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It was a strong Sunday afternoon in the Spanish sun for the BWT Alpine F1 Team, after what was a shocking Qualifying for them. Esteban Ocon recovered from twelfth to finish seventh, whilst Fernando Alonso finished his home race in ninth despite having started last at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Both Alpine drivers proved that they have a much stronger race car than they do in one-lap pace, after both pulled a number of overtakes to climb up into the points places. The team may wonder what could’ve been, had both cars made it into Qualifying 3. With the midfield proving incredible tight yet again this season, it’s vital that the French side get on top of their qualifying performance, in order to maximise their Sunday pace.

Alpine CEO Laurent Rossi, highlighted this point, as well as explained that the team did a good job considering where they were prior to the race.

“While the weekend didn’t look promising before the race, we managed to recover with both cars finishing inside the points. To go from twentieth, and last, on the grid with Fernando and twelfth with Esteban to eight points in the bag at the end is certainly satisfying and well deserved. We’ve managed to salvage points after a tough Qualifying, which is important in a close championship fight like we’re in.

“That said, we need to continue the hard work, in particularly ensuring more performance consistency throughout the whole weekend to better our starting grid positions. We’ve demonstrated today, on a demanding track in tough conditions, that we have what it takes to perform well on Sundays. We now need to ensure we put ourselves in a position where we’re battling for the higher points-scoring places on a more regular basis.

Esteban Ocon recovered well from a disappointing Qualifying at the Spanish Grand Prix, to finish seventh-place at a scorching hot Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Team-mate Fernando Alonso drove an incredible race to make up eleven places.

Ocon proved that Alpine do have a good race car, the Frenchman made an excellent start to the race and made up a number of places early on. The A522 appeared an almost completely different car on Sunday, following the team’s disappointment on Saturday.

Ocon finished seventh on a three-stop strategy, which was used by the majority of the drivers on what was an exceptionally hot day.

Ocon was very pleased with the result, in what he described as “the best” the team could’ve targeted.

“I’m very happy for the team today with a good double result. It’s probably the best result we could have hoped for after yesterday and the team should be very proud for what we achieved today. It was a great first stint with some good overtakes and, overall, I don’t think there is anything we could have done better.

Frédéric Vasseur was delighted to see Valtteri Bottas score eight more points for Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN in Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix, a race where they did not think they would be that competitive ahead of the weekend.

Bottas ran as high as a fourth during the race at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, but a two-stop strategy gamble did not pay off as he was powerless to defend from the recovering Carlos Sainz Jr. and Lewis Hamilton, who both made three pit stops, in the closing laps to drop to sixth.

However, Vasseur, the Team Principal at Alfa Romeo, was full of praise for Bottas for bringing home another good finish – his fifth top ten result in the opening six races – and score another good haul of points for the team.

“We experienced another race in which we showed just how quick we can be, and to bring home eight more points, finishing just behind the front runners, is a positive result,” said Vasseur.

“We can be pleased about our performance, even more so given that we were not expecting Barcelona to suit us too well, so we can be confident we can be competitive on every race weekend.

Valtteri Bottas said the gamble by the Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN to pit only twice during Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix did not pay off, but the Finn was still happy to end the day with a strong seventh place finish at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Only once this season has the Finn not finished inside the points – he was forced to retire from the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – and he was embroiled in the battle for the top five for much of Sunday afternoon.

However, Bottas pitted only twice while his rivals pitted three times, which meant he was lacking in pace in the closing laps that left him unable to keep ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr. or Lewis Hamilton as the Scuderia Ferrari and Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team drivers recovered from early issues.

“We got some good points today and we take plenty of positives home,” said Bottas. “Our pace throughout the race was really strong and it was nice to be in battles with the big teams ahead – it shows how much progress we are doing and how the upgrades we brought here seem to work well.

“In the end, we chose to be aggressive and take a risk with the strategy, going for a two-stopper when everyone else went for three: it didn’t pay off, as the tyre life of the medium compound was a bit shorter than we anticipated and we struggled at the end, but we still brought home a good result.

Mattia Binotto says Scuderia Ferrari can be happy with their performance over the opening six races of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season, but they cannot be content with their results from the Spanish Grand Prix.

