NBA legend and basketball player LeBron James will wave the French tricolor to signal the start of the 24 Hours of Le Mans this coming Saturday.

James, who is the all-time leading scorer in NBA history, plays for the Los Angeles Lakers. He’s a giant and a legend of world sport — a fitting person to wave the flag to start the centenary of one of, if not the, greatest races in the world.

Previous honorary starters include film stars Brad Pitt, Steve McQueen, and Alain Delon, plus sports lumimnaries such as Rafael Nadal, and politicians such as former French president Georges Pompidou.

“King James”, as he’s known, will wave the famous red, white and blue flag to signal the beginning of the 100th French endurance classic at 4pm local time on Saturday 10th June.

“There’s nothing like seeing and experiencing sports at their highest level,” said James

“It’s an honor for me to be part of this historic moment in motor sport and help celebrate the Centenary of one of the biggest sporting events in the world. I look forward to kicking off this iconic race and watching its world class drivers compete on Le Mans’ global stage.”

Pierre Fillon, meanwhile, the Automobile Club de l’Ouest President, said: “I am thrilled to welcome LeBron James to the 24 Hours of Le Mans Centenary and thank him most sincerely for accepting our invitation. 

“The 24 Hours of Le Mans is a world-renowned event that, in the past, has welcomed some great names from various fields. LeBron James is a true sporting legend whose list of achievements and records commands respect and admiration. 

“We are looking forward to introducing him to the unique Le Mans atmosphere and the excitement generated by the Centenary of the world’s greatest endurance race.”

During the majority of Sunday’s Detroit Grand Prix, Alex Palou was at the head of the field. He started on pole, led 74 of the 100 laps, and took his first street course victory.

There was a moment in the middle of the race, however, when he lost the lead to Will Power on a restart. The position swap was not just a difference in tire compounds, Palou was having to quickly manage a problem of his own doing.

Just before he was released for the mid-race restart, the Spaniard attempted to shift gears while warming his tires aggressively. That action caused his car to halt all gear changes in order to prevent damage to the gearbox.

Palou had to scramble in the cockpit to get his Chip Ganassi Honda back into working condition, and he flipped on ‘emergency mode’ to free everything up just as he was accelerating down the long straight.

His quick thinking to re-enable his gearbox in time for the restart is what allowed him to lose only one position in the run down to the hairpin, even with the entire field bunched up behind him.

“It was because I was trying – I think, I haven’t spoken to the team yet – but I was trying to warm up the rear tires,” Palou explained. “I up-shifted into second when we were wheel-spinning.

“It got stuck in first. I got stuck. I couldn’t really shift. Before [the pit wall] told me, because I was already heading to turn two, I switched to emergency mode because that’s the only way to take all the issues out.

“It went well, but you lose a lot of performance up-shifting. That’s why Will [Power] got us, until exit of turn three I got it back to normal, then it was all right. It was not something from Honda or the team. It was a driver issue that we had, yeah.”

Palou further described that it was a pretty frantic few turns as he mentally ran through the checklist of things that could be wrong and hoped that the problem cleared up by changing modes.

“Well, that was really a panic mode because I didn’t really know what to do. I didn’t know if it was going to work or not because if you get stuck in one gear, you’re done. That was a pretty busy moment.”

Palou was able to take the lead back from Power nine laps later, and stayed ahead of him through to the finish despite a couple late surges from the reigning series champion.

He now has a comfortable 51 point lead after round seven, nearly the total available at a single event.

Nelson Piquet has unsuccessfully attempted to overturn a court’s decision to fine him for racist comments directed towards Lewis Hamilton.

Last year, Piquet’s remarks surfaced from an interview he gave in November 2021. 

The three-time F1 champion was heavily criticised by the sport itself and Mercedes, Hamilton’s team.

Piquet was ordered to pay a fine of almost $1m, and his attempts to appeal the verdict have failed, according to Globo.

Nelson is also the father of Kelly Piquet, who is currently in a relationship with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

Verstappen offered a defence for the Brazilian after the situation arose, insisting that the 70-year-old is “not racist”.

However, Hamilton, who is an honourary citizen of Brazil, praised the country’s government for issuing a punishment to Piquet.

“I would like to acknowledge the Brazilian government, I think it’s pretty amazing what they have done in holding someone accountable, showing people that it’s not tolerated – racism and homophobia is not acceptable and there is no place for it within our society,” he said earlier this year.

“So I love that they have shown that they stand for something. I wish more governments out there would do that.

