Sassakorn Chaimongkol took a memorable first ever BRDC British F3 victory in the first of three races this weekend at Silverstone.
The Fortec driver squeezed past polesitter Kiern Jewiss at the start of the race and despite intense pressure for twenty minutes, never looked likely to crack under intense pressure from Jewiss and Johnathan Hoggard.
Ayrton Simmons recovered to fourth after a poor start dropped him from third to sixth, despite finishing behind Neil Verhagen on track. Verhagen dropped to tenth after being penalised for a jump start.
Ulysse De Pauw came home fifth to continue his recent strong form ahead of Kaylen Frederick in sixth.
Championship leader Clement Novalak could only manage seventh on a disappointing Saturday for the Carlin driver, who risks seeing his lead at the top erode this weekend with Hoggard towards the front of the grid.
Lucas Petersson put in one of his strongest showings of the season to take eighth ahead of fellow Swede Hampus Ericsson, who recovered well after a slow start dropped him to twelfth.
Last year’s Silverstone Race Two winner Josh Mason was eleventh on Saturday afternoon after to gain two places over the course of the race, with Pavan Ravishankar a solid twelfth.
Nico Varrone bested Kris Wright for thirteenth with Nazim Azman last of the main pack on his eighteenth birthday, with Benjamin Pedersen retiring and Manuel Maldonado lapped after losing his front wing.
Douglas Motorsport’s Kiern Jewiss backed up his impressive Brands Hatch form with a double-pole position on Saturday morning at Silverstone.
In a hotly contested qualifying session that saw Jewiss, Sassakorn Chaimongkol and Ayrton Simmons take turns at the top of the timesheets, the 17-year-old nicked pole from Chaimongkol with his last lap of the session when it looked like the Thai driver was destined to take his first ever British F3 pole position.
Jewiss, who at one point was 0.007s off the pace in third, took Race One pole by just over a tenth of a second, and will also line up pole for Race Three after setting the fastest second-best lap.
Johnathan Hoggard will start from fourth and hope to kick-start his championship challenge for Fortect ahead of a rejuvenated Ulysse De Pauw.
Double R Racing’s Neil Verhagen beat fellow American Kaylen Frederick to seventh ahead of an improved performance from Benjamin Pedersen.
Championship leader Clement Novalak, who could win the series this weekend, will start from ninth with work to do after struggling with the balance of his Carlin machine. He heads Double R Racing’s Hampus Ericsson.
Lucas Petersson will start from 11th ahead of last year’s Race Two Silverstone winner Josh Mason, while Manuel Maldonado will be disappointed to start thirteenth.
Pavan Ravishankar will be looking for an improvement to a weekend from hell at Brands Hatch from 14th on the grid ahead of the returning Nicolas Varrone.
On his 18th birthday, Nazim Azman will be looking for happier returns than 16th on the grid in Race One ahead of Kris Wright, who brings up the rear in 17th.
Fortec Motorsport’s Johnathan Hoggard took a commanding British F3 pole position as he bettered the opposition by over three tenths of a second at Brands Hatch.
The Lincolnshire man led Douglas Motorsport’s Kiern Jewiss by 0.326s, while championship leader Clement Novalak of Carlin Motorsports starts Race One from third on the grid having lost out to Jewiss by 0.035s.
Thailand’s Sassakorn Chaimongkol put in a strong performance for Fortec to take fourth on the grid to back up his improving mid-season form, just 0.008s ahead of Carlin’s US charge Kaylen Frederick.
Belgium’s Ulysse De Pauw completes Row Three, one third of a tenth behind Frederick.
Manuel Maldonado will start from seventh after a solid session saw the consistent Venezuelan head Row Four, while Neil Verhagen leads Double R Racing’s charge, albeit from eighth position.
In a fifth row sure to confuse many an observer Lucas leads Benjamin as Sweden’s Petersson took ninth position on the grid ahead of the US-Dane Benjamin in his Douglas Motorsport entry.
Ayrton Simmons, the third man in the championship battle along with Hoggard and Novalak, could only manage 11th for Chris Dittman Racing as positions 2-11 on the grid were covered by just half-a-second.
Donington Race Two winner Josh Mason completes Row Six, Pavan Ravishankar and Nazim Azman make up the seventh row on the grid and Kris Wright outpaced Hampus Ericsson, whose off midway through the session not only saw him bring out a red flag, but also relegated him to last on the grid.
