Ricardo Juncos says that this weekend’s IndyCar Classic remains his team’s only confirmed 2019 IndyCar event, though has potential deals for three more outings. One of the star junior formula teams of the past decade, Juncos Racing made its IndyCar debut with a two-car effort in the 2017 Indy 500. Last year Juncos ran a
Racing Point team principal Otmar Szafnauer says new signing Lance Stroll is a “gutsy racer” who will get due credit for his Formula 1 performances eventually. Stroll, who has had two mixed seasons with Williams in grand prix racing, joined Racing Point in the off-season following the team’s mid-2018 takeover by a consortium led by
Formula 1 world championship leader Valtteri Bottas believes the fastest-lap points available in 2019 could make a “big difference”, after claiming the first bonus of the season in Australia. Bottas dominated the curtain-raising Australian Grand Prix and set the fastest lap of the race on the penultimate tour, despite an opposing pre-race instruction from his
Renault chief Cyril Abiteboul says a budget cap is the key to reshaping Formula 1 beyond 2021, believing it has to be a “proper deterrent” to stop spending. A budget – or cost – cap is one of the primary elements under discussion for 2021, along with revenue distribution, governance and the sporting and technical
Will Power continued Penske’s domination of IndyCar’s first race weekend at Austin to take his 56th career pole position ahead of Sunday’s race. Power took the top position on his very last flying lap, knocking Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi into second place on the grid with a 1m47.017s, and was the only Chevrolet-powered driver to
KTM motorsport boss Pit Beirer has dismissed the idea that the Austrian marque could ditch its trademark steel trellis chassis and in-house suspension in pursuit of MotoGP success. The RC16 is an outlier on the current MotoGP grid, as it is the only design not to utilise a conventional aluminium twin spar frame and the
Ken Block has tipped Oliver Solberg as “one of the next big names in rallying” after the 17-year-old took second on his maiden appearance for Subaru Motorsports USA. The son of 2003 World Rally champion Petter contested his first gravel event in a four-wheel-drive car when he tackled the 100 Acre Wood Rally in a
A Formula 1 race on the streets of Miami could be a step closer to becoming a reality after a key vote in the city on March 28th. In one of its regular gatherings, the City Commission will formally consider plans for a Miami GP for the first time since a resolution was deferred at
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen’s mid-race overtaking move on Sebastian Vettel in Formula 1’s Australian Grand Prix shows that Honda now has “enormous” power, reckons Mercedes boss Toto Wolff. Verstappen finished third in the Australian Grand Prix after making a move around the outside of Vettel on the run down to Turn 3 on lap 31.
Penske dominated the opening practice sessions of IndyCar’s first visit to Austin, with Will Power setting the fastest time of the weekend so far. In the afternoon session IndyCar drivers were allowed to run the red-walled soft compound tyres, which Power used to set a 1m47.4401s lap. Power, who took pole for the season opener
The outcome of the appeal against the legality of Ducati’s controversial MotoGP winglet will not be known until next week. The hearing took place on Friday at the FIM’s headquarters in Mies, Switzerland, with proceedings commencing at 11am local time and wrapping up shortly before 6pm. A verdict on whether Andrea Dovizioso will keep his
Honda’s impressive performance in the Australian Grand Prix speed traps runs deeper that its table-topping effort in the Formula 1 season opener. The Japanese manufacturer headed every speed classification in the 2019 season opener, leading the way at the speed trap, start/finish line and both intermediates around the lap. On face value that supremacy simply
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff believes there is “momentum” behind Formula 1’s attempts to finalise its 2021 rules package. Meetings of both the Strategy Group and F1 Commission will take place next Tuesday to help shape F1’s next major rules overhaul, and FIA president Jean Todt has indicated he expects progress to be made during
Martin Truex Jr says he has a “big hole” in his NASCAR Cup Series resume as he is still yet to win on a short course track. The 2017 Cup champion is in his first season with Joe Gibbs Racing following the closure of one-time champion outfit Furniture Row Racing at the end of last
The FIA is working to make Formula 1’s starting lights more visible in Bahrain, as bigger wings on the 2019 cars made the lights difficult to view in Australia. Williams driver Robert Kubica, who was last on the grid in Melbourne, and Red Bull’s Pierre Gasly who started 17th, both revealed after the race that