“Such as you’ve seen in Uganda and over 30 countries in Africa and the Middle East, there’s a lot that can be learned from that.”

Christian Horner strongly considered leaving Red Bull for Ferrari late in 2022, according to the Austrian side’s advisor Helmut Marko.

Horner has been an ever-present figure at the helm of the Milton-Keynes-based side since Red Bull founder Dietrich Mateschitz purchased the floundering Minardi team in time for the 2005 season.

Since his appointment Red Bull has won six Drivers’ Championships along with five Constructors’ Championships and appear poised to retain both titles this year, having won all seven races to take place in 2023.

However, history might’ve looked slightly different if Ferrari – without a Formula 1 title since 2008 – had been successful in courting both Horner and Red Bull Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey.

F1’s most successful ever engineer confirmed in a recent interview with Sky Sports Italy that he has received multiple offers from the prized Italian marque in the past.

“I was very tempted to go there [Ferrari] in the past, it’s a legendary brand,” Newey explained. “They contacted me in 1993, I think, and then in 1997, when I went from Williams to McLaren.

“And that was a very difficult choice. At the time, my children were very young and I didn’t want them to change schools.

“If I had gone to Ferrari I would have had to move to Italy and it would have been complicated. This has had an impact.”

Newey stopped short of mentioning the third, and biggest, attempt Ferrari made for his talents – a huge ploy in 2014 that comprised a “ridiculously large” financial offer.

While Newey has been open on Ferrari’s pursuit of his signature, Marko has since expanded on the details further, asserting that Red Bull previously had to intervene at the last moment to stop the technical guru trading Milton-Keynes for Maranello.

“[Luca di] Montezemelo was already cheering in the paddock and wanted to announce the deal,” Marko disclosed to Swiss newspaper Blick.

“But during the night we were able to change Newey’s mind.”

Now, Marko has also revealed that the same process occurred when Ferrari became interested in hiring Horner at the end of last year to replace the outgoing Mattia Binotto.

“It took me another whole night to convince Horner to stay at Red Bull,” the 80-year-old added. “And it cost us millions more.”

But Horner stayed put and has since stated that he can’t foresee himself ending up leading another team in F1 beyond Red Bull.

Meanwhile, Ferrari opted to entrust ex-Renault and Alfa Romeo chief Frederic Vasseur to try and build on its return to winning ways last year.

However, while Red Bull has continued its domination from the second half of last year to blitz the opening stages of the latest campaign, Ferrari has fallen further behind.

The Scuderia have only scored a single podium across the first seven races and sit fourth in the Constructors’ standings – already a massive 177 points behind Red Bull at the top.

During Sunday’s IndyCar race around the streets of Detroit, Felix Rosenqvist and Alexander Rossi found themselves battling against each other for a spot on the podium.

There was not just one swap of position, but a few different instances of side by side action from the team-mates in the closing laps.

The bosses in the pit lane gave them leave to battle it out as they saw fit, and both drivers were skilled enough to keep their cars in one piece. Although, they didn’t give each other much extra room either.

Speaking after the race, Rosenqvist talked about his respect for Rossi and how he feels there was no problem to be fighting his team-mate so hard for position.

“I mean, we race hard, but I think we also race fair,” said Rosenqvist. “Obviously we like each other. We don’t have any intentions to put each other in the wall. But, yeah, it was tight.

“I think the move wasn’t really high-risk. I was completely alongside him into [turn] three. Yeah, just gets tight, man. It’s so close. He squeezed me a little bit on entry, I squeezed him a little bit on exit.

“I think it’s a good problem to have. The Arrow McLaren cars have been up there every race. You’re going to find yourself in a situation where you’re fighting team-mates.

“I think it’s something we’ll discuss internally if we can manage it differently. Obviously there were no team calls on this one, which is cool. They let us battle it out on the track.

“I think Will [Power, with Team Penske] can explain how it works when you have a lot of good cars at the front. It’s a good problem to have.”

Despite the close quarters, everything worked out quite well for the two Arrow McLaren drivers this past weekend. Rosenqvist earned his first podium of the season and Rossi came home just behind in fifth.

The team’s three drivers have logged a combined 10 top-five finishes so far this season, putting them second for that particular statistic behind the Chip Ganassi Racing squad.

Fans always appreciate an extra helping of side by side racing, and will be hoping that the team continues to allow their drivers to race each other in future races despite the high risk.

Max Verstappen strengthened his grasp on the Formula 1 title in 2023 with another commanding drive at the Spanish Grand Prix.  

