Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles

For the first-time since 2019, the FIA Formula 1 World Championship is returning to the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve this weekend, for the very popular Canadian Grand Prix. The driver favourite hasn’t featured on the calendar since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A lot has changed since the last race at Canada, back in 2019 Pierre Gasly was still racing for Oracle Red Bull Racing, and Sebastian Vettel was leading the charge at Scuderia Ferrari.

For the weekend, Pirelli have brought the softest range of their tyres, with the C3 being the Hard, the C4 the Medium and the C5 being the soft. The race has usually been won in the past on a one-stop strategy, however, all the data is now three-years old. The surface will likely evolve rapidly, where drivers reach almost top speeds whilst also having to brake incredibly heavily.

The weather at the Canadian GP is always unpredictable, something drivers and teams won’t be wanting this weekend with so little data.

Pirelli’s Motorsport Director, Mario Isola, is expecting the teams to be faced with a number of questions this weekend due to the multi-year absence.

Guenther Steiner remains optimistic about Haas F1 Team‘s chances at scoring points in future races, despite a power unit failure putting Kevin Magnussen out of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Having failed to get either of the cars out of Qualifying One on Saturday, three retirements in the opening stages of the race put Magnussen into a good position to score points. However, the number twenty driver would suffer the same fate as three other Ferrari-powered cars, when his power unit failed in the second half of the Grand Prix.

Mick Schumacher was unable to score his first FIA Formula 1 World Championship point, but did overtake Nicholas Latifi to cross the line in fourteenth-place. Steiner has praised both of Haas’ drivers, as the American outfit looks ahead to the Canadian Grand Prix on Sunday.

“It’s not what we wanted today but the good thing that we take away is that we were in a good position when we had some PU issues, but we still have to find out what it is. As I always say, our car is good enough to get into the points, we just need to make it happen.

“Kevin was fighting and was in the fight and Mick also put in a solid effort.”

Mick Schumacher has said that he was counting on Safety Cars and red flags, to help him gain positions in what was a very clean Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Sunday afternoon. The German has now set his sights on next weekend in Montreal, Canada, having finished fourteenth-place at the Baku City Circuit.

After qualifying twentieth and last in qualifying on Saturday, Schumacher was aided by the five retirements in the race and an overtake on Nicolas Latifi, to finish the race just four positions out of the points. The Haas F1 Team driver is, however, still waiting on scoring his first points in the FIA Formula 1 World Championship.

“There wasn’t a safety car, or a red flag and I think I was betting on three safety cars and a red flag, at least, but it didn’t happen. We did our maximum, but the pace just wasn’t there.

“From Saturday onwards, things went a bit smoother but on a track like this it’s the Friday that matters and we only had one session to find the perfect set-up for qualifying, so it’s not easy and that’s what made everything a little bit more difficult. We just have to look ahead.”

“It looked like we were back in the game” – Kevin Magnussen

Kevin Magnussen left Azerbaijan wondering what could have been, after fighting for a place in the top ten during the race on Sunday before a power unit failure put him out of the race.

Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Knoxville Raceway will see two one-off drivers in full-time trucks, interestingly for both paternal reasons. As Austin Wayne Self skips his second straight race to focus on his newborn daughter and cede the #22 AM Racing Chevrolet Silverado to Brett Moffitt, Todd Gilliland will drive the #17 David Gilliland Racing Ford F-150 owned by his father.

Self missed last week’s race at Sonoma Raceway to be with his wife Jennifer as she had their daughter Zepplyn Jane, who was born on 10 June. However, the team opted not to hire a substitute driver and skipped the westward trip entirely. While Self will once again be out for Knoxville, his team intends to return with Moffitt behind the wheel.

Moffitt, the 2018 Truck champion and current Xfinity Series regular, débuted the team’s part-time #37 at the 2021 Knoxville race but finished thirty-eighth due to a crash.

A team statement released Tuesday added Self plans to return to the driver’s seat “no later than the July 9th race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course,” which means the Nashville Superspeedway event on 24 June is still uncertain. As the Xfinity Series also races at Nashville, it is likely the team entrusts the #22 to Moffitt once again.

Self skipping another race also leaves his playoff eligibility in doubt, especially as the team clarified it “will not request any further driver championship waivers from NASCAR.” The sanctioning body frequently provides waivers for hardships like injury or suspension, though it is not immediately known if another will be granted for multiple weeks of emphasising parenthood.

