Category: Circuits

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Formula E Season 11 Round 3 & 4: Jeddah Produces New and Repeat Winners of Season 11

It is safe to say that rounds 3 & 4 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship was one of a kind with records broken and the debut of attack mode.

Round 3

Round 3 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship got underwear at the track of Jeddah with Maximilian Guenther leading the pack away from pole with a chaotic lap 1 esculating ehind the German. Nico Mueller and Antonio Felix Da Costa collided with the German being shot up and ultimately having to DNF. Mitch Evans also collided with champion Pascal Wehrlein and ended up causing a puncture for Wehrlein and his own front wing getting stuck on his tyre and having to pit to fix it.

The piece of Da Costa’s rear wing which came off emerged near the activation zone of attack mode and, with the addition to other carbon fibre scattered across the track, brought out a very brief safety car.

We went racing again on lap 9 which saw Guenther lead from Rowland and De Vries. As laps counted down, overtakes went up including Da Costa on Ticktum nd De Vries passing Barnard for P3.

Pit Boost then opened up for many drivers with Hughes, Barnard and Da Costa all being the first drivers to take pit boost. Ticktum and Mortara followed in their wheel marks, however Ticktum suffered an issue which ultimately compromised his race. Guenther dropped 2 places due to the pit boost and staying out longer while Barnard stayed ahead and actually jumped up by 2 places.

After everyone took their pit boost, Rowland had a big lead over Hughes and Barnard with De Vries managing to make his way up to P2. In the background, however, Guenther was flying his way through the field with the DS Penske German driver managing to pass De Vries for P2 and setting his sights on the race win.

As the race drew to a close, there were 2 major battle going on: De Vries vs Barnard for P3 and Rowland vs Guenther for P1. The latter of those 2 battles emerging victorious with Guenther making a 3rd last corner overtake on Rowland for the win.

Maximilian Guenther led Oliver Rowland from Taylor Barnard for the top 3. Season 7 Champion Nyck De Vries finished P4 with Maserati MSG Racing driver Jake Hughes in P5, Two Time champion Jean-Eric Vergne in P6, Edoardo Mortara in P8, Barnard’s teammate Sam Bird in P8, Antonio Felix Da Costa in P9 with Season 8 champion Stoffell Vandoorne in P10.

JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA – FEBRUARY 14: Race winner Maximilian Gunther of Germany and DS Penske Second placed Oliver Rowland of Great Britain and Nissan Formula E Team Third placed Taylor Barnard of Great Britain and NEOM McLaren Formula E Team on the podium during the Jeddah E-Prix, Round 3 of the 2025 FIA Formula E World Championship at Jeddah Corniche Circuit on February 14, 2025 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Joe Portlock/LAT Images) Image Credit: Formula E Media Bank

Round 4

Round 4 begun with a record sitter: the younger ever Formula E pole sitter of Taylor Barnard. He set the record as 20 years and 259 days old. Before we went racing, we had a delayed start due to the Lola Yamaha Abt of Zane Maloney being out of position. After that was dealt with, we went racing with Barnard managing to stay P1 with Hughes moving up to P2 ahead of Rowland. Da Costa got a HUGE hit from the previous round’s winner of Maximilian Guenther and resulted in both of them retiring from the race.

Battles commenced up and down the grid with Hughes very near the rear wing of Barnard and Ticktum going against De Vries while Di Grassi went for an EXTREMELY early attack mode which saw him overtaking driver after driver and ending up leading the race after Rowland took over the lead from the McLaren of Barnard. Buemi ended up pitting which ultimately ruined his race too. Maloney ended up having 5% more energy than everyone but was over 50 seconds behind the leader. Soon, the leader was Frijns due to his attack mode and Bird later received a 5 time penalty for not following the race director’s instructions. A few brief yellow flags appeared during the race due to pieces of debris. The Jaguar of Mitch Evans had to pit during the race which was a disaster for the debut winner of Season 11.

Barnard managed to go for an overtake for P2 on Hughes and make it stick, however, Hughes was putting a battle on Barnard who had a slide. Hughes then goes for an overtake on Barnard for P2 but gets pushed wide and has to go over the turn 1 run off. Positions remained as they were as Rowland won the E-Prix after being denied win the previous day.

Oliver Rowland led Taylor Barnard with Jake Hughes making a jump up to the podium, his first with the Monaco based team. Season 9 champion Jake Dennis finished P4 to make it al all brit 1-2-3-4. Nick Cassidy scored his first points of the season in P5, Stoffel Vandoorne finished P6, Jean-Eric Vergne in P7, reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein in P8, Cupra Kiro’s Dan Ticktum finished in P9 with Edoardo Mortara finishing the points positions of this double header.

JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA – FEBRUARY 15: Sebastien Buemi of Switzerland driving the (16) Envision Racing Jaguar I-TYPE 7 leads Pascal Wehrlein of Germany driving the (1) TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team Porsche 99X Electric Gen3 during the Jeddah E-Prix, Round 4 of the 2025 FIA Formula E World Championship at Jeddah Corniche Circuit on February 15, 2025 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Mark Sutton/LAT Images) Image Credit: Formula E Media Bank

Writer’s Predictions

Before the weekend began, I (Kieran) attempted to predict the weekend’s results and….they didn’t exactly go to plan. My pole position predictions were Wehrlein and Evans which…wasn’t ideal. I was close for Wehrlein but I wasn’t so for Evans. 

My winner predictions, however, turned out to be a jinx. I predicted an Andretti driver to win round 3 and they both retired from that race. For round 4, I went with Antonio Felix Da Costa and he retired too.

