Four-time Bathurst 1000 winner Greg Murphy admits that he doubted whether he would be quick enough to tackle Mount Panorama in his comeback wildcard outing alongside Richie Stanaway.
Murphy was coaxed out of retirement for a one-off co-drive alongside compatriot Stanaway in an ambitious plan hatched by Boost Mobile founder Peter Adderton.
The story is recounted in the new documentary Wildcard: One Last Shot, now streaming on Kayo.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSThe lifeblood of motorsport is new winners, and the Supercars was certainly feeling revitalised on Sunday night in Adelaide.
Broc Feeney had mounted the top step of the podium for the first time in his senior career, putting a neat full stop on a rookie season that started with some considerable hype.
The 20-year-old put in a Sunday performance well judged beyond his years to record a gritty victory ahead of a sieging Chaz Mostert. The Queenslander had laid down a marker at the end of a solid rookie season. He’s ready to contend at the point end of the championship next year.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSGetting into the Supercars is only part of the challenge. Keeping yourself there is another story. Just ask Richie Stanaway.
There was a time when the Kiwi had the racing world at his feet.
He was a German Formel Masters and Formula 3 champion, a three-time GP3 race winner, a Monaco GP2 winner and a two-time WEC winner. Three times he finished in the top 10 in class at Le Mans. His sixth Supercars entry was a victory at the Sandown 500 with Cameron Waters, and they could’ve won Bathurst too were it not for a car problem.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSFrom the moment Daniel Ricciardo revealed that he intended to take a year off racing in 2023, his story has been dominated by one question: what are the odds that he gets back onto the grid in 2024?
Giving up a seat on the grid willingly is rare because of how difficult it is to return to the fast-moving driver market. It’s why reception to Ricciardo’s decision to take a break has been met with such lukewarm reviews among former drivers in particular — everyone wants to see him racing again, but the odds would appear to be stacked against his return.
But while Ricciardo’s aim is to return to Formula 1, he’s also made clear that it isn’t his priority, something he came to understand after being sacked by McLaren in August.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSDaniel Ricciardo says the prospect of being contracted to four different teams in six seasons was part of the reason he was turned off a possible Mercedes move for 2023.
Ricciardo confirmed last week that he will return to Red Bull Racing as a third driver next year, reuniting with the team for which he won seven of his eight victories.
He split with Milton Keynes at the end of 2018 for Renault, but in his second year with the French team he uprooted himself a second time to move to McLaren, where his career stalled off the back of two difficult seasons.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSSupercars and the Adelaide 500. The words just go together.
Now they’re united again after an almost three-year hiatus.
Those three years were a rollercoaster for the relationship. The race was the last to go ahead in 2020 before the outbreak of the pandemic, and at the end of the year its contract was ripped up by South Australia a season early.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSEsteban Ocon says he’s glad to see Fernando Alonso leave Alpine after having to bear more than his fair share of the load alongside the decorated Spaniard.
Alonso returned to Formula 1 after a two-year sabbatical as the French team’s star signing to replace Daniel Ricciardo. The two-time champion’s signature was considered a signal of intent that Alpine expected to maintain its forward momentum as it rebuilt itself into a race-winning force.
But hosting the notoriously prickly Spaniard hasn’t always made for smooth sailing at Enstone.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSDaniel Ricciardo’s two years at McLaren will go down as one modern Formula 1’s great anomalies.
Ricciardo arrived at the storied Woking team as one of the sport’s most highly rated competitors. His reputation as a formidable racer was established with some cracking victory drives for Red Bull Racing, and though his move to Renault had its critics, his 2020 season for the French team was arguably the best of his career.
Moving to grandee McLaren seemed like a dream match. The team expected to rejoin the frontrunners under the new regulations, and Ricciardo was the obvious candidate to spearhead the push.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSMattia Binotto has resigned as team principal of Ferrari effective at the end of the year.
Ferrari has begun its search to replace its outbound manager but says it doesn’t expect to confirm a new appointment until next year.
