The asphalt at the Losail International Circuit has been repaved for the first time since it opened in 2004 ahead of this year’s event. As a result of this and the desert setting, grip was at a premium on Friday morning for the first practice session, with lap times well over three seconds off the […]
The team fast-tracked some new components through the manufacturing process and will be running them in both Las Vegas and at the season finale in Abu Dhabi that follows. The items were not expected to improve the performance of the A523 in Las Vegas. The team struggled for pace in FP2, with Gasly 15th and […]
The only night practice of the Qatar weekend proved to be a tight affair, as Fernandez on his year-old Aprilia edged ahead of Gresini Ducati’s Fabio Di Giannantonio by 0.049 seconds after an hour of running. Maverick Vinales had been set to end second practice fastest of all with a new lap record, but the […]
F1’s much anticipated romp around the streets of Vegas hit an early roadblock when the cars of Carlos Sainz and Esteban Ocon dislodged water valve covers, which damaged both of their chassis beyond repair and led to FP1 being abandoned after eight minutes. After emergency fixes were applied to the 30 similar covers around the […]
MotoGP’s return to Qatar for 2023 has come later in the year than normal, after the event was shifted from its traditional season-opener slot due to major track works. As such, lap times at the end of a largely unrepresentative FP1 were some four seconds off the outright record of 1m52.772s set in 2021 by […]
Sainz’s car suffered severe damage after running over a water valve cover early in the opening session of practice. The team had to rebuild the car around the spare chassis, and also swap the power unit and gearbox. Unfortunately for the Spaniard, one of the damaged items was the energy store, and by taking a […]
The first F1 race weekend on the famous Strip has been blindsided after Esteban Ocon ran over a water valve cover, with his Alpine lifting it proud of the resurfaced asphalt. His Alpine sustained damage and a yellow flag was waved but Sainz still clattered over the loose cover. Ferrari has been forced to replace […]
F1’s much-hyped event in Las Vegas got off to a nightmare start on Thursday evening when the opening free practice session was abandoned early on as the result of a loose manhole cover. One of the loose drains on the main straight caused major damage to the cars of Carlos Sainz and Esteban Ocon when […]
If the groundbreaking, F1 promoted race around the Strip is earmarked as the series’ very own Superbowl, then it already served up a halftime show to match a day before on-track proceedings even start. F1 pulled out all the stops to produce a ceremony befitting its entertainment driven host city, featuring appearances by Kylie Minogue, […]
This weekend’s Qatar GP marks the penultimate round of the 2023 season, and offers Bagnaia his first opportunity to win a second MotoGP crown. After beating Pramac’s Jorge Martin to third in last week’s Malaysian GP, Bagnaia comes to the Losail circuit 14 points clear and can win the championship if he scores 23 points […]