chain came loose in fourth practice at Termas de Rio Hondo immediately before qualifying, although this did not stop the reigning
Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton says Ferrari will need to “pick it up” to fight for the Formula 1 title because his team is close to performing at 100%. Hamilton finished second in last weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix behind team-mate Valtteri Bottas to complete a fourth one-two of the season for Mercedes, the first time that
Chevrolet had to overcome the odds and perhaps most importantly its own teams’ doubts to take its first win of the 2019 NASCAR Cup Series season at Talladega. Heading to Talladega, Chevy’s last win in a championship round had been at Kansas Speedway last October, and Jimmie Johnson’s victory in the non-points pre-season Clash race
Zandvoort is being lined up to replace Barcelona as the first non-flyaway race of the 2020 Formula 1 season, with the Spanish Grand Prix falling off the calendar, Autosport understands. In the wake of Max Verstappen’s recent success, momentum has been building for the world championship to return to the Netherlands for the first time
Toyota World Rally Championship team boss Tommi Makinen has urged his squad to tackle the “small” problems that are hampering its 2019 title bid. Ott Tanak’s Rally Sweden triumph in February is Toyota’s only win of a season so far. It had been tipped to dominate after Tanak’s run of mid-2018 wins which led to
Kimi Raikkonen was excluded from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying result on race day, when his Alfa Romeo Formula 1 car failed a test designed to prevent excessive front-wing flexing. Raikkonen was due to start Sunday’s race eighth, but was forced to take a pitlane start as Alfa Romeo changed the specification of the front
Alex Bowman said he would not have let Hendrick team-mate Chase Elliott win the Talladega NASCAR Cup Series race despite Chevrolet’s tactical plan. Elliott led Bowman home in a Hendrick one-two after they and JTG Daugherty Chevrolet driver Ryan Preece moved into formation at the front of the field in the final three laps. All
The FIA has opened the tenders for standard brake systems and wheel rims in Formula 1 from 2021 as part of its ongoing push to drive down costs for teams. With F1 preparing for a new generation of cars and a wider overhaul of the sport in two years’ time, there is a desire to
Citroen insists it still ‘trusts’ its struggling World Rally Championship driver Esapekka Lappi after his Rally Argentina crash and he has its full backing. The 2017 Rally Finland winner’s tough start to life alongside Sebastien Ogier at Citroen continued last weekend with a Friday crash that has forced his team to fly a new chassis
Sergio Perez says the McLaren he held off throughout the Azerbaijan Grand Prix were “a lot faster” than his Racing Point Formula 1 car. Despite pressure from Carlos Sainz Jr and Lando Norris, Perez was able to hang on and finish sixth in Baku. Perez had qualified fifth, and briefly ran ahead of Max Verstappen’s
Kyle Larson says he felt like his frightening aerial accident at the end of the Talladega NASCAR Cup Series race would never stop. Larson and Jeffrey Earnhardt were hit by the spinning William Byron on the final lap of Sunday’s and sent spearing across the track. While Earnhardt impacted the wall nose-first, Larson’s car lifted
Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott scored his and Chevrolet’s first win of the NASCAR Cup Series season at Talladega in a race blighted by two big accidents. As the Chevrolet runners grouped together in their green-flag pit strategy, Elliott was able to rise from 13th on the grid to take fourth in stage one, before going
Ferrari Formula 1 driver Charles Leclerc says his muted pace late in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was not representative and did not mean the SF90 struggled on the soft tyres. After crashing in qualifying, Leclerc charged up from an initial 10th place on a fresh set of mediums in the opening stages, snatching fourth from
Max Verstappen’s bid for third place in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was reined in as a precautionary response to his Red Bull Formula 1 team-mate Pierre Gasly’s driveshaft failure. Gasly suffered a driveshaft failure after charging from the pitlane to sixth, and his stopped car triggered a virtual safety car just as Verstappen was mounting