Making tough judicial decisions is never easy on a Judge. You will always have on aggrieved party who disagrees with you, will take you on appeal and have their group of family and friends dislike you too. The same can be said for F1 stewards recently.
While the law, certainly here in South Africa, have a defined group of Judges for a period, F1 stewards change from race to race.
The Canadian Grand Prix and the incident between reigning and 5 time World Champion Lewis Hamilton and 4 time Champion Sebastian Vettel brought the role of the stewards into sharp focus with numerous and current drivers bemoaning the lack of consistency in decision-making and the impact it has on the ability of racers to do what they – and we – love most, race.
Sebastian Vettel at the Austrian GP 2019. Source: Ferrari Media
Stewards were hauled over the coals on social media by fans who felt that the decision to award Vettel a 5-second time penalty was incorrect and cost him what was a needed win. However, the same stewards were praised for being courageous in applying the rules by fans who felt that they got it right. It is almost a no-win situation for the decision makers.
Having a permanent panel of stewards for the season may aid consistency, but it is not inconceivable that this may present a different set of problems. For one it is a massive ask of any person to do, following the paddock around all season. This is especially important when you consider that former drivers often make up the panel. The second problem deals with the members of the panel. If we are honest, given the backlash on social media, it is possible that permanent stewards could be accused of bias (based on their previous stints in F1/comments they may have made in media) if a decision does not go the way of a particular team/driver.
Yes, this is a hypothesis, but if the events of Canada and the penalty given to Daniel Riccardo after the French Grand Prix are anything to go by, the decisions of the stewards will always be called into question.
And let us not forget the pass seen around the world at the Austrian Grand Prix. ICYMI – the clash between race winner Max Verstappen and pole sitter Charles Leclerc was investigated with no penalty being handed out. Racing won according to many fans while many a Ferrari fan felt aggrieved for the 2nd time in 3 races. Essentially it was the same rule that saw Vettel receive a penalty, however this was a different incident. A wait of 3 hours saw this one decided, whereas Vettel’s was done while the race was in progress.
Max Verstappen at FIA Formula One World Championship 2019 Stop 9 – Spielberg, Austria Photographer Credit: Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
On the face of it and in the mind of the F1 circle, there appears to be inconsistency in these decisions. Perhaps the problem does not lay with the decision makers, but rather on what informs the decisions?
Stick to the facts
The rule book. The FIA rule book is the veritable guide to the do’s and don’ts of F1. Among the rules is that a driver is prohibited from any manoeuvre liable to hinder other drivers or driving the car in an erratic manner, among other restrictions. Herein lies the problem – the rule book does not offer any explanatory notes on what would be considered erratic or just normal racing.
In law we have a Commentary to a legislation, which provides for an explanation of the regulations and rules. It provides clarity on the nuanced areas of law that may not appear fully in the hard and fast rule. Perhaps F1 could use something similar to assist the stewards in making decisions that take into account the practicalities of racing? In the event that this seems too cumbersome a task the solution could then lay in amending the rules to allow for the stewards to account for the practical elements of racing and take into account aspects such as what is “hard racing” vs “dangerous racing”.
Certain tracks allow for drivers to give each other a little more room, but some such as Baku, Canada and Monaco do not, which makes it difficult for the stewards to apply a general rule regarding driving in an erratic manner. An amendment to allow discretion based on these practical elements could go a long way in fixing the problem in F1 right now. – Rhea Morar (Deputy F1 Editor)
The French theme is still very potent in the motorsport world. A fascinating Le Mans race is done and dusted, but this coming weekend sees the motorsport euphoria continue as we travel 931 kilometres south of Le Mans.
For the fifteenth time in World Championship history, Formula One arrives at the Circuit Paul Ricard for the French Grand Prix, which made its return to the calendar last year.
The 5.8-kilometre circuit did not exactly go down well with fans last year, with grandstands a fair distance away from the track, and extensive run-offs that allow mistakes to go almost totally unpunished. It’s safe to say that the track has some way to go to re-establish any respectable reputation in the sport.
Last year did, however, see drama on the first lap. Home heroes Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon crashed into each other, while early contact between Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas saw the pair pit as a result of the damage inflicted and come back up through the field with a couple of smart moves. Lewis Hamilton won the race but, apart from the odd moment, it was a race that generally left a lot to be desired. Having said that, we said the same thing about Baku in 2016 and we got an absolute stunner of a race a year later, so fingers crossed!