But on a weekend where several high-profile drivers were caught out by changing conditions, who tailed the reigning World Champion in impressing on the track?  

Max Verstappen – 10

Qualified: P1, Race: P1

An utterly dominant and flawless drive from the reigning World Champion. He led every practice session, topped two of the three stages in qualifying as he sauntered to an unopposed pole position and then rounded it off with a masterfully controlled race drive to deliver a magnificent grand slam victory. 

The only minor blemish on his excellence was receiving the black and white flag for track limits – but even that, nor his team’s attempts to slow him down, could hinder a successful attempt to set the race’s fastest lap, notching him a bonus point to extend his lead at the top to a mammoth 53 points.

Sergio Perez – 5.5

Qualified: P11, Race: P4

Perez’s endeavour to bounce back from a disastrous Monaco weekend was derailed when an excursion at Turn 5 meant that he failed to reach Q3 for the second qualifying session in the space of a week. 

The Mexican attributed an unsuccessful attempt to adjust his driving style and changeable conditions throughout Saturday as the primary reasons for his early exit. 

Unlike in Monaco, Perez was able to utilise the array of overtaking opportunities in Barcelona to rise to fourth – but on a weekend where his team-mate dominated proceedings, even exceeding the team’s pre-race simulations wasn’t good enough for his rapidly dwindling championship aspirations.

Lewis Hamilton – 9

Qualified: P5 (Started: P4), Race: P2

Having feared he would struggle to make Q3 at the end of Friday, 24 hours later Hamilton expressed annoyance at missing out on a spot on the front row after committing a minor but costly error at Turn 10. 

Nevertheless, the Brit made a typically fast start to gain the high ground on Lando Norris – avoiding a puncture as the McLaren tagged his rear – before utilising the superior race day performance of the upgraded Mercedes W14 to move his way up to an encouraging second place at the close.

George Russell – 8

Qualified: P12, Race: P3

As Hamilton sailed effortlessly through qualifying, Russell was made to rue a set-up alteration between FP3 and qualifying for his surprise omission from Q3.

However, he made a surging start to make up multiple places on the opening lap, including immediately beating Perez off the line – a move that would prove crucial to scoring his first podium of the season. 

The one-time F1 race winner transpired to pull off a series of clinical overtakes and then had the pace in hand during the final stint to keep Perez at bay to claim third. 

Carlos Sainz – 8

Qualified: P2, Race: P5

With the sister Ferrari encountering issues, the Scuderia’s hopes in qualifying rested on Sainz’s shoulders and he rose to the occasion in front of his fanatical home crowd to register a best lap that entitled him to a starting place on the front row.

Although he surrendered positions to both Mercedes drivers and Perez once degradation became a hindering factor on his SF-23, Sainz’s drop to fifth by the end of the race was more reflective of the car’s struggles in race trim than the Spaniard’s own outright performance. 

Charles Leclerc – 4.5

Qualified: P19 (Started: Pit lane), Race: P11

Last year’s Spanish GP pole sitter provided the biggest headline from qualifying when he dropped out of the running in Q1. 

Having reported problems with the rear of his car in the left-hand corners – an issue subsequently supported by the data – Leclerc was withdrawn to the pit lane to allow the team to conduct changes.

Despite the engineers’ making alterations to his set-up and placing him on an alternate strategy, the Monegasque driver was unable to make enough headway in his opening stint on the hard tyre to ensure he elevated his way into the top 10 at the finish.

Fernando Alonso – 6.5

Qualified: P9 (Started: P8), Race: P7

After five podiums in six races, there was much anticipation that Alonso would be standing on the rostrum again at his home event – 10 years after his last appearance. 

However, the former two-time F1 champion’s chances of a top-three finish were dented when he endured a scrappy qualifying hour. Alonso ran wide into the gravel at the final corner in Q1 to pick up noticeable floor damage before a mistake on his solitary run in Q3 meant he could only muster ninth, five-tenths shy of team-mate Lance Stroll. 

Against the form book of previous rounds, the AMR23 was not able to recover from a qualifying deficit in race trim on this occasion, with Alonso declaring the Silverstone side simply lacked the speed to challenge its rivals in the Championship.

Lance Stroll – 8

Qualified: P6 (Started: P5), Race: P6

Stroll arrived in Barcelona as a man under pressure but he responded admirably to emphatically topple Alonso in qualifying for the first time as team-mates.

The Canadian took advantage of Hamilton and Norris’ Lap 1 contact to seize third, executing a clean move down the inside of the Mercedes into the Turn 5 hairpin. 

But that was as good as it got for Aston Martin as unforeseen degradation troubles – particularly on the soft compound – saw Stroll drop back to his qualifying position.

Esteban Ocon – 7

Qualified: P7 (Started: P6), Race: P8

The Monaco Grand Prix podium finisher was unable to replicate his one-lap exploits in Barcelona, dropping two-tenths and three places behind his team-mate in Q3. 

But Gasly’s penalty bumped Ocon up the order and a solid first lap paved the way for him to potentially land another huge haul. However, tyre troubles saw him get overtaken by ex-team-mate Fernando Alonso, bumping the Enstone squad’s lead representative to eighth. 

Pierre Gasly – 6.5

Qualified: P4 (Started: P10), Race: P10

Gasly had been frustrated to miss out on the opportunity for his own headline-grabbing result in Monaco but righted that wrong by sticking his Alpine fourth in qualifying.

However, like Leclerc last weekend, his joy was short-lived as he was deservedly hit with two separate three-place grid penalties for impeding Verstappen and Russell in Q1. 

A sluggish opening lap demoted him out of the top 10 altogether, but the Frenchman made a string of overtakes at the start of his second stint to at least assure Alpine of a third double points finish on the bounce.

Zhou Guanyu – 9

Qualified: P13, Race: P9

Following a couple of below-par weekends, the balance of power within Alfa Romeo swung back towards Zhou in Spain as he produced arguably his best weekend in F1.

The 24-year-old easily had the measure of Valtteri Bottas during an overcast qualifying and used that as a platform to score two well-earned points for the Hinwil outfit.

Valtteri Bottas – 3

Qualified: P16, Race: P19

If Bottas was left mystified by Zhou’s ability to escape the Q1 drop zone, the Finn would have been even more staggered to hear his Alfa Romeo partner had delivered a points finish in precisely the same machinery.

Following a strong Friday, Bottas ghosted the rest of the weekend, believing any chance of a comeback in the race was thwarted by picking up floor damage early on.

Yuki Tsunoda – 7.5

Qualified: P15, Race: P13

Although he squandered a higher starting spot by having his final run in Q2 deleted for track limits, Tsunoda’s breakthrough campaign looked set to churn out another impressive result when he occupied ninth place as the lap counter ticked onwards.

But the Japanese racer wasn’t rewarded for his efforts in the end, going home empty-handed and heavily incensed by the stewards’ decision to award him a five-second time penalty for forcing Zhou off at Turn 1.

Nyck de Vries – 5.5

Qualified: P14, Race: P12

The Dutch rookie out-qualified Tsunoda for the second consecutive weekend, yet that didn’t tell the full story of the respective pace comparison between the two AlphaTauris. 

De Vries was unable to maximise his starting position advantage, getting caught up on the inside into Turn 1 and spending the majority of the afternoon stuck behind slower cars.

Lando Norris – 6

Qualified: P3, Race: P17

Norris demonstrated precisely why he is deserving of better machinery than McLaren has served up in this regulation cycle by taking advantage of other drivers’ failings to place his car a stunning third in qualifying. 

While the Brit acknowledged McLaren’s race pace would mean points were still a tall order, he would have expected to run in the top 10 far longer than the first few corners. 

Having been caught out by Hamilton’s change in line and reduction in speed through Turn 2, Norris hit the rear end of the Mercedes, damaging his front wing and requiring an early trip to the pits for repairs. Even if he had conceded points were only a remote possibility heading into Sunday, throwing it all away on Lap 1 merited a hefty reduction to his weekend score.

Oscar Piastri – 6

Qualified: P10 (Started: P9), Race: P13

Norris’ bleak assertion about McLaren’s prospects for the race was at least supported by his team-mate’s swift decline through the order. 

Prior to that, Piastri had demonstrated the potential to mix it at the front with Norris in qualifying until a mistake on his final flying lap consigned him to prop up last of the 10 contenders running in Q3.

With McLaren lacking the speed on higher fuel to maintain a position that would yield a points return, the Australian at least managed to steer clear of trouble to win out in the McLaren intra-team battle.

Nico Hulkenberg – 6

Qualified: P8 (Started: P7), Race: P15

Although Hulkenberg was scintillating over a single lap to record another Q3 appearance, a reoccurrence of Haas’ race day struggles meant he couldn’t convert it into points.

