Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

2021 NTT IndyCar Series champion Álex Palou has officially been confirmed as a reserve driver for the McLaren F1 Team for the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship. Palou will undertake his new role within McLaren alongside competing in his fourth IndyCar season for Chip Ganassi Racing.

With an impressive four wins and fifteen podiums to his name in IndyCar, Palou had intended to join the Arrow McLaren SP team in 2023. However, after a contract dispute with his current team, Palou wukk stay with Chip Ganassi Racing for the upcoming IndyCar season.

Despite his move to McLaren’s IndyCar outfit falling through, Palou was announced to be joining McLaren’s testing of a previous car programme, which has seen him test the MCL35M at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain and the Red Bull Ring in Austria, as well as undertaking a Free Practice session for the Woking-based team ahead of the 2022 United States Grand Prix

After getting a short glimpse into the world of Formula 1 in 2022, Palou spoke on his delight to be expanding his role within the McLaren F1 Team for the upcoming season.

“I’m excited to be part of the McLaren team as one of their reserve drivers in 2023,” he stated. “I’ve been behind the wheel of both the MCL35M and MCL36 and it has been a great experience, so I can’t wait for the involvement with next year’s car.

2022 was a rather challenging year for Goodyear as the tyre supplier battled blowouts and scrutiny in the maiden season for the NASCAR Cup Series‘ Next Gen car (though one could attribute failures to the teams not following Goodyear’s recommended setups). However, NASCAR remains committed to the manufacturer for 2023 and beyond as both parties announced Thursday that Goodyear will remain the exclusive tyre provider for the sanctioning body’s three national tiers Cup, Xfinity, and Craftsman Truck.

“From our manufacturing plants to offices around the world, racing is ingrained in our culture, and the importance of our relationship with NASCAR is reflected in the quality, performance and engineering we put into every Goodyear Eagle race tyre,” commented Goodyear head Richard J. Kramer. “Our performance on the race track plays an active role in the success of the sport and inspires the development of our consumer tyres, fueling our commitment to take performance and innovation to the next level.”

Goodyear has provided tyres in NASCAR since 1954. It was the lone tyre company in the sport from 1978 to 1987 before the so-called “Tyre Wars” launched involving Hoosier Racing Tires an ran through 1994. Hoosier’s exit meant Goodyear was once again the exclusive tyre company.

The company currently provides the Goodyear Eagle for all three national tiers. NASCAR’s regional and international champions all use other companies as General Tire supplies them for the ARCA Menards Series and its East/West divisions, the Pinty’s Series, and the Mexico Seies, while the Whelen Euro Series races with Hoosier.

Goodyear also sponsors the Goodyear 400 at Darlington Raceway. The 2023 edition is scheduled for 14 May.

For the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season, Live Fast Motorsports will hope to finally become worthy of their name as they join forces with the reigning manufacturer’s champion. On Thursday, the team announced a partnership with Chevrolet to run the #78 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in 2023 with motors from ECR Engines.

“Our team is excited to make this transition to Chevrolet,” said team owner B.J. McLeod. “Chevrolet Camaros have proven great success on the track and Live Fast Motorsports is looking forward to becoming a part of this advance.”

McLeod, who also runs Xfinity Series team B.J. McLeod Motorsports, formed LFM for 2021 with Matt Tifft and Joe Falk. BJMM already has Chevrolets in stock, though they occasionally also race with Ford and Toyota.

The single-car operation has mostly been a backmarker as the #78 finished thirty-second and thirty-sixth in owner points in its first two seasons with multiple drivers. Nevertheless, they have enjoyed some bright spots with McLeod scoring a pair of top tens at Daytona in both years, while also notching two top twenties at Atlanta and Charlotte in 2022.

The owner has run most of the Cup schedule in the #78 but steps aside for road courses and the Bristol Dirt Race. Others to race for the team include Shane Golobic, Scott Heckert, Andy Lally, Kyle Tilley, and Josh Williams. All but Golobic have also raced in the Xfinity Series for BJMM.

The 2023 Dakar Rally, the fourth in Saudi Arabia, will run across the entire country in one of the longer editions in race history. Specifics of the fourteen-stage route were revealed on Thursday, less than six months after the initial course was released.