For the podium in round 3, I went with a Cupra Kiro and a Nissan powered car. There were 2 nissan powered cars on the podium but not a singular one. As for Cupra Kiro….I’m sorry Cupra Kiro fans. Round 4 then went worse as there was only stellantis and nissan powered cars on the podium all weekend. 

What did you think of the 2 rounds? Formula E’s World Championship resumes in April with the Miami E-Prix. Let us know on our social media or on the writer’s social media which is linked below! 

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Formula E Season 11 Round 3 and 4 Jeddah E-Prix: Preview and Predictions

Formula E has returned from another hiatus for the first double header of the season! However, this double header will be very different as one of the races will have a new mechanism: pit boost!

Schedule:
Rookie Free Practice:

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Round 3:
Free Practice 1: Thursday 13th February 6pm-6:40pm UK Time

Free Practice 2: Friday 14th February 10am-10:40am UK Time
Qualifying:Friday 14th February 12:20pm-1:40pm UK Time
Countdown to Formula E Season 11 Round 3 Race:

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Round 4:
Free Practice 3: Saturday 15th February 2024 10am-10:40am UK Time
Qualifying: Saturday 15th February 2024 12:20pm-1:40pm UK Time
Countdown to Formula E Round 4 Race:

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What is Pit Boost?

Pit Boost is the reintroduction of pit stops since Gen1 era of Formula E. This pit stop allows a 10% increase of energy (3.85kWh) through a 20 second 600kW ultra-fast boost through the pitlane. As you can expect, teams will have to be on their peak performances in order to look at both the pit boost and attack mode for a strategic benefit and optimise the result.

This is a major achievement for Formula E as the electric pinnacle and FIA describe it as “race-to-road” ttechnology platform and addressing certain problems such as charging speed and efficiency.

This is a compulsary method for only ONE of the two races with an extremely strict set of protocols which include only one car per team is allowed in the pitlane at a time so there is no “double stacking” in the pitlane. There can also only be 3 pit crew members allowed at the car at a time: two for working on the car and one for stopping and releasing the car.

MADRID, SPAIN – NOVEMBER 07: Sebastien Buemi of Switzerland driving the (16) Envision Racing Jaguar I-TYPE 7 stops in the pit lane to be Fast Charged during day three of Formula E Pre-Season Testing at Circuito del Jarama on November 07, 2024 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Alastair Staley/LAT Images) Image Credit: Formula E

Formula E Rookie Free Practice: Lineup and Session Explained

As well as introducing a new strategic element into this weekend, on Thursday, 13th February 2024 there will be a rookie session for every team. Each team has to submit 1 driver who has participated in less than 2 E-Prixs. This session will be Below is the list of rookies confirmed:

TeamRookie Participating in RFP
Tag Heuer Porsche Formula E TeamThomas Preining
Andretti Formula EJak Crawford
Jaguar TCS RacingJamie Chadwick
Envision RacingZak O’Sullivan
Nissan Formula E TeamGabriele Mini
Neom McLaren Formula E TeamAlex Dunne
Mahindra RacingKush Maini
Cupra KiroMikkel Jensen
DS PenskeDaniil Kvyat
Maserati MSG RacingTheo Pourchaire
Lola Yamaha Abt Formula E TeamTatiana Calderon

Preview of Jeddah E-Prix

This years E-Prix at Saudi Arabia has been switched from the typical Diryah E-Prix to the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, which currently hosts a classic Formula 1 and Formula 2 weekend and formerly a F1 Academy weekend.

Image Credit: Formula E’s Website

As the image above shows, this circuit has similarities to the classic track such as the turns 1 and 2 as well as the fast nature from turns 6 to 13, minus the chicane from turn 8 to 11 which is presumably due to energy saving, which is why the additional sections of turn 14 to turn 19 also appears on the long start/finish from turn 13.

Predictions for Round 3 and Round 4

Pole Position for Round 3: Pascal Wehrlein.
The reigning world champion surprised me in Mexico City with putting in a strong pole position and fighting for the win and could have fought for the win against Da Costa until Rowland has extra attack mode. With this being a new circuit and only Maloney, De Vries and Barnard having experience around this track (not the layout).

Pole Position for Round 4: Mitch Evans.
When qualifying takes place for round 4, every driver (minus any injuries and reserve drivers have to take their spot) will have a full practice session, qualifying and race under their belts so with that, I have a feeling Evans will be able to get the second pole position of the weekend.

Winner of Round 3: An Andretti Driver
Is this an easy way to get out of deciding on a driver? Yes. However, I think as this is the first level playing field for everyone that both Mueller and Dennis will be able to optimise and make a strong impact on the first race around Jeddah with either one collecting their first victory of Gen3 Evo and this would be Mueller’s first win in Formula E overall.

Winner of Round 4: Antonio Felix Da Costa:
The current championship leader has not scored a win all season but due to the only 2 winners scoring both a win and a DNF, I think Da Costa will find his pace around Jeddah and manage to pick up his first win of the season, an arguably important one given that Andretti are the customer team to Porsche power trains.

2nd and 3rd in Round 3: A Cupra Kiro and a Nissan powered car.
Probably my most amitious prediction yet but with the pit boost debuting, I think that will bring up so much chaos and that a cupra kiro being on the podium is not out of the ordinary.

2nd and 3rd in Round 4: Porsche Power Train Drivers:
Another “loophole” but I think the 2nd race of the weekend will allow the Porsche power trains to allow any drivers from Porsche, Andretti or Cupra Kiro to be on the podium.

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Ferrari dominate the USGP while the championship hots up.

Ferrari dominated the race after an excellent start from Leclerc, which put him in the prime spot to pick up the pieces of the turn 1 battle for the lead. 

After an interesting sprint race, qualifying had a dramatic end. Russell collided with the barrier, preventing Verstappen and most of the runners from completing their final laps. This meant Norris started on pole with a great lap, but Russell started from the pitlane after a full repair, with his teammate only in P17.

