Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

Oracle Red Bull Racing’s punishment for breaking the budget cap during the 2021 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season has been revealed, and they have been hit with a financial penalty as well as a reduction in aerodynamic testing time.

Red Bull were deemed to have occurred a minor breach of the spending cap, which meant they were less than five-per-cent above the $145 million allowed, and they have now agreed an ‘Accepted Breach Agreement’ with the FIA over their punishment.

The team has been handed a $7 million fine, which must be paid within the next thirty days, as well as ten per cent reduction of its aerodynamic testing time.

The FIA has stated that Red Bull did not intentionally act ‘in bad faith, dishonestly or in a fraudulent manner, nor has it wilfully concealed any information from the Cost Cap Administration’, and as a result, no harsher was deemed necessary.

The outcome means that Max Verstappen has now been confirmed as a two-time Formula 1 World Drivers’ champion as no points deductions were applicable.

The BWT Alpine F1 Team’s protest over the penalty handed out to Fernando Alonso after the United States Grand Prix has been successful, meaning the Spaniard has retaken the seventh-place finish he initially lost.

A protest from the Haas F1 Team after last Sunday’s race at the Circuit of the Americas had seen a thirty-second time penalty applied to Alonso after his car was deemed to be dangerous thanks to a lose mirror on the right-hand side of his A522.

The penalty had dropped Alonso from seventh to fifteenth, but a protest – and a right of review – from Alpine was heard on Thursday ahead of this weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix.

Initially Alpine’s protest was deemed to be not admissible, with the regulations citing that a penalty of this note is not permitted, but the French team instead utilised their right to review instead, with new evidence being presented.

Haas made their initial protest outside of the thirty minutes permitted within the regulations – they were an additional twenty-four minutes later than allowed – and Alpine also noted that the protest was made after Haas were informed by race control of the potentially dangerous car.

The last time Kaz Grala drove a Toyota was in the now-ARCA Menards Series East in 2016. Since then, he has primarily been in Chevrolets save for a single NASCAR Xfinity Series season with Ford in 2018. On 5 November, he will return to the Toyota camp for a one-off as he pilots the #26 GR Supra for Sam Hunt Racing at Phoenix Raceway.

“One last surprise to end the season,” the team posted on social media. “Kaz Grala will pilot our No. 26 Toyota GR Supra in the Xfinity Series season finale at Phoenix Raceway next weekend!”

Grala has run nine Xfinity races in 2022 for Alpha Prime Racing (with whom he is also employed as a reserve driver), Big Machine Racing Team, and Jesse Iwuji Motorsports. His best finish on the year is fifth at Watkins Glen with Big Machine. Since making his series début in 2018, he has notched top top-ten finishes.

He finished thirty-third at the first Phoenix race in March with APR. His only other Xfinity race at the track was a twelfth in 2018 with JGL Racing.

Since his Xfinity Rookie of the Year campaign was derailed mid-2018 after JGL’s shutdown, Grala has mainly been a journeyman and “super sub” racing for multiple teams across all three national tiers. He has three Cup Series starts in 2022 for the new The Money Team Racing including the Daytona 500, and is racing part-time in the Camping World Truck Series with Young’s Motorsports.

When David Gilliland founded David Gilliland Racing in 2018, Toyota was the vehicle of choice across all levels including the NASCAR Truck Series and ARCA Menards Series. After a three-year run with Ford, DGR will return to Toyota power for the 2023 season in alliance with Toyota Racing Development. With a new make also comes a new identity as the team will be renamed to TRICON Garage.

“We are thrilled to return to Toyota and compete in the new Toyota Tundra TRD Pro next season,” Gilliland said Thursday. “I’ve seen Toyota’s dedication to the sport firsthand, and we are excited to partner with them going forward. I’m sure this new partnership is going to help TRICON reach our goals of consistently competing for race wins and championships.”

“TRICON” is a portmanteau of “tri” and “icon”. The former refers to the three championships that are available in NASCAR (driver, owner, manufacturer) as well as the team’s involvement in three industries (racing, fabrication, transportation). The “Garage” suffix is a departure from convention as most NASCAR team names end with “Racing”, “Motorsports”, or “Team”.

