Autosport 4/21/2022

It’s been a long wait for Ferrari Formula 1 fans – or, indeed, anyone wanting to see a team other than Mercedes and Red Bull win a world championship. But things have not looked this good for some time. Ferrari has ticked the box of building a quick, reliable car for the new ground-effects era, plus Charles Leclerc is clearly ready to battle Max Verstappen et al for the drivers’ crown. The big question now is whether can Ferrari keep up its performance and development rate in the face of what will almost certainly be a major assault from Red Bull, which has already proven it has a rapid machine in the RB18. Matt Kew hears from the key Ferrari players this week to explore how good a chance the 2022 season…

BTCC If everything goes to plan, at 1150 this Sunday at Donington Park, 29 hybrid-equipped NGTC cars will blast off at lights-out into a new era of the British Touring Car Championship. ‘Reliability’ is the key word among the leading contenders for 2022, and a glance at the Thruxton stats reveals that the usual contenders were racking up the mileage – a tribute to their teams’ preparation and implementation of the Cosworth-produced hybrid system, which was only delivered to the squads in March. The Motorbase Ford of Ollie Jackson chalked up 96 laps on the day, followed by Rory Butcher’s Speedworks Toyota (81) and, tied on 79, Sam Osborne (Motorbase Ford), Colin Turkington (West Surrey Racing BMW) and Adam Morgan (Ciceley BMW). “West Surrey is the only team I’d want to be…

FORMULA 1 The Haas Formula 1 team has rejected a claim from title sponsor Uralkali for a refund of £9.9million already paid to the squad and has demanded £6.6m compensation for ‘loss of profits’. Haas terminated its sponsorship deal with Uralkali in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, due to company director Dmitry Mazepin’s ties to Russian president Vladimir Putin, and ended its deal with Mazepin’s son Nikita to race for the team in 2022. Uralkali said it was considering legal action over the matter, and wrote to Haas to dispute the team’s rights to terminate the contract, as well as request a refund of €12m (£9.95m) that had been paid in advance. It has emerged that Haas has now formally responded to the Uralkali letter and wholly rejected the company’s claims. In…

FORMULA 1 The organisers of the Monaco Grand Prix say they have no concerns about the future of the race amid talks over a new contract beyond 2022. Questions have been raised about Monaco’s future amid the ongoing expansion of the F1 calendar to include more city events such as Miami and Las Vegas, particularly as the race has traditionally not paid a hosting fee. F1 CEO and president Stefano Domenicali recently warned that it was “not enough to have a pedigree anymore” for races to keep their place on the calendar, and that the arrival of new events would “force the organisers of traditional grands prix to raise their level of quality”. Monaco’s existing contract expires after the 2022 race, but Automobile Club de Monaco president Michel Boeri responded to concerns about…

FORMULA 1 Alpine is open to loaning Oscar Piastri to another Formula 1 team for the 2023 season, as long as a return is part of the deal. Reigning F2 champion Piastri is embarking on an intensive testing programme with Alpine this year as part of his reserve role with the team. He is completing all of the private test running and taking part in debriefs on race weekends, as well as making at least two FP1 appearances. It is all part of a push to prepare Piastri for a race seat in 2023, although there may not be a vacant drive at Alpine. Esteban Ocon is in year one of a three-season contract, while Fernando Alonso has indicated that he wishes to keep racing for another couple of years. If Alonso continues…

GT3 Ferrari’s new GT3 contender began testing on home ground at Fiorano last week, with Alessandro Pier Guidi and Andrea Bertolini putting the twin-turbo V6 machine through its paces over two days at the marque’s test track. The run last Tuesday and Wednesday followed a short installation roll-out at Paul Ricard’s mini-test track close to the headquarters of French motorsport organisation ORECA, which has won the tender to build the new Ferrari design. Ferrari GT boss Antonello Coletta described the first laps of the 296 racer, the replacement for the 488 dating back to 2016, as a “special moment”. “We chose to carry out the first tests in Fiorano because it’s our home and to allow the people who worked on the project to share a very special emotion,” he said. “We’ve already had…