Category Archives: Motor sport

Monaco Grand Prix’s long-term future resolved with F1 extension until 2031

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  • Race remains on F1 calendar after six-year deal agreed
  • Contest has been part of motor sport scene since 1950

Formula One’s iconic Monaco Grand Prix will remain on the calendar until at least 2031 after a six-year extension was announced on Thursday, with a date change to June that also avoids future clashes with the Indianapolis 500.

The race around the streets of Monte Carlo was part of the first world championship season in 1950 and has been present since, with the exception of 2020 during the global pandemic.

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Three men charged in Germany over Michael Schumacher blackmail plot

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Chief suspect threatened to release private photos and demanded €15m from F1 star’s family, prosecutors say

German prosecutors are bringing charges against three men arrested this year over an alleged blackmail plot targeting the family of Formula One legend Michael Schumacher.

They said the chief suspect, a 53-year-old man from the western city of Wuppertal, had threatened to release private photos and videos and demanded €15m (£12.5m) from Schumacher’s family.

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‘Really heavy to see’: Lewis Hamilton speaks up on plight of refugees in Africa

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  • Hamilton reiterates that F1 must stage a race in Africa
  • Verstappen unsure on future after current deal expires

Lewis Hamilton has spoken out over the plight of refugees and displaced people in Africa, ­decrying the lack of empathy toward them in the UK. He pledged to consider what he could do to support them after an emotional visit to the continent ­during the Formula One summer break.

Hamilton was speaking before this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix, the first since the sport shut down for the summer, during which period the British driver travelled in Africa, ­visiting Senegal and Morocco and then the Maratane refugee settlement in the north of Mozambique, where he saw the work of the UN refugee agency, the UNHCR.

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Labour promises new police powers to curb noisy off-road bikes

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Party would boost powers to remove dirt and quad bikes from streets in crackdown on antisocial behaviour

Labour is promising new powers for police to quickly scrap noisy dirt and quad bikes causing havoc in neighbourhoods as part of a crackdown on antisocial behaviour.

Keir Starmer’s party also wants to raise on-the-spot fines for using off-road bikes or ignoring officers’ instructions to stop, which are as low as £100.

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Four killed at Hungarian rally after race car crashes into spectators

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  • Car appeared to lose traction before sliding off road
  • Two people, including a child, sustain serious injuries

A rally car veered off the road and crashed into a group of spectators in Hungary on Sunday, killing four and injuring several others, police said.

The accident occurred during a race between the towns of Labatlan and Bajot near the Danube River in northwest Hungary, the Komárom-Esztergom County police said in a statement.

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Alicia Keys criticised for Women’s Day event in ‘misogynist’ Saudi Arabia

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The US singer has been called out by human rights activists for hosting a summit and performing on stage in the repressive state

Performer Alicia Keys projects a powerful position on women’s rights, hosting a regular Women to Women summit and posting inspirationally on Instagram on Friday for International Women’s Day. But the singer-songwriter’s message is undermined for some by the revelation that she is hosting the third edition of her summit this weekend in Saudi Arabia.

The American performer and her guests, including Pharrell Williams, best known for his worldwide hit Happy, are to discuss “how women are pushing the culture forward in Saudi Arabia and around the world”, she has announced, before the get-together in the coastal city of Jeddah.

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ACT police take aim at ‘moron tourism’ for bad behaviour at Summernats

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Senior officer says ‘pest’ drivers and not ‘real’ car enthusiasts were causing problems during festival in Canberra

A group of “morons” who would fail to enter the ACT if there were IQ requirements at the border are to blame for bad behaviour at one of Australia’s premier car festivals, a senior police officer has said.

ACT Policing seized 13 cars, including a Holden Commodore for doing a burnout metres from pedestrians, during this year’s Summernats festival in Canberra.

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Revealed: Saudi Arabia’s $6bn spend on ‘sportswashing’

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Exclusive: Billions deployed since early 2021 in a move critics say is an attempt to distract from human rights record

Saudi Arabia has spent at least $6.3bn (£4.9bn) in sports deals since early 2021, more than quadruple the previous amount spent over a six-year period, in what critics have labelled an effort to distract from its human rights record.