Binotto, the Team Principal at Ferrari, said before the season began that they would not be able to access their position in the grid before the first six races of the season, but they can be pleased that they have a car that is quick and is being developed in the right manner.

However, race number six at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya saw Charles Leclerc retire with a power unit issue whilst comfortably in the lead, while an early spin and subsequent damage saw Carlos Sainz Jr. end down in fourth in his home Grand Prix.

“After a result like this, I think we should look at the positive aspects,” said Binotto. “I said that after the first six races, we would be able to assess the performance levels and hierarchy among the teams and today, we can say that we have built a good car and we have done a fine job of developing it.”

Binotto says the issue that affected Leclerc cost the Monegasque racer an almost certain victory in Spain, and they will be doing all they can to identify the cause of the problem so it doesn’t happen again.

Charles Leclerc already has his eyes on his home Grand Prix in Monaco this weekend after seeing a near-certain victory slip out of his hands in the Spanish Grand Prix due to a mechanical issue while comfortably in the lead.

The Scuderia Ferrari appeared to have the race in the bag only for a power unit problem to cause his retirement, but despite the disappointment of losing the win – and the lead in the Drivers’ Championship to Max Verstappen – he still feels there are many positives to take away from the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Leclerc was pleased Ferrari had found a way to manage the Pirelli’s tyres better on race day compared to what they were working with on the long runs on Friday, and he was comfortable behind the wheel of the F1-75 right up until he was forced to retire.

“So far this year, the team has been doing an incredible job in terms of reliability,” said Leclerc. “Of course this one hurts, because we were in front all weekend and worked really well.

“I know that things like this can happen sometimes and in moments like these, it is important to look at the positives. Our pace was very strong in qualifying and in the race and the feeling in the car was really good.

The NASCAR All-Star Race has been a polarising event in recent years for its perceived gimmicks (some of which would later be implemented for points rounds) to compensate for poor racing. The 2022 race, held at the much-maligned Texas Motor Speedway, did little to quell fan frustration as an officiating conundrum befell the finish: Ryan Blaney was only metres away from crossing the finish when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. wrecked, creating a caution that resulted in overtime; despite lowering his window net for the cooldown lap and being unable to return it to the original location, he held off Denny Hamlin to win anyway.

Right before Blaney could take the checkered flag, the yellow came out for Stenhouse hitting the backstretch wall, though he did not receive severe damage. Nevertheless, NASCAR elected to call the caution. Under traditional rules, a race would end if the yellow flag waved on the final lap, but All-Star rules mandated it must conclude under green, justifying overtime.

Before the restart, Blaney took down the window net under the assumption he had won, but could not replace it in time and therefore continued racing. Such an act comes with obvious safety concerns, and Section 14.3.3.3.1 of the rulebook stipulates window net fasteners must remain secured at all times (without the use of tape or zip ties) during a race. Despite this, no penalty was given.

Blaney quickly quashed concerns of having the win taken away from him by beating Hamlin to the finish in overtime. It is Blaney’s first All-Star victory and first for Team Penske since Joey Logano in 2016.

To little surprise, the fiasco was widely ridiculed by many, including fans and drivers. Dale Earnhardt Jr. wrote on Twitter that NASCAR will “gladly let you debate the window net so as you don’t reflect on how ridiculous that yellow flag situation was as Blaney was crossing the finish line to win.”

Scott Dixon dominated qualifying to win his second consecutive Indianapolis 500 pole position with authority, putting up a four lap average of 234.046 mph, the second fastest pole speed of all time en route to his fifth pole for “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing”.

IndyCar’s “Iceman” was the last to hit a rapidly-cooling track, beating out his teammate Alex Palou and Ed Carpenter Racing‘s Rinus Veekay who make up the rest of the first row in second and third respectively.

“This is stage one,” Dixon said on pit lane. “Obviously it doesn’t mean nothing come next Sunday. We’re starting in the right spot, we haven’t had a good record of keeping it in the right spot, but we’ll definitely be trying come next Sunday.”

Ed Carpenter will start on the inside of Row Two in fourth place, flanked by CGR teammates Marcus Ericsson and Tony Kanaan in fifth and sixth respectively. Kanaan’s team made a herculean effort to put the car on the track after electrical issues threatened their qualifying runs.

