Forces pushes and pulls

After a delay of almost two hours due to rain, the very first MotoGP race on Indian soil got underway on Saturday with the shortened sprint contest. Run in dry conditions over 11 laps, Pramac Ducati rider Jorge Martin dominated the race by 1.389 seconds over championship leader Francesco Bagnaia . It has cut the factory Ducati rider's lead down to 33 points and marked Martin's fourth sprint success of the 2023 season. It also allowed Martin to pull further clear of VR46 Ducati rider Marco Bezzecchi in second in the standings, with this gap up to 36 points. Read Also: MotoGP Indian GP: Martin dominates chaotic sprint, Marquez third Bezzecchi was forced into a recovery ride having gotten a bad launch from pole position in the sprint. Team-mate Marini got a better launch from fourth and was able to draw alongside Bezzecchi into Turn 1, but outbraked himself and collided with his team-mate. Marini was taken out of the race on the spot while Bezzecchi … [Read more...] about Marini fractures collarbone in MotoGP sprint race crash with team-mate

Following a long delay to help dry up the starting grid, the 11-lap sprint got underway just after 5pm local time at the Buddh International Circuit, with VR46's Marco Bezzecchi starting from pole ahead of Pramac's Martin and team-mate Luca Marini . Martin got the best launch of the trio and immediately grabbed the lead, while Bezzecchi was trying to consolidate second when his team-mate Marini got the braking wrong for the tricky Turn 1, slamming into the back of his Ducati and sending him off the track. This gave Martin some clear air as he navigated the opening right-hander, with championship leader Francesco Bagnaia moving to second on the factory Ducati ahead of factory Honda duo Joan Mir and Marc Marquez . Martin was already a second clear of the chasing pack by the end of lap 2, with his Pramac-run Ducati clearly quicker than the works-entered GP22 of Bagnaia. Martin would pull out a lead of nearly three seconds by the middle part of the race but eased off … [Read more...] about MotoGP Indian GP: Martin dominates chaotic sprint, Marquez third

After a "nightmare" Friday, Hamilton was much happier with his W14 thanks to overnight changes, but he still faced a tricky balance come qualifying. As high as fourth in Q2, Hamilton took seventh place in Q3, immediately ahead of team-mate George Russell . The outcome clearly benchmarked the Mercedes as the fourth-best car at Suzuka after the Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari . Hamilton admitted that he couldn't have got any more out of the car after some set-up changes overnight. "I was really much, much happy with qualifying," he noted. "Yesterday, it started off looking like it was not going to be so great! But I think the set-up was in the right direction. And then from P3 to qualifying, I made another setup change. "And I was really happy with that. But just really hard to pull any more out of it. I'm already on the knife-edge with the rear end the whole way through the lap, all the way through." He added: "We have a very peaky car. When we talk about … [Read more...] about Hamilton: Lack of rear downforce leaves W14 on “knife-edge” at Suzuka

The Abt Audi driver recorded his first triumph since 2021, finishing almost two seconds clear of Laurin Heinrich , who led the first phase of the race from pole position. Van der Linde's team-mate Ricardo Feller prevailed in a thrilling late scrap with Rene Rast to take the final podium spot, while championship leader Mirko Bortolotti came home in ninth. The race started on a damp track, with most of the field opting for wet-weather tyres. Team 75 Motorsport Porsche driver Heinrich converted a maiden pole into the lead at turn one, but then was challenged on the climb to turn three by van der Linde. Heinrich managed to prevail in that battle, with van der Linde slipping to fifth after running wide and then getting swamped on the run to turn four by Heinrich's team-mate Ayhancan Guven, Mercedes-AMG driver Maro Engel and championship contender Thomas Preining . Heinrich pulled out a three-second advantage over Engel in the early stages, while van der Linde recovered … [Read more...] about DTM Red Bull Ring: Van der Linde takes first win of 2023 in wet-dry contest