“Our goal in the Truck Series is to create future racing icons,” team co-owner Johnny Gray explained. “We’ll know we did our job when several years from now our drivers are racing for Cup championships. As for Garage, what we do is more than just field a race team. We build chassis, we build bodies. We have a transportation company. We are marketers and content creators. We are teachers and mentors. It’s bigger than simply ‘motorsports’ or ‘racing’. But what it all has in common is that it takes place in our garage. So TRICON Garage just seemed to encompass what we’re all about.”

Gray’s grandsons Tanner and Taylor will race full-time for the team’s Truck programme in the #15 and #17 Tundras, respectively. After making his début in 2019, Tanner has been a regular for the past three years with fifteen top tens and a best points finish of fourteenth in 2020. Taylor, the 2022 ARCA East runner-up, has recorded sporadic Truck starts since 2021; as he will only be seventeen when the 2023 season begins, he is not eligible to run the first three races.

Dmitriy Mazanov was set to bring his bike to Portugal to take part in this weekend’s Baja Portalegre 500, but the sanctioning body Federação Motociclismo Portugal said otherwise, revoking his entry at the last minute due to his Belarusian citizenship. While the verdict would follow the FIM‘s policies created after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Mazanov was able to run other FIM Bajas World Cup events like the Hungarian Baja in August, suggesting the decision mainly came from the Portuguese federation rather than the FIM.

Belarus is Russia’s closest ally and has been involved with the invasion by providing a staging area and allowing Russian troops to launch missiles into Ukraine. This along with President Alexander Lukashenko‘s authoritarian regime have generated significant condemnation worldwide and resulted in a vast array of sanctions on Belarus. A month before the invasion, truck racing team MAZ-sportauto was denied admission to the 2022 Dakar Rally in the wake of state-owned parent MAZ getting sanctioned.

After the full-scale invasion began, many sporting bodies imposed restrictions on Russian and Belarusian competitors. The FIA created a series of “emergency measures” that those of these nationalities were required to sign before they could enter races overseen by the authority. The policies included formally denouncing the invasion, standing in solidarity with Ukraine, agreeing to not place their country’s emblems on their equipment, and racing with a different country or a neutral FIA flag.

While some like Denis Krotov, Robert Shwartzman, Alexander Smolyar, and Konstantin Zhiltsov signed the terms, others have refused including Sergei Kariakin, Anastasiya Nifontova, and KAMAZ-master; Kariakin went as far as to write a letter to FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem lobbying for its end. Opponents decry the rules as a “double standard” that forces Russian citizens to stand against their own country.

In a video released Wednesday, Mazanov explains the FIM simply enforces a hard ban on Belarusian riders without giving them a chance to publicly condemn the invasion. He emphasises that despite being a Belarusian citizen, he does not support the war nor has he lived there in recent times; in fact, he mentions, he has resided in Ukraine and competed under a Ukrainian licence.

Lando Norris is looking to build on the positive result from last weekend’s United States Grand Prix when the FIA Formula 1 World Championship rolls into the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez for the Mexico City Grand Prix.

The McLaren F1 Team racer ended sixth last weekend to help the team close the gap to the BWT Alpine F1 Team to just six points as they battle over fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship with just three race weekends in Mexico, Brazil and Abu Dhabi to go.

Norris is expecting an ‘amazing atmosphere’ in Mexico City as the passionate fans embrace Formula 1, and he is aiming to score as many points as possible on Sunday afternoon.

“Mexico, it’s good to be back for the second year in a row!” said Norris.  “The circuit is a unique challenge with a high altitude and the fans in the baseball stadium section is an interesting feature of the track.

“I’m looking forward to getting back into the car this week after a great time in Austin. I’m sure the Mexican fans will be out in full force to create an amazing atmosphere like last year!

History could be made at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya when rounds 8 and 9 of the 2022 FIA World Rallycross Championship take place there on 29/30 October. Carrying a mighty 41 point lead into the event, current championship leader and already four-time world champion Johan Kristoffersson looks set to wrap up his fifth title at some point over the weekend.

Kristoffersson has won an astonishing 6 out of 7 races so far this year. He still crossed the line first in the race he lost in Portugal before the stewards awarded him a 10-second penalty for contact with rival Timmy Hansen. The crowds at Barcelona should be in for a treat as Kristoffersson’s rivals try desperately to stop him claiming total victory.

Barcelona always offers exciting racing. Having been on the calendar since 2015, the track features a long straight, sweeping turns, several tight and twisty sections, a 30-metre jump heading straight into a tight right hander, and a crucial and complex Joker section. Plus, the whole circuit is set up like an arena, affording the huge grandstands full of RX fans a superb view of all the action.