The fourteen stages are the most since 2018 in South America, while the 4,704 km in Special Stages just slightly fall short of the Saudi Arabia record of 4,767 in 2021. Unlike that year, however, the 2023 race will be a point-to-point event instead of a loop. In total, the race will cover 8,549 km.

The race begins on 31 December 2022 with a ten-km prologue stage on the Saudi west coast along the Red Sea, where the Sea Camp bivouac is situated. The new year is rung in with a loop starting and ending at the Sea Camp totalling 368 km in Special Stages before heading to Al-‘Ula the next day. After reaching Ḥaʼil, another loop takes place for Stages #4 and #5.

Dawadmi, also known as Al Duwadimi, is the midway point as the finish to Stage #6, a loop for the seventh (the longest stage of the fourteen at 473 km), and continuing to Riyadh for the eighth. Riyadh, the Saudi capital, is not unfamiliar with motorsport outside of rally raid as the city has hosted Formula E since 2018, and it will also be the site of the Rally’s rest day on 9 January.

After the day off, teams will race towards Haradh followed by Shaybah. Stage #11 is held exclusively in Rub’ al Khali, or the “Empty Quarter”, which is part of one of the largest deserts in the world and a popular site for filming desert environments.

After an incredibly successful Gen2, Jaguar TCS Racing pulled out all the stops to start Gen3 in the best way possible, with a fantastic launch event at Magazine London.

There was a lot for the team to celebrate in Season Eight, with Mitch Evans having fought valiantly across the entire campaign, before just falling short of the Drivers’ Championship. The New Zealander ended last season in second place, whilst the team sealed a personal best of second in the Constructors’ Championship.

The team will be hoping to go one better in both championships for the upcoming Season Nine, the first of the Gen3 era. Jaguar’s stylish I-TYPE 6 features a brand new colour scheme for the team, one featuring of black, white, and gold. Interestingly, the two cars of Evans and Sam Bird will run asymmetric designs, meaning they ‘paint a picture’ when put alongside each other.

It is truly an exciting time for Jaguar and the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, with the Gen3 challengers being faster, lighter, more powerful, smaller, and more efficient than its predecessors. The cars will be capable of speeds up to 200mph, highlighting a huge increase since Gen2.

By sticking with the same line-up once again, the team take one of the most experienced partnerships into 2023, something which could prove incredibly beneficial in regard to gathering data with the new cars.

With the incredibly exciting Season Nine of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship edging ever closer, the sport’s newest side have finally confirmed their first-ever Formula E line-up.

NEOM McLaren Formula E Team have announced that René Rast will be partnered by Formula 2 driver Jake Hughes, who will be making his debut in the all-electric series in at the season opening Mexico City E-Prix. The British driver has a strong track record in single-seater racing, having claimed several wins in Formula 3 between 2016-2020 before moving to Formula 2 for 2022.

Alongside his Formula 2 commitments, Hughes was a reserve and development driver for the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team for the past two seasons. Of course, Mercedes left the series at the end of their highly impressive Season Eight campaign, with McLaren having taken their place in the rapidly growing series.

Hughes is “very proud” to have been announced as not only a Formula E driver but also as a member of the “McLaren Racing family”, the British driver is raring to get going and “can’t wait” to start the all new Gen3 era of the sport.

“First and foremost, I’m very proud and feel very privileged to become part of the McLaren Racing family, being given the chance to represent such a prestigious brand. Growing up, McLaren was one of the teams that inspired me to start racing. To now go full circle, representing the team myself in Formula E feels incredible. I’ve obviously been with the Formula E team in a different guise before and we have already achieved great results. It’s good to have that relationship and I know what’s expected of me.

Georges Groine, one of the Dakar Rally‘s trailblazers in the Truck category, passed away Wednesday at the age of 88. He had lost his vision after suffering a stroke a few years prior.

Nicknamed “Jojo”, Groine made his Paris–Dakar début at the second edition in 1980 with his son Bruno as co-driver, but failed to finish. He rebounded by finishing third in class the following year before breaking through with back-to-back victories in 1982 and 1983 to become the category’s first multi-time winner. As one of the top Truck drivers in the Rally, he particularly drew attention for his rivalry with Dutch racer Jan de Rooy, whose son Gerard oversees Dakar outfit Team de Rooy.

The 1982 win came in a 1–2 finish for Mercedes-Benz with fellow Frenchman Pierre Laleu finishing behind him. His association with the German manufacturer began via his company Transports Groine, who was among the first to provide support services for Rally competitors.