The race start. Courtesy of RedBull content pool

Norris is becoming infamous for his starts. Despite making progress in the sprint, he went backwards at turn 1. Verstappen lunged down the inside, but while pushing both of them wide, Leclerc slipped straight through into the lead, with his teammate having to settle for P3. 

There was drama in the middle of the pack with Ocon spinning round, ending up last of the runners, while Lawson was following Hamilton, who made up 5 places in the first few corners. 

The battle at the front carried on as Sainz had speed in the car closing on Verstappen at the end of the main straight, leading to a very entertaining six-corner battle with the RedBull coming out on top. However, just as Sainz was looking for his next move, the safety car came out for a stranded Hamilton at turn 19.

With 4 laps of the safety car complete, at the restart, Leclerc had Verstappen with him all the way and struggled to create a gap. There were no major moves, but Lawson continued to make progress, gaining a place into P12.

The back of the pack provided plenty of overtakes for the first half of the race. They were fighting it out after the safety car, with Stroll taking a short trip into the gravel, Russell gaining places, and Albon very tight on Ocon, but Stroll came back looking to go around the outside of both of them. 

Russell hunting down Bottas. Image courtesy of Stake F1 Team

Lap 13 and Russell makes a move on Bottas into P14 in what appeared to be a good move, but the Mercedes received a 5-second penalty for the move. While Lawson continues to give RedBull something to think about as he was only one place behind Perez who has been in P9 since the restart. 

Having been behind Tsunoda for 10 laps, Perez finally makes it past the RB which now had dead tyres. Hulkenberg also tried to get past the RB with a battle from turn 12 to 16 consisting of very close but great racing. Just as Hulkenberg had to back out and get ready for the next attack, Tsunoda pitted.

As the pitstop window opened on lap 20, Ferrari looked to try an undercut on Verstappen with Sainz in P3. He pitted on lap 22 in an attempt to undercut Verstappen. RedBull decided to leave Verstappen out for 4 laps while Sainz and the McLarens caught the front runners. The undercut was successful for the Ferrari with a 4-second gap while Leclerc reacted to Verstappen’s stop from the lead. He came out behind the two McLarens but crucially in front of his teammate and Verstappen.

Meanwhile, Albon continued to have a great race as he battled Alonso with Gasly was in the best seat in the house to watch just behind them. Alonso held off an initial onslaught from the Williams, who took too much out of his tyres. Gasly was able to make a move but had to take to the outside of turn 12 to complete the pass. This means he received a 5-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

At 31 laps, the US GP became a battle of strategies, with the McLarens yet to pit, Leclerc and Verstappen having pitted only 4 laps before and on a one-stop while Sainz appeared to be on a two-stop. 

After the McLaren stops, Norris was able to work well on the hard tyres. Gaining fastest lap after fastest lap and taking a second out on Verstappen on a few of those. Verstappen was also not happy on the hard tyres and struggled for grip. This hunt was on. 

Colapinto taking on the track. Image courtesy of Pirelli

Magnussen received a very urgent pitstop request from his team, but after a change of tyres came back out. Colopinto, who was having a great race, pitted one lap later and came out just ahead of the Haas. This led to a very exciting battle between two drives who both have nothing to lose. 

While they were getting close, Tsunoda took a quick spin at turn 1. Colopinto locked up but missed the RB and stayed ahead of Magnussen. Tsunoda was able to get going again.

At the front, Norris had closed the gap on Verstappen and was within the DRS zone of the RedBull on lap 44. All eyes were pinned to to these drivers as a podium place and vital championship points were at stake. Norris calculated the move and waited until the right moment on lap 47 after Verstappen locked up.

What ensued was a battle from turn 12 to turn 16 where there was close racing but both were sensible. Verstappen forced Norris around the outside of turn 12 which meant the RedBull could stay ahead through the next set of corners. Undeterred, Norris regrouped and tried again at turn 1 a couple of laps later, but Verstappen was placing his car in all the right places. 

Lap 52 and Norris was much closer on the exit of turn 11 and Verstappen had worse traction. Verstappen forced Norris around the outside and ended up off the track. The stewards immediately began to look at it and the radio messages began between the drivers and the pitwall. On the final lap, Norris received a 5-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. 

Drama between Norris and Verstappen. Image courtesy of RedBull content pool

While that drama unfolded, Leclerc and Ferrari were dominating out front, coming home with a 1-2 and now only 4 points behind RedBull in the constructors for P2. They drove a great race and Leclerc put in a lovely drive to stay ahead. 

Verstappen did finish in P3 with Norris having to settle for P4. With one extra lap, he may have been able to get ahead of the penalty, as he finished 0.9s ahead of the RedBull. However, a shoutout to Colopinto who did get a fastest lap during the race and a point for the team. Lawson also came back in P9 on his first outing back in the RB.

The championship is getting spicy, with RedBull now having to watch for Ferrari in the constructors championship, or they may end up third. Only 6 days until Mexico, can Perez make an impact at his home race?

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BRITISH GP: Arise, Sir Lewis Hamilton!

Sir Lewis Hamilton emerged as the winner on Sunday afternoon at Silverstone in a classic British GP as he took his record 9th win at a single venue. It was a Mercedes front row to start the race with George Russell on pole and Hamilton in 2nd. The race had a threat of rain hanging over it right from the start and it became real from as early as lap 6.

George Russell taking the lead from pole. Image courtesy of Pirelli F1 Media

Russell started the race well and the top 4 kept their order until lap 6, as the rain began and the conditions changed quickly for everyone’s liking. Lando Norris in the McLaren and Max Verstappen in the Redbull picked up right where they left off in Austria, albeit a lot cleaner this time. As the rain picked up, Hamilton pipped his teammate Russell to the lead of the race before Lando Norris was quickly over the back of both the leading Mercedes’ as they went off in turn 3 due to tricky conditions.