Going off this year’s form, Kristoffersson would appear to be the man to beat. However, if we base our predictions of last year, the money would be on Hansen World RX Team. The team have been on the podium here 9 times since 2015, and achieved a spectacular 1-2 finish last year. The team, who are currently second in the constructor’s championship, are keen to claim their first victory in a season full of “what might have been” moments.

Team principal Kenneth Hansen is full of optimism, saying “We are focused on turning bad luck into good. We’re not far away from a win, we need a little more speed and to give more confidence to the drivers – hopefully those things can make for a good result in Barcelona.”

Yuki Tsunoda admitted it was a nice surprise to score two points in last weekend’s United States Grand Prix rather than one after being promoted to ninth place following Fernando Alonso’s post-race penalty, but it was still disappointing to see Scuderia AlphaTauri lose ground to the Haas F1 Team in the Constructors’ Championship.

Haas scored an eighth-place finish thanks to Kevin Magnussen and now sit two points clear of AlphaTauri as the two teams battle it out over eighth place in the Teams’ standings with just three races of the season remaining.

Tsunoda says scoring points was good having started at the back of the field following a grid penalty, and it was also good that the team were able to be points contenders on Sunday having struggled for performance in Qualifying conditions.

“Even if it does not help for the championship’s fight with Haas, it was a nice surprise to get the extra point for ninth place in Austin, especially after starting down in nineteenth place on the grid because of the grid penalty,” said Tsunoda.

“It was quite a tough race physically, but also good fun in the car, with a few nice overtakes as well. Overall, last weekend we looked quite competitive in the midfield, even if Qualifying was the weak point over the three days.”

Zak O’Sullivan completed his first Formula 1 test earlier this week with the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team, his reward for winning the BRDC Autosport Young Driver of the Year Award in 2021.

O’Sullivan, the 2021 GB3 Championship winner who is also a member of the Williams Driver Academy, completed thirty-two laps of the Silverstone Circuit in the United Kingdom on Tuesday, initially on wet tyres before switching to slicks, with his lap times improving throughout the day as he adapted to Formula 1 machinery.

It capped off a memorable season for the seventeen-year-old British racer, who raced for Carlin in the FIA Formula 3 Championship, scoring two podium finishes at Silverstone and Zandvoort on his way to eleventh place in the final standings.

Speaking after the event, O’Sullivan was thankful for getting the opportunity to drive a Formula 1 car for the first time, calling it an ‘amazing experience’, and he felt the confidence was coming with every additional lap he completed.

“It was an amazing experience to drive an F1 car for the first time,” said O’Sullivan.  “It’s a big step up from anything I’ve ever driven before but I absolutely loved it.

Sebastian Vettel has just three races remaining of his FIA Formula 1 World Championship career before retirement, but the four-time World Champion insists his motivation remains as high as ever.

The Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team driver has shown good form across the past three races, scoring a sixth place in Singapore, eighth in Japan and seventh last weekend in the United States, although a slow pit stop at the Circuit of the Americas possibly denied him sixth there too.

Aston Martin have closed the gap to the Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN to just one point going into this weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix, and Vettel says there is no reason why the strong form they’ve shown recently cannot continue at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

“The atmosphere at Mexico City has always been electric, and I have always liked coming here,” said Vettel.  “Over the last few races, we have picked up some really strong results – so our challenge for sixth position in the constructors’ championship is looking more and more realistic.

“As I start my final three races in Formula One, I have lost none of my motivation and am looking to go out on a high.

Sergio Pérez will have full the support of the Mexican fans this weekend as the FIA Formula 1 World Championship arrives at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez for the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Twelve months ago, Pérez became the first Mexican to lead a lap and finish on the podium in his home Grand Prix, and he arrives at the track this weekend full of confidence after his Oracle Red Bull Racing team secured the Constructors’ Championship last weekend in the United States.

Pérez has already enjoyed a show run in his home town of Guadalajara earlier this week, and he his eager to impress once more this weekend as he continues his bid to end the season second in the Drivers’ Championship standings.

“To come home after winning the Constructors title on Sunday makes this week feel bigger and more exciting than ever,” Pérez said.  “Things in our sport happen so fast, as soon as Sunday was over, we were already focussing on trying to win this weekend.

“But it has already been such a special week for me taking the Red Bull Showrun to my hometown, it’s a memory that will live with me forever. I don’t want to stop there with creating moments this week though, my aim is to win my home Grand Prix and I know I have the car and the Team to do it.

Although they came up short of taking their first victory of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season last weekend at the Circuit of the Americas, Toto Wolff says it was pleasing to see the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team mixing it at the front of the field against the likes of Oracle Red Bull Racing and Scuderia Ferrari.

Red Bull have dominated the season as a whole, winning fifteen of the nineteen races so far, while Ferrari have won the other four, leaving Mercedes, the dominant force in the turbo hybrid era up until 2022, in the background.

Wolff, the Team Principal at Mercedes, says the recent updates to the W13 appear to have brought them closer to the front of the field, and they were fighting for the podium all race long last weekend in the United States before settling for second for Lewis Hamilton and fifth for George Russell.

“Race day in Austin was quite a rollercoaster of emotions,” said Wolff.  “While we didn’t quite have the pace to win, it was great to be in the mix at the front and leading the race.

“The upgrades we brought to Texas delivered a step forward and we were closer to the front than we have been recently.

BWT Alpine F1 Team have confirmed that their highly rated academy driver, Jack Doohan, will make his Grand Prix weekend debut in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship this weekend in Mexico City.

The Australian driver will replace Esteban Ocon in the first practice session around the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico’s capital. It has also been confirmed by the team that he will take the wheel at the season ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as a part of their two mandatory rookie practice obligations.

At just nineteen years of age, this will be Doohan’s second outing in the A522 as he had driven the same car at the teams restricted filming day back in September around the Autodromo Nazionale Monza.

The rookie joined the Alpine Academy back in January after he finished runner up in last season’s FIA Formula 3 Championship. For 2022, he made the step up to FIA Formula 2 and has so far claimed three race wins, as well as a further three podiums and three pole positions with just one race remaining in Abu Dhabi in November.

Doohan is now aiming to secure third place in F2 this season as well as top rookie in the championship. With aspirations of one day being able to make it into F1, the Aussie now has the opportunity to impress in Mexico.

Teemu Suninen hits his first success of the 2022 WRC2 season on the Catalunyan roads in RallyRACC Catalunya – Costa Daurada with Hyundai Motorsport N and now he looks cautious optimism to the 2023 season where he could be a potential replacer for Estonian´s Ott Tänak who announced he is leaving the Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT team after this year.

This was the first win of the season for Suninen and Hyundai´s WRC2 bet. The Finn had already come close to success in both Portugal and Finland but on both occasions, the victory had vanished. In Rally de Portugal due to an unfortunate off the road on the final stage of the rally and on his home rally of Rally Finland he got disqualified for a non-homologated bumper which was found to be underweighted on his Hyundai i20 N Rally2.

Suninen took the rally lead quite early on in the rally after being fastest on the WRC2 field on stage four and held on to it since that to win, he also claimed a total of nine stage wins and the tactic was to take more risks on the first leg and drive more cautiously on the second leg of the stages, due to dirt being dragged out on the roads.

“This success is very positive for me, we have shown that we have a car which can win and this is very important to me. I ran more aggressively in the morning loops where I tried to push, while on the afternoon loops I ran more carefully, trying to avoid punctures and stones..” Suninen said.

“I hope this win will help me for next season. At the moment for 2023, everything is in the making, I would like to race with a Rally1 car. Also, I have no children so I could run safely all season and my manager is talking to the teams now, so I have a lot of faith in his works.”

Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN‘s point-less streak continued at last weekend’s United States Grand Prix, despite the C42 looking the strongest it’s been since the first half of the season, putting more pressure on the team to finally finish in the top ten at this weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix.

Valtteri Bottas has achieved a rostrum on three occasions at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez Circuit whilst racing for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team; however, he’s simply targeting a “top ten at the chequered flag” at the “energetic” venue this weekend, with the Hinwil-based side desperately needing a good result.

Bottas will need to find his form this weekend if the team want to keep hold of sixth in the Drivers’ Championship, due to their lead having been cut to just a single point over the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team.

The Finn is “looking forward” to the Grand Prix, and is aware that it’s “up to us” to get the best result possible.

“I am looking forward to being back in Mexico this week: it is one of the most energetic races on the calendar, the fans’ enthusiasm is incredible, they’re so passionate about Formula One. I’ve stood on the podium here three times in the past, and it’s always an unbelievable experience.