In 1986, Groine founded Team Georges Groine as a Mercedes factory-backed rally raid operation outside of trucks. The team provided Mercedes ML 430s for competition in production categories, with which Jean-Pierre Strugo won titles in the early 2000s.

Groine also worked with the PSA Group, owner of Peugeot and Citroën. His involvement in racing continued through 2007 before stepping away from the sport.

Georges Groine: 19 February 1934 – 30 November 2022

Australian driver Christian Mansell will line up for Campos Racing for the 2023 FIA Formula 3 season,  making his permanent debut after competing in two rounds for Charouz Racing system in 2022.

Mansell competed in British Formula 4 throughout the 2020 season, where he picked up one win and five podiums, securing him a seventh place finish in his first season in Europe.

2021 saw Mansell move up to the GB3 championship, where he claimed two wins and five podiums to finish the season in third. 

Returning for a title-contending second stint in Euroformula, Mansell ended the 2022 season third, after securing three wins and 12 further podium finishes.

The 17-year-old expressed his excitement ahead of the 2023 season as he said, “To be joining Campos for FIA F3 in 2023 is such an incredible honour, and achievement,

Scuderia Ferrari has announced a statement that Mattia Binotto has resigned as Team Principal and will leave his role at the end of 2022.

Binotto has been a part of Ferrari for twenty-eight years after joining the team in 1995 as an engine engineer. He has been an integral part of the team, which saw a lot of success in the early 2000s with Michael Schumacher.

In 2013, Binotto became the head of the engine department and three years later in 2016, he was promoted to Chief Technical Officer. Over this period of time, Ferrari continued to compete for race wins and in 2019, Binotto was made Team Principal.

Ferrari’s CEO, Benedetto Vigna, thanked Binotto for his dedication to the team and for helping Ferrari get back to a position of competitiveness as he wishes him well for the future.

“I would like to thank Mattia for his many great contributions over 28 years with Ferrari and particularly for leading the team back to a position of competitiveness during this past year.”

ORACLE Red Bull Racing‘s Head of Race Engineering Gianpiero Lambiase gives his honest thoughts on the team’s performance in the post-season testing sessions at the Yas Marina.

Including the two current drivers, Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, FIA Formula 2 driver Liam Lawson contributed an impressive one-hundred and eleven laps during last Tuesday’s session.

Lambiase said that the team are well aware they need to maintain their own expectations for the following season, commenting that ‘there is no room for complacency. As the drivers had an in-depth understanding of the RB18, the focus was solely on the evaluation of the 2023 tyres.

“Everyone within the Team is fully aware that there is no room for complacency,” commented Lambiase “and as such, we headed into the test with a full programme across both cars, which we were able to complete successfully. With the benefit of a thorough understanding of the RB18, the drivers focused their attention on evaluating the 2023 tyres.“

Although, there was a different reason for Lawson’s participation in the session. It seems the team are preparing Lawson for future Formula One appearances in the 2023 season as Liambiase stated that Lawson’s ‘higher priority was that the 20-year-old become more familiar with the car and the trackside operations. It’s crucial for the team that its junior driver is well acquainted with the Formula One car due to Lawson playing an essential part in the team’s activities.

FIA Formula 2 driver Liam Lawson again made an appearance in the ORACLE Red Bull Racing garage and participated in the post-season testing in Abu Dhabi and was extremely grateful to get behind the wheel for the last time in 2022. The New-Zeland-born driver completed the most laps and set a faster time than current Red Bull driver Sergio Perez.

Lawson made his debut Formula One appearance earlier in the season after Red Bull’s sister team, Scuderia AlphaTauri, granted him the opportunity to take over from Frenchman Pierre Gasly for the day at the opening practice session at Spa-Francorchamps, and again at Mexico City standing in for Yuki Tsunoda. However, the testing session in Abu Dhabi saw Lawson spend an entire day in the cockpit of the double-title-winning RB18 in which he completed one hundred and eleven laps of the Yas Marina, covering a total of 586.191km.

Currently racing for the Carlin team in the FIA Formula 2 Championship, Lawson was rumoured to be joining the Red Bull Team as a reserve driver for the 2023 season, however, the announcement of Daniel Ricciardo‘s homecoming seemed to dispel any rumours that Lawson would be joining the Milton-Keynes based team.