Norris was leading the race in wet weather with both the Mercedes and Verstappen chasing him. The rain intensity increased as Verstappen and Sainz in the Ferrari were the first ones to pit for inters. McLaren were 1-2 at this point before they got it horribly wrong with Piastri’s pitstop timing and the Australian was relegated to P6. He ultimately salvaged P4 towards the end of the race but could’ve been much higher if not for the mishap. It was the switching of the conditions from wet to dry that changed the fate of McLaren as a brilliant Mercedes undercut meant that Hamilton assumed the lead of the race on lap 40. It was a three-way fight to the finish as Hamilton was in the lead on soft tyres, Norris was 2nd on soft tyres with Verstappen chasing them both on hard tyres. At a stage it seemed that Verstappen would take the win but he just about ran out of laps towards the end and could only finish 2nd to Hamilton.

Perez with the first stop on to inters. Image courtesy of RedBull Content Pool

Elsewhere, George Russell’s day ended in a horrible fashion as he started from pole but had to retire on lap 34 due to a water system issue in his car. Sergio Perez in the other Redbull and Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari had a bad day out in rainy Silverstone as they were experimented with tyre strategy to battle in changing conditions. Perez finished a lowly P17 while Leclerc could only manage a P14 and the Monegasque will hope for a much better showing in Hungary in 2 weeks time after a sorry couple of weeks in the Ferrari.  Carlos Sainz in the other Ferrari managed a quite race amidst the chaos and racked up a handy P5.

Haas continued their good showing with Hulkenberg finishing P6, not losing any ground from yesterday’s qualifying. Kevin Magnussen in the other Haas could not manage a points finish and could only manage P12. Aston Martin had a decent home race as they finished in double points with Lance Stroll at P7 and Alonso at P8.  Among the points, were ‘home’ team Williams with Alexander Albon at P9, the Thai driver suffered early damage to the bodywork of his car but had an impressive drive afterwards. Logan Sargeant in the other Williams was just one position shy of points as he ended up in P11. It was Yuki Tsunoda who claimed the final points spot after a P10 finish, while his teammate Ricciardo finished P13.

Alpine had a day to forget, with Gasly retiring on the formation lap and Esteban Ocon only managing a P16 finish. Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas finished P15 while his teammate Zhou finished P18.

Max Verstappen has increased his lead at the top of the championship standings in his bid for the 4th title but  with about half the season to go, it would be wise to not think that the title is wrapped up, as McLaren seem promising in fighting for wins alongside Mercedes, who have picked up back to back race wins. A lot at play awaits in 2 weeks time in Hungary before the summer break, as Mercedes will be looking for a hatrick of wins and Verstappen himself will be itching to get back to the top of the podium.

 

The top 3 and Bono on the podium. Image courtesy of RedBull content pool.

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An Action Packed Canadian GP

Verstappen came out on top in a race that saw changing weather conditions, lots of incidents, close racing and interesting strategies. 

With the track drenched just an hour before the race start, the spray looked bad as the drivers made their way to the grid, but it dried up enough for a normal standing start on intermediates, or full wets if you are driving a Haas.

Starting in the wet. Image courtesy of RedBull content pool

Lights out and the slowest getaway we have seen this season as they made it down to turn one without colliding. Russell managed to pick up pace out of turn two and kept the lead from Verstappen. Hamilton made up places but the Ferrari’s struggled, with Sainz ending up down in P15 at the end of lap 2.

Haas looked to have played a great strategy game, with Magnussen and Hulkenberg making it to P4 and P8 by lap 5. However, it wasn’t to last as the sun came out and the track started to dry making the inters the best tyres to be on.

As Norris closed the gap on Russell and Verstappen, the conversation began to turn to the forecast. Rain was expected about lap 30 but the track was drying in sectors two and three. Turns one and two were still wet though, Verstappen experiencing a wide moment on lap 17 which allowed Norris to position his car ready for a move.

The McLarens looked quick in the wet so when DRS was enabled, Norris was able to enhance his pace. On lap 21 he made a move on Verstappen into P2, just one lap later he passed Russell for the lead. As he completed the same move Russell lost downforce and went straight on at the final chicane, letting Verstappen through and coming back to the track in P3. Piastri looked to be following his teammate as he closed the gap on the front three. However, the safety car stopped his progress.

The safety car. Image courtesy of RedBull content pool

Sargent dropped it on the inside of turn four and hit the wall on the exit, causing his car to become stranded. This brought out the safety car on lap 25. With rain due in just a couple of minutes, most of the top ten pitted for new inters, apart from Norris. He was too far past the pitlane entry as the safety car came out. This meant that when he did pit a lap later, he came out in P3 with Verstappen leading the race.

Just before the end of the safety car period, Ferrari pitted Leclerc for a change of tyres. However, they put him on the slicks—hard tyres to be more precise—despite rain due imminently. He also had a known engine issue, which caused further delay in the car leaving the pitbox. It was not a surprise when he pitted just 2 laps after the restart for inters.

The restart got away with no issues as they behaved themselves, knowing more rain was on the way. A shout out to Albon, who made an incredible double overtake on Ricciardo and Ocon at the final chicane.

The rain stopped, the sun came out, and the dry line started to form. But for Ferrari, when it rains, it pours. On lap 42, Sainz made contact with the back of Bottas, which caused front wing damage, while the team called in Leclerc to retire the car.