In 2020, Julia Landauer crossed the Atlantic Ocean to continue her racing career as she competed in the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series. Two years later, back home in America, she is getting a shot in NASCAR’s national series. On Tuesday, Alpha Prime Racing announced Landauer will make her Xfinity Series début at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on 16 July, driving the #45 Chevrolet Camaro.

A former NASCAR Next member and notably a contestant on Survivor in 2013, Landauer competed in the now-ARCA Menards Series West for Bill McAnally Racing in 2016, where she placed fourth in points with top tens in all but one race and a best finish of second. She moved to Sunrise Ford Racing in 2017 and was seventh in the standings before departing the series.

Between 2018 and 2020, her NASCAR racing came outside the United States as she raced in Canada’s Pinty’s Series and Europe. She ran the full 2020 Euro Series EuroNASCAR 2 season for PK Carsport, scoring a podium in Valencia and finishing fifth in points; Landauer was the first woman to place on an NWES podium since Carole Perrin in 2012. She took a sabbatical from racing in 2021.

“We’ve been trying to get Julia in our racecar all year long,” commented APR owner Tommy Joe Martins. “Ever since her days in a NASCAR West car, I felt like she deserved an opportunity at this level. I am really glad we were able to put it all together and give her a shot here at Alpha Prime.”

When not racing, Landauer works as an advisor, motivational speaker, and entrepreneur. A Stanford University science graduate, she is a champion for women’s participation in STEM fields.

Williams Racing’s Head of Vehicle Performance Dave Robson was pleased with the racing performance of the FW44 at the eventful and retirement-filled Azerbaijan Grand Prix, where Alex Albon finished twelfth after starting seventeenth and Nicholas Latifi finished fifteenth from eighteenth. 

Robson said that the lap nine virtual safety car hindered Albon strategically, though they made their best effort to break into the points with a second stop on lap twenty-nine. He added that their data showed an irregularity at the end of the race that prompted the team to stop Albon’s car right after the race’s completion. 

“The race in Baku is usually an exciting one and this edition followed that form. Alex raced very well and the pace of the FW44 in race trim was good today. The timing of the VSC which allowed Bottas to stay ahead was frustrating, but that is racing; at least we forced the situation by stopping Alex for a 2nd time and played an aggressive hand in pursuit of a better result. At the end of the race, we stopped the car immediately as we could see something on the data that we were not comfortable with.”

Robson praised Latifi’s one-stop effort, as the two penalties he received on Sunday made for a “tough” race for the Canadian driver. The first ten-second stop and go penalty was applied after a team member touched his car after the allowed time period, and a five-second time penalty was given to him during the race for ignoring blue flags.

“Nicholas had a tough day, with an immediate penalty for a minor breach of the regulations on the grid. The penalty is mandated by the regulations and we were at fault, albeit only momentarily so we need to review our process and ensure that it doesn’t happen in the future. From there, Nicholas was always going to have a tough race, but he successfully completed a 1-stop race, which was not easy in today’s hot conditions.”

In spite of finishing the Azerbaijan Grand Prix outside of the points in twelfth place, Williams Racing’s Alex Albon was happy with the performance of FW44, which showed pace that rivalled that of the midfield cars ahead. 

Considering his car’s competitive potential at Baku City Circuit, Albon said that the lap nine virtual safety car did not play into his favour. As a result, he was unable to finish ahead of Valtteri Bottas and make a challenge for the points positions. 

“It was a fun race here in Baku! We just got a bit unlucky with the VSC timing, otherwise we would have been in a better place to fight for points today, but again our race pace was actually really strong. 

“If you look at our pace relative to the midfield it was very strong; we were as quick if not quicker than a lot of cars in front of us. We had a good start, optimised what we had, and it was a well-executed race for us.”

“The race ended up being a very long and lonely one” – Nicholas Latifi

Team-mate Nicholas Latifi finished the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in fifteenth, last of the drivers who crossed the chequered flag, after receiving two penalties that kept him from challenging those ahead. 

Mario Isola says the durability of the Pirelli tyres was proven during Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, with one-stop strategies only being changed to two by the timing of the virtual safety cars.

An early virtual safety car (VSC) for Carlos Sainz Jr. stopping on track saw some drivers pit on lap nine for a pit stop, while many drivers took the chance to pit a second time when the VSC was called again following Kevin Magnussen’s retirement.

