Motorsport

The second race of Formula 1's 2026 era in Shanghai offered more clues, more entertainment and more heartbreak, featuring a first-time winner and a black eye for the reigning world champions.
1. Toto Wolff's Antonelli bet pays off big - Filip Cleeren
Toto Wolff has not wasted an opportunity to hit back at early critics of his confident move to promote 18-year-old Kimi Antonelli to a race ...Keep reading

Technical issues took both McLaren cars out of Formula 1’s Chinese Grand Prix before it even started, to Lando Norris’ and Oscar Piastri’s dismay.
Struck by an electronics issue, reigning world champion Norris failed to make it out of the garage for the Shanghai race, while team-mate Piastri had to be wheeled back into the pitlane from the grid, because of what the Australian described as ...Keep reading

George Russell has revealed how he ended up with a black eye ahead of the Chinese Grand Prix.
In a video shared by Mercedes, the Briton answered questions as he was driven to the Shanghai International Circuit alongside his partner Carmen Montero Mundt.
When asked if the cameraman could see his eye, Russell explained: "I haven't looked at it this morning, is it still red or not?"
The ...Keep reading

Porsche Carrera Cup Asia has confirmed that Francis Tjia has undergone successful surgery after a horror crash at the start of the season-opening race in Shanghai.
A slow-moving Naquib Azlan, who had started from pole position, led to a chaotic chain reaction involving multiple cars. Tjia collided with the rear of the polesitter before spinning off and crashing into the wall.
Having ...Keep reading

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri failed to make the start of F1's Chinese GP after their McLarens were struck by pre-race technical issues.
McLaren was scrambling to get both Norris and Piastri at the start, as world champion Norris couldn't make it out of the pitlane in time for the pre-race procedure due to electronics problems.
Less than 10 minutes before the start of the formation lap ...Keep reading

The official Formula 1 social media accounts shared a curious moment in China. At the finish of the Chinese GP sprint race, Kimi Antonelli’s attempt to apologize to Isack Hadjar was coldly rejected by the French driver. 
The Mercedes driver, who would later secure pole position for Sunday’s race, approached the Red Bull after causing a collision on the first lap. The Italian was quickly ...Keep reading

Shane van Gisbergen took JR Motorsports to Victory Lane at COTA, driving the #9. One week later, Justin Allgaier in the #7 earned JRM a win at Phoenix, and a week after that, two-time NASCAR Cup champion Kyle Larson drove the #88 to Victory Lane for the Earnhardt-owned team.
This is Larson's 18th career victory in the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series (NOAPS), coming in his first start of the ...Keep reading

What had been expected for some time was officially confirmed during the race weekend in Shanghai: due to the ongoing unrest in the Middle East, the races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have been cancelled.
Logically, this has financial consequences and logistical implications for the teams, particularly as part of the teams’ freight and paddock gear is still in Bahrain after winter testing. But ...Keep reading

Scott McLaughlin is aiming to rectify a qualifying crash and put on a show for Sunday’s inaugural Grand Prix of Arlington. 
During the second group running of the opening session of qualifying, the New Zealander was pushing to advance into the Fast 12 when, with two minutes remaining, he clipped the inside of the wall in Turn 8 before pounding the outside wall. The crash left significant ...Keep reading

F1 and governing body the FIA have officially announced the series will not travel to Bahrain and Saudi Arabia in April due to the US-Israeli war on Iran.
The two Middle Eastern races will not be replaced, meaning there is a five-week gap in the calendar between the end-of-March Japan round and the Miami Grand Prix in the first week of May.
Since the US killing of Iran's supreme leader ...Keep reading

Kyle Kirkwood took responsibility for a mental mistake that dashed a shot to claim pole for the inaugural Grand Prix of Arlington. 
The Florida native showcased his street prowess in Saturday morning’s practice session, pulling off the fastest lap of the weekend with a 1m33.1409s flyer around the 14-turn, 2.73-mile temporary circuit. And that had many marking him as the favorite to capture ...Keep reading

The United States Grand Prix has announced its two headline acts for the 2026 Formula 1 race weekend.
GRAMMY Award-winning band Maroon 5, famous for chart-topping songs including Sugar, This Love and Moves Like Jagger, will kick off the race weekend with the headline slot on Friday 23 October at the Germania Insurance Super Stage.
Taking to the same stage on Saturday 24 October will be Post ...Keep reading

The inaugural running of IndyCar's Grand Prix of Arlington will start a full hour than expected. The race was meant to start just after 1pm EST, but will now start just after 12pm EST with the FOX pre-race show beginning at 11:30am EST.
The change also means that the Sunday morning Indy NXT race will move up an hour to 10:30am EST, as will the morning warmup for IndyCar, now scheduled for ...Keep reading

Marcus Ericsson pulled off a herculean effort to capture his first career IndyCar Series pole in for the inaugural Grand Prix of Arlington.
The 35-year-old Swede put together a remarkable lap of 1m34.3562s around the 14-turn, 2.73-mile temporary street circuit to seize the top spot. It’s Ericsson’s first pole in 117 career starts in North America’s premier open-wheel championship, and ...Keep reading

Ralf Schumacher has championed McLaren for making a step forward. While the former driver is confident this will lead to more exciting racing, he added that Mercedes likely has performance left in the tank.
Mercedes has had a strong start to the season. This has led to concerns from fans that the Brackley outfit could dominate the year, leading to a repeat of previous predictable seasons such ...Keep reading

It's a Toyota lockout of the first two rows with Joe Gibbs Racing 1-2-3 in Las Vegas NASCAR Cup qualifying.
Christopher Bell rocketed to the top of the charts and was the only driver to break into the 28-second bracket. Four of Bell's 15 career poles have happened in Vegas, with the other three taking place in 2022 (first career pole in the Cup Series), 2023, and 2024.
"Our Interstate ...Keep reading

Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli approached Red Bull's Isack Hadjar after the Chinese sprint race to apologise for causing a collision between the two, but footage shared by Formula 1 showed that it fell on deaf ears.
As the Mercedes driver approached Hadjar, the French-Algerian driver signalled for him to move on and brushed off the apology before getting out of the car.
At the time of ...Keep reading

During pre-race inspection for the NASCAR Cup race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, four different race teams failed twice ahead of practice and qualifying -- three Chevrolets and one Ford.
As a result, they have all been issued the standard penalties for such failures, which includes the ejection of the car chief for the remainder of the race weekend.
They are the #24 Hendrick Motorsports ...Keep reading

Thierry Neuville believes this year’s edition of the Safari Rally Kenya is “probably the toughest rally ever seen” as crews battled against brutal conditions to survive the stages.
The Hyundai driver was among a list of heavy hitters that included Oliver Solberg, Sébastien Ogier, Elfyn Evans and Josh McErlean, who were all forced to retire as the conditions inflicted terminal damage to ...Keep reading

It's no overstatement that Williams's start to 2026 has been a disaster. From a sample size of three qualifying sessions in Melbourne and Shanghai, its highest qualifying position is Alex Albon's 15th place on the grid in Australia, when team-mate Carlos Sainz didn't make qualifying after hitting trouble in third free practice.
In China, Sainz and Albon were dumped out in Q1 in 17th and 18th ...Keep reading