Dixon was just as dominant in the Fast Twelve as well. The New Zealand native was the third car on track in the first session of the day and picked up right where he left off from practice this morning, as he set the bar high with a hyper consistent four lap average of 233.510 mph. That held to be the fastest ahead of Veekay and Palou in second and third respectively.

Oracle Red Bull Racing lead the Constructors’ championship, following another 1-2 finish with Max Verstappen continuing his run of winning every race he finishes in 2022. The Dutchman also now leads the Drivers’ standings.

It was an enthralling Spanish Grand Prix, which did present Red Bull with a number of issues. Verstappen lost ground on Charles Leclerc early on after running into the gravel, but also suffered from a faulty DRS. This made passing George Russell virtually impossible later in the race, an issue which Sergio Pérez also found.

Eventually, with Leclerc retiring and both Red Bull’s finding their way past the British driver, Red Bull were left with a much-needed 1-2 finish. It wasn’t all plain sailing though with who would take the win, as Pérez whilst in the lead, was asked by the team to give the Dutchman the position. Pérez followed the instructions but informed his team that a chat was needed after the race.

Team Principal Christian Horner was extremely happy with the result, and was happy to see both of the Red Bull drivers working together. Horner also noted that the team knew prior to the race that Verstappen had a DRS problem.

“It is fantastic for the Team to bring home our second 1-2 finish in three races, which was hugely important for us in the fight for both Championships. Both drivers got great starts and things were settling down quite nicely, but a massive gust of wind sent Max into a slide and that dropped him down to fourth.

Max Verstappen continued his run of winning every race he’s finished so far this season, after taking a dramatic victory at the Spanish Grand Prix. The Dutchman incredibly now leads the championship as well, after Charles Leclerc was forced into retirement.

Verstappen remained in second for the opening stages of the race, keeping Leclerc within distance. However, Verstappen suddenly tumbled to the the bottom end of the top five, the Dutchman went off at Turn 4 after being caught by a huge gust of wind that unsettled his RB18.

The reigning World Champion got his head down, and was quickly on the back of George Russell who was in second. The battle for second soon became the battle for the lead, after Leclerc pulled into the pits after suffering a power unit issue. Verstappen was met by his own gremlins, as his DRS malfunctioned yet again, resulting in a furious Dutchman.

Verstappen failed to find his way past Russell, who defended brilliantly. Instead, Oracle Red Bull Racing opted to put Verstappen on a different strategy. Verstappen pitted onto a set of soft tyres and hunted Russell back down, before taking the race lead when the British driver pitted again. Verstappen had the pace to open up a gap, pit again, then make his way past Sergio Pérez late on to claim his fourth victory of the season.

Verstappen was over the moon with his victory, in what was an exciting Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona Catalunya.

Max Verstappen led an Oracle Red Bull Racing 1-2 as he battled to win the 2022 Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain.

Sergio Pérez drove a fine race to finish in second position. George Russell finished on the podium after another fine drive which featured close wheel to wheel racing with Verstappen.

The race started under hot conditions with air temperatures at 36 degrees C and track temperatures at 49 degrees C at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

The Pirelli tyre choice at this race is the white-striped hard compound tyres (C1), yellow-striped medium compound tyres (C2), and red-striped soft compound tyres (C3).

Charles Leclerc was on pole position with Max Verstappen on the first row. Carlos Sainz and George Russell started on the second row.

MP Motorsport’s Felipe Drugovich has completed a double winning race weekend in round four of the 2022 FIA Formula 2 season after winning Sunday’s Feature Race at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and extending his lead at the top of the championship.

The win marks MP Motorsport’s fourth successive win at the Spanish circuit after Drugovich’s victory in Saturday’s Sprint Race as well as the Dutch racing outfit taking both victories in 2020, the last time F2 raced at the circuit.

Virtuosi Racing’s Jack Doohan finished in second place after starting on pole position with ART Grand Prix’s Frederik Vesti completing the top three on his first visit to the podium in Formula 2. Following on from his podium in the Sprint Race, Logan Sargeant had another strong result in fourth place.

When the five lights went out, Vesti got the jump on the Hitech Grand Prix car of Jüri Vips to take second place at turn one. Cem Bölükbasi and Liam Lawson also had lightening starts as both drivers made up seven positions on the first lap.

