Autosport 5/26/2022

Unreliability has already cost Max Verstappen a lot of points in 2022, and it was perhaps inevitable that Charles Leclerc would suffer his own bad luck at some stage during the championship fight. What’s unfortunate for Leclerc is that his Spanish Grand Prix retirement came when he was dominating a race in which Verstappen had made his first serious mistake of the year and was being hampered by another gremlin. Carlos Sainz’s continuing struggles must also be a concern for Ferrari. With Leclerc out and Verstappen compromised, it should have been a fine opportunity for the Spaniard to break his duck on home soil, but he never looked anywhere near. Sergio Perez, on the other hand, did what Red Bull needed him to do, though it’s fair to say that the…

INDIANAPOLIS 500 Scott Dixon may regard his fifth Indy 500 pole as merely “step one” in his quest for a second win in the race this weekend, but the 41-year-old legend gave it his all to achieve it. Dixon’s four-lap average around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was 234.046mph, making it the fastest pole run in Indy history, and the second quickest of all time (Arie Luyendyk’s famous 236mph run in 1996 was not set on Pole Day). Tellingly, it was a full 0.5mph faster than that of his reigning IndyCar champion team-mate, Alex Palou. The fact that it came after a very sketchy run in the new Top 12 session speaks highly of his bravery. This year’s qualifying format was different from ever before, injecting some extra excitement in a year when…

FORMULA 1 The FIA has ruled that Aston Martin’s updated Formula 1 car was designed legally after an investigation into its similarities to Red Bull’s RB18. Aston Martin debuted a raft of updates at last weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix in a bid to turn its season around, and the likeness to the Red Bull, particularly around the sidepods, was quickly noted. It led to the AMR22 being dubbed the ‘green Red Bull’, continuing the theme of the ‘pink Mercedes’ fielded in 2020 by the team, then known as Racing Point, in a bid to try to reverse-engineer the 2019 title winner. Reverse-engineering is now banned in F1, and the FIA confirmed that, after investigating the design process, it was satisfied that Aston Martin had fully complied with the regulations. Red Bull fired back by…

FORMULA 1 FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem has insisted that a recent move that held up plans for extra Formula 1 sprint races in 2023 was not about money. F1’s push to expand from three to six sprint races next year was blocked by the FIA at the last F1 Commission meeting because Ben Sulayem wanted time to consider the impact it would have on his staff. His stance, amid suggestions that the FIA faced increased costs because of the changes, prompted insiders at the meeting to suggest that the issue was simply about “greed”. It comes at a time when the new president is trying to better balance the books at the FIA as he aims to address huge losses at the governing body. Ben Sulayem has denied that he was holding…

Two-time world rally champion Walter Rohrl rolled back the years when he was reunited with the era-defining Audi Quattro at the World Rally Championship’s celebration of its 50th season on Rally Portugal last weekend. Rohrl, champion in 1980 and 1982, headed a field of historic cars to tackle Portugal’s famous Fafe stage, including the picture postcard jump where thousands of fans congregated. “It was fantastic even though the road was very rough,” said the 75-year-old German superstar. “I had to take care of my tyres, but it was a lot of fun.” → P13 OPINION…

FORMULA 1 Formula 1 will stick to its current 22-race calendar this season after plans to replace the Russian Grand Prix on 25 September were scrapped. Russia’s F1 contract was cancelled following its invasion of Ukraine back in February, leaving a gap on the schedule before the Singapore GP. F1 was pushing to replace the Sochi round with either Qatar or a second race in Singapore, and had interest from a number of other potential events. Qatar was F1’s first choice, but the promoters at the Losail track were uneasy about hosting a race in September due to the heat, and felt it was too close to the football World Cup, which the country will host in November. Singapore (right) was open to the idea of a double-header, staging the first race as…