Norris taking on the drying track. Image courtesy of Pirelli F1 Media

On lap 43 it was time to switch to slicks, Gasly was the first car in, followed by Magnussen and Bottas. Hamilton was the first of the frontrunners to pit for medium tyres. It wasn’t long before the rest of the grid was in, apart from Norris again. This time, the team decided to see what the other teams would do.

Norris stayed out and took the lead, meaning he now had a pit stop in hand over second place Verstappen. Despite this, Norris pitted one lap later, but Verstappen and Russell now had warmer tyres and were on the dry line, while Norris had to tiptoe out of the still extremely wet pitlane, ending up in P2.

All seemed calm for a couple of laps when a yellow flag appeared and disappeared again. The camera switched to Perez, who now had a very broken rear wing. He dropped his rear right tyre out of the dry line at turn six and spun into the wall. He was able to get back to the pits but retired the car.

However, a safety car was called, but not for Perez. Sainz dropped it on the same corner but managed to avoid the wall. He spun in the middle of the track and collected Albon in the process, pushing him into the wall. A double DNF for Williams and a double DNF for Ferrari as Sainz drove to the pits and retired.

Both Mercedes with fresh tyres. Image courtesy of Mercedes Benz

On the restart, both Mercedes had fresh tyres in an aggressive strategy, but everyone got away in order. The race was now dry, with no more rain on the way. This enabled a five-way battle for the lead.

Russell closed in on Piastri in P3, and using DRS, he was alongside into the final chicane, but there was not enough room for both cars. It was very close, and Russell went wide, allowing his teammate through. Hamilton made a clean move on Piastri the following lap, giving Russell a second chance, but this time with no issues.

With only 3 laps to go, the Mercedes were allowed to race each other, with Russell making it up into P3 with a nice move using DRS. It remained close between the pair all the way to the line but Russell held on.

He wasn’t the only one holding on with Gasly, Ocon, Magnussen and Hulkenberg fighting all the way to the line for the final two points positions. The Alpines finished P9 and P10 with the Haas cars in P11 and P12, respectively.

Verstappen controlled the final few laps to take the win, with Norris in P2. It was a fantastic race with action at every point. Three teams finished in the top five, Aston Martin with a double top ten finish and battles on every lap.

The podium celebrations. Image courtesy of Pirelli F1 Media

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MotoGP: Pecco Takes the Win in Catalunya

Francesco Bagnaia wins the Catalan GP ahead of championship leader Jorge Martin and Marc Marquez. Yesterday’s birthday boy Pedro Acosta crashed out when fighting for the lead of the race.

All riders started the race on the medium tyres on the front and rear except for Acosta, M. Marquez and Jack Miller who made the decision to run a medium front tyre and a soft rear tyre. Rear tyre degradation was a large factor in races earlier in the day so the choice for a soft rear was an unexpected one.

Bagnaia had a great start from the front row, but Brad Binder also started well and was making moves around the outside of the track to gain some places. Alex Rins ran wide and accidentally took the long lap loop and fell to the rear of the field.

Acosta and Bagnaia started to break away from the rest of the field but further behind them, Martin made a huge lunge to get past Binder for third place to attempt to catch up with the leaders.

Miller ran deep at turn one on lap two and lost a spot to Raul Fernandez. Acosta kept close to the rear of Bagnaia and looked at making a move at turn ten but wasn’t able to make the move. Acosta continued to stay on the back of Bagnaia’s bike but struggled to find a way past on lap two.

On the third lap, Acosta made the move at turn ten but ran wide so that Bagnaia was able to cut back. At the same corner, Miller crashed.

Martin caught up the leading two riders and passed his countryman Acosta into turn 10 and on lap five, Binder also looked at making the same move on the rookie but was unable to do so. Martin made an impressive move to get past Bagnaia to lead the race.

On lap six, Augusto Fernandez crashed at turn ten.

Again, the front two started to break away from the rest of the field and Acosta set the fastest lap.

Aleix Espargaro, yesterday’s sprint winner, made his way past Binder on lap 11 across the start finish straight and R. Fernandez barged his way past the South African rider at turn one too.

After setting some fast laps, Acosta crashed out the race at turn 10. The champagne was on hold for the rookie rider as he looked to take his first win in MotoGP.

Marquez was able to pass Binder on lap twelve at turn seven as he continued his charge up the field after starting in fourteenth place.

Enea Bastianini received a long lap penalty for taking a short cut at turn two and then he received a double long lap penalty for not taking the initial penalty. He did not take the double long lap penalty and then received a 32 second penalty which was applied at the end of the race.

Martin continued to lead the race, but Bagnaia started to close the gap to the leader. The Italian rider made the move to take the lead on lap 19 at turn 5. Pecco slammed on the brakes to not allow Martin back through. The leading pair had over an eight second lead over the third-place rider Espargaro.

But Espargaro didn’t hold third position for much longer as M. Marquez made the move on him down the start finish straight on the following lap.

The final laps of the race were drama free which allowed Pecco to cross the line in first place ahead of fellow Ducati riders Martin and M. Marquez.  After yesterday’s heroics, Aleix Espargaro was only able to manage fourth place ahead of Fabio Di Giannantonio. Raul Fernandez finished the race in sixth place ahead of Alex Marquez, Brad Binder, Fabio Quartararo and Miguel Olivera.