Saudi Arabia has deployed billions from its Public Investment Fund over the last two-and-a-half years according to analysis by the Guardian, spending on sports at a scale that has completely changed professional golf and transformed the international transfer market for football.

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Police using live facial recognition at British Grand Prix

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Northamptonshire force says technology adds ‘extra layer of security’ at Silverstone for F1 race

Police are using live facial recognition (LFR) to scan the faces of people attending the British Grand Prix at Silverstone this weekend.

Northamptonshire police were deploying the technology on Saturday and Sunday to provide “an extra layer of security” at the Formula One race, which 450,000 people were expected to attend, the force said.

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Brother of man executed by Saudi Arabia says F1 legitimises ‘heinous crimes’

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  • Yasser al-Khayyat’s brother one of 81 men executed on single day
  • ‘If you truly want to be an agent for change, end F1’s silence’

The brother of a man executed by the Saudi Arabian authorities last year has accused Formula One of being complicit in “heinous crimes” perpetrated by the state, which he insists is using F1 to sportswash an increasingly oppressive crackdown on dissent.

When F1 returns to the Jeddah circuit this weekend it will be just over a year since the Saudi state executed 81 men in one day, shortly before last year’s grand prix. Afterwards the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Michelle Bachelet, reported the UN believed that, of the 81 convicted of “terror offences”, 41 were from the Shia minority who had taken part in anti-government protests, calling for greater political participation.

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F1 seeks distance from Ecclestone after his claim he would ‘take bullet’ for Putin

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Former F1 chief calls Russian president ‘first-class person’ in GMB interview and blames war on Zelenskiy

Formula One has sought to distance itself from remarks made by its former chief executive Bernie Ecclestone, who said he would “take a bullet” for the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and described him as “a first-class person”.

Ecclestone, who reportedly has been friends with Putin since the introduction of the Russian Grand Prix in 2014, said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could have been avoided if the latter’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, had done more.

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Saudi Arabian Grand Prix to go ahead as planned despite Houthi missile attack

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  • Oil facility 10 miles from track set ablaze on Friday afternoon
  • Qualifying and main race to go ahead despite driver concerns

F1 has confirmed the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix will go ahead as planned after Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for a missile attack on an oil facility less than 10 miles from the circuit. But in a four-hour meeting with drivers that lasted until well past midnight local time on Saturday, several are believed to have voiced their concerns to F1’s chief executive, Stefano Domenicali, with some lingering doubts over whether the race will still take place.

Discussions continued until 2.30am local time, over four hours after Domenicali had made assurances that all was well. Organisers the Saudi Motorsport Company had earlier confirmed that it would go ahead after all 10 team principals agreed to race. “We are aware of the attack on the Aramco distribution station in Jeddah earlier this afternoon and remain in contact with the Saudi security authorities, as well as F1 and the FIA, to ensure all necessary security and safety measures continue to be implemented, to guarantee the safety of all visitors to the Formula One Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as well as the drivers, teams and stakeholders,” read a statement.

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F1 faces calls to quit Saudi Arabia while prisoner’s family asks Hamilton to help

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  • Abdullah al-Howaiti arrested aged 14, sentenced to death at 17
  • Human rights group Reprieve highlights protesters’ executions

The human rights group Reprieve has demanded Formula One ends its association with Saudi Arabian sportswashing after the family of a teenager sentenced to death wrote to Lewis Hamilton pleading with him to speak out on their son’s behalf before this weekend’s race.

In documents sent from Abdullah al-Howaiti’s prison cell and seen by the Guardian, he cites the torture and abuse he says he has suffered at the hands of the Saudi authorities as F1 once more prepares to race in the country that recently carried out 81 executions in a single day. In a report issued in January, a group of UN experts classified some of Saudi Arabia’s violations of international law as potentially “crimes against humanity” as the state continues to execute minors.

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Russian F1 GP cancelled and may switch to Turkey after Ukraine invasion

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  • F1 cites ‘impossibility’ of holding race under circumstances
  • Haas team remove Russian flag-based livery of title sponsor

Formula One has cancelled the Russian Grand Prix after the state’s invasion of Ukraine. The sport did not issue any condemnation of Russia but cited the “impossibility” of holding the race under the current circumstances.