Having already rapidly slipped back in the opening stages, the ex-Renault turnout was the first driver in the pits for a scheduled stop. However, the time subsequently gained through the undercut was minimised when the American side’s excessive tyre wear woes necessitated an extra stop compared to other teams.

Kevin Magnussen – 5

Qualified: P17, Race: P18

Magnussen was frustrated to be eliminated from Q1 in a car that his team-mate showed to possess genuine top 10 credentials.

While he appeared to manage Haas’ tyre issues slightly better than Hulkenberg, his lowly starting position meant he had no chance of making up the lost ground from Saturday’s pitiful performance.

Alex Albon – 6

Qualified: P18, Race: P16

Williams’ hopes of a competitive outing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya were purely nested on the return of a high-speed final sector in place of the slow left-right chicane at the end of the lap that had previously been a severe hindrance against the low-drag nature of its modern-day cars.

But the aerodynamic limitations of its 2023 package meant neither driver was able to deliver a ground-breaking result, with Albon once again emerging as the leading charger for the Grove-based team. 

Logan Sargeant – 3

Qualified: P20 (Started: Pitlane), Race: P20

During a closely fought Q1 session that ended with the top 19 drivers separated by only 1.1s, Sargeant stuck out like a sore thumb at the bottom of the tower, 0.6s off. 

Unsurprisingly, a lonely affair followed with an uncompetitive car. His spin into the gravel in practice, exposing how basic the Williams FW45 floor is, provided the tip of the iceberg of another bad weekend for the American newcomer, whose desperate need for a confidence-boosting result remains.

Lando Norris concedes that a points finish at the Spanish Grand Prix was unlikely even if he had avoided damage on the opening lap.

At Turn 2, Norris tipped the rear of Lewis Hamilton’s car which damaged the McLaren driver’s front wing.

Hamilton was able to escape without a puncture, but Norris was forced into the pit lane to change his front wing, demoting him to the rear of the field.

It marked a disappointing start to the grand prix after he lined up in third place following an exceptional performance in qualifying.

Reflecting on the incident, Norris said: “Everyone just checked up, I was on the inside. It was just racing. Just unlucky, that was all.”

Norris ended the race in 17th place, far from the prospect of walking away with points. 

However, the Briton believes that McLaren didn’t have the race pace to contest inside the top 10, suggesting he would’ve dropped down the order regardless.

“It [the race] was as expected,” he said. “We knew we were going to be slow and difficult to get in the points. 

“Our target was to try and be in the points today, whether that was ninth or 10th or something. Lap one cost us everything but at the same time it would’ve been unlikely to finish in the top 10 today.

“I guess everyone’s expectations were too high after yesterday. We tried to manage as much as we could but at the same time, today was the pace we’ve had all year. 

“Yesterday was just an unknown, special day for us. But it was as expected today.”

With the Canadian Grand Prix next on the calendar, Norris highlighted that McLaren will not adopt a different approach after a difficult outing in Barcelona.

“Nothing different,” he said, when asked how he’ll repair for the Montreal round. “We’re probably the seventh quickest car, eighth quickest car. 

“We’re not fighting for points at that rate, just have to keep working hard, keep our heads down.”

Lewis Hamilton says he hopes Mercedes will progress enough during the 2023 season to challenge Red Bull by the end of the year.

At the start of the current campaign, Red Bull has been largely unchallenged, taking all seven grand prix wins on offer.

As was the case in 2022, Mercedes has started the season off the front-running pace but introduced upgrades in Monaco to re-direct its development path.

With Spain offering more insight into the new parts due to Monaco’s unique circuit layout, the Brackley-based squad enjoyed a strong race as it was notably the second-fastest team.

Hamilton crossed the line in second place while team-mate George Russell followed him home in third.

But Hamilton has conceded that Mercedes is still a while away from being able to challenge Red Bull.

“With the current car that we have, I don’t think we’ll be matching their performance but we’re working on improving the car,” he said. 

“So, with the current package we’re limited to the pace that we had today, but I think there’s a huge amount of work and studying and improvement that we hopefully will have coming in the future. 

“Naturally, they should also be progressing through the year, so we need to be taking big chunks out of them with every step we take.”

During the race weekend, Sergio Perez stated that Red Bull is no longer bringing major upgrades to its car for 2023.

And with Mercedes focused on clawing in on the deficit, Hamilton is hopeful that by the end of the year it will be able to contest for race wins.

“I think today they [Red Bull] were a good few tenths ahead of us,” he said. “Maybe half a second ahead of us per lap – and on a single lap, that’s a little bit bigger – but I think we’re going in the right direction.

