Motoring News

Jimmie Johnson will end his NASCAR Cup Series career a year from now with 702 starts in the 69th Daytona 500.
Sure, his full-time career with Hendrick Motorsports ended after the 2020 season and then came a chapter that included IMSA and IndyCar with Chip Ganassi Racing but the seven-time Cup champion returned home as a team owner with Legacy Motor Club in 2023.
Since then, Johnson has made ...Keep reading

Ducati is betting on using the same engine base that has been sweeping MotoGP since 2024, extending its useful life until the introduction of the new technical regulations in 2027.
When Marc Marquez arrived in the official Ducati garage at the Valencia test in November 2024 to compare the GP24 and GP25, he understood that the difference between the prototypes he was testing and the GP23 he ...Keep reading

F1.com's Lawrence Barretto tries to answer the five key questions that came out of the first pre-season test at the Bahrain International Circuit.

Just under a year ago the first rumours emerged that Max Verstappen was actively trying to extract himself from Red Bull, and perhaps Formula 1 entirely.
The team's general pattern of underperformance in the first half of the 2024 season left the way open for Verstappen to trigger a performance clause in his contract – and, more worryingly for Red Bull, he appeared to be losing interest in F1 ...Keep reading

Johann Zarco heads into the 2026 MotoGP season looking to re-establish himself alongside factory Honda riders Joan Mir and Luca Marini, even if he knows the solution will not be as simple as copying their set-up.
Zarco effectively carried Honda through its most difficult period in 2024 and early 2025, delivering a famous victory at the rain-hit French Grand Prix last year before notching up ...Keep reading

A jaded Max Verstappen sarcastically suggested Formula 1 drivers might have to brake halfway down the Las Vegas Strip to harvest energy.
F1 introduced new power units for the 2026 season with an expanded electric element, meaning energy management is taking greater preponderance.
As a consequence, top speed can decrease at full throttle when cars run out of energy deployment; drivers are ...Keep reading

World Rally Championship title contender Elfyn Evans reclaimed the lead at Rally Sweden after delivering an impressive display through Saturday morning’s stages.
The Toyota driver trailed his team-mate Takamoto Katsuta by 2.8s heading into the morning loop of snow stages, but exited the tricky tests with a 16.1s lead over his rival. 
Hyundai continued to struggle for traction that again ...Keep reading

Charles Leclerc is staying “really cautious” about Ferrari’s 2026 prospects, despite the Scuderia enjoying “positive” reliability during the first pre-season test in Bahrain, with the Monegasque suggesting that while performance remains an unknown, Mercedes are 'hiding a massive amount'.

Max Verstappen has hailed Red Bull’s good start with their new power unit at pre-season testing as “very positive”, the Dutchman admitting that the performance has been “amazing to see” from a new manufacturer.

With the first three days of 2026 pre-season testing in Bahrain now done and dusted, F1.com takes a closer look at the key numbers.

Fernando Alonso says Formula 1 drivers now have to drive 50km/h slower in high-speed corners to get the most out of the 2026 cars.
Meeting brand-new chassis and engine regulations, F1 machinery now features a much greater electric element, which has made energy management preponderant in terms of driving.
F1 racers now need to harvest as much energy as possible under deceleration to deploy ...Keep reading

Following the opening rounds of the WSK Super Master Series at La Conca and Sarno, the 2026 international karting season is ready to enter its most intense phase with the debut of the WSK Euro Series.
The event will take place today (14 February) at the Leopard Circuit in Viterbo, where approximately 260 drivers are expected for the first of the three rounds: Viterbo, Lonato and ...Keep reading

Formula E star Lucas di Grassi believes the 2026 Formula 1 cars have been designed “extremely badly”, as he questioned the logic behind the new regulations.
F1 has introduced a new set of power units this year as part of a wider technical overhaul, with the MGU-K system becoming more powerful and accounting for nearly half of the total output of the car.
These new rules have received ...Keep reading

Mercedes Formula 1 driver George Russell says his squad is now on the back foot as Red Bull is the "team to beat" at the start of 2026.
Mercedes was put on the pedestal before the start of pre-season testing amid rumours over its powerful new engine, and its reliable running in Barcelona's shakedown did little to dispel that the Brackley-based squad was poised to kick off the new rules era on ...Keep reading

Faith is a fundamental component to who Chandler Smith is as a man, father, husband and racer, so it comes to no surprise that he leaned on his convictions in articulating the range of emotions from missing the Daytona 500 to winning in the Truck Series 24 hours later.
“Truthfully, I pray a certain prayer before every race, and most of my prayers are very consistent in the certain sense of ...Keep reading

Chandler Smith was running sixth entering Turn 3, but he ended the night holding the checkered flag. He didn’t benefit from a wreck, but instead made a dramatic four-wide pass for the lead as the field drag-raced to the finish line. He beat runner-up Gio Ruggiero to the line by 0.044s, and just 0.069s separated the entire top five in the end.
John-Hunter Nemechek had the lead exiting the ...Keep reading

Tony Stewart hasn't competed in NASCAR since 2018, and he hasn't raced in the NASCAR Truck Series in almost twenty years, so there was a lot of hype around him on Friday night as he returned to drive a Ram Truck.
Unfortunately, we didn't get to see much of Smoke, as he ran towards the back of the pack through the first two stages while the Kaulig Racing team worked on the handling of his ...Keep reading

After making a handful of starts in the ARCA Menard's Series race last year, Cleetus McFarland (real name Garrett Mitchell) made the jump up into the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for the 2026 season-opener.
Making his Truck Series debut with Niece Motorsports, Mitchell was running inside the top ten early in the event, but he never got the opportunity to do much as his race came to an abrupt ...Keep reading

F1 wrapped up the first of two official pre-season tests in Bahrain on Friday, with drivers continuing to learn more about their new-for-2026 machines – which boast plenty of interesting technical features...

Catch up on the big talking points from Day 3 of the first pre-season test in Bahrain with the F1 TV crew.