“With the regret that this entails, I have decided to conclude my collaboration with Ferrari,” Binotto said in a statement. “I am leaving a company that I love, which I have been part of for 28 years, with the serenity that comes from the conviction that I have made every effort to achieve the objectives set.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSMattia Binotto has resigned as team principal of Ferrari effective at the end of the year.
Ferrari has begun its search to replace its outbound manager but says it doesn’t expect to confirm a new appointment until next year.
“With the regret that this entails, I have decided to conclude my collaboration with Ferrari,” Binotto said in a statement. “I am leaving a company that I love, which I have been part of for 28 years, with the serenity that comes from the conviction that I have made every effort to achieve the objectives set.”
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSDaniel Ricciardo has hit back at critics of Oscar Piastri and Mark Webber, saying there is no bad blood between Australians in Formula 1 despite him losing his seat to his younger compatriot.
Piastri was announced as Ricciardo’s 2023 McLaren replacement after the British team sacked the eight-time race winner in the middle of the year.
It was later revealed that McLaren had signed a deal for the Aussie Formula 3 and Formula 2 champion in June, two months before it entered negotiations to end Ricciardo’s contract a year early.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSSome say that a famous name will get you far in Formula 1. Mick Schumacher might beg to differ.
Chewed up and spat out of Formula 1 after just two seasons and at just 23 years old, Mick may even have hoped that the Schumacher name might have been more influential in the longevity of his career.
Instead he faces an uncertain future — at least one year on the sidelines and unlikely odds of reappearing on the Formula 1 grid.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSThe 2022 Supercars season will wind down with a return to the Adelaide 500 this weekend, but with minds are already starting to turn to 2023.
The grid is almost complete, with 22 of 25 drivers locked it but no changes expected, with Brad Jones Racing holding all three uncontracted cars.
The new Gen3 cars have reached maturation, and customer teams will get their hands on the new Mustang and Camaro models for a shakedown in late January before some full test days in February.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSRicciardo’s return to Red Bull Racing has begged two key questions.
The first one is: will this get him back into a race seat?
The answer to that will depend on developments in the driver market next season and especially on how Sergio Perez fares alongside Max Verstappen in their third year as teammates, as considered here.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSAlpine boss Otmar Szafnauer says he’s happy that he lost the battle for Oscar Piastri’s contract because his team has ended up with a better driver line-up.
Alpine went through a public break-up with former protégé Piastri when the Australian revealed in the middle of the season that he would leave the French team’s junior program to join McLaren as a full-time driver in 2023.
Szafnauer had attempted to promote his then reserve driver into the seat vacated by Fernando Alonso only to find Piastri was committed elsewhere.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSDaniel Ricciardo hopes a return to Red Bull Racing as a third driver will prove he can still be one of Formula 1’s top performers after two years of disappointment.
Ricciardo signed up to the non-racing role with his former team this week, confirming he’ll spend at least one season on the sidelines after more than a decade in the sport.
Ricciardo had forged a reputation as an intimidating late braker during his Red Bull-backed career and as relentless midfield hustler while at Renault, but his stocks plummeted after his switch to McLaren in 2021.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSThe Chinese Grand Prix will be cancelled for a fourth consecutive year due to the pandemic, according to reports.
The BBC has reported that the Shanghai race, which has not taken place since the outbreak of the pandemic, will be called off owing to China’s zero-Covid policy in a decision yet to be announced.
Though sports groups are exempted from quarantine on arrival in the country in favour of a strict closed-bubble system, personnel would still be subject to mandatory isolation and quarantine for eight days if they were to test positive while in the country.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSDaniel Ricciardo is going home to Red Bull Racing.
Ricciardo’s return could barely even be called an open secret. Red Bull motorsport adviser Helmut Marko blabbed to German TV last weekend that the Australian would sign on as a third driver in 2023, and though team principal Christian Horner and Daniel himself denied the deal was done, both were forced to admit that they were very close to putting pen to paper.
This week the reunion was finally made official.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTS