Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Alexander Albon says Williams Racing need to find a solution to the inconsistences they’ve had with recent cars in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship if they are to make progress in 2023.

The Thai driver scored half of Williams’ eight points in 2022, with his best finish of ninth coming in the Miami Grand Prix.  He also scored tenth place finishes in both the Australian and Belgian Grand Prix, while the other four points scored by the team were for ninth place finishes for Nyck de Vries in Italy (as Albon sat out the race with appendicitis) and Nicholas Latifi in Japan.

The performance of the FW44 was very up and down, with Albon feeling it suited certain tracks better than others, and it is important that they can find more consistency with the FW45 if they want to be scoring points on a more regular basis.

“It feels like we’ve had a very similar year to what George [Russell] had been doing previously,” Albon is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com. “I haven’t been quick in all circuits.

“Our car is quite unique. It seems to suit a certain characteristic of track. And when those moments happen, we seem to be able to make the most of it.

Audi Sport will look to bring in a development driver midway through the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season that will help them begin preparations for its arrival in the championship in 2026.

Audi will become Formula 1’s newest factory team in 2026 when it joins forces with the Sauber F1 Team, with the German marque also developing their own power units ahead of their debut season.

Adam Baker, the CEO of Audi’s racing operations, says that whilst it is too early to be considering drivers who could race for the team in 2026, it is important that they acquire a driver to help develop the team prior to their arrival.

“Too far away,” Baker said to German publication Deutsche Presse-Agentur.  “We’re not even talking about the drivers for 2024 yet, so it’s very difficult to say how the driver market will develop for 2026.

“[We will] bring a development driver on board in the third quarter [of 2023], who will be particularly important for our power unit development in the driving simulator in Neuburg”.

Team advisor Helmut Marko believes Oracle Red Bull Racing should fear the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One team more than Scuderia Ferrari this season in the title race. The Austrian consultant mentions Mercedes’ advantage in terms of strategy and reliability for the upcoming season in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship.

Red Bull and Max Verstappen had a dominant season in 2022. Ferrari could still compete with the team at the start of the year, but it soon became clear that the Italians were making too many mistakes and lacked reliability. As a result, Verstappen managed to take home his second world title, wrapping it up in the Japanese Grand Prix in October.

Ferrari hopes to come back stronger this season, but Red Bull must also take Mercedes into account. After a mediocre season with just one win, the German team is working hard on the W14 to compete in 2023. Mercedes has always been good at further developing the car, something that was also evident last season. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell managed to get some strong results at the end of the year.

“I would say that we should fear Mercedes more, mainly because they have an advantage over Ferrari in terms of strategy and reliability,” Marko told Motorsport.com.

“Our situation is certainly not like that of Mercedes at the beginning of the hybrid era, we don’t have an immense lead with the engine right now. So that is very different. Mercedes had at least 50bhp margin over all the others back then and we shouldn’t forget: 2022 has been the first year under this new set of regulations.

Pietro Fittipaldi’s career in Formula 1 looks set to be limited to only two Grands Prix as the Haas F1 Team reserve driver had hoped for a permanent place in the most prominent racing series in the world, but has now once again had to settle for another series when he joins the reigning LMP2 class champion JOTA for the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship.

Fittipaldi has raced in the WEC before, but not regularly. He competed in the 2022 Le Mans 24 Hours with Inter Europol and had a limited program with the DragonSpeed ​​LMP1 team in the 2018-19 series. He broke his leg during training for the opening race at Spa-Francorchamps.

Driving temporarily is disappearing. The JOTA team which is currently the reigning LMP2 champions has signed the Brazilian for the upcoming season. Fittipaldi will compete in all of seven rounds throughout the season, starting with 1000 Miles of Sebring in March.

However, it is still unknown whether the Brazilian will remain as Haas test and reserve driver with a confirmation on this expected shortly.

Zak Brown has revealed the reasons why NTT IndyCar Series stars Pato O’Ward and Álex Palou are a part of the McLaren F1 Team’s test driver line-up.

Mexican racer O’Ward is currently racing to the Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team and has been a championship contender in both 2021 and 2022, while Spaniard Palou was the 2021 IndyCar champion with Chip Ganassi Racing and will be going for a second title with the same team in 2023.

McLaren’s Formula 1 line-up looks set for at least the next two or three years as Lando Norris at twenty-three will be joined by twenty-one-year-old Oscar Piastri in 2023 after the departure of Daniel Ricciardo.

Both O’Ward and Palou participated in running in McLaren’s MCL35M at various times during the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season, and each then debuted in a free practice session for the team in the MCL36.  Palou took the reigns in the opening session of the United States Grand Prix, while O’Ward did likewise in Abu Dhabi.

Brown, the CEO at McLaren, says bringing they have invested in bringing the likes of O’Ward and Palou into their Formula 1 programme as it is important to have the calibre of driver with potential to race in the sport as back up should one of their main drivers be unavailable for any reason.

Any team wishing to join the FIA Formula 1 World Championship grid in the next couple of years will require the full backing of both Formula 1 and the FIA, which includes the recently announced Andretti Cadillac team.

Michael Andretti has been pushing to join the Formula 1 grid in recent years and the announcement that the FIA are opening up an expression of interest for potential new teams has reinvigorated their desire to make that a reality under his Andretti Global outfit.

However, the FIA insist that despite the project looking credible, they are likely not to be the only manufacturer to be considered as Formula 1’s eleventh team.

“There is great interest in the F1 project at this time with a number of conversations continuing that are not as visible as others,” read a statement from Formula 1.

“We all want to ensure the championship remains credible and stable and any new entrant request will be assessed on criteria to meet those objectives by all the relevant stakeholders.

Team Audi Sport has been the centre of controversy since Stage #5 of the 2023 Dakar Rally when their cars received an eight-kW boost as part of the FIA’s Equivalence of Technology rule. Toyota driver and current overall leader Nasser Al-Attiyah was among the most vocal critics of the boost, but ironically has only strengthened his own advantage over the field in the two legs since while the Audis have all but lost their chances at victory.

Al-Attiyah notched his third T1 stage win on Friday with three minutes and twenty-nine seconds on Sébastien Loeb. Audi’s Carlos Sainz and Stéphane Peterhansel chased Al-Attiyah for much of the leg, but disaster struck after 261 kilometres when they both crashed in the same location. Peterhansel’s co-driver Édouard Boulanger was airlifted to hospital due to a lower back injury which knocked them out of the stage, while Sainz and Lucas Cruz retired after attempts to repair their car failed. The former entry’s exit and Al-Attiyah’s win has boosted the latter to an overall lead of over one hour with 1:06:50 on second-placed Toyota Gazoo Racing ally Henk Lategan; entering Stage #6, Peterhansel had been second in the ranking to Al-Attiyah with only a 22:36 deficit.

Mattias Ekström was the only Audi to not suffer serious problems and finished sixth. With Peterhansel and Sainz’s retirements, he is now the highest running Audi and non-Toyota Hilux in the overall in fifth but is 1:46:55 back. On the other hand, Hilux driver Yazeed Al-Rajhi suffered a broken wheel hub that sank him from third in the general classification to twenty-eighth.

While certainly a thrill to reinforce his lead, Al-Attiyah also recanted his comments on the Audi/EOT situation by writing on social media, “In the heat of the moment, I reacted harshly to the FIA’s EOT decision. I like to defend my title fairly, and at the first instant, the decision did not seem fair. I now understand the situation better, and would like to apologise for my earlier post.”

20-year-old Mitchel van den Brink scored his maiden Dakar stage win in T5 ahead of fellow Team de Rooy driver Janus van Kasteren by thirty-five seconds. His father Martin van den Brink placed fourth and two spots ahead of Aleš Loprais to leapfrog him for the overall, though with only a thirty-six-second edge. The younger van den Brink’s victory continues a string of youth success at Dakar, joining 18-year-old Eryk Goczał‘s two T4 stage victories.

With the rain continuing to flood the Dakar Rally, the ASO has been forced to make changes to the stages as they take place. After Stage #6 on Thursday was shortened by 100 kilometres, the next two legs were also impacted as the bivouac in Dawadmi could not be built in time.

Stage #7, running between Dawadmi and Riyadh, was originally intended to use the same Special Stage layout that Stage #8 did. However, the ASO’s revisions mean the two will trade routes for good. The new seventh stage will be a 333-kilometre-long run from Riyadh to Dawadmi, effectively making it a marathon stage. At the end of the leg, a special assistance area will be established that competitors can access via a 94-km link route.

