Championship leader Marc Marquez topped MotoGP FP3 at Phillip Island by a dominant margin but also suffered a late crash. That incident meant he was unable to take advantage as a racing line started to emerge, although Marquez still ended up beating Johann Zarco. Marquez set a best time of 1min38.522s on his ninth of
Ferrari is preparing a new Formula 1 chassis for Sebastian Vettel ahead final free practice for the United States Grand Prix, following his problems on Friday. Late on in second practice, Vettel reported on the radio that the front axle of his car felt like “jelly”, prompting him to return to the pits. Ferrari conducted
Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo says he was surprised by the timing of team-mate Max Verstappen’s early contract extension with the Formula 1 team. Verstappen has endured a mixed campaign with Red Bull this year, but it was announced on Friday at the United States Grand Prix that the Dutchman had extended his deal to the
Ferrari Formula 1 driver Kimi Raikkonen says he is happy with the way he has driven this season and he does not care what other people think. While Sebastian Vettel emerged as a genuine contender for the drivers’ world championship, Raikkonen has failed to match his team-mate’s exploits so far this season. Raikkonen, who will
Formula E champion Lucas di Grassi will race an Audi GT3 car for the first time as part of the German manufacturer’s factory assault on the FIA GT World Cup in Macau next month. The Brazilian, who beat Sebastian Vettel and Robert Kubica to win the Macau Formula 3 Grand Prix in 2005 (pictured above),
IndyCar wants to end the “random” elements of its races for 2018 and ensure “purity” by changing the rules regarding pitting under full-course yellow cautions. Until now IndyCar has closed the pits under a full-course yellow and drivers who had stopped just before can vault to the front when the leaders pit after the caution
Valentino Rossi says his failure to finish in the top 10 in Friday MotoGP practice at Phillip Island was down to not focusing on using the soft option rear tyre. The Yamaha rider ended up 12th-fastest after the opening two sessions, 0.752 seconds slower than surprise pacesetter Aleix Espargaro in second practice and half a
Jorge Lorenzo is considering reverting to the old Ducati fairing after struggling during Friday MotoGP practice at Phillip Island. While Lorenzo was eighth and 11th in the two sessions, his title-contending team-mate Andrea Dovizioso finished in the top four in both. Lorenzo has been using Ducati’s new aero fairing since the championship’s return from summer
Toro Rosso Formula 1 rookie Brendon Hartley is set to start his first grand prix from the back of the Austin grid due to engine penalties. STR team principal Franz Tost confirmed to Autosport that Hartley will take a complete new power unit this weekend, and that the decision was made before it was confirmed
An early Marc Marquez lap was good enough to top the opening 45-minute practice session for MotoGP’s Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island. Marquez wasted little time getting down to business when the session kicked off, the points leader consistently the first to dip into the 1m31s, the 1m30s, and then the 1m29s bracket. By
Ferrari has added ex-Red Bull junior and Formula 3 European Championship race winner Callum Ilott to its Formula 1 team’s young driver programme. Ilott finished fourth in Euro F3 this season with six wins after switching to Prema Powerteam, and less than a week after completing that campaign has now been announced as the Ferrari
IndyCar wants to test its version of a cockpit protection system within the next two months to decide if it will be implemented for the 2018 season. The championship had ruled out using a system similar to Formula 1’s halo due to the lack of visibility for drivers on ovals and has since worked on
Andrea Dovizioso’s current MotoGP title challenge is reminiscent of the late Nicky Hayden’s championship-winning 2006 campaign, reckons Marc Marquez. Hayden, who was killed earlier this year in a cycling accident, claimed an against-the-odds premier class crown 11 years ago, coming out on top against Valentino Rossi in the final race of the year at Valencia.
Juncos Racing will field its Indy Lights champion Kyle Kaiser in IndyCar on a part-time schedule in 2018. Kaiser won the Lights title this season in his third year in the category, and received a $1million scholarship from Mazda to assemble a partial IndyCar programme. The 21-year-old has now been confirmed for a four-race programme
One of the architects of Ford’s revived GT programme will leave his role in charge of the American manufacturer’s Performance division at the end of this year. Ford Performance director Dave Pericak will vacate his position from December 1, after a stint at Ford Performance that included the integration of Ford’s Racing, Team RS and
Honda believes its restructure and recruitment of staff before and during the current Formula 1 season has led to improved reliability. Since returning to F1 with McLaren in 2015, Honda has been plagued with poor performance and reliability problems. It changed its engine concept over the winter, leading to more difficulties in pre-season testing, but
NASCAR Cup Series points leader Martin Truex Jr says that the new Charlotte road course track is “unique” following the first test ahead of the circuit’s debut in 2018. The new track will join the calendar next year and will be the first time NASCAR has run three road courses in a single season, with
Schmidt Peterson Motorsports IndyCar team has held talks with ex-Formula 1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya about running him at the Indianapolis 500. Montoya had been hoping to make a second consecutive appearance at the Indy 500 with Penske after he was replaced by Josef Newgarden full-time for 2017. Penske has switched Montoya to its new
Johann Zarco has brushed off criticism from Jorge Lorenzo about what the Ducati rider described as ‘PlayStation’-style riding during last weekend’s Motegi MotoGP round. Lorenzo and Zarco came to blows on the fourth lap of the Japanese Grand Prix, as Lorenzo found himself eased wide by the Tech 3 Yamaha rookie at Turn 9. It
Paul di Resta completed a “busy” day of testing in a 2014 Williams at the Hungaroring on Wednesday as the team continues to evaluate options for its 2018 Formula 1 line-up. The ex-Force India driver, who is the current Williams reserve alongside racing for Mercedes in the DTM, took over from Robert Kubica in Hungary,
Cal Crutchlow believes Marc Marquez still holds the edge in the MotoGP title fight with Andrea Dovizioso despite the Ducati rider’s victory at Motegi. Dovizioso cut the gap to Marquez in the standings to 11 points after securing a fifth victory of the season in a thrilling battle against the reigning champion in tricky conditions
Ferrari risks opening the door to ‘chaos’ if it shakes up its organisation too much in response to the failures that have wrecked its Formula 1 championship ambitions, claims Force India. The last three races have been a disaster for Ferrari, with Sebastian Vettel falling 59 points behind Lewis Hamilton in the drivers’ standings after
Denny Hamlin says that NASCAR Cup Series leader Martin Truex Jr’s dominance is because his smaller team is maximising its alliance with Hamlin’s own Joe Gibbs squad. The Gibbs team has a technical partnership with Furniture Row, supplying it with a pitcrew to run Truex and team-mate Erik Jones’s cars, but it had to be
Renault insists it is not afraid of being beaten by McLaren in Formula 1 next year, in the wake of its new engine supply deal. After McLaren finally lost faith in Honda after three years of difficulties, an agreement was reached for it and Toro Rosso to swap engine partners for 2018. Renault F1 managing
James Hinchcliffe will continue with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports next season, having signed a new multi-year extension to partner new driver Robert Wickens. Hinchcliffe had been expected to remain at the team for 2018, with SPM enhancing its relationship with Honda ahead of the new season. He says that the team’s new status with Honda in
Valentino Rossi has tipped Kohta Nozane to become Japan’s next MotoGP star following the Yamaha test rider’s premier class debut last weekend at Motegi. Nozane, a regular in the FIM Endurance World Championship and All-Japan Superbike series, was drafted in at short notice to deputise for an unwell Jonas Folger at Tech 3 Yamaha for
Robert Wickens will leave the Mercedes DTM team to race for Schmidt Peterson Motorsport in IndyCar for the 2018 season. Wickens had been looking to move to IndyCar after Mercedes confirmed it would quit the DTM at the end of 2018. He had been on the radar for Schmidt Peterson for some time, having undertaken
Toyota has announced Ott Tanak will join its driver line-up in the World Rally Championship next season. Current M-Sport driver Tanak will join Jari-Matti Latvala and Esapekka Lappi in 2018, leaving Juho Hanninen out in the cold. Hanninen is also expected to miss the final round of this year’s series in Australia, with his co-driver
Formula E frontrunner Felix Rosenqvist’s return to Macau to compete in the FIA GT World Cup for the first time has been confirmed by the Scuderia Corsa Ferrari team. The US team, winner of the Le Mans 24 Hours GTE Am class in 2016, will field a Ferrari 488 GT3 in the event on November
Formula 3 European champion Lando Norris says he would be ready to become McLaren’s Formula 1 reserve driver for 2018. McLaren racing director Eric Boullier recently suggested Norris was under consideration for the role. He made his F1 testing debut with McLaren this year, having won the 2016 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award. “It’d be really