Feature Image Credit : Motorsport Images/Gold and Goose

2024 MotoGP Catalunya, Barcelona – Race Results
Pos Rider Nat Team Time/Diff
1 Francesco Bagnaia ITA Ducati Lenovo (GP24) 40m 11.726s
2 Jorge Martin SPA Pramac Ducati (GP24) +1.740s
3 Marc Marquez SPA Gresini Ducati (GP23) +10.491s
4 Aleix Espargaro SPA Aprilia Racing (RS-GP24) +10.543s
5 Fabio Di Giannantonio ITA VR46 Ducati (GP23) +15.441s
6 Raul Fernandez SPA Trackhouse Aprilia (RS-GP23) +15.916s
7 Alex Marquez SPA Gresini Ducati (GP23) +16.882s
8 Brad Binder RSA Red Bull KTM (RC16) +18.578s
9 Fabio Quartararo FRA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) +20.477s
10 Miguel Oliveira POR Trackhouse Aprilia (RS-GP24) +20.889s
11 Marco Bezzecchi ITA VR46 Ducati (GP23) +21.023s
12 Maverick Viñales SPA Aprilia Racing (RS-GP24) +22.137s
13 Pedro Acosta SPA Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 (RC16) +31.967s
14 Takaaki Nakagami JPN LCR Honda (RC213V) +32.987s
15 Joan Mir SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V) +33.132s
16 Johann Zarco FRA LCR Honda (RC213V) +34.554s
17 Luca Marini ITA Repsol Honda (RC213V) +36.689s
18 Enea Bastianini ITA Ducati Lenovo (GP24) +50.615s
19 Stefan Bradl GER HRC Test Team (RC213V) +55.295s
20 Alex Rins SPA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) +63.428s
  Franco Morbidelli ITA Pramac Ducati (GP24) DNF
  Augusto Fernandez SPA Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 (RC16) DNF
  Jack Miller AUS Red Bull KTM (RC16) DNF

 

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MotoGP: Stunning Sprint Win For Aleix in Spain

After qualifying on pole position a day after announcing his retirement, Aleix Espargaro stood on the top step of the podium at the Catalan GP after three riders crashed out of the lead. He was joined on the podium by Marc Marquez who started the race in fourteenth and birthday boy Pedro Acosta.

Pecco Bagnaia had a brilliant start from the middle of the front row and was able to take the lead into turn one. Acosta strongarmed his way into second place and Brad Binder found a gap in the track to get through the first turn in third place. Raul Fernandez also joined in the party by getting past Binder a few corners later. Jack Miller made a move on Miguel Olivera at turn ten.

By the end of the first lap, M. Marquez had made it to eighth place after his poor qualifying effort earlier in the morning.

Acosta attacked Bagnaia on the brakes into turn one on the second lap to take the lead but the Italian pulled off a risky move into turn five to get bast the Spaniard. The battle continued into the following lap where Acosta made the same move at turn one to retake the lead. Fernandez and Binder were also able to get past in the next three corners. The factory Ducati rider lost three places in four corners.

Contact occurred between Acosta and Fernandez and this allowed Binder to get past the GASGAS Tech3 rider but not Fernandez who was now leading a MotoGP race for the first time in his career.

Acosta regained second position after making what was becoming his trademark move at the first corner but the gap to leader Fernandez continued to grow as he set the fastest lap.

On the fifth lap, Acosta went slightly deep in turn four but it didn’t affect his position and Bagnaia received a track limits warning. Race leader Fernandez crashed out of the lead at turn ten after carrying too much speed in the corner. This allowed Acosta to take the race lead.

Binder got past Acosta on the start finish straight to take the lead of the race and started to break away from the chasing pack. Franco Morbidelli received a long lap penalty for irresponsible riding on the sixth lap.

Bagnaia capitalised on lap six to take second place from Acosta after the Spaniard ran wide.

The classic Acosta move into turn one happened again on lap seven as he made the move back through on Bagnaia and M. Marquez made a similar move to get past championship leader Jorge Martin for fifth. Bagnaia made an aggressive move into turn three to take second place back.

Binder crashed out of the lead at turn five which allowed Bagnaia to take the race lead.

Espargaro made his way past Acosta at the start of lap eight and the younger rider did have a look at getting past once more bit couldn’t find a way.

Johann Zarco crashed following contact with Alex Marquez at the back of the field.

There were a few laps of calm before the madness resumed on the final lap where M. Marquez made the move that Acosta had been making on everyone else to take third place.

The third crash from the lead happened when Bagnaia crashed at turn five, allowing Espargaro to take over the front of the race with less than a lap to go.

No other riders went down before the chequered flag waved and after dropping down at the start of the race, Aleix Espargaro was able to clamber his way back through the field to win the race.

Championship leader Jorge Martin finished the sprint race in fourth place ahead of Enea Bastianini, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Jack Miller, Maverick Vinales, Marco Bezzechi and Fabio Quartararo, who rounded out the top ten.

Feature Image Credit: Motorsport Images/Gold and Goose

2024 MotoGP Catalunya, Barcelona – Sprint Race Results
Pos Rider Nat Team Time/Diff
1 Aleix Espargaro SPA Aprilia Racing (RS-GP24) 20m 1.478s
2 Marc Marquez SPA Gresini Ducati (GP23) +0.892s
3 Pedro Acosta SPA Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 (RC16) +1.169s
4 Jorge Martin SPA Pramac Ducati (GP24) +2.147s
5 Enea Bastianini ITA Ducati Lenovo (GP24) +2.980s
6 Fabio Di Giannantonio ITA VR46 Ducati (GP23) +4.623s
7 Jack Miller AUS Red Bull KTM (RC16) +8.084s
8 Maverick Viñales SPA Aprilia Racing (RS-GP24) +8.245s
9 Marco Bezzecchi ITA VR46 Ducati (GP23) +8.643s
10 Fabio Quartararo FRA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) +9.241s
11 Franco Morbidelli ITA Pramac Ducati (GP24) +9.537s
12 Alex Rins SPA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) +13.045s
13 Takaaki Nakagami JPN LCR Honda (RC213V) +13.199s
14 Alex Marquez SPA Gresini Ducati (GP23) +13.378s
15 Joan Mir SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V) +16.438s
16 Luca Marini ITA Repsol Honda (RC213V) +18.000s
17 Augusto Fernandez SPA Red Bull GASGAS Tech3 (RC16) +25.262s
18 Stefan Bradl GER HRC Test Team (RC213V) +33.751s
  Francesco Bagnaia ITA Ducati Lenovo (GP24) DNF
  Miguel Oliveira POR Trackhouse Aprilia (RS-GP24) DNF
  Johann Zarco FRA LCR Honda (RC213V) DNF
  Brad Binder RSA Red Bull KTM (RC16) DNF
  Raul Fernandez SPA Trackhouse Aprilia (RS-GP23) DNF