2018 French Grand Prix – Wolfgang Wilhelm
Following the Canada controversy, which is still not over as Ferrari have officially lodged a right to review of Sebastian Vettel’s penalty, the Prancing Horses will again fancy their chances of springing an upset to the rampant Mercedes party by finally winning a race this year.
A fast circuit with long straights and few slow corners is fairly well suited to the Ferrari car, but Hamilton and Bottas will look to maximise some of the impressively fast corners around the track to continue their stunning start to what has turned out to be a historic season in terms of dominance.
This battle, after an impressive Ferrari showing in Canada, may make for a more interesting spectacle around the Paul Ricard track, but this won’t necessarily change the general consensus of the quality of the track.
Pierre Gasly, who has had to endure a tough start to the year alongside his extremely quick team-mate Max Verstappen knows he needs to put on a distinctively better performance than he has managed so far, and to make his mark on the Red Bull team. The pressure is building as a result of some very handy performances in Red Bull’s junior team Toro Rosso, so his home race provides the perfect setting for Gasly to make such a statement.
Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
The other French driver on the grid, Romain Grosjean, will be looking for an uninterrupted qualifying this time around, as will team mate Kevin Magnussen after his crash at the end of Q2 in Canada. The Dane should hopefully have a better time in France after what he described as ‘the worst experience [he has] ever had in a racing car’ in Montreal, as Haas target a double points finish.
As for Williams, the positive is that it is reasonably difficult for the car to end up in the wall at Paul Ricard, so they shouldn’t have to worry too much about spare parts this weekend. The car, however, is not likely to fare any better at Paul Ricard than it has done so far in 2019.
After some superb drama in Le Mans last weekend in the WEC, will we see the same at the French Grand Prix this weekend? Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes will be hoping the answer to that one is a very firm no.
[Featured image – Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool]
Chris Dittmann Racing’s Ayrton Simmons took his and his team’s first ever British F3 victory to crown a solid weekend at the office.
Simmons took the win to back up earlier finishes of third and fifth in the reverse-grid Race Two, while Johnathan Hoggard took second ahead of Kaylen Frederick and Kiern Jewiss in fourth.
It was Neil Verhagen and Clement Novalak that took the chequered flag in the top two on the road, but the pair were given five second time penalties
Hillspeed’s Sasakorn Chaimongkol was seventh ahead of Manuel Maldonado in eighth for Fortec. with Hampus Ericsson was ninth ahead of Race Two winner Benjamin Pedersen.
For Verhagen and Novalak, it was a case of trying to extend the gap to Simmons and Hoggard behind, it was always going to be an uphill task with the top five very evenly matched, Kaylen Frederick in particular keeping his counsel to maintain third.
Post race a 10 second penalty was issued by the Clerk of the Course to Nazim Azman for making contact with Lucas Petersson at Stowe, forcing Petersson to spin. Azman receives three penalty points.
Ram Racing’s Iain Loggie and Callum Macleod took an emotional victory in British GT’s blue riband event at Silverstone on Sunday.
Macleod and Jonny Adam in the Aston Martin were battling hard for the lead right up until the penultimate lap when the two GT3 cars caught GT4 Multimatic driver Chad McCumbee, who was unco-operative through Becketts and Maggots and the two collided as the Aston and Mercedes rushed to pass.
That took Adam out of the race and allowed Nicki Thiim/Mark Farmer and Seb Morris/Rick Parfitt to take overall podium finishes.
The flagship three-hour race was a tale of three GT3 cars early on as Loggie, TF Sport’s Aston Martin racer Graham Davidson and Shaun Balfe battled it out early on.
Sam De Haan and Adam Balon in the two Barwell Motorsport Lamborghinis came to blows on lap one at the loop, and it was a sign of how both of their races were to go as Barwell failed to re-discover their Snetterton sparkle to finish eighth and ninth.
Dennis Lind was fourth in the Lamborghini alongside Michael Igoe ahead of Bradley Ellis and Ollie Wilkinson in the Optimum Aston Martin. Ryan Ratcliffe and Glynn Geddie completed the overall top six ahead of Andrew Howard and Marco Sorensen.