After a promising qualifying, PREMA Racing’s Jehan Daruvala became the first and only casualty of the race as he suffered a power failure which left him stranded at turn seven of the track and brought out the safety car.

Victor Martins took his second win of the FIA Formula 3 Championship season in the Feature Race in Barcelona on Sunday morning.

Roman Stanek led the field away from the line, ahead of Martins, Alexander Smolyar and Isack Hadjar.

Everyone made a clean start, with Martins wasting no time in getting around the outside of Stanek at Turn 1 and finishing the move off at Turn 2 to take the lead.

Zak O’Sullivan and Reece Ushijima tangled exiting Turn 12, as they did a couple of times in the 2021 GB3 Championship. The stewards deemed no further action was necessary, with GB3 champion O’Sullivan sitting 16th after starting 18th.

Ushijima’s Van Amersfoort Racing team-mate Rafael Villagomez crashed out on Lap 3 at the same corner after colliding with Kush Maini, scrambling the safety car.

Heat races to set starting grids are not uncommon in motorsport. Nitro Rallycross and Formula E take it another step further with a one-on-one elimination format. On Saturday, the NASCAR Cup Series determined the field for Sunday’s All-Star Race with a slightly different approach: a four-tyre pit stop at the end of pit road and one lap around Texas Motor Speedway.

New for 2022, the starting lineup for the All-Star Race was determined using a bracket system that gave pit crews a bigger role. Previous All-Star Races also utilised crews such as having drivers make mandatory stops while setting a flying lap in qualifying or during the race, while the Pit Crew Challenge—in which crews made their stops before pushing their cars to the finish—was a fan favourite until its discontinuation in 2012.

Kyle Busch‘s #18 Joe Gibbs Racing crew proved to be the best as he defeated team-mate Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Larson, and Ryan Blaney to win the pole.

“This is a cool event,” commented Busch’s crew chief Ben Beshore. “A good way to showcase our pit crew and they did a great job. They put in a lot of hard work this off-season and throughout the year. They clicked off awesome stops there and it’s exciting.”

Twenty cars were locked into the All-Star, and the top eight in traditional qualifying advanced to the knockout round. Aric Almirola kicked off the experiment on an inauspicious note when he missed the green light to signal the start, causing him to fall significantly behind and William Byron to easily win. Blaney defeated Ross Chastain to take on and eventually defeat Byron.

Scott Borchetta can finally call his Big Machine Racing Team a NASCAR Xfinity Series race-winning organisation, even if the help of a Cup Series regular was needed. Tyler Reddick, in his second start for the team, took the lead after the final caution in a wreck-filled affair to win at Texas Motor Speedway.

Ten cautions for crashes took place, knocking out multiple drivers like pole winner Noah Gragson, Sheldon Creed, Jesse Iwuji, Ryan Sieg, and J.J. Yeley. Iwuji missed qualifying on Friday as he was at an exercise with the United States Navy, leaving Kyle Weatherman to qualify his car, while Yeley had impressed by starting fourteenth in MBM Motorsports‘ best qualifying effort ever. The latter was caught in a particularly large crash on lap 137 that claimed six other drivers on the frontstretch, which turned out to be the final yellow flag of the day.

Reddick, who was in first prior to the crash, continued to lead on the ensuing restart while fellow Cup full-timer William Byron gave chase. However, Byron and JR Motorsports team-mates Sam Mayer and Justin Allgaier could not catch Reddick. The two-time series champion has now hit double-digit race wins, becoming the forty-fourth driver to do so and the second such story in 2022. Cole Custer, a fellow Cup driver, accomplished the same at Fontana in February; coincidentally, Custer’s win was the first for his owner Bobby Dotter (SS-Green Light Racing).

Big Machine Racing, currently in its second season of operation, had struggled to begin 2022. Despite a solid rookie season in 2021, Jade Buford struggled with a single top-twenty finish (eighth at COTA, which is to be expected out of someone with road racing experience) before Kaz Grala and Reddick replaced him; Reddick drives for Big Machine ally Richard Childress Racing at the Cup level. Although Reddick being a Cup driver means his win would not lock the #48 team into the owner’s championship playoffs, it obviously provides the spark that it had been sorely needing.

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