Motorsport News 09/12/21

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen will go toe-to-toe for the 2022 Formula 1 title in Abu Dhabi this weekend as they enter the event dead level on points. Hamilton won a controversial Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Sunday where the pair made contact as a penalised Verstappen was forced to cede first place following an off-track overtake on his title rival. The Red Bull man backed off on a straight which meant Hamilton could not avoid contact with his adversary. Hamilton said it was only a cool head which helped him to a third straight F1 win to turn up the points pressure. Seven-time World champion Hamilton said: “I really had to try and just keep my cool out there, which was really difficult to do. “I’ve raced a lot of drivers in my…

Have you caught your breath yet? The first Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was a whirlwind from start to finish and has set up one of the most dramatic title showdowns for more than a decade. Max Verstappen’s ham-fisted attempts to keep Lewis Hamilton behind him in the Middle East rightly earned him a slap on the wrists after the flag had fallen. His Mercedes rival, by contrast, kept his head and managed to claw himself level with the Red Bull driver on points with just one race remaining. Three wins on the trot have enabled Hamilton to match his rival, and it is hard not to think that the British racer, who is on the cusp of creating history with an eighth crown, is driving at a level he never has before.…

An absolutely wild first-ever grand prix in Saudi Arabia has set up a winner-takes-all championship decider in Abu Dhabi this coming weekend. In an epic season of flashpoints between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, last Sunday’s 50-lap race around the floodlit Jeddah Corniche Circuit produced a handful more – including a dramatic moment when Hamilton ran into the back of Verstappen. The British driver just managed to steer clear of the mayhem to take his 103rd win, plus with the bonus point for fastest lap. He now heads toAbu Dhabi tied on 369.5 points with his arch-rival. The close proximity of the concrete barriers on F1’s newest venue – the longest and fastest street circuit in the sport – was expected to produce drama.And it certainly delivered. The action began in qualifying when Verstappen…

Team boss Christian Horner has said Red Bull will do “everything we can” to give Max Verstappen a shot at winning his first Formula 1 World title in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. After Verstappen finished second to Hamilton in Saudi Arabia, he said he was “frustrated and annoyed” with the result. Long after the chequered flag had flown, the stewards gave Verstappen a 10-second penalty and two licence points for his “erratic” braking on lap 37 of the Saudi race, when he was instructed to hand Hamilton the lead. Verstappen kept his second place but refused to celebrate on the podium. When voted the driver of the day, Max said in reply: “What happened today is unbelievable. This sport is more about penalties than racing.” Horner added: “We felt hard done by…

Mercedes has virtually sealed this year’s constructors’ championship after Valtteri Bottas stole third place with a photo finish dash to the finish line. Bottas pipped the Alpine of Esteban Ocon by just 0.102 seconds with a mighty run out of the final corner in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Mercedes now lead Red Bull in the teams’ standings by 28 points with just one race remaining. Ocon was cruelly denied a podium finish after a strong race for the Alpine driver. He had benefited from the first corner skirmish between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen to line up in the second restart from pole position. “We gave it everything we could,” said the Frenchman. “The car was spot on and mega to drive. We held third place for a very long time and…

Bosses of the British Touring Car Championship have released three extra licences to compete in the series in 2022 after requests from teams. The grid ran with 29 machines in 2021 but series chief executive Alan Gow had three of the permits to compete, the TOCA BTCC Licences (TBLs), held back in reserve as he aimed to limit entry numbers. However, after talks, he has issued an extra TBL to Honda squads Team Dynamics and BTC Racing, plus there is one additional entry for Toyota team Speedworks Motorsport. Gow explained: “At our annual teams meeting last month the majority of team owners voted for TOCA to provide the loan of our spare TBLs, to help satisfy requirements [for demand]. “Therefore, I’ve released our three TBLs on a single-season-only loan basis. This means the grid…