A 240-km liaison route will then take the Rally back to Dawadmi to prepare for Stage #8. This will go back to Riyadh but has been shortened from its original 473-km distance to 345 km.

As weather conditions continue to provide difficulties and the Rally takes its toll on riders, the ASO eventually decided to cancel the seventh stage for the FIM classes. The 2023 Rally has noticeably been more challenging than previous editions with multiple riders suffering injuries or experiencing other problems. With the Bikes and Quads not taking part, they will head directly to Dawadmi for Stage #8. The FIA categories and Dakar Classic will proceed with Stage #7 as scheduled.

The 24-year-old Irish rising talent Eamonn Kelly is the latest driver to confirm a go in the 2023 FIA Junior World Rally Championship which starts with Rally Sweden in February.

Kelly who is born in the famous Donegal area has been a fast learner in his rally career. Just 18 months ago he made his gravel debut and finished in the runner-up spot in the 2021 British Junior Rally Championship and last season he became better as he managed to clinch the title in a very tough competition throughout the year.

His success on both gravel and asphalt has earned him Billy Coleman Award which is presented each year at the Motorsport Ireland gala for those youngsters who are rising through the ranks.

Now he will take another step up in his career as he will be taking on the 2023 Junior WRC title facing some of the world´s best junior rally drivers. He will also continue his partnership with the co-driver Conor Mohan and next weekend the duo will take part in the Finnish round of the Arctic Lapland Rally to gain some snow experience ahead of Sweden a month later.

“I believe it is the best place for me to go to further myself and my rallying career, it is a hugely exciting challenge with a lot of firsts – I can’t wait. The past two years of my rally career have been very positive with good success, so I feel the time is right to make a jump like this.” Kelly said.

The FIA World Rallycross Championship driver Niclas Grönholm who is the son of the 2000 and 2002 WRC champion Marcus Grönholm, has now announced he will do six round program in the 2023 Finnish Rally Championship in a newly acquired Citroen C3 Rally2 with support from Citroen Racing.

Grönholm and co-driver Antti Linnaketo will already start the season with the annually Arctic Lapland Rally in Rovaniemi next weekend. This will be a long-time dream come true for Grönholm who normally competes at the highest level of rallycross but will switch focus over to rally a bit more this year as he will compete six out of the seven rounds in the Ralli SM series.

He is also forming a brand new team for his campaign, the goal for the GRX-Sontek Team was to accquire an own rally car which they have now achieved through Citroen Racing. The Citroen C3 Rally2 will also become the first car of that kind to be used in the Ralli SM.

At the moment it is still unkown if Grönholm will continue to race in the World RX for this season, he finished third overall in the first all-electric RX1e season for CE Dealer Team last year.

The Belgian Tom Rensonnet has now confirmed that he will be taking a step up to the one-make FIA Junior World Rally Championship in 2023 after just three seasons in rallying, which started with an investment of 10 euros.

Rensonnet started his career in 2019 when he won the Belgian RACB National Team Challenge, which only costs 10 euros to enter. Before doing so, he has never driven a rally car before but since then he has become a rising star in the local championship.

By winning that, new opportunities opened up for the 24-year-old as he received a prize drive in a Peugeot 208 Rally4 for a full season in 2020 but as COVID-19 restrictions came, he had to miss out the chance and later after the restrictions got lifted he then in 2022 became the Belgian Junior Champion.

This year, which will become his fourth, he has announced his plans to enter the JWRC for full-season driving in an M-Sport Poland built Ford Fiesta Rally3, starting in Rally Sweden in February which will become a new challenge for him as he has never driven on snow before.

“I think I will be the least experienced out of all the Junior WRC drivers, I have always competed on Tarmac but this year we will also drive on snow and gravel, so that’s going to be more difficult for me.” Rensonnet said.

Following the death of the rally and Youtube legend Ken Block, the FIA and the WRC Promoter have now announced that they have agreed to withdraw race car number #43 from 2023 to pay tribute to the 55-year-old American.

Block who has been mostly known for his Gymkhana video series on Youtube with viewers reaching over millions per video, has also enjoyed a professional career in rallying and had a good shot to take the 2022 American Rally Association title in a Hyundai i20 WRC but also had success in the FIA World Rally Championship between 2007 and 2018 with a career-best finish of 7th overall in Rally Mexico 2013.