“I know we have something in the pipeline moving forward, so I’m hoping that at least by the end of the year, maybe we can could challenge them. 

“I’m more focused on making sure next year we have the car to challenge them from day one. 

“And the further we continue to push this car this year, the more that impacts next year also, in some ways. 

“But the more we learn about this car also, that also sets us in the right direction. It’s trying to find the right balance. 

“They’re so far ahead and ultimately Max will continue to win this year – but that means they can start on their development for next year sooner, earlier than anyone else if they haven’t already – and that’s the danger. 

“So, we’ve just got to keep working hard but also try to get the right balance.”

The FIA has confirmed that Formula 3 cars will return to the Macau Grand Prix as part of a new three-year deal.

F3 hasn’t raced at the event since 2019, as the Covid-19 pandemic saw restrictions in place that made it impossible for it to be staged with F3 machinery.

Instead, it has been held as part of the Chinese Formula 4 Championship for the last three years.

However, for the 70th edition of the event, which takes place from November 16 – 19 later this year, the Formula 3 World Cup, as well as the FIA GT World Cup, will return.

“We are all very pleased to see the return of the FIA Formula 3 World Cup in Macau,” said Nikolas Tombazis, FIA Single-Seater Director.

“The history of Macau and Formula 3 is one of the most renowned stories in motor sport and the event has long been the highlight of the junior single-seater calendar. 

“Over the decades many of the biggest names in racing have been tested at the Macau Grand Prix, as an outstanding performance around the Guia Circuit is a sure sign of talent and commitment. 

“It is fantastic news that the story is set to continue with the current generation of Formula 3 cars that made a successful debut on the streets of Macau back in 2019. 

“Thanks to the hard work and collaboration between the FIA, AAMC, the Macau Grand Prix Organizing Committee and the FIA Formula 3 Championship Promoter, FIA Formula 3 World Cup has a bright future.”

The FIA confirmed that both the F3 and GT event will be staged across two race heats over the weekend, each with a qualifying race followed by a title-deciding main race. 

The race durations will be 10 and 15 laps for F3 and 12 and 16 laps for GT cars. The F3 World Cup winner will be classed as the overall Macau Grand Prix winner.

Richard Verschoor is the most recent F3 race victor at Macau, as he prevailed over Juri Vips and Logan Sargeant in 2019.

Fernando Alonso says Aston Martin must understand the reasons behind the team enduring such a difficult race at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Despite only managing ninth place on the grid at his home event after damaging his floor in Q1 with an excursion into the gravel and committing an error on his sole run in Q3, the Spaniard professed that a front-row slot had been attainable in qualifying.

While Aston Martin’s race pace has typically enabled it to fight back against its rivals on a Sunday, on this occasion, the Silverstone-based squad struggled for speed in race trim compared to Mercedes and Ferrari.

Although he was able to complete a series of overtakes in the closing stages, including avoiding a feisty defence from ex-team-mate Esteban Ocon on the start-finish straight, Alonso could only trail home seventh – his worst result of the season so far.

“We didn’t have as much pace today on both the soft and hard compounds, so it was a tricky race for us,” Alonso stated. “We tried to go longer on our strategy and hoped it would pay off later with fresher tyres, but our rivals had a little more pace.

“I think sixth and seventh positions were the maximum for us. I thought our performance seemed better in qualifying, so I think we need to look at why and aim to bounce back for Canada.

“We still scored some solid points and we had no risk at the end of the race.”

Meanwhile, Lance Stroll out-qualified Alonso for the first time since the latter arrived at Aston Martin and was running as high as third at the end of Lap 1 after a well-executed dive past Lewis Hamilton into Turn 5.

However, the Canadian recalls how only five laps into the stint he began to encounter troubles with his tyres, resulting in him being eventually shifted back to the sixth position he started in by the chequered flag.

Like Alonso, Stroll asserts that Aston Martin will need to ensure it identifies the reasons for the issues that hampered the side’s competitiveness in Barcelona to avoid a repeat in the coming rounds.

“It was a fun battle with Lewis [Hamilton] on the first lap; I’ve pulled that move off before so I knew there was a gap and figured Lewis would leave me a bit of space, which he did,” he explained. “That put me in a good position going into Turn Five and I could hold the place.

“Then, from about five laps in, we really struggled with the pace. My tyre degradation was higher than expected but the cars around us didn’t seem to have the same issue, so it’s something we’ll look to understand for the coming races.