Marquez’s existing deal with Honda covers the 2024 season, but in recent weeks has he become heavily linked to a shock switch to Gresini to ride a year-old Ducati amid ongoing difficulties with the RC213V in 2023. Following a difficult test at Misano earlier this month where the 2024 Honda prototype failed to perform as per his expectations, Marquez openly said he has three options at his disposal, without naming what exactly there are. Ducati sporting boss Paolo Ciabatti fuelled the Gresini rumour on Saturday at the Indian Grand Prix when the stated in a TV interview that the way is open for Marquez to join the Ducati satellite squad next year. Responding to comments from Ciabatti, Marquez said that doesn’t want to share his thought process as he finalises his plans for next year, but made it clear that he will take into account how his decision could impact others - including Honda. “Obviously, I heard about those comments,” he said following the Indian GP sprint race on … [Read more...] about Marquez will take Honda’s interests into account while finalising MotoGP future

The iconic figure-of-eight track has always been punishing on its rubber, but things could well be a bit more extreme this time around. Race day is expected to be another scorcher, and complaints that George Russell mentioned on Friday about a "strange" sliding have been caused by a track surface that has had a 15% drop in macro roughness (so effective grip) compared to 12 months ago. As Ferrari's Charles Leclerc said: "Especially with the very warm temperatures this year, the overheating is really, really bad. So, I expect that it [the race] will be all about the tyre management and the strategy." A two-stopper looks nailed on then, but it comes with not all teams having the luxury of what appears to be the ideal tyre allocation to get them through without much drama. F1 tyre supplier Pirelli thinks the best approach to the race is to start on the soft, run through until laps 12-18, and then split the rest of the grand prix up into two hard stints. But that is … [Read more...] about Are Red Bull and Ferrari on back foot for potential Japanese GP tyre wrecker?

Home Off beat The IndianOil Grand Prix saw some thrilling motor racing action as Jorge Martin, Marco Bezzecchi, and Marc Marquez took center stage on the Buddh International Circuit. With top honors and pole position seized by Martin and Bezzecchi respectively, the anticipation for the main Sunday event is high. -Irwin Mills By Irwin Mills Updated: Saturday, September 23, 2023, 20:13 [IST] At the IndianOil Grand Prix of India, Jorge Martin took top honors in the Tissot Sprint, while Marco Bezzecchi from Mooney VR46 Racing Team seized pole position. Championship leader Bagnaia came second and eight-time world champion Marc Marquez secured the third position, marking his second season podium appearance. Jorge Martin's triumphant performance settings at the Buddh International Circuit could be seen as a thrilling preview of what's to come in Sunday’s main event, the IndianOil Grand Prix of India. Earlier that day, Marco Bezzecchi blazed … [Read more...] about The Battle for Supremacy: MotoGP India Sprint Race and Qualifying Report

The American badly damaged his car during a high-speed crash in qualifying on Saturday, which has forced a change of chassis. The FIA discovered, however, that the team had assembled its spare car far more than was normally allowed according to the rules – so it was in effect judged to be a third car. Williams was summoned to the stewards on Sunday morning and explained that the problem was triggered by its mechanics beginning work on making up its spare chassis as soon as it became clear it had to be done. This was in theory done before teams are allowed to start such work. Following the stewards’ hearing, the FIA accepted the explanation from Williams about what happened, but said that it was mandated for it to hand down a penalty. With the change of chassis already automatically meaning Sargeant must start from the pitlane, it was decided that a further 10-second penalty would be given. A statement from the FIA said that it was aware of there being an issue in the … [Read more...] about Sargeant handed penalty for third car rules breach ahead of F1 Japanese GP

Preparing their spare chassis “to more than an assembly comprising a survival cell”, Logan Sargeant has a 10-second penalty even before the first lap of the Japanese Grand Prix for Williams breaching third car rules. Sargeant suffered a big crash in Saturday’s Q1 at the Suzuka circuit when a snap of oversteer through the final corner put him onto the grass. Unable to control the car, he crashed into the barrier causing a significant amount of damage to the left side of his FW45. Williams forced into making extensive changes to get Logan Sargeant into the race He’ll now line up in the pit lane on Sunday as Williams have opted to make set-up changes while he also has a new chassis, gearbox, engine, wings, and suspensions. The changes are extensive, so extensive there was talk of this being a “third car”. The FIA confirmed this with Technical Delegate Jo Bauer saying: “Last night the Williams Racing team worked on car number 02, chassis 03, two hours after the chequered flag … [Read more...] about Logan Sargeant hit with 10-second penalty after Williams breach ‘third car’ regulations