Meanwhile, in GT4 TF Sport once again suffered heartbreak as the seemingly imperious duo of Patrick Kibble suffered two pit-lane timing dramas.
The two stop/go penalties issued for short pit-stops ensured they didn’t convert GT4 pole into what in all probability looked like GT4 victory.
That should have opened the door for Tolman Motorsport duo Josh Smith and James Dorlin, the #4 McLaren was at one point 15s clear in the lead of GT4.
But, mere laps after their final stop, Dorlin was forced to retire the car with an as yet unknown issue from what would have been certain victory.
Scott Malvern and Nick Jones were the eventual overall GT4 winners and took double honours, also walking away with the GT4 Pro/Am trophy to cap a memorable weekend for the Team Parker Racing #66 Mercedes.
They were followed home by Maxime Buhk and Peter Belshaw in the ERC Sport Mercedes ahead of the other Multimatic Mustang of Seb Priaulx and Scott Maxwell, while Martin Plowman and Kelvin Fletcher were fourth overall and took a valuable second in the Pro/Am category.
Tom Canning and Ashley Hand completed the top five for TF Sport Aston Martin.
Ariel view of Moanco. Image courtesy of Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
‘To tell you the truth, I hate Monaco. It’s like trying to ride a bicycle around your living room’ – Nelson Piquet.
Nelson Piquet was always a conscious stream of stinging quotes, but this one is arguably his most famous. At the time, it was at complete odds with the narrative of Monte Carlo’s diamond event – one of towering importance, energising luxury and an insatiable desire that this, this be the one race every driver must win, in order to be remembered as a great.
Yet in 2019, Piquet’s summary feels very poignant and true. And as each year goes on, that feeling only grows. But why is it so? What factors are at play, bubbling over the surface to damage the armoured love for a Formula One mainstay? There are many; the lack of on-track overtakes, a heavy reliance on strategy, and an emphasis on what happens off the track rather than on it. And it’s the latter that I want to dissect.
The Cote d’Azur embodies wealth. The glitz and glamour of the event began as a fantastical shot in the arm for all involved. A setting drizzled in history, playing host to casinos, hotels and restaurants galore, Monaco provided the unique backdrop of up to 30+ of the finest racing cars of the time zooming round an opulent city, a final ingredient for an extravagant souffle. It was magical, and a gleaming beacon of hope for those who wanted to be there, be a part of it.
The super yachts of Monaco. Image courtesy of Getty Images/Red Bull Content Pool
But times, since those heady days of the ‘50s and ‘60s, have changed. We now live in a world where the excessive is held in disdain, and the necessary is king. Formula One has changed, too: no longer a gentleman’s European tour, but a worldwide hand reaching out to new fans who would never have so much as heard tyres wince within their own country. If there’s anything that sums up the change F1 has gone through (and had to, unless it loses all relevance) is the old ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone’s resistance.
‘I’m not interested in tweeting, Facebook, and whatever this nonsense is’.
Ecclestone said of the growing social media juggernaut, a key player in modernity. He’d go on to disregard the young racing demographic entirely, saying ‘I’d rather get to the 70-year-old guy who’s got plenty of cash. There’s no point trying to reach these kids because they won’t buy any of the products here and if marketers are aiming at this audience, then maybe they should advertise with Disney.’
Ecclestone’s Formula One peak came in the ‘70s and ‘80s, when sponsorship was rising to a position of potency in the series and appeasing those funnelling money into both drivers, teams and sport was of high importance. Why speak against those who are allowing the sport to grow like it never had before? More so, why do anything but bend all efforts towards getting sponsor’s services in the rich elite’s lives, and products in their possessions? Ecclestone was never able to shift from the ideology of ‘jobs for the boys’ – and by that I mean catering his circus for the rich men he was intertwined with – and that’s a major player as to why he’s no longer at the helm.
He valued Monaco as an important string in his bow, with the elite eager to turn up and flaunt their most extravagant yachts, take in the wonders of casino life and be exposed in turn to the sport’s sponsor involvement. And Monaco, to this day, is still the same event; a racing-comes-second honey trap. The issue is, while the bees may still be arriving like before, the onlooking fans aren’t salivating at the thought of this race in particular. The year on year procession, where ever-widening cars are threading a needle which hamstrings their true power, and in turn making the races heavily reliant on outside variables, is becoming more and more apparent.