He added: “We bring home some good points finishing sixth and seventh, but I think we’d been hoping for slightly more today.”

Getting two cars to the finish inside the points was not enough for Aston Martin to retain second place in the Constructors’ Championship, though, after Mercedes delivered a double podium.

But team boss Mike Krack contends that the British outfit should not be downbeat about its failure to add a sixth podium in seven races in 2023, insisting the damage was done on the opening stint.

“We should not be disappointed with this result – even though we did not quite have the pace to fight for the podium today,” he expressed.

“It was in the first stint on the soft that we did not quite have the performance to catch the cars ahead and in the second and third stints we managed our pace and had a comfortable advantage over the teams behind us.”

Pol Espargaro will have to push back his eagerly awaited MotoGP return having run into further complications with his fractured vertebrae ahead of this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix.

The GasGas pilot has been absent from the premier class field since sustaining fractured vertebrae and a broken jaw in practice for the season opening Portuguese GP back in March, the Spaniard having been replaced by KTM test rider Jonas Folger since the third round of the year at the Circuit of the Americas.

The German will continue to deputise for Espargaro for at least this weekend’s outing at Mugello in Italy as Espargaro undergoes further treatment for an edema – essentially excessive tissue swelling – around his broken vertebrae according to the GasGas squad, though he is still keen to make a return to competition ‘in the coming weeks’ according to a statement released on Monday morning.  

“I was really looking forward to getting back on my bike but, as I said from the beginning, the final decision would be made for me by the doctors and they asked me to wait a few more days,” said Espargaro.

“My original plan was to return for one of these next three races before the summer break and this continues to be the idea.

“The most important thing is to be physically ready, and this call means I have a few more days to keep working at home and arrive in the best form possible and as soon as possible.

“I’m feeling really good and I’m really motivated. I hope to see the team and everyone in the sport, and for sure the fans, as soon as I can.”

Folger has thus far struggled to get up to speed in his return to MotoGP on the GasGas-branded KTM machine, though he has at least managed to bring the bike home to secure points in two of the three encounters he has run so far – a best result of 12^th coming at COTA.

The GasGas Tech 3 operation currently sits ninth of the 11 outfits in the teams standings following the opening five rounds largely thanks to the efforts of ever-improving rookie Augusto Fernandez, who has secured two top ten results so far – including a stunning run to fourth in last month’s French GP at Le Mans.

Max Verstappen has emphasised that Red Bull cannot afford to rest on its laurels despite his dominant display at Formula 1’s Spanish Grand Prix.

Verstappen topped each practice session at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and went on to take pole position by almost half a second without needing to complete a final push lap in Q3.

Verstappen led every lap of the race, and collected the fastest lap, to take his fifth victory from seven starts in 2023, extending his championship lead to 53 points.

“We just have to focus on ourselves, trying to keep on improving the car,” said Verstappen.

“At the moment it all looks great but you can’t’ stand still in this world. We just keep trying to find things on the car, try to learn – like understand why the Hard [tyre] wasn’t working with the car.

“We’ll see what happens in the coming races. I don’t know if there are going to be tracks that are better or worse. We’ll find out.”

Verstappen conceded surprise at the extend of his issues on the hardest of the three compound tyres.

“It was a worse Medium, to be on the same kind of deg, and it was just sliding a lot more,” he said.

“And once I felt that, you just have to do your laps on it. Then of course, luckily we had another pit stop but it was definitely not the most enjoyable stint I’ve ever done in my life – but luckily the car is still fast, so you don’t really lose time.

“I didn’t expect that with this Hard compound but sometimes you have these surprises. Like I said, it wasn’t as enjoyable and probably a little bit harder to drive.”

IndyCar returned to the streets of Detroit this past weekend for a race around downtown and the iconic GM Renaissance Center.

READ MORE: IndyCar Detroit GP – Race Report

The track was bumpy and very tough for drivers to master, but Alex Palou completed the job from pole to take victory at the first race of the new layout.

Will Power had the best shot at earning the win for Chevrolet in the manufacturer’s home race, but ultimately was not able to compete with the pace that Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing Honda put up.

There were multiple incidents that interrupted the race, but all involved only one or two cars. There was not the major stack-ups that some had feared would plague the tight street course.

Drivers will get a one week break before heading to Road America to tackle the historic road course.

The NTT IndyCar Series headed to the streets of downtown Detroit for the first time in over three decades, and it was a tough task for the 27 drivers on the grid.

