Ford teams will get a tweaked aero kit for this weekend’s Gold Coast 500 to address ongoing concerns about parity between the Mustang and the Chevrolet Camaro.
Supercars opened its second inquest into parity between the two models immediately after the Bathurst 1000, which was set for an all-Camaro podium before Broc Feeney’s late retirement with a broken gear shifter.
The build-up to the race had been overshadowed by Ford teams lobbying for last-minute aerodynamic changes they said would be crucial to a competitive event.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSMercedes and Ferrari have pinned Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc’s disqualifications from the United States Grand Prix on the sprint weekend format and the bumpy Circuit of the Americas surface.
Hamilton finished the race third and pole-getter Charles Leclerc claimed sixth, but both were excluded from the final classification for running their cars too low.
Ride height is governed by a wooden plank fixed beneath the car. The plank is 1 centimetre thick and can wear by no more than 1 millimetre over the course of the race without falling foul of the rules.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSLewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc are disqualified from the US Grand Prix for breaking an almost 29-year-old rule by as little as 1 millimetre — and both the sprint format and the bumpy Austin track played a part. Daniel Ricciardo’s injury comeback hits a hurdle. Max Verstappen gives short shrift to rumour of a Red Bull rift.
Are sprint races too long? And why are people obsessed with planking again?
Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were two standout performers at the United States Grand Prix, with Leclerc taking an unlikely pole position on Friday and Hamilton coming close to overhauling Max Verstappen for victory on Sunday.
By Sunday night they were notable for a completely different reason: both were disqualified from the race.
Disqualifications are rare, reserved largely for technical breaches and the most serious sporting breaches relating to the fairness of competition.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSMax Verstappen beats Lewis Hamilton to a surprisingly close victory — before Hamilton is disqualified.
Lewis Hamilton has been stripped of second place at the United States Grand Prix after a post-race technical inspection revealed his Mercedes car was set up to run lower than allowed according to the regulations.
Charles Leclerc has also been disqualified from sixth place after Ferrari was found to have committed the same breach.
A random post-race technical check found both cars suffered excessive wear to their rear titanium skid blocks.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSThe United States Grand Prix was going to be all about Mercedes’s late-season renaissance, with upgrades brought to Austin powering Lewis Hamilton to within a couple of seconds of Max Verstappen and an unlikely victory.
Then Hamilton was disqualified.
Both Hamilton and pole-getter Charles Leclerc were thrown out of the race for failing post-race technical inspections. Neither driver was at fault and the breaches will have had a limited effect on performance, but there’s zero tolerance when it comes to the technical rules.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSMax Verstappen has won the United States Grand Prix, his 50th victory, after a strategic duel with Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris.
The Dutchman started sixth on the grid behind polesitter Charles Leclerc, but it was Norris who got the best start, capitalizing on second on the grid being on the inside line into Turn 1 to easily seize the lead. The McLaren driver flexed his muscle early, sprinting to a 1.9s advantage at the end of the first lap.
Sainz moved up to third behind Leclerc, with Hamilton and Verstappen trailing, but it was clear early that the Ferrari drivers didn’t have the pace for the podium battle.
Continue reading on RACERMotoGP race director Mike Webb expects negotiations to move the date of the Australian Grand Prix to avoid weather disruptions at future races.
Sunday running at Phillip Island was declared with only the Moto3 race and half the Moto2 race completed. MotoGP riders never took to the circuit, with wind speed too extreme for track action.
The Bureau of Meteorology observed gusts of more than 50 kilometres per hour on Sunday, though the circuit’s location overlooking Bass Strait means it was likely battered by more extreme winds, with gales of up to 87 kilometres per hour having been forecast for the surrounding waters.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSThe MotoGP sprint at the Australian Grand Prix has been called off on safety grounds due to extreme weather at Phillip Island.
Team managers were spotted in a meeting with race organisers in the paddock around 40 minutes before the short race’s scheduled 1:00pm start, with confirmation coming at 12:30pm that the rest of the weekend would be abandoned due to high winds and rain.
“I think it was a great call yesterday to have the main race on Saturday,” RNF team manager Wilco Zeelenberg said. “We see clearly there is a lot of wind and a lot of rain.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSMax Verstappen wins again, and by a lot, putting paid to any idea that Red Bull Racing might have a weakness at the Circuit of the Americas.
Max Verstappen will start the United States Grand Prix sprint from P1 after edging out Charles Leclerc for the top spot.
Leclerc, who nabbed pole during Friday qualifying for Sunday’s grand prix, was just 0.055s short of doing the qualifying double.
Verstappen’s performance wasn’t perfect, with a spin through the dirt exiting Turn 9 almost putting him into the barriers during SQ2, but a clean single lap in SQ3 was enough to see off the competition.
Continue reading on RACERMax Verstappen took a comfortable victory in the United States Grand Prix sprint ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.
The Red Bull stalwart got a good launch to take the racing line into the first turn, though Leclerc, starting from the often-favorable second spot on the grid, had a look down the Dutchman’s inside before backing out of the move.
Leclerc checking up allowed Lewis Hamilton to sweep around the Ferrari’s outside, though he completed the move running wide over the curbs on exit. The stewards considered it fair game in the melee of the first lap, and the Briton was allowed to keep the place.
Continue reading on RACERAussie ace Joel Kelso has secured a third season in Moto3 with a switch to the Boé Motorsports team for 2024.
Darwin-born Kelso made his full-time debut in the lightweight class in 2022 with CIP before switching to the CFMoto-backed Prüstel GP team this season, but the team told him earlier this season that he wouldn’t be retained for a second season.
While Kelso has been making progress in his second campaign, he has struggled to convert his qualifying speed into regular points.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSThe first Saturday Grand Prix in eight years didn’t disappoint. But then Phillip Island rarely does.
The time-shifted Australian Grand Prix was an afternoon of motorcycle racing’s greatest hits.
It started as a demonstration of pure pace, with Jorge Martin dominating off the lined and putting what seemed to be an insurmountable 3.5 seconds on the rest of the field.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSFirst-time MotoGP winner Johann Zarco has admitted to doubting whether he had what it takes to win in the premier class in the lead-up to his maiden victory in a corking Australian Grand Prix.
French veteran Zarco snatched the lead from Pramac teammate Jorge Martin in a thrilling five-rider last-lap duel with eight corners remaining to take the chequered flag for the first time.
Zarco had been searching for his maiden victory for the better part of seven seasons in MotoGP, a prospect that would have seemed unthinkable when he debuted in the sport as a double Moto2 champion.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSFrancesco Bagnaia has twisted the knife into fumbling title challenger Jorge Martin with some veiled criticism after yet again stretching his points advantage thanks to his rival’s mistake.
Martin led all but the last eight corners of the Australian Grand Prix after gambling his pole position on a soft rear tyre. It gave him a massive 3.5-second lead in the middle of the race but pulled itself apart before the end of the afternoon, dropping him from first to fifth on the last lap.
Bagnaia had been mired in a battle for third for much of that time but stormed home thanks to his superior tyre strategy to finish second, adding nine points to his title lead.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTS