From Motorsport.com

  • Sainz: Ferrari F1 upgrade expectations "completely out of reality"

    Ferrari brought a comprehensive set of upgrades to its first of two home races, which it had shaken down during a filming day at Fiorano last week. The update covered a lot of areas on the car, including the floor, the wings, sidepod and engine cover, raising hopes of the tifosi that following McLaren's leap forward in Miami with its own spec update, Ferrari could be next to challenge Red Bull at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Qualifying on Saturday burst that bubble, with Sainz and team-mate...

  • 2024 F1 Imola GP qualifying results: Verstappen takes pole

    Verstappen will start ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc after the one-hour qualifying session, which is split into three segments with five cars each being knocked out in Q1 and Q2 before the top-10 shootout of Q3. Norris's team-mate Oscar Piastri had qualified second, but dropped to fifth after a three-place grid penalty was assessed after he held up that Haas of Kevin Magnussen in Q1. Imola Grand Prix grid: Verstappen on pole from Norris  Cla   Nº   Driver   Car...

  • NASCAR All-Star Race: Logano earns pole, Bell wins pit crew challenge

    The qualifying session, which was postponed from Friday due to rain at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway, featured a three-lap run with the driver completing a four-tire pit stop with mock fuel delivery on the second lap. Logano, who drives the No. 22 Ford for Team Penske, proved to be exceptionally fast on track and led the leaderboard with an average lap speed of 75.206 mph, and yet his pit crew had the fifth-best stop on pit road. Logano will start first in his heat race Saturday night but...

  • Engine issue derails Kyle Larson’s first Indy 500 qualifying run

    The NASCAR Cup star went out sixth among the 34 drivers, speeding to a quick opening lap of 232.719mph in the No. 17 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, which is also co-owned by legendary NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick. Larson managed to keep a strong run together by running 232.318mph on his second lap and then 232.299mph on the third circuit around the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway. But his fourth lap came undone on the upshift out of Turn 1 into the short chute before Turn 2 as the engine pitch...

  • Rinus VeeKay limps away from major Indy 500 qualifying crash

    The 23-year-old Dutchman, who was expected to be a strong contender for pole position this weekend, was the fourth of 34 drivers to go out and attack Indianapolis Motorsport Speedway’s fastest four laps, over 10 miles, of the season. VeeKay – who was just 0.004s and 0.006mph away from Alex Palou’s pole-winning four-lap average last year – made his maiden 2024 qualifying run directly after the No. 8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda of IndyCar Series rookie Kyffin Simpson. After establishing a quick...

  • F1 Imola GP: McLaren fastest as Alonso and Perez crash out of FP3

    Perez’s late shunt at the Variante Alta led to a last-gasp scramble for drivers to set final qualifying simulation times, where only Lando Norris was able to set a time that put him second, 0.3s slower than his team-mate. A host of drivers failed to set a time in this late scramble, including Max Verstappen, who now heads into qualifying without a proper sighter on the soft tyres, as he and Perez spent the early part of the session concentrating on their overnight set-up work on the medium...

  • F1 Imola GP: Leclerc leads opening practice, Verstappen struggles

    Leclerc set the session’s best time – a 1m16.990s – aboard the updated Ferrari shortly after the one-hour FP1 action was stopped by Alex Albon’s Williams shutting down after he hit a kerb hard and ran down the Imola track from Piratella to Acque Minerali, where he stopped on the inside. Leclerc’s time was set with a second set of soft tyres and pipped Mercedes’ George Russell by 0.104s – the Briton in contention for the leading time even during the early running on harder tyres. Carlos Sainz...

  • Mercedes delivers fresh batch of F1 car upgrades at Imola

    The rear wing’s tip section has been completely overhauled as part of the redesign, with the team having already switched to a semi-detached layout for 2024. Based on what was revealed in the Imola pitlane on Friday, it has now pushed its variant in a new direction. The tip section still sits proud of the endplate as a small bracket raises it clear of the lower element. However, the tip section now reaches much further down over the rolled endplate and mainplane junction. These changes have been...

  • How Verstappen plans to fit Nurburgring 24 sim race into Imola F1 weekend

    While participating on a Team Redline - the sim racing team he drives for - stream, Verstappen announced a few days ago that he was keen to join the team for the 24-hour race despite the Imola race taking place on the same weekend. Verstappen explained on Thursday that his participation in the iRacing event on the renowned Nordschleife circuit is not yet decided, but the three-time champion nonetheless feels that he should be able to do both over. Verstappen has taken delivery of a new simulator...

  • Why Vettel wanted to lead a Senna F1 tribute at Imola

    Vettel will take Senna's 1993 McLaren MP48 for a lap of honour on Sunday at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, marking the 30th anniversary of the Brazilian's passing at the Italian circuit. Keeping Senna's memory alive in the paddock, Vettel hosted a track run on Thursday with drivers from F1, F2 and F3 donning 'Forever' shirts the iconic yellow helmet design, in his honour. Speaking before the lap, which included a moment of remembrance at the Senna memorial, Vettel was asked if F1 was being quick...

  • Schumacher F1 watches top $4 million after cyber-attack delays auction

    The personal collection belonging to the seven-time F1 world champion reached a total of 4 million Swiss Francs ($4.41 million). The collection was set to go under the hammer at Christie’s Auction House in Geneva on Monday but was postponed to Tuesday due to a cyber-attack. The item that attracted the most attention was a unique Platinum Vagabondage 1 that had been commissioned for Schumacher as a personal gift from his former Ferrari boss Jean Todt. The watch showcases the strong bond between...

  • IMSA Laguna Seca: Porsche beats Cadillac after last-gasp Tandy pass

    Tandy (Porsche Penske Motorsport 963) passed Cadillac’s Jack Aitken inside the final dozen minutes of the 2h40m event that was run for GTP and GTD machinery only. The win was Roger Penske’s 100th victory in sportscar competition. Sebastien Bourdais, having whirled the Chip Ganassi-run Cadillac V-Series.R to a new track record in qualifying, led the field to green from Pipo Derani’s Action Express-run variant, who challenged at the outside of the Andretti Hairpin but couldn’t fashion an opening....