The fan-base that the new owners of Formula One, Liberty Media, have tried at length to get back on side, be it with much increased social media presence (they’ve even finally embraced Snapchat), expansive content and greater scope of reach, are beginning to look past the glamour of Monaco, and are finding at the bare bones an event that quite simply isn’t up to standard.
The season generally reaches a nadir at this circuit – to the point where the weekend is written off as a bore-fest before it even starts. There’s arguably no track on the calendar so dependent on weather variables for a good race, and if Piquet thought his Brabhams were no joy in the Principality, I spare a thought for the class of 2019, with wider, longer and faster cars.
Max Verstappen ahead of Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo. Image courtesy of Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool
The glamour of Monaco is fading away. It can’t mask the unsuitability of the event any longer. It’s never been so irrelevant in the eyes of the people who make Formula One what it is, the fans. With Liberty’s aid (somewhat) the gentleman’s aura of past is starting to diminish, in favour of the new guard. A new guard who are realising, when you strip away the off-track splendour, that this mainstay of the calendar is at odds with the direction we are going in. It’s a bastion of the Ecclestone era, a rotten tooth among renovation plans. And if this trajectory continues, Monaco could well lose its relevance in the 21st century world.
The resurgence of the McLaren-less Nyck De Vries continued among the yacht-webbed glamour of Monaco, and the Principality did more than play host to a Dutch siege. Nicholas Latifi encountered the first real bump of his F2 season, while Jack Aitken was force fed a Calpol bottle’s worth of bad luck, at the hands of Mahaveer Raghunathan.
MONTE CARLO, MONACO – MAY 24: Car of Callum Ilott (GBR, SAUBER JUNIOR TEAM BY CHAROUZ) being pushed the pit lane by marshals during the Monaco at Monte Carlo on May 24, 2019 in Monte Carlo, Monaco. (Photo by Jerry Andre / LAT Images / FIA F2 Championship)
The race began with Callum Ilott stalling on the grid. Unable to re-start, he was sent to the back of grid – cruelly denied a chance at the win from second place. The gird took another formation lap, reducing the race length. On the second start attempt Mick Schumacher valiantly commenced a fightback from fifth after dropping back from third due to a wheelspin-riddled start. A move on Anthoine Hubert at the tricky Mirabeau corner was arguably the race’s finest.
Schumacher would be involved in another incident but this time for the wrong reasons. Latifi’s shot of bravery went wrong with his attempt to overtake into Loews corner, only to find Schumacher wasn’t planning on leaving the door open for him. Both were lucky to make it out of the incident relatively unscathed; no damage to Schumacher’s Prema while Latifi’s DAMS suffered a minor front wing break.
Schumacher may have been the innocent party in the Latifi incident, but not long after he would cause a much more severe accident of his own. Attempting to overtake Tatiana Calderon into Rascasse, the Ferrari academy driver, misjudging the admittedly wide apex, hit Calderon and leading to both cars stalling. The red flag was brought out as the cars behind Calderon and Schumacher had to park behind the pair, and confusion reigned supreme.
MONTE CARLO, MONACO – MAY 24: Anthoine Hubert (FRA, BWT ARDEN) and Sean Gelael (IDN,PREMA RACING) during the red flag during the Monaco at Monte Carlo on May 24, 2019 in Monte Carlo, Monaco. (Photo by Glenn Dunbar / LAT Images / FIA F2 Championship)
Once the race resumed, the cars that had pitted under red flag conditions were classed as being a lap down, much to the bemusement of the drivers and teams, while conduct under the red flag period itself was declared for investigation after the race. Schumacher was given both a five-second time penalty for cutting the track and a drive-through for the incident with Calderon.
Latifi, not deterred by the last time, went for a similar Loews corner lunge on Hubert, but while it was unsuccessful he was able to bail out of it without contact. Meanwhile, after earlier in the race where Aitken was held up to the tune of 20 seconds by the glacial Raghunathan, who had blocked him in qualifying the day before, the final blow was exacted when Raghunathan rammed the rear diffuser of Aitken and sent him into the Loews wall.
The final piece of action was left to Juan Manuel Correa, who binned his car at the swimming pool section to sprinkle flakes of carbon fibre on a Monaco feature race packed with action. And the one to enjoy a first slice? That was De Vries, who had been nothing short of masterful. Latifi might now just know the identity of his strongest challenger for the rest of the season.
