Formula One takeover Q&A

Liberty Media is set to usher in a new era for Formula One after the American company completed its A 6.4billion purchase of the sport on Monday night. Yes. After 40 years of rule, Ecclestone has been moved aside as Formula One’s top dog.

Lady Antebellum to perform pre-race concert at Daytona 500

The trio of Charles Kelley, Hillary Scott and Dave Haywood will take the stage at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 26, entertaining thousands on hand for “The Great American Race.” Lady Antebellum has played Daytona before, first prior to the Coke Zero 400 in 2008 and most recently at last year’s inaugural Country 500 music festival.

Pirelli fear processional racing in 2017

How are Pirelli’s amazing powers of prediction? Judging by last year’s predictions during the season of how the tires would be used and the fastest strategy around each track, I would say they are there or thereabouts if I’m honest. They do a really good job of predicting how their tires will perform and what teams will do with that performance.

Will Ferrari lose its $100m F1 bonus?

With the questions lingering on what changes Liberty Media will make to Formula 1 once it’s controlling interest has been officially acquired later this month, perhaps two lingering big rocks are the hottest topics for the Colorado company-Bernie Ecclestone and Ferrari. Reports suggest that long-time F1 boss Ecclestone could be show the door as early as late January and with that decision comes serious organizational changes-namely, who’s running things and how challenging will it be to dislodge the venerable ring leader of F1 who still owns significant shares in the business? The other rock is the question of Ferrari who have enjoyed a $100 million off-the-top payment as the longest-running team in F1.

In-form Vaughan strikes again at the double to earn point

JAMES Vaughan continued his rich vein of goalscoring form by bagging a brace to twice drag Bury from behind and earn a hard-fought point against Port Vale. Tyler Walker and Ryan Taylor had twice put Vale ahead but Vaughan hit back either side of half time with his 15th and 16th goals of the season to level.

10News celebrates duPont-Columbia Awards

Columbia University is celebrating 75 years of honoring journalists with the Alfred I. duPont Award, with winners spanning from Edward R. Murrow to Mike Wallace to WTSP’s own investigative team. 10Investigates won the honor in 2015 for Noah Pransky’s expos into red light camera abuses , which cost Florida drivers millions of dollars through unfair ticketing.

Owen Wilson Named Grand Marshal For 59th Annual DAYTONA 500

Donate Now! Help PaddockTalk.com go ad-free in 2017! Actor Owen Wilson, the voice of the animated character Lightning McQueen in Disney*Pixar’s upcoming movie ‘Cars 3,’ will serve as Grand Marshal for the 59th annual DAYTONA 500 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race on Feb. 26 at Daytona International Speedway. The DAYTONA 500, the season-opening race for the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, will begin at 2 p.m. following Wilson delivering the famous ‘Drivers, start your engines’ command to the 40-car field.

Richard Childress Racing Debuts Retrospective Video Series In Advance …

Donate Now! Help PaddockTalk.com go ad-free in 2017! In honor of Richard Childress’ upcoming induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Richard Childress Racing has rolled out a digital video series highlighting milestones throughout his illustrious career. Entitled ‘Richard Childress: A Career of Firsts,’ the series features Richard Childress himself recounting significant ‘firsts’ from his long career in motorsports, from the first race car he purchased to the first time he took grandsons Austin and Ty Dillon to drive at a racetrack.

2017 F1: Mercedes seat may have ‘destroyed’ Wehrlein

The world champion team has signed up long-time Williams driver Valtteri Bottas to replace Rosberg, with boss Wolff insisting he was never downbeat throughout the process. “Obviously it was a shock,” he told the French daily L’Equipe when asked about Rosberg’s eleventh hour retirement plans.

2017 F1: Mercedes seat may have ‘destroyed’ Wehrlein

The world champion team has signed up long-time Williams driver Valtteri Bottas to replace Rosberg, with boss Wolff insisting he was never downbeat throughout the process. “Obviously it was a shock,” he told the French daily L’Equipe when asked about Rosberg’s eleventh hour retirement plans.