The race car number #43 was synonymous with Block’s brand and one which he carried on most of the cars he drove, he started to use it in 2005 when he drove for Vermont SportsCar in a Subaru Impreza WRX STI. In honor of his memory, the WRC Promoter and the FIA have now agreed on to retire the number for the 2023 season in rallying.

“Given the enormous contribution our great friend Ken Block made to motorsport and the fact that he was held in such high regard by people the world over, it is entirely appropriate that his #43 will be withdrawn from use during the 2023 WRC season.” Mohammed Ben Sulayem, FIA President, said.

“While it’s a small gesture, we hope that it is one that will bring some comfort to his family and friends at this time. Ken was a true legend and the memory of this true legend will live with us forever.”

In 2022, Hendrick Motorsports fielded a NASCAR Xfinity Series car for the first time since 2009. After a solid four-race campaign, the team will bring back the programme for another four-start effort in 2023.

“Right now, we are committed to running four races in 2023,” said team president Jeff Andrews. “We are defining what those are right now. We want to win a Xfinity race in 2023.”

Hendrick competed in the Xfinity Series from the team’s inaugural season in 1984 until 1990 and again for much of the 2000s, winning the 2003 championship with Brian Vickers. However, the division was closed after 2009 as JR Motorsports—co-owned by then-Hendrick driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. and HMS owner Rick Hendrick—effectively serves as HMS’ development team.

After a decade away, HMS reformed the Xfinity team in 2022 by fielding the #17 for their Cup Series drivers Alex Bowman, William Byron, and Kyle Larson. Larson, then the reigning Cup champion, won the pole at Road America in the #17’s début before being defeated by eventual Xfinity champ Ty Gibbs on a last-lap pass. Bowman scored a runner-up finish of his own at Indianapolis. Byron claimed the Watkins Glen pole but placed twenty-finish after spinning on a late restart while battling Gibbs; ironically, Larson took advantage of the incident to win in JRM’s #88. Larson returned to the car for its first oval race at Darlington, where he engaged in a late battle with Sheldon Creed and JRM’s Noah Gragson that the latter won.

The team did not announce a specific schedule or if the #17 will remain the car’s number. The number was used by Hendrick’s late son Ricky during his driving career.

Carlos Sainz Jr. is aiming to be much more consistent during the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season after experiencing many highs and low points during his 2022 season that ended him only fifth in the Drivers’ Championship standings.

The Scuderia Ferrari driver had a breakthrough 2022 season with his first victory of his Formula 1 career in the British Grand Prix as well as his first pole positions, but he also suffered six retirements, most of which were down to driver error or contact with other drivers.

This meant he ended the year sixty-two points behind team-mate Charles Leclerc in the Drivers’ Championship, but he hopes 2023 will see him return to the kind of consistency he knows the can achieve so he can fight for more race victories and perhaps even the championship.

“At the beginning, I had two consecutive retirements [Australian and Emilia Romagna Grand Prix] and at the end I was driving well, but I had the accident in Austin when I started from pole position, and also the car was no longer there to win,” Sainz is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com.

“I have had many highs and lows. For next year, hopefully there will be fewer low points and many high peaks to be able to have a more linear season.

Toto Wolff has praised the way Lewis Hamilton handled a difficult 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season, with the British racer failing to score a race victory for the first time in his sixteen-year career.

The Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team had a very under par 2022 campaign, with George Russell responsible for their only win in São Paulo and their only pole position in Hungary.  The team slipped to third in the Constructors’ Championship after eight consecutive titles, and Hamilton ended the year a lowly sixth in the Drivers’ Championship, the lowest position of his career as the W13 car was a difficult one to work with.

Wolff, the Team Principal at Mercedes, feels Hamilton’s personality traits were extremely admirable even if the team were unable to deliver him a car to challenge for his eighth World Drivers’ Championship, and he handled a tough season well.

“Extremely tough, because we have given him a tool that wasn’t capable of winning,” Wolff said on Formula 1’s Beyond the Grid podcast.  “On top of that, the drivers had a car that was unpredictable, unstable, good at times, not good at others – not really something you can work with and develop.

“But as a personality, how he has gone through the season is really admirable. There were times when the team felt down because of the non-performance and this is where he picked the people up and motivated them, and that is truly management and personality traits that I have not seen with a professional sportsman before.”