 

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Formula E Monaco E-Prix: Jaguar make it a 1-2 finish as Barnard replaces Bird due to injury

Formula E kicked off again this weekend at Monaco, the motorsport city of the world. It was  a race in which Pascal Wehrlein took the bragging rights and pole position, there was also two safety cars and a 1-2 for Jaguar!

  • Wehrlein held the lead at the start.
  • Mueller got a bad start and fell behind Barnard.
  • Nato lost his front wing and it went under his car.
  • Buemi and Da Costa crashed at the hotel hairpin.
  • Mortara went into the barrier on lap four and brought out the safety car.
  • Sette Camara hit Buemi and Da Costa got caught between them.
  • Vandoorne held the lead from Evans in P2 at the restart.
  • Dennis had to pit due to front wing damage.
  • Evans and Jaguar played the team game as both Evans and Cassidy held up the pack behind them so their teammates could take attack mode.
  • Frijns’ front wing then went under his car.
  • Nico Mueller went into the wall near the end of the race. 
  • Once the safety car came in again, Rowland got ahead of Da Costa.
  • Mitch Evans managed to win the Monaco E-Prix. Nick Cassidy made it a Jaguar1-2 with Vandoorne P3.

Formula E Season 10 Monaco E-Prix Results

Position Driver Team Points
1st Mitch Evans Jaguar TCS Racing 25
2nd Nick Cassidy(FL) Jaguar TCS Racing 19
3rd  Stoffel Vandoorne DS Penske 15
4th Jean-Eric Vergne DS Penske  12
5th Pascal Wehrlein (Pole) Tag Heuer Porsche Formula E Team 13
6th Oliver Rowland

Nissan Formula E Team

 8
7th Antonio Felix Da Costa Tag Heuer Porsche Formula E Team 6
8th Sacha Fenestraz Nissan Formula E Team 4
9th Maximilian Guenther Maserati MSG Racing 2
10th Norman Nato Andretti Formula E 1
11th Lucas Di Grassi  Abt Cupra Formula E Team 0
12th Nyck De Vries Mahindra Racing 0
13th Dan Ticktum ERT Racing 0
14th Taylor Barnard Mahindra Racing 0
15th Sebastian Buemi Envision Racing 0
16th Jake Hughes Neom McLaren Formula E Team 0
17th Robin Frijns Envision Racing 0
18th Sergio Sette Camara ERT Formula E Team 0
19th Jake Dennis Andretti Formula E  0
20th Jehan Daruvala Maserati MSG Racing 0
DNF Edoardo Mortara  Mahindra Racing 0
DNF Nico Mueller Abt Cupra Formula E Team 0

Formula E Season 10 Standings after Round 8

Position Driver Team Points
1st Pascal Wehrlein Tag Heuer Porsche Formula E Team 102
2nd Nick Cassidy Jaguar TCS Racing 95
3rd  Jake Dennis Andretti Formula E  89
4th Oliver Rowland Nissan Formula E Team 88
5th Mitch Evans(Pole) Jaguar TCS Racing 77
6th Maximilian Guenther Maserati MSG Racing 65
7th Jean-Eric Vergne DS Penske 65
8th Sam Bird Neom McLaren Formula E Team 28
9th Stoffel Vandoorne DS Penske 27
10th Antonio Felix Da Costa Tag Heuer Porsche Formula E Team 26
11th Jake Hughes Neom McLaren Formula E Team 25
12th Sacha Fenestraz Nissan Formula E Team 24
13th Norman Nato Andretti Formula E 24
14th Robin Frijns Envision Racing 21
15th Sebastian Buemi Envision Racing 20
16th Nico Mueller Abt Cupra Formula E Team 18
17th Dan Ticktum ERT Formula E Team 12
18th Sergio Sette Camara ERT Formula E Team 11
19th Jehan Daruvala Maserati MSG Racing 2
20th Lucas Di Grassi Abt Cupra Formula E Team 1
21st Edoardo Mortara  Mahindra Racing 0
22nd Nyck De Vries Mahindra Racing 0
Norman Nato, Andretti Global, Porsche 99X Electric Gen3, leaves a trail of smoke as his damaged front wing rubs on his wheel

Most Impressive Race

The most impressive race has to be from Taylor Barnard. Now the youngest driver to start in Formula E, he jumped into Sam Bird’s car after Bird broke a bone in his hand during FP1. ,To go from P22 to P14 in his debut Formula E race is incredible.

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Formula E Season 10 Milano E-Prix: Da Costa Loses Victory After Technical Infraction at Misano

Antonio Felix Da Costa managed to to make up positions in Milano after a disappointing qualifying to take the victory for Formula E’s first visit to Milano! However, disaster struck for the 2020 champion when he was disqualified  just to add to the chaos of this race. Rowland inherited the win BUT Porsche have announced an intention to appeal.