2017 F1: Wolff unsure Bottas can beat Hamilton

Toto Wolff has admitted it is possible Valtteri Bottas could be replaced at Mercedes by a bigger name for 2018. Some expressed surprise when it emerged that, despite being prised out of his Williams contract, Finn Bottas has signed only a one-year deal for 2017.

2017 F1: Wolff unsure Bottas can beat Hamilton

Toto Wolff has admitted it is possible Valtteri Bottas could be replaced at Mercedes by a bigger name for 2018. Some expressed surprise when it emerged that, despite being prised out of his Williams contract, Finn Bottas has signed only a one-year deal for 2017.

Mercedes-AMG confirms Valtteri Bottas for ’17 F1 seat

It’s official: Valtteri Bottas will take 2016 F1 Drivers Champion, Nico Rosberg ‘s seat in the Mercedes-AMG F1 team’s now-vacant seat for the 2017 season. The 27-year-old Finn joins the 2014, 2015 and 2016 F1 Constructors’ champion with nine podium finishes under his belt, though he is still on the hunt for his first F1 race win.

Valtteri Bottas’ future set to be clarified in coming week

Valtteri Bottas’ much-touted switch from Williams to join Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes appears set to be clarified over the next week. Claire Williams, deputy team principal of Bottas’ current marque, has confirmed an announcement is imminent on whether the Finn will be free to fill the seat at Mercedes vacated by Nico Rosberg, who unexpectedly announced his retirement soon after winning last year’s Formula One world title.

Will 4 engines be enough in 2017?

There’s nothing new about the notion of sandbagging during the first tests of 2017 because Formula 1 is a high-stakes endeavor and teams have always been keen to reserve their true pace for the first races of the season. “We really won’t know in Barcelona testing where the teams are as that’s a period where they won’t want to show their hand,” said Hembery at Autosport International.

2017 Maine Sports Hall of Fame class revealed

The 2017 Maine Sports Hall of Fame class was revealed Tuesday, and features several big names from the state’s sports history. Among the elected are current Philadelphia 76ers head coach Brett Brown, racing powerhouse Bob Bahre, former Olympian Ian Crocker among others.

Toyota Racing Development unveils new Camry for NASCAR Cup Series

Toyota Racing Development hopes that “win on Sunday, sell on Monday” is alive and well in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. The manufacturer unveiled its newest Toyota Camry street car on Monday at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit — an entry that was designed hand in hand with its NASCAR Cup Series counterpart.

The Rolex’s time has come

Healthy numbers of fans - certainly by test-day standards – and, in the garage, a variety of international motorsports machinery from an ever-increasing variety of international manufacturers, along with a wide array of international driving talent, has rebuilt the Rolex 24 At Daytona into a world-class event. “It’s pretty dramatic if you think of where we’ve come from,” says Wayne Taylor, former sports-car racer, Rolex winner and current team owner.

Jerry Jones saved the NFL from extinction

… Rousey . The Danica Patrick of MMA was paid $3 million to get knocked out in 48 seconds in UFC 207’s main event. Fox Sports did the math and concluded she made $62,500 per second. Speaking of which, Patrick debuted her now “Warrior” clothes line …

Singapore: F1 fans want race to continue amid city’s plan to ditch sport, survey says

Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel takes his victory lap and waves to his fans at the Singapore F1 Night Race on Sept 25, 2011 in Singapore, Southeast Asia. Image via Meister Photos / Shutterstock are keen for the race to remain there, despite negotiations between organisers and F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone seemingly stalled, according to a survey conducted by British research firm YouGov. race expires this year and Ecclestone and organisers are still in negotiations about extending beyond 2017, though he suggested in an interview with a German autosport magazine last November that talks were not progressing well.

Driver Pascal Wehrlein scored a championship point for Manor in 2016

The team failed to secure fresh investment ahead of the 2017 season, which begins with the Australian Grand Prix on March 26, putting hundreds of jobs and their future in the sport at risk. Geoff Rowley, joint administrator at FRP Advisory, acknowledged the team need significant ongoing investment if they are to continue competing in F1.