The meeting was set to take place on 25 September and as things stand F1 has made no suggestion of which country might replace the meeting. Turkey has been mooted as a potential replacement having been used twice in the last two years, stepping in for races cancelled due to the Covid pandemic but F1 is understood to not be considering the Istanbul Park Circuit as an option this time.

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Dakar Rally 2022: veterans, debuts and biofuels – a photo essay

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This year’s rally once again returned to Saudi Arabia where 750 competitors in 430 vehicles traversed more than 8,000km over 12 stages. The rally started and ended in Jeddah, going through canyons and cliffs in the Neom region, passing by the Red Sea coastline, into stretches of dunes surrounding the capital Riyadh.

Click here to check out images of the rally from yesteryear

From Jeddah to Riyadh and everywhere in between, this has been a visually spectacular year at the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia. Fourteen days of dunes, fast straight tracks, rocky sections, and cliff backdrops. Titles have been contested and first-time entrants have been broken in. All of the contestants were hoping for glory in the vast desert landscape where mistakes are rarely forgiven, but few claimed it.

The dust settles on the world’s toughest rallying event and a variety of stories emerge from the Saudi desert. Nani Roma, the seasoned veteran who has won the Dakar on both a motorbike and in a car, showed us how far biofuels have come in recent years.

Bahrain Raid Extreme driver Nani Roma and co-driver Alex Haro Bravo drive their Prodrive Hunter T1 on Stage 7 from Riyadh to Al Dawadimi. Photograph: Marian Chytka

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France opens terror investigation after Dakar rally explosion

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French racing driver Philippe Boutron was seriously injured in blast in Saudi city of Jeddah

French prosecutors have opened a terrorism investigation after a car participating in the Dakar rally was hit by an explosion in Saudi Arabia last week that badly wounded its driver.

After the 30 December attack in the city of Jeddah, the driver, Philippe Boutron, underwent surgery in Saudi Arabia for serious leg injuries before returning to France.

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Verstappen crowned world champion but Mercedes to appeal against result

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  • Mercedes could take case to court of arbitration for sport
  • Hamilton skips post-race press conference after heartbreak

Max Verstappen celebrated winning his first Formula One world championship with victory at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, but only after huge controversy, that still leaves his title in some doubt.

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes are angry at a win they felt had been unfairly snatched away and which remains under debate with Mercedes intending to appeal against the stewards’ decision and the option of taking their case to the court of arbitration for sport. The Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner, has made clear his intention to oppose any attempt to strip his driver of the title.

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Abu Dhabi GP: Lewis Hamilton leads Max Verstappen in F1 title fight – live!

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“Here we are then,” tweets Guy Hornsby, “finally a season for the ages after so many dominant Merc years. I love Lewis, but even he’d have wanted more of a challenge. I really hope we don’t get a clip, puncture, limp to the pits and all over. Head says Max, heart says Lewis. Yikes.”

It’s a funny thing about sport that some of the best ever are best remembered for the ones they lost – Muhammad Ali 1971, Australia 2005, Roger Federer 2008. But otherwise, it’s tricky – you’d probably prefer to be Verstappen, given he’s in pole, but Hamilton’s car is quicker. And, of course, the big unknown is whether the changes to the circuit will make overtaking easier.

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Lewis Hamilton distances himself from F1 team Kingspan deal

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British driver says he had ‘nothing’ to do with sponsorship deal with company linked to Grenfell fire

Lewis Hamilton has distanced himself from his Formula One team’s partnership deal with Kingspan, an insulation company linked to the Grenfell Tower fire, saying he had nothing to do with the decision.

He also cast doubt on Kingspan branding remaining on his Mercedes car.

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Lewis Hamilton’s F1 team under pressure to scrap Grenfell cladding firm deal

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Sponsorship deal with Kingspan sparked furious backlash from the Grenfell community

Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes Formula One team is facing growing pressure to scrap a sponsorship deal with a firm that made combustible insulation on Grenfell Tower, after the government threatened to change advertising rules.

The racing team’s deal with Kingspan will mean the logo of the firm that made some of the foam boards used on the tower will be emblazoned on the nose cone of cars driven by Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas starting at this weekend’s Saudi Arabia Grand Prix.

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