Thierry Neuville extended his World Rally Championship lead to 10 points with victory on Rally Argentina, heading a Hyundai one-two by 48.4 seconds from Andreas Mikkelsen. Heavy rain had meant unpredictable conditions on Friday morning, which hindered Neuville as first car on the road and he ran down in ninth after SS3. But he quickly
Toyota’s Kris Meeke regained third place from World Rally Championship rival Sebastien Ogier on Sunday morning, recovering time lost from an overnight penalty, while Thierry Neuville is set for victory. Meeke regained a podium spot he had lost overnight from a 10 second penalty, passing Dani Sordo for fourth place after El Condor and then
There are many unknowns about Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race at Talladega, but one thing appears clear – manufacturer loyalty will supersede duty to drivers’ individual teams. Cup teams have been faced with new aero rules, including the replacement of restrictor-plates with tapered spacers, and the changes have proved challenging for both the paddock and NASCAR
Alfa Romeo Formula 1 driver Kimi Raikkonen will start the Azerbaijan Grand Prix from the pitlane after being excluded from qualifying because of a front wing problem. Raikkonen was meant to start the Baku race in eighth place after his third Q3 appearance in four races with his new team. However, on Sunday morning he
Toyota driver Kris Meeke dropped behind rival Sebastien Ogier following a stewards’ decision to hit him with a 10-second penalty for deviating from the Rally Argentina route on Saturday morning. Kris Meeke has fallen of the World Rally Championship Rally Argentina podium after being hit with a 10-second penalty for deviating from the event route.
Thierry Neuville appears set for a second World Rally Championship victory of the season with three stages in Argentina remaining, leading a Hyundai one-two by 45.7 seconds over Andreas Mikkelsen. Current WRC points leader Neuville had been locked in a close fight with Ott Tanak until the Toyota was forced to pull off during the
Pierre Gasly has been excluded from the results of Azerbaijan Grand Prix qualifying because his Red Bull Formula 1 car breached fuel flow rules. But the stewards’ decision will make no difference to the grid because Gasly was already destined for a pitlane start as a punishment for missing a call to the weighbridge at
Haas Formula 1 team drivers Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean both struggled for grip and pace in Baku – despite both reporting that they were happy with the feeling of the car. Magnussen and Grosjean finished qualifying in 14th and 17th places respectively, although have been promoted further up the grid as a result of
Ott Tanak has been forced to retire his Toyota from the Rally Argentina lead battle, handing World Rally Championship leader Thierry Neuville a big advantage over Hyundai team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen. Tanak was closing on Neuville during Saturday morning, but the Hyundai driver extended his lead by 4.6 seconds on SS13, the first stage of the
The Citroen World Rally team has requested the FIA and Rally Argentina officials review onboard footage of the Cuchilla Nevada-Characato stage, suspecting some crews gained time by deviating from the route. Sebastien Ogier damaged the steering on his C3 WRC when he arrived at a junction that had been altered from the recce. On the
Toyota’s Ott Tanak closed in on Rally Argentina leader Thierry Neuville with a pair of World Rally Championship stage wins, while Sebastien Ogier and Kris Meeke both went backwards with issues. Hyundai team-leader Neuville initially increased his lead to 13.8s but was subsequently reeled in by Tanak on the two middle stages of the loop.
Renault revised its rear wing package for the third Formula 1 free practice session ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, dialling in a little extra downforce. The French team trialled a low angle-of-attack rear wing in Friday’s running, aiming to develop as little drag as possible for the 2.2km straight on the Baku street circuit.
All three Toyota World Rally Championship drivers were fortunate to make it to the end of Friday’s opening day of action at Rally Argentina. Ott Tanak and Kris Meeke both led the event, but both suffered potentially rally-ending transmission problems with their Yaris WRCs on the day’s final stage. Their team-mate Jari-Matti Latvala picked up
Esapekka Lappi will not be able to resume Rally Argentina due to damage to his Citroen’s rollcage, continuing his miserable World Rally Championship run. Lappi crashed out on Friday’s final stage, having struggled for pace up to that point and run no higher than sixth. After a distant seventh last time out in Corsica and