Category Archives: Motor sport

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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Grenfell survivors outraged by Lewis Hamilton car sponsorship deal

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F1 champion will race carrying branding of company that made combustible boards used on tower

The seven-time Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton is facing protests from Grenfell survivors over a “truly shocking” sponsorship deal that will see his racing car emblazoned with the logo of a firm that made combustible insulation used on the tower.

Kingspan has been named as an official partner of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One team, for which Hamilton is the star driver, and its branding is set to feature on Hamilton’s car starting at this weekend’s Saudi Arabia Grand Prix.

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Lewis Hamilton praised after wearing rainbow helmet in Qatar GP practice

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  • Hamilton earns praise for LGBTQ+ ‘incredible act of allyship’
  • World champion has criticised Qatar’s human rights record

Lewis Hamilton has been praised for “an incredible act of allyship” after wearing a rainbow-coloured helmet in practice at the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix.

The seven-time Formula One world champion’s helmet bore the colours of the Progress Pride flag – a banner which includes the traditional rainbow design with additional colours that recognise the diversity of the LGBTQ+ community.

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Lewis Hamilton: ‘Everything I’d suppressed came up – I had to speak out’

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He’s the most successful driver Formula One has ever seen, and its only Black star. Now Lewis Hamilton has a new mission: to change the sport that made him.

As Lewis Hamilton rose through the ranks of competitive go-karting, his father, Anthony, told him: “Always do your talking on the track.” Lewis had a lot to talk about. Bullying and racial taunts were a consistent feature of his childhood in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, a new town 30 miles north of London; his dad taught him the best response was to excel at his sport.

The trouble was he didn’t have many people to talk to about what he was going through. Lewis is mixed-race, born to a white mother, Carmen Larbalestier, who raised him until he was 12, when he went to live with his Grenadian-British father, from whom she had separated. “My mum was wonderful,” he tells me. “She was so loving. But she didn’t fully understand the impact of the things I was experiencing at school. The bullying and being picked on. And my dad was quite tough, so I didn’t tell him too much about those experiences. As a kid I remember just staying quiet about it because I didn’t feel anyone really understood. I just kept it to myself.” Sport offered him an outlet. “I did boxing because I needed to channel the pain,” he says. “I did karate because I was being beaten up and I wanted to be able to defend myself.”

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Murray Walker, the voice of Formula One, dies aged 97

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  • Tributes paid after broadcaster’s death announced
  • Walker first commentated on F1 in 1978 for the BBC

For generations of British fans, Murray Walker, who died on Saturday at the age of 97, was, quite simply, the voice of Formula One.

The affection with which he was held by the paddock and across the sport rose from an enthusiasm and often overlooked a dedication to his craft that has rarely been matched in any discipline. Few commentators come to truly epitomise their subject, but over Walker’s 23 years of bringing F1 to the nation he was acknowledged as a true great, and a unique talent.

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Lewis Hamilton tests positive for Covid-19 and will miss F1 Sakhir GP

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  • World champion had ‘mild symptoms’ after Bahrain win
  • Hamilton tested positive before second race at venue

Lewis Hamilton will miss this weekend’s Sakhir Grand Prix in Bahrain after testing positive for coronavirus.

The seven-time Formula One world champion is in isolation after his positive result was announced on Tuesday morning.

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Lewis Hamilton’s win at Bahrain GP overshadowed by Grosjean’s huge crash

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  • Romain Grosjean walks away from flaming wreck of car
  • Hamilton wins race after long-delayed restart

Climbing from a raging fireball and the twisted wreckage of his car, Romain Grosjean, and indeed Formula One, enjoyed what might be considered a miraculous escape at the Bahrain Grand Prix. The entire paddock and viewers around the world held their breath when the French driver smashed into trackside barriers, his car splitting in two and being engulfed in flames. The visceral, violent and horrifying scale of the accident was sickening and yet Grosjean emerged relatively unscathed, a remarkable testament to the drive for safety the sport has relentlessly pursued.

Such is F1’s recent safety record the perception of motorsport’s extraordinary danger has perhaps been diminished. With Grosjean hurtling through the brutal moments of distorting metal and fiery heat, the notion was dispelled completely.

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F1 has ‘massive’ problem to address over human rights, says Lewis Hamilton

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  • Bahrain’ regime has been accused of sportswashing
  • ‘As a sport we need to do more,’ says world champion

Lewis Hamilton has insisted that Formula One has a “consistent and massive” problem it must address with human rights abuses in countries it visits. The world champion was speaking in Bahrain which has been accused of sportswashing, torture and oppression this week and is to host the first of two consecutive races this weekend.

This week Hamilton was asked to address the issue in letters sent to him by three Bahraini citizens alleging they had been victims of oppression and torture by the Bahraini authorities. He said he would be considering their content in detail in the forthcoming days but was unequivocal that F1 had to make steps to address human rights abuses in the countries it visits.

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Lewis Hamilton: ‘Watching George Floyd brought up so much suppressed emotion’

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Hamilton has just equalled the record of seven F1 world championships – many believe he is the greatest driver of all time. And this year, more than ever, he has been leading the fight against racism

At the end of 2019, Lewis Hamilton had a realisation about Formula One. “I was looking at pictures of all the teams – they do these team photos in front of the garage or on the track – and they’ve posted all these pictures and I’m like, there are no people of colour in any of these teams.”

Hamilton says he had always thought that his presence and his incredible success would “spark change”. Somewhat naively, he now acknowledges he thought his career as the world’s most successful racing driver – along with the presence of his dad, Anthony, and his racing driver brother, Nicolas – would be enough to “open up doorways” for others. The realisation that after all these years it wasn’t happening led him to rethink.

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Lewis Hamilton wins Turkish GP to clinch record-equalling seventh F1 title

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  • Briton now level with Michael Schumacher on championships
  • Mercedes star comes through rain after starting sixth on grid

Lewis Hamilton delivered high drama and high emotion for the spectacle of a coronation worthy of one of the greatest champions Formula One has produced. His victory at the Turkish Grand Prix sealed the championship and his seventh title. With it Hamilton has achieved what was once thought impossible, matching Michael Schumacher’s record tally and in doing so becoming the most successful F1 driver of all time.

He could not have achieved it in greater style than with the panache and mastery he produced at Istanbul Park in what can rightly be described as a champion’s drive.

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Bernie Ecclestone says black people are often ‘more racist’ than white people

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  • Former F1 chief says the sport is ‘too busy’ to deal with racism
  • Ecclestone also questions Lewis Hamilton’s experiences

Bernie Ecclestone has claimed black people are “more racist” than white people and said Formula One has been “too busy” to deal with racism in an astonishing television interview.

The former chief executive of Formula One and a name synonymous with the sport said in an exchange with CNN that racism “makes me so upset”. He also said he did not think Lewis Hamilton’s experiences of racism had affected the driver. Hamilton, the six-times world champion, recently said he had felt the “stigma of racism” throughout his F1 career.

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FBI investigates after noose found in garage of Bubba Wallace, Nascar’s only black driver

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The FBI has launched an investigation after a noose was found in the team garage of Bubba Wallace, Nascar’s only black full-time driver. The noose was discovered at Alabama’s Talladega Superspeedway as Nascar prepared for a race, which was subsequently delayed by bad weather, on Sunday.

“Regardless of whether federal charges can be brought, this type of action has no place in our society,” Jay Town, the US attorney for Alabama’s southern district, said on Monday. He added that his office, along with the FBI and the justice department’s civil rights division, were involved in the investigation.

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