Discussions about holding a race in Miami have been ongoing for years, but on Sunday F1 chiefs finally confirmed that a 10-year deal has been agreed to hold a race around the Hard Rock Stadium. A brand new 5.41-kilometre track is being built to hold the event. The 19-turn configuration runs on land around the home of the Miami Dolphins and has a mixture of tight corners and high speed sections. No date has been set for the race, and its slot could well depend on what the plans are for the United States Grand Prix in Austin. Discussions are underway for a new contract there from 2022, but nothing has been agreed yet. The Austin event has most recently taken place in the autumn. While logistically it would make sense to hold the two USA races back-to-back, F1 could also choose to split the grands prix in to separate parts of the year to help spread out the impact that the sport has in the country. F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali believed a second race in America would be a … [Read more...] about Miami Grand Prix joins 2022 F1 calendar
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Tasmania Supercars: Waters sweeps Sunday poles
The Tickford driver emerged on top of what was effectively a quartet of qualifying sessions under the confusing Group A/B system. He set a 50.764s in his eight-minute heat for the Race 2 grid, which put him on top of Group A. Nobody in Group B was able to run it down either, Jamie Whincup going closest with a 50.866s. For the Race 3 grid it was an all-Group A battle at the front, Waters going up against former teammate and fierce rival Chaz Mostert. The pair were separated by just 0.01s at the end of the five-minute session as Waters took a second-straight pole with a 50.562s. Speaking post-session Waters said he was surprised by the pole sweep, and that there's still question marks over his tyre life for the races. "The car has improved a little but over night," he said. "In the first session I didn't get everything out of it, then I did a much better job in the second one. I'm a little bit surprised to get both poles. "A bit of tyre life would be … [Read more...] about Tasmania Supercars: Waters sweeps Sunday poles
Mercedes: Tyre warm-up issue caused Bottas’ Q3 struggles
After losing out to Red Bull in the fight for pole at the Bahrain Grand Prix three weeks ago, Mercedes struck back at Imola as Lewis Hamilton topped qualifying on Saturday. But teammate Bottas endured a more difficult end to qualifying as he faded to eighth place in the final classification, finishing almost half a second off Hamilton’s lap time. It marked a big setback for Bottas, who led both practices on Friday and topped Q1 with a lap time that would have placed him fourth on the grid had it been set in Q3. Bottas said after the session that he had struggled with rear-end instability when it mattered in Q3, lacking confidence at corner-entry, and wanted Mercedes to check over his car to investigate what caused the problem. “I couldn’t trust the rear end of the car, and it was something that I didn’t feel in the whole qualifying before that,” Bottas said. “So I don’t know what happened. I need to investigate. For sure, [it’s] disappointing.” Read Also: … [Read more...] about Mercedes: Tyre warm-up issue caused Bottas’ Q3 struggles
Tasmania Supercars: Whincup snaps van Gisbergen’s winning streak
Pole-sitter Cam Waters led across the first stint, although it was never a comfortable lead. From the word go he had Whincup under his rear wing, while van Gisbergen joined the battle for the lead at the Lap 10 mark after making good early progress from sixth on the grid. Waters opted for an early stop on Lap 13, Whincup almost following him into the lane before making a last-second decision to stay out and take over the lead. He kept van Gisbergen at arm's length for the next six laps before serving his stop, re-emerging back behind Waters, who had benefited from the undercut. The benefit was short lived, though, Tickford's ongoing tyre degradation issues leaving Waters as a sitting duck. On Lap 26 Whincup got his nose under Waters at the hairpin, the pair knocking doors as they drag raced down the back straight before Whincup eased into the lead at Turn 6. From there he just had to manage the gap back to van Gisbergen, Whincup successfully snapping his … [Read more...] about Tasmania Supercars: Whincup snaps van Gisbergen’s winning streak
Williams: Latifi’s strong Imola F1 form “disturbed” Russell
Russell explained after qualifying that he had been “just confused” why Latifi had “had the upper hand on me every single lap” throughout practice and Q1, with the Briton trailing in each session except FP3. In Q2, however, Russell reversed the Williams’ drivers fortunes to maintain his 100% qualifying record against teammates at the team – his only F1 qualifying defeat to a teammate being his loss against Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas when he stood in for Lewis Hamilton at the 2020 Sakhir Grand Prix. Russell said “everything came alive, the car felt great” when the Williams drivers used a set of medium tyres for their first runs in Q2 – the first time the duo had reached the middle segment of qualifying together for the first time since the 2020 Hungarian GP – and he stayed ahead of Latifi when they switched back to the softs to seal 12th and 14th on the grid. When asked by Autosport what was behind Russell’s Q2 improvement, Williams’ head of vehicle performance, Dave … [Read more...] about Williams: Latifi’s strong Imola F1 form “disturbed” Russell