All the latest news from the racing world!
F1
Raikkonen will return for the Russian Grand Prix, after testing negative for Covid. He had gone home to Switzerland, to continue his quarantine with his family. With Giovinazzi’s recent upturn in form, I wonder how the Finn will stack up against him, as he nears retirement.
Aston Martin have stated they hope to retain Vettel for 2022, who has an option in his contract to stay with the team, which will need to be done in the next few weeks. His first year with the team may not have gone as well as he hoped, despite a few podiums, as the car is lacking pace compared to last year!
F1 has confirmed that it plans to make teams run young drivers for a certain amount of Friday practice sessions next year, in an effort to give them a chance to enter the sport in the future. I think this may be a complicated matter, and one that some teams will object to, specifically those in the title fight.
IndyCar
Many teams and drivers have called out IndyCar’s method of reordering the pack, which saw many leaders sent to the back, despite doing nothing wrong! I agree with them, as if someone else forces you to take to the escape road, you shouldn’t be further penalised for something out of your control! I think that just letting the natural order be is best, and then penalise those who caused the problems! Another reason for this is that it takes ages for them to get everyone where they should be, which ruins the show a bit!
Rossi thinks that the summer break allowed them to improve and turn around their season, as he looks to end out the season with a win! Harvey meanwhile says these are the results that the team has deserved all year, where mechanical issues or bad luck has cost them. Finally, Newgarden still believes he is fully in the fight for the title, going to the last 2 rounds of the season!
Andretti have finally confirmed that Hunter-Reay will be leaving the team, after more than a decade with them. During his time with the team, mainly sponsored by DHL, he scored 14 wins, an IndyCar title, and an Indy 500 win.
MotoGP
Marquez has admitted that when he tries to ride the Honda like he wants to, he crashes. This is possibly as a result of his shoulder still being weak after the various incidents, he endured last year. This means that if he is able to eventually return to his normal riding style, it could be very worrying for his opposition!
There was apparently a fault with Quartararo’s tyre in the race, which caused him to drop back. This has been a common occurrence this year it seems, which is worrying for Michelin as the tyre supplier. If they are not careful, they could have teams and the series on their back.
Vinales is out of his comfort zone on the Aprilia apparently, presumably as he has to ride it very differently to the Yamaha. Will he be able to adapt to it? You would expect he can, but I am sure it is worrying times for him, in case he has made the wrong decision!
Other News
It has been announced by Supercars, that the Bathurst 1000 will be run on the 5th of December, at the end of a 6 day, ‘Super Bathurst’. With the Gold Coast 500 cancelled, this will act as the season finale for the Australian Supercars series. Fans are expected to return to the infamous course, although only from the state of New South Wales.
NASCAR will start its 2022 season with the usual Clash exhibition race, however instead of it being at Daytona, it will be held at the LA Coliseum. A temporary track will be laid on the pitch, which will be the first run in anger of the next gen car.
-M
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