Valtteri Bottas narrowly beat Sebastian Vettel to pole position for Formula 1’s Austrian Grand Prix, while Lewis Hamilton will start no better than eighth thanks to a grid penalty. Bottas’s Mercedes led Vettel’s Ferrari by less than a tenth after the first runs in Q3, with Hamilton’s Mercedes 0.131 seconds further back in third. All
The FIA has revealed the first official image of the ‘shield’ cockpit protection device, with a test of the development version planned for next weekend’s Formula 1 British Grand Prix. Motor racing’s governing body has been working on plans for the Halo alternative for several months, and it was originally hoped that a proper test
Sebastian Vettel set a scintillating pace to beat Formula 1 title rival Lewis Hamilton to the quickest time in third practice for the Austrian Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver posted a 1m05.092s, a new fastest lap of the 2.68-mile version of the Red Bull Ring circuit, on ultra-soft tyres to edge out Hamilton by 0.269
Fernando Alonso has reverted to the ‘spec 2’ Honda Formula 1 engine for the remainder of the Austrian Grand Prix weekend after a problem was discovered with his McLaren’s unit. Alonso’s car had been fitted with the new more-powerful ‘spec 3’ internal combustion engine for the Red Bull Ring event, and his pace looked promising
Carlos Sainz Jr believes his comment that he is unlikely to be at Toro Rosso for the 2018 Formula 1 season was misconstrued and blown out of proportion. Sainz had an offer from the works Renault F1 team for this season but Red Bull took up its option to keep him. The Spaniard has repeatedly
Aric Almirola is scheduled to test at Charlotte Motor Speedway next Tuesday with a view to returning from injury in next weekend’s New Hampshire NASCAR Cup race. Richard Petty Motorsports driver Almirola fracturered his T5 vertebra in a multi-car crash at Kansas Speedway on May 13. “Aric is progressing well,” crew chief Drew Blickensderfer told
Matt Kenseth has lost his Joe Gibbs Racing NASCAR seat for 2018, amid suggestions he could be a stopgap solution for Hendrick Motorsports. The 2003 Cup champion admitted at Kentucky Speedway on Friday that his JGR stint was ending after five seasons. None of JGR’s four drivers have won a Cup race so far in
The Barcelona circuit has agreed to carry out resurfacing and track modifications in order to ensure it remains on the 2018 MotoGP calendar, its place having been under threat. The new chicane created after Moto2 rider Luis Salom was killed in a 2016 practice crash proved controversial during last month’s Catalunya Grand Prix, as did
Maverick Vinales says Yamaha’s MotoGP bike has lost power in recent rounds, and suggests the manufacturer has become “confused” by its electronics set-up. Vinales led the championship by more than a race win’s worth of points after the Mugello round at the start of June, but relinquished that advantage over the three subsequent rounds and
Citroen says Kris Meeke “needed a break” and wants judgement on its decision to bench him for Rally Poland to wait until he rejoins the World Rally Championship in Finland. The absence of Meeke – who began 2017 as Citroen’s title hope – prompted difficult questions for team principal Yves Matton in Poland last weekend,
Formula V8 3.5 championship contender Rene Binder is looking to IndyCar for a 2018 drive. The 25-year-old Austrian intends to take advantage of FV8 3.5 racing on the World Endurance Championship bill at Austin in September the day before the IndyCar finale at Sonoma to visit the American single-seater series. “I will watch the race
KTM rider Pol Espargaro says the manufacturer can be “really proud” of what it has achieved in the first half of its maiden MotoGP season. The Austrian manufacturer made its full-time debut in the premier class at the start of 2017, scoring its first points at the second round of the campaign in Argentina. It
Rally Poland looks set to lose its round of the World Rally Championship for 2018 following safety infringements on last week’s event. The FIA gave Rally Poland a yellow card warning after spectator control problems in 2015 and it would have been automatically ejected from the WRC had those issues been repeated last year. Sources
More manufacturers than ever are going into this month’s Spa 24 Hours with a chance of victory, according to Blancpain GT Series boss Stephane Ratel. Ratel is predicting an “amazing level of competition” at the double-points Endurance Cup round of the BGTS on July 29/30 in which nine manufacturers are represented with factory-backed cars in
World Rally Championship leader Sebastien Ogier says there was no point try to ‘force’ a Rally Poland result with “kamikaze” risks. Winner Thierry Neuville cut Ogier’s advantage to 11 points last weekend, as the reigning WRC champion had two punctures, a spin and an alternator problem. Ogier fell as low as sixth but finished third,
Tech3 Yamaha rider Jonas Folger believes his breakthrough ride to second in last weekend’s MotoGP German Grand Prix can act as a springboard for similar results in the future. Folger pushed Honda’s Marc Marquez during Sunday’s Sachsenring race, enjoying a five-lap spell in the lead and staying within one second of the reigning champion before
An outbreak of the Phytophthora ramorum tree disease has forced Rally GB organisers to make a second significant change to the route for Britain’s round of the World Rally Championship. The fungus-like disease has been discovered on trees on Myherin, which is the first gravel stage of the October 26-30 rally. As a result, it
Jack Miller is set to switch to the Pramac Ducati MotoGP team for 2018, taking Scott Redding’s ride, Autosport has learned. Miller’s three-year factory Honda expires at the end of this year, meaning he had to reach a deal with Marc VDS directly. He instead he took up an option to join Pramac, which is
Marc Marquez’s clash with Maverick Vinales in Sachsenring qualifying shows he is “playing” with his MotoGP rivals and will win the title, according to Honda stablemate Cal Crutchlow. Vinales had to abort a flying lap after contact with Marquez in German Grand Prix qualifying. Reigning champion Marquez, who went on to win the race and
Honda has identified the flawed part behind the rash of reliability problems in its IndyCar season, including Fernando Alonso’s failure in the Indianapolis 500. Art St Cyr, president of Honda Performance Development, did not identify the component in question but described it as an internal part that has been used for three years and not
Porsche has committed to the remainder of the Intercontinental GT Challenge series combining the top GT3 enduros around the world. The German manufacturer has revealed that it will provide factory support for teams competing in the new California 8 Hours fixture at Laguna Seca in October and the Sepang 12 Hours in December, the final
Suzuki legend Kevin Schwantz says Andrea Iannone just “needs to get on with the job” after a dismal first half of the 2017 MotoGP season. Iannone joined Suzuki for this year after two seasons at the works Ducati team that included a race win, but he has taken only four points finishes – none higher
BMW DTM driver Tom Blomqvist will make his Spa 24 Hours debut later this month with the factory Rowe Racing squad. The 23-year-old Briton will drive the #98 BMW M6 GT3 in the double-points Endurance Cup round of the Blancpain GT Series on July 29/30 together with Bruno Spengler and Nicky Catsburg. Blomqvist has been
Rally Poland winner Thierry Neuville has admitted he was frustrated by his rivals’ inability to keep World Rally Championship title rival Sebastien Ogier off the podium on Sunday. Neuville’s third victory of 2017 cut Ogier’s lead from 18 to 11 points with five rounds of the season remaining. Ogier looked as though he would finish
Sachsenring MotoGP race winner Marc Marquez says he did not expect to lead the points standings heading into the summer break. The reigning champion extended his unbeaten run of premier class German Grand Prix victories to five on Sunday, beating Tech3 Yamaha rookie Jonas Folger. Marquez’s win, his second of the season, also vaulted him
Ducati rider Jorge Lorenzo says he was braced for “a much worse” MotoGP German Grand Prix at the Sachsenring, despite finishing outside the top 10. Three-time champion Lorenzo started Sunday’s race sixth on the grid and ran as high as third early on, behind the leading works Hondas of Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa. Lorenzo
Valentino Rossi says he was relieved to finish in the top five of MotoGP’s German Grand Prix given the problems of his Sachsenring weekend. The Yamaha rider admitted to being “in trouble” after Friday practice in both dry and wet conditions, and having found enough speed on Saturday morning to qualify for Q2 he was
Pramac Ducati rider Scott Redding described Sunday’s German Grand Prix the “worst race of my career” amid uncertainty about his MotoGP future. Redding started 23rd of of 24 riders and made little progress in the Sachsenring race, ending up a full minute behind race winner Marc Marquez and only narrowly fending off Alex Rins to
Thierry Neuville reduced Sebastien Ogier’s World Rally Championship lead to 11 points by winning an incredibly hard-fought Rally Poland. The event featured 11 changes of lead and until Saturday afternoon no one managed to extend an advantage beyond 4.5 seconds out front, despite heavy rain making conditions extremely challenging on Friday in particular. What began
Thierry Neuville now has a clear path to Rally Poland victory after a mistake from his lead rival Ott Tanak on Sunday morning. Tanak had grabbed first place back from Neuville by setting the pace on the opening Orzysz stage, where the M-Sport Ford beat the Hyundai by 4.9 seconds and moved ahead overall by