Even though testing sessions take part in a less high-pressure environment and do not allow the scoring of points, Lawson still took a lot of positives from the day and felt that he benefitted from a full day behind the wheel, rather than the usual hour permitted during free practice sessions.

“Days like today are very important.” Lawson commented, “F1 testing is very limited, so track time is extremely valuable and I’m grateful that I got to drive the and to help the Team with development for next year.

ORACLE Red Bull Racing team secured its second World Championship with Dutch driver Max Verstappen after the 25-year-old achieved a staggering 15 Grands Prix wins and four-hundred and fifty-four points in the Drivers’ Championship. The Milton-Keynes-based team brought the curtain down on a knockout season, which featured the team breaking the record for the largest points haul in Formula One history, with an all-around positive and highly successful post-season test in Abu Dhabi.

The track activities for the post-season testing featured two cars for the single-day test, the drivers split tyre evaluation duties between them with the 2022 World Champion sitting behind the wheel in the afternoon, whilst Mexican driver Sergio Perez led the action in the afternoon.

The double-winning title RB18 took to the circuit one last time at the Yas Marina as the two drivers completed a round total of one hundred and sixty-four laps between them.

Verstappen was pleased with the outcome and felt as if the team are already on the right track, although the double-world champion is still remaining cautious as tyres are notorious for varying in performance, circuit dependent.

“We completed our programme and got a first, basic understanding for next year,” said Verstappen, “which I think worked out well. It’s always nice, when you have the final compound construction, to get a few laps in but at each track the tyres behave differently, so it’s difficult to judge. Having said that, it’s always better to have something rather than nothing. Overall, everything behaved quite normally, so it was a good day.”

The McLaren F1 Team rounded out the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World championship with a productive post-season test, that saw Oscar Piastri step into a McLaren car for the first time. Executive Director of Racing, Andrea Stella was pleased with the day of testing with the team.

McLaren finished the season behind BWT Alpine F1 Team in the Constructors Championship and will be hoping to jump above the French team next season and reclaim a fourth-placed finish.

Piastri managed to complete 123 laps for the team and got some crucial data ahead of the winter break.

“It’s been a productive day of testing here in Abu Dhabi at the post-season test, where we’ve managed to complete a lot of important work. Firstly, it’s been great to get Oscar into the MCL36 and start his integration into the team.

“The main objective for him today has been to get as much mileage under his belt as possible, and to start to get him used to working with the team.”

Lando Norris was pleased with a productive day for McLaren F1 Team as they rounded out the 2022 FIA Formula 1 season with the Abu Dhabi Post-Season Test.

Norris will race alongside Oscar Piastri next season, who replaced the under-performing Daniel Ricciardo. Norris was able to finish as ‘best of the rest’ in the 2022 season and was the only driver not from the top three teams to secure a podium finish.

Norris was pleased with the day of testing, as he completed 115 laps and gathered some solid data for Pirelli’s development of the 2023 tyres.

“Useful day. It was good to get some time with these tyres to help Pirelli’s development of them into 2023 and to gather important data on how they operate. It was a productive day to round out the season.

“Big thanks to Pirelli and the team for their hard work. We’ll now head into the winter focused on preparing for the 2023 season and doing everything we can to start next year on the front foot.”

Oscar Piastri was happy with his first day with McLaren F1 Team after it was announced he’d be replacing Daniel Ricciardo for the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship.

The Australian driver, who won the FIA Formula 3 and FIA Formula 2 titles back-to-back in 2020 and 2021, is considered to be one of the most exciting upcoming drivers but he has a tough challenge on his hand, with his teammate being the driver who finished best of the rest in the 2022 season.

While Lando Norris may be a tough teammate to beat, Piastri is highly thought of in the paddock and was part of the BWT Alpine F1 Team driver academy and was touted as a replacement for Fernando Alonso, however, Piastri decided to take the step to McLaren for his first full-time seat in Formula 1.

The Formula 1 Post Season test at the Yas Marina Circuit was the perfect opportunity for Piastri to finally get behind the wheel of the McLaren, and he was pleased with his day.

“A good first day with McLaren, I think we learnt a lot. It was great to finally join up with the team, and thanks to them for a good day of running. We did a lot of laps and experimented a lot which is exactly what today is all about.