A few drivers gambled on not stopping, including Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly and Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team’s Sebastian Vettel, with the duo ending up fifth and sixth at the chequered flag. 

The two BWT Alpine F1 Team drivers of Fernando Alonso (seventh) and Esteban Ocon (tenth) were also rewarded with top ten finishes by pitting only once, as were the two McLaren F1 Team drivers of Daniel Ricciardo (eighth) and Lando Norris (ninth).

The three podium finishers of Max Verstappen, Sergio Pérez and George Russell all pitted twice, the two Oracle Red Bull Racing drivers and the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team driver both pitting again under Magnussen’s VSC.

Frédéric Vasseur admitted to being disappointed to see Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN’s points-scoring run come to an end in Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

For the first time since the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, neither Valtteri Bottas nor Zhou Guanyu managed to finish inside the top ten, with the former’s eleventh place the best result of the weekend for the Hinwil-based outfit.

Vasseur, the Team Principal at Alfa Romeo, said it was a ‘big blow’ to see Zhou’s race end in an early retirement when the Chinese driver was on course for the top ten, and the team will analyse just what went wrong with his C42-Ferrari.

However, despite the retirement, Vasseur felt Zhou’s performance prior to his retirement proved that his development path is continuing on an upward swing, and he hopes he can be rewarded in the next few races in Canada and Great Britain.

“We end our Sunday here in Baku with a feeling of disappointment, as our streak of consecutive points finishes comes to an end after five good races,” said Vasseur.  

For only the second time in 2022, Valtteri Bottas failed to score points, with the Finn finishing eleventh in Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix after a tough weekend for the Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN driver.

After being eliminated in Q2 in Saturday’s Qualifying session at the Baku City Circuit, Bottas felt there was something ‘fundamentally wrong’ with his car, and as a result was never truly in contention for the points on Sunday.  It was just the second time in eight races where he did not score points, after his retirement from the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in March.

Bottas says he has faith in the team that they can find what just went wrong in Azerbaijan ahead of next weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix, where he will be aiming to return to the top ten once more.

“We came here hunting for points and we leave with none, so I am obviously not very pleased about how our weekend went,” said Bottas.  “Today it felt like a very long race as we were lacking pace: I believe there was something fundamentally wrong with the car, something we need to investigate.

“We will need to figure out what exactly happened before we get to Montreal, but I am convinced we will understand it and address it. Other than the outright pace, we did well as a team in terms of strategy and race execution, but that wasn’t enough to bring home the points.

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix would’ve filled the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team with confidence, after Sebastian Vettel performed brilliantly to finish in sixth-place at the Baku City Circuit.

It could’ve and should’ve been even better for Vettel, who had the pace for fifth but lost a heap of time early on in the race. The German had to perform an impressive U-turn at Turn Three mid-race, after out-braking himself on the outside of Esteban Ocon down into the corner. The French driver was on old tyres, whilst Vettel was trying to make the most of his fresh rubber.

Nevertheless, sixth was a great result for the four-time World Champion, who scored the team some important points. Lance Stroll was forced into a late retirement from sixteenth-place, following a weekend to forget. The Canadian crashed in Qualifying, resulting in a Qualifying One elimination, and then suffered a vibration issue during the race. Stroll will be hoping for better at his home event this weekend.

Team Principal Mike Krack, discussed what a “solid weekend” it was for the British team, whilst sharing his disappointment for Stroll.

“Sebastian capped a solid weekend with a good drive to sixth place in Baku today, thereby scoring eight valuable points in the constructors’ world championship. Lance was disadvantaged by a power unit issue in qualifying yesterday and a vibration problem today, which finally caused us to have to retire him a few laps before the end of the race. So we had mixed fortunes this weekend, but our car showed encouraging pace throughout.

Scuderia Ferrari have problems to solve, and fast, after a double DNF at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Carlos Sainz Jr retired from fourth after suffering a hydraulic fault, whereas Charles Leclerc suffered yet another power unit failure whilst in the lead.

As a result of their diabolical Sunday afternoon at the Baku City Circuit, Ferrari now find themselves eighty points behind Oracle Red Bull Racing; only thirty-eight points ahead of the underperforming Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team.

Leclerc has now suffered two power unit failures in the last three races, both whilst leading the race. It has seen the Monegasque driver slip further behind Max Verstappen in the Drivers’ championship, putting further pressure on the Ferrari driver’s shoulders. To make matters worse for Ferrari, out of the five cars to retire from the race, four of them were Ferrari-powered cars.

Team Principal Mattia Binotto reflected on the bad day, and admitted that plenty of work is needed ahead of this weekend’s Canadian Grand Prix.

“This is undoubtedly a bad day. Compared to last year, we have made great progress in terms of performance, however there is definitely still room for improvement on the reliability front. In a week’s time we will be in Canada where we will aim to make up for this. Before then, we will analyse the failures we experienced here and will try to manage them until we can get on top of them. There is definitely still work to do.”

With the two Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team cars fighting for their respective position on track, Sebastian Vettel got up to sixth position and Lance Stroll got up to sixteenth at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, before the latter was forced into retirement late on.

It could have been one better for Vettel, who had strong pace throughout the race. The four-time World Champion had to go into the runoff section at Turn 3, after a botched attempt at overtaking Esteban Ocon failed. This cost the German valuable time, as his chances of a top five diminished. Nevertheless, it was a great result for the Aston Martin driver.

Vettel is aware that he could’ve finished fifth, but recognises that sixth is a “really great” result.

“The team did an amazing pit-stop, which enabled me to jump Lewis [Hamilton]. After that, I was sure I had got past Esteban [Ocon], but I thought he would battle more for the position, so I took to the escape road and lost some time. Without that incident, I think I could have battled for fifth position. Nevertheless, this is a great result.

“Sixth position is really great – I think we can all be pleased with that result. We have been pushing the limits of this car, and it is starting to pay off for us now. Today, we were faster than Alfa Romeo and matched Alpine and Alpha Tauri, and that changes the game for us a little bit.”

“It is a shame that we had to retire the car” – Lance Stroll

On top of having crashed twice during Qualifying, Stroll was pretty inconsolable after having to retire on lap forty-six. It was a disappointing race up to that point anyway for the Canadian, who was well outside of the points. Stroll will be hoping for better fortunes at his home Grand Prix this weekend.

It was a disappointing race for Scuderia Ferrari on Sunday, with both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr having to retire their cars from the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. It was the first time since 2009 at the Albert Park Circuit, that Ferrari had no cars cross the finish line due to reliability issues. Leclerc went into the pit box very gingerly on Lap 21, with a visible power unit problem.

Leclerc was doing superbly out front, holding back the two Oracle Red Bull Racing drivers of Sergio Pérez and Max Verstappen. However, with the car failure the Monegasque driver has slipped down to third in the Drivers’ championship, leaving the Ferrari driver with plenty of catching up to do.

Leclerc addressed the disappointing end to the Grand Prix after his retirement, where he reiterated his point that the team must “get on top of things”.

“It’s a disappointing outcome for us today. At the beginning of the first stint on the Mediums we weren’t particularly strong, but towards the end of it, we started catching Checo (Perez). During the Virtual Safety Car, we decided to take the opportunity and pit for Hards, which was the right thing to do.

“It put us in a position where we could lead the race and what we had to focus on from then on was managing the tyres to the end. We then had an issue with the power unit and had to retire. It’s time to go home and reset before Canada. We have to get on top of things and come back stronger there.”

Andreas Seidl, Team Principal at the McLaren F1 Team believes that six points is the maximum the papaya-coloured outfit could have hoped for at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, after struggling with drag all week in the McLaren MCL36 package. Daniel Ricciardo would cross the finish line in eighth-place, ahead of team-mate, Lando Norris, in ninth after failing to make Qualifying Three on Saturday, and splitting the strategies on Sunday.

“Given our starting positions and the performance we had in our package this weekend, we are happy leaving Baku with six points for the team. Daniel and Lando worked together with the team and maximised all that was in our hands today,” explained Seidl.

After briefly considering switching the drivers in the second stint to attempt an overtake on BWT Alpine F1 Team‘s Fernando Alonso, McLaren’s strategists opted to stay put due to not being able to compete with the straight-line speed that the Alpine showed.

“We knew before the race that, with our top-speed deficit at this track, we would struggle to overtake Alonso on track, which in the end didn’t allow us to progress further up the field despite trying a different strategy.

“We’ll keep working on understanding the car and see how we can optimise it further for the next race in Montreal, which is only a few days away.“