Featured image courtesy of Jerry Andre / LAT Images / FIA F2 Championship
The 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 is nearly upon us with qualifying completed and all but one of the practice sessions run. As always, the Indy 500 is one of the most important races of the season and, with double points on offer, the stakes couldn’t be higher.
Indy GP winner Simon Pagenaud took the honour of pole position last weekend, continuing his remarkable upturn in form after a fairly dreadful start to the season. Starting alongside him on the front row will be the Ed Carpenter Racing duo of Ed Carpenter himself and Spencer Pigot, the latter of whom was the favourite to take pole after Saturday’s running.
Front Row qualifiers and their families (L-R) Spencer Pigot, Ed Carpenter, Simon Pagenaud. Credit: Chris Owens/IndyCar
The other ECR car of Ed Jones heads up the second row, followed by rookie sensation Colton Herta and last year’s Indy 500 champion Will Power. The last three of the Fast Nine drivers fill the third row with Sebastien Bourdais heading championship leader Josef Newgarden and 2016 Indy 500 champion Alexander Rossi.
The Fast Nine Shootout very nearly didn’t happen after rain hit the track on the second day of qualifying, meaning the majority of the practice sessions due to take place that day were cancelled. This meant that Fernando Alonso, in his hastily modified McLaren, didn’t have time to set up his car properly, something which would come back to bite him in the Last Row Shootout.
Credit: Walter Kuhn/IndyCar
Six drivers vied for the last three places on the grid with one-off entrant Sage Karam taking 31st followed by James Hinchcliffe, who managed to avoid a non-start for what would’ve been the second year running, and the miracle that was Kyle Kaiser for Juncos, in a car that shouldn’t have really been in qualifying in the first place after his shunt on Friday.
The three drivers bumped out of the race were Alonso, after McLaren’s widely-reported catalogue of errors stretching back to the very first test, and the Carlin pair of Patricio O’Ward and Max Chilton. After Alonso’s crash on Wednesday, he had also been running a Carlin-built car, meaning the British team lost three of their four entries on Bump Day.
While Alonso garnered much of the attention from qualifying for failing to do just that, it’s important not to forget the 33 drivers who did qualify for the race. Positions 10 to 30 were locked in after Saturday’s running with that group including pretty much all the big hitters who failed to make the Fast Nine, as well as a delighted Pippa Mann who, like Hinchcliffe, failed to qualify last year.
Pippa Mann celebrates qualifying for the race with her #39 team. Credit: James Black/IndyCar
Throughout both practice and qualifying there have been a number of big accidents but, thanks to safety innovations including cut-outs in the floors of the cars, there haven’t been any flips and all the drivers involved walked away unharmed. Alonso, Felix Rosenqvist, O’Ward, Kaiser and Hinchcliffe all suffered shunts, with Alonso and O’Ward making up two of the three bumped drivers.
As for the race, well we can expect to see a close-run fight for the victory with a number of notable drivers out of place on the grid. Generally speaking, the Fast Nine drivers stand the best chance of drinking the milk at the end of the race, but purely being in the race gives any driver a good enough shot at the win.
Pole-sitter Pagenaud will obviously be one to watch, as will second-place Carpenter who is always fast at the 500 and has come close to taking victory a number of times before. Last year’s Indy 500 champion Power will be a threat from sixth as he tries to defend his title. 2016 Indy 500 champion Rossi is another driver who will be chasing the win with his daring overtakes always grabbing the headlines.
Further down the grid, three-time Indy 500 champion Helio Castroneves could be someone to keep an eye out for after his race was ended abruptly last year, as will defending series champion Scott Dixon who is always one to factor into the race. There aren’t many drivers who you can rule out with any certainty, and that’s testament to how close the field is this year.
Scott Dixon with Robert Wickens. Credit: Joe Skibinski/IndyCar
There is a threat of rain on Sunday so it’s probably best we brief you on the protocol if bad weather does affect the race. 101 of the 200 laps must be completed for the race to be classed as ‘official’ and for full points to be dished out; if this can’t happen on Sunday, as scheduled, the race can be postponed until Monday or later, depending on when the weather allows the race to be run. The current forecasts give around a 50% chance of rain during the race, so it’s certainly something to watch out for.
All being well weather-wise, the race will kick off at 12:30 pm local time which works out at 5:30 pm in the UK, so neatly fitting in after the Monaco GP.
