Motorsport News 20/05/21

For too long, the gates of race tracks have been locked up. But, as the wider world begins to wake up from lockdown three (one of the worst sequels we’ve ever seen), there is a cause for optimism. While circuits will have to wait just a little longer to welcome as many fans as they want through the turnstiles, fans can now start to plan ahead with some certainty for the first time in a long time. Central to motorsport in this country is, of course, the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. The fans play a huge part in the Big Race, as the photograph above shows. There will be a new look to the timetable of this year’s race with the new Sprint qualifying (we aren’t allowed to call it a…

Qualifying for the new F1 sprint event, which will be run for the first time at Silverstone this season, will take place on Friday night. In a break from tradition amid the tweaks to the timetable, bosses of the track are hoping for a fan influx as the timed session to set the grid for Saturday’s first-ever 100km beginning at 1800hrs on Friday, July 16. Practice sessions ahead of the timed shootout have also been altered as there is greater flexibility in the timetable. There will still be a second free practice on Saturday morning, which will be run between 1200hrs and 1300hrs, with the Sprint qualifying event kicking off at 1630hrs. The main event on Sunday will start at 1500hrs. The Sprint qualifying format will be used at two further grands prix…

Formula 1’s mooted return to Turkey this season has been quashed and there will instead be a second grand prix in Austria. F1’s bosses are grappling with changes being made on health advice across the globe. The Canadian Grand Prix has already been axed and a race in Istanbul had been lined up to take its place on June 13. However, that has now fallen and there will be a second Austrian Grand Prix later in June. It means the teams will now face a triple-header over the latter stages of June. The French Grand Prix, which has moved a week forwards, will take place on June 20, the Styrian Grand Prix will happen at the Red Bull Ring on June 27 and theAustrian Grand Prix remains in its original date of…

Grosjean’s outing Despite the date change for the French Grand Prix, which has been brought forward one week to June 20, former Haas F1 driver Romain Grosjean will still get the chance to sample Lewis Hamilton’s 2019 title-winning Mercedes machine. He has been offered the drive by the team as a reflection of the fact he survived a huge crash in last year’s Bahrain Grand Prix, his final appearance in Formula 1. Heavy going in F1 The FIA has decided that the radical rules overhaul in 2022 for Formula 1 will include heavier cars than are run currently. The minimum weight will be pushed up to 790kgs, which is 15kg more than had been expected. The cars will need to weigh 790kg without fuel, with 110kg of fuel allowed for the races. Toronto out The…

Bosses of grand prix racing are set to introduce a new test to check the rigidity of the rear wings of Formula 1 machines after it emerged that scrutiny of aerodynamics has prompted the move. Concerns were raised by World champion Lewis Hamilton, who said the Red Bull of Max Verstappen appeared to have a “bendy” rear wing when he was following it on track. Red Bull head Christian Horner said that the car was fully legal: “Of course the cars are scrutineered thoroughly and there’s pullback tests, and there’s all kinds of different tests it has to pass. The FIAare completely happy with the car, that it has passed all of those tests that are pretty stringent.” Despite that, the FIA will institute checks on each team’s machine, and they will come…

Ex-Formula 1 driver Romain Grosjean missed out on his maiden IndyCar win by less than five seconds when he was passed in the latter stages of the race on the Indianapolis road course last weekend. Grosjean, who switched to the American discipline at the start of this season to tackle the road course events, had a tough time in the opening two rounds he contested. However, he lined up on pole at Indy and only lost out to first-time winner Rinus Van Kalmthout late on in the event as his rival was on fresher tyres and the former Haas F1 man was on the harder compound of rubber. Grosjean also felt traffic had hampered his run. He said: “In F1, I was shown the blue flags quite a bit over the last…