The Australian Grand Prix offered Williams no reprieve from a dismal start to the 2019 Formula 1 season, but there is a glimpse of light in the team’s darkness. Williams’s FW42 was late to testing, slow when it got there, and featured designs that needed to be modified to be legal in time for the
McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner Tom Gamble will switch codes from single-seaters to GT racing with the WRT Audi squad this season. The 17-year-old is moving to Blancpain GT World Challenge Europe to race a WRT Audi R8 LMS after his maiden single-seater campaign last year in the BRDC British Formula 3 Championship. He will
IndyCar driver Ed Jones has been cleared to contest this weekend’s race at the Circuit of the Americas after breaking a bone in his hand in the season opener at St Petersburg. Ed Carpenter Racing Scuderia Corsa driver Jones clipped the inside wall at Turn 9 during the race on March 10, which fired the
Haas boss Gunther Steiner has expressed doubts that everything Formula 1 needs to resolve in order to finalise its 2021 rules package can be sorted at a meeting next week. On Tuesday the strategy group – made up of F1, the FIA, and the top six teams – will meet in London in order to
Marcus Ericsson’s experience of Austin during his time as a Formula 1 driver helped Schmidt Peterson Motorsport shortcut its learning of IndyCar’s newest track. Ericsson joined SPM to partner Hinchcliffe for the 2019 season after losing his Sauber F1 seat at the end of last year. The Swedish driver was one of four Honda-powered drivers
Formula 2 racer Juan Manuel Correa has been signed by the Alfa Romeo Formula 1 team as its development driver for 2019. Correa will drive for the Sauber Junior Team in F2 this year – an outfit run by Czech team Charouz Racing System – having graduated from the GP3 Series after finishing 12th in
Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola believes that Andrea Dovizioso should keep his Qatar Grand Prix victory, regardless of the outcome of Friday’s appeal regarding the legality of Ducati’s MotoGP winglet. Ducati will argue its controversial appendage should be allowed to remain on its bikes in front of the FIM Court of Appeals on Friday. Rivola
Sebastien Ogier is pushing to make fundamental suspension changes to Citroen’s World Rally Championship car following his Rally Mexico victory earlier this month. Ogier has won two of the first three rounds of 2019 and pressed the team to run Reiger dampers – the same manufacturer he used at M-Sport last season – on the
Formula 1 rookie George Russell says he is “not interested” in battling exclusively against Williams team-mate Robert Kubica at the back of the grid. After the late arrival of its new FW42 led to a disrupted pre-season programme, Williams was firmly last in the pecking order throughout all of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. Russell
On Friday the FIM Court of Appeals will rule on the legality of Ducati’s controversial rear winglet. And, whatever is decided, relations between MotoGP’s manufacturers will be strained, writes Oriol Puigdemont. As is always the case in this kind of situation, the conflict that has cast doubt on Andrea Dovizioso’s Qatar Grand Prix victory has
Toro Rosso technical director Jody Egginton says the team has been impressed by the ‘methodical’ approach of Alex Albon after his Formula 1 race debut at the Australian Grand Prix. Albon, who had not driven an F1 car until last month’s shakedown just before pre-season testing, qualified 13th and finished 14th at the Albert Park
Cosworth co-owner Kevin Kalkhoven has dismissed rumours that his company will build an engine on behalf of a third manufacturer for the 2021 IndyCar regulations. May has been set as the deadline for a third manufacturer to confirm its intentions, and rumours escalated that Cosworth could build an engine on behalf of another marque. Cosworth’s
Kyle Busch’s milestone 200th NASCAR win has been a major talking point, but it’s overlooking the remarkable possibility that he is just getting started. Busch earned his 53rd win in the Cup series at Fontana and, combined with his 53 Truck Series and 94 Xfinity Series victories, his total is 200 wins across the three
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff believes the FIA will find it “impossible” to replace Formula 1 race director Charlie Whiting with a single person. Whiting died on the Thursday before the F1 season opener and the FIA reacted with emergency measures, moving Michael Masi into the race director role for the Australian Grand Prix. The FIA
Reigning MotoGP champion Marc Marquez says Honda was “obsessed” with gaining more straightline speed in the off-season, in order to outdo rivals such as Ducati. In the Qatar Grand Prix season opener, Marquez reached a top speed of 218.7mph – narrowly surpassing the track record established by Ducati rider Andrea Iannone in 2016. In addition,