NASCAR news

[HossC]

Kimi Antonelli took another pole at yesterday's Belgian Grand Prix ahead of Max Verstappen, George Russell and the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton. World Champion Lando Norris had to start from 13th after he got a 10-place grid drop for using too many engine components in a season. 

Max briefly took the lead on the first lap before dropping back to third, and Lewis hit George, ending George's race and earning Lewis a 5-second penalty. After the resulting safety car, Max got back to second and Oscar Piastri moved to third before both Ferraris got ahead of him. There were a couple of short VSCs (virtual safety cars) which mixed the order a little through the pit stops. Lewis failed to receive the front wing tweak he wanted and knocked over a mechanic as he left the pits. The mechanic was unhurt, and although the incident was investigated after the race, it didn't affect the outcome.

Despite being shuffled back to third in the pit stops, Kimi retook the lead with 10 laps to go and went on to take another win. Behind him were Charles, Max and Lewis. Lewis' fourth place was enough to move him to second place in the Drivers' Championship ahead of the non-finishing George. The race highlights are here.

Next week's Hungarian Grand Prix is the last before the summer break, and several teams will have upgrades for the race.

[HossC]

The Ferraris looked fastest in practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix at the weekend, but it was World Champion Lando Norris who took pole in his McLaren. Both Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) and Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) got 3-place grid penalties for separate incidents in qualifying.

Off the line, Lando initially got a perfect getaway, but went wide a few corners in and lost the lead to his team mate Oscar Piastri. Both Ferraris also got good starts as did Max Verstappen. These five then swapped positions a bit though different pit strategies, and Lando managed to take back the lead from Oscar. Sadly for Oscar, his gearbox failed on lap 56 (of 70) and he had to retire from second place.

At the flag, Lando took his first win of the year followed by Max. Kimi recovered well to take third, and after Lewis managed to pick up a pit lane speeding penalty, he was demoted to fifth behind Charles Leclerc. That's still four different teams in the top four places. You can see the highlights here.

Kimi has now extended his lead to 50 points over Lewis, which is two race wins.

F1 now takes its annual 4-week break, during which time the factories have to shut for two weeks to give their globe-trotting staff a break.

One bit of extra F1 news today: if there's still war in the Middle East at the end of the season, the finale will be held in Europe.

[Hobie Hartkins]

I still think Ferraris, over all, are faster than McLaren's !!

[RogerDuke]

Ducati is now making dirt bikes. 

And (Hoss might be interested in this) Triumph is too. 

[HossC]

I'm a bit late this week...

F1 was back at the weekend after its summer break with the last Dutch Grand Prix for the foreseeable future. Local hero Max Verstappen chose this race to announce that he's staying with Red Bull for a few more years, but the contract to host the event ends this year.

Aston Martin finally seem to be making a bit of progress after major upgrades at this and the previous race. However, US based teams Haas and Cadillac appear to be slipping backwards with the latter replacing their team principal during the break.

Red Bull's Isack Hadjar injured his wrist during the break meaning he had to miss the race. Liam Lawson got a temporary promotion from Red Bull's second team Racing Bulls, and his place was taken by Yuki Tsunoda. 

Mercedes driver George Russell took pole for the sprint race and converted it to a win in what turned out to be a fairly processional race with little overtaking.

George could only manage second place on the grid for the main race with McLaren's Lando Norris taking pole in a car that he didn't rate as fast enough. Championship leader Kimi Antonelli started third ahead of the McLaren of Oscar Piastri and the Ferraris of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. Max could only manage seventh in his Red Bull.

Sadly, Max's last home grand prix finished at the end of the first lap when he was caught out by a slightly damp track at hit the wall hard off the last bend. This resulted in a lengthy red flag.

Kimi made up one place at the first start and took the lead after the second. Oscar also made a good second start, but then got passed by both Ferraris. Once Lando retook the lead he converted it to another win with Kimi and George behind. Lewis had to settle for fourth although he may have got third if his team had let him pass his team mate a few laps earlier. Liam Lawson got seventh in his stand-in drive and Fernando Alonso tripled his points total by finishing ninth. You can see the highlights here.

Kimi has now extended his lead and George is back in second, although he has the same number of points as Lewis.

The next race is in just over a week with the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.