Key Moments Of The Race

 

  • Mitch Evans lead the field away from pole ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne in P2 and Pascal Wehrlein in P3.
  • This was a peneton style race from the early stages with Mitch Evans, Nick Cassidy, Jean-Eric Vergne and Oliver Rowland.
  • Dan Ticktum and Sergio Sette Camara were both near the back of the grid at the start.
  • Edoardo Mortara had to stop the car very early..
  • 6.5 seconds seperated the entire field at one point.
  • Multiple collisions, including Wehrlein receiving front wing damage.
  • Cassidy and Vergne collided, Cassidy pitted with Vergne receiving a 5 second time penalty.
  • Guenther went over the sausage kerbs and did a wheelie at one point.
  • Nato went over the Gravel
  • Multiple DNFs
  • Da Costa crossed the line first and was the provisional winner before being disqualified so Rowland wins, Dennis P2, Guenther P3.

Formula E Season 10 Round 6 Misano E-Prix Results

Position Driver Team Points
1st Oliver Rowland(FL)

Nissan Formula E Team

 26
2nd Jake Dennis Andretti Formula E  18
3rd  Maximilian Guenther Maserati MSG Racing 15
4th Dan Ticktum ERT Racing 12
5th Mitch Evans(Pole) Jaguar TCS Racing 13
6th Jean-Eric Verge Pole DS Penske  18
7th Norman Nato Andretti Formula E 6
8th Stoffel Vandoorne DS Penske 4
9th Sacha Fenestraz Nissan Formula E Team 2
10th Lucas Di Grassi  Abt Cupra Formula E Team 1
11th Nico Mueller Abt Cupra Formula E Team 0
12th Sebastian Buemi Envision Racing 0
13th Jake Hughes Neom McLaren Formula E Team 0
14th Nyck De Veries Mahindra Racing 0
15th Sergio Sette Camara ERT Formula E Team 0
16th Pascal Wehrlein Tag Heuer Porsche Formula E Team 0
17th Robin Frijns Envision Racing 0
DNF Jehan Daruvala Maserati MSG Racing 0
DNF Sam Bird Neom McLaren Formula E Team 0
DNF Nick Cassidy Jaguar TCS Racing 0
DNF Edoardo Mortara  Mahindra Racing 0
DSQ Antonio Felix Da Costa Tag Heuer Porsche Formula E Team 0

Formula E Season 10 Championship After Round 6

Position Driver Team Points
1. Oliver Rowland Nissan Formula E Team 80
2. Jake Dennis Andretti Formula E 71
3. Maximilian Guenther Maserati MSG Racing 63
4. Pascal Wehrlein Andretti Formula E 63
5. Nick Cassidy Jaguar TCS Racing 61
6. Mitch Evans Jaguar TCS Racing 52
7. Jean-Eric Vergne DS Penske 47
8. Sam Bird Neom McLaren Formula E Team 37
9. Norman Nato Andretti Formula E 23
10. Stoffel Vandoorne DS Penske 22
11. Robin Frijns Envision Racing 21
12. Sebastian Buemi Envision Racing 20
13. Antonio Felix Da Costa Tag Heuer Porsche Formula E Team 20
14. Jake Hughes Neom McLaren Formula E Team 18
15. Dan Ticktum ERT Formula E Team 12
16. Sacha Fenestraz Nissan Formula E Team 10
17. Nico Mueller Abt Cupra Formula E Team 6
18. Sergio Sette Camara ERT Formula E Team 3
19. Lucas DiGrassi Abt Cupra Formula E Team 1
20. Edoardo Mortara Mahindra Racing 0
21. Nyck De Vries Mahindra Racing 0
22. Jehan Daruvala Maserati MSG Racing 0
Dan Ticktum, ERT Formula E Team, ERT X24, Jake Hughes, NEOM McLaren Formula E Team, e-4ORCE 04, Nyck de Vries, Mahindra Racing, Mahindra M9Electro, and Sergio Sette Camara, ERT Formula E Team, ERT X24, chase the pack at the start Image Credit: Formula E Media Bank

Most Impressive Race

My driver of the race has to be Antonio Felix Da Costa. Despite him losing his win due to outside circumstances, he still made incredible progress and took the victory for 5 hours.  He also managed to handle the energy perfectly.

Driver who needs to improve the most after this round

I think Vandoorne was a bit lackluster throughout the day. From qualifying out of position in comparison to his teammate to finishing P10 on the road (P9 after Da Costa’s DSQ), it was very underwhelming. While his teammate did finish a few places ahead of him due to receiving a 5 second penalty for causing a collision with Cassidy, qualifying was ulitimately Vandoorne’s downfall for this particular race.

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Verstappen takes pole ahead of Japanese Grand Prix

Max Verstappen has taken pole ahead of tomorrow’s Japanese Grand Prix, with team-mate Sergio Perez making it Red Bull’s 27th front row lock-out.

It was perhaps closer than most were expecting between the duo, with just +0.066 separating them at the chequered flag. In comparison, the gap from Verstappen to P2 last year was over half a second.

Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool

McLaren’s Lando Norris initially split the Red Bulls after the first runs in Q3, but Perez eeked out more of an improvement in the second runs to leapfrog the McLaren into second.

The top five was rounded out by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso. The other Aston Martin of Lance Stroll, in contrast, missed out on advancing to Q2 by only +0.061 and will start tomorrow’s race down in P16.

Oscar Piastri will start P6 with Lewis Hamilton in P7, the Brit sounding more buoyant about the set-up of his Mercedes than he has in recent weeks.

Charles Leclerc ran out of sync with the rest of the top ten in Q3, setting his only lap of the session with the entire track to himself. His time initially put him P7, but with the rest of the field re-emerging a few minutes later for their second runs he slipped to P8 by the time the chequered flag was brought out.

George Russell qualified P9. He was released into the path of Piastri in the pits during Q1 but has escaped a grid drop, with Mercedes instead receiving a €5,000 fine for an unsafe release.

Home favourite Yuki Tsunoda rounds out the top ten.

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