One of the bumpiest and shortest street courses the series has visited in quite some time, the margins were even more narrow than usual and the concrete barriers played their role in the outcome.

Right from the outset, it was clear that a couple cars had more pace than most of the rest of the field.

Alex Palou drove away from pole quickly, but ended up having to fight with Will Power at a couple times throughout the race.

Like all duels on the track on Sunday, the fighting was tight between the two. In the end, it was Alex Palou that was able to stay in front to claim his second win of the season.

Power held on to second place, but it wasn’t as easy as the results make it look. On a late restart, he tussled with Scott Dixon and had his Verizon Chevy bounced into the air a bit in the collision.

He dropped to fifth, but was able to quickly regain the second position by time the checkered flag flew.

Felix Rosenqvist grabbed a solid podium finish, but had to duel with his team-mate Alexander Rossi on multiple occasions to earn the position.

Dixon and Rossi finished fourth and fifth respectively, with each being lucky to get away with all the hard battles near the end of the race with no damage.

The race took a couple attempts to get going, as race control wanted drivers to pack up tighter before they gave them the green flag.

Even when they did, there was a crash as the field dove into the first turn. Callum Ilott misjudged his braking zone and climbed the back of Kyle Kirkwood.

Kirkwood had a remarkable recovery drive after that incident, and worked his way all the way back up to sixth after his team replaced his rear wing.

A bizarre sequence of events happened right at the midpoint of the 100-lap event, and it was started by Pato O’Ward crashing into the turn 9 wall while fighting with Santino Ferrucci.

O’Ward was already a lap down on account of a loose wheel nut on his first pit stop, and he admitted that he was taking chances that he would not take if he were at the front.

Right as the green flag was given, the yellow was thrown again for Sting Ray Robb, who stalled in the runoff area at the end of the long back straight.

During that neutralization period, Graham Rahal crunched his front wheel into the concrete barrier while catching up to the pack. He took total blame for the incident, and collected Ben Pedersen as well because he was around a blind corner.

That wasn’t the end of the carnage, as Romain Grosjean also pushed the limits too far and crushed his front wheel with just 20 laps to go.  The Frenchman had been in line for a top 10 finish.

In all, there were seven yellow flag periods that totaled nearly a third of the race distance. There weren’t any large-scale wrecks or red flags, as some had predicted there would be.

It was a fun outing on the first attempt at a new street course, and drivers will likely look forward to the event next season.

The next venue on the calendar is a visit to the historic Road America in two weeks, which received a full track repave in the offseason and should be quicker than ever before.

Ferrari once again set the pace in the afternoon session of Le Mans test day, with #51 Ferrari 499P’s Antonio Giovinazzi lapping Circuit de la Sarthe in 3:29.504.

Laurens Vanthoor in the #6 Porsche Penske 963 was second fastest, just 0.144 back from Giovinazzi. Kamui Kobayashi was in the leading Toyota, #7 Toyota GR010 Hybrid, which was repaired following Mike Conway’s crash at Tertre Rouge in the opening session. The Japanese driver was 0.323 adrift of Giovinazzi.

The session was peppered by incidents, including a 37-minute long safety car period to clear up after Laurents Hor and Rodrigo Sales came together at the Dunlop Chicane, in the #48 IDEC Sport Oreca 07-Gibson, and the #14 Nielsen Racing Oreca 07-Gibson respectively.

Fourth fastest in Hypercar was the #50 Ferrari of SAntonio Fuoco, just a few hundredths slower than Kobyashi.

And fifth in class was the Le Mans-only #75 Porsche of Felipe Nasr, four tenths off Giovinazzi’s pace-setting time.

In LMP2, JOTA’s Pietro Fittipaldi was quickest in the #28 JOTA Oreca 07-Gibson, with a 3:35.472. Second fastest was Ferdinand Habsburg in the #31 WRT Oreca 07-Gibson, well over seven tenths slower than Fittipaldi. Third fastest was the #35 Alpine Oreca 07-Gibson, with Andre Negrao at the wheel.

Finally, in GTE-Am, Thomas Neubauer topped the timesheets in the #66 JMW Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, setting a 3:56.088. Francesco Castellaci was second with a 3:56.184 in the #54 AF Corse Ferrari 488 GTE Evo, while Kessel Racing made it a Ferrari 1-2-3 in class, with Daniel Serra just under a tenth slower than Castellaci, in the #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari 488 GTE Evo.

Charles Leclerc says Ferrari’s persistent struggles with getting the tyres working in race trim continued at the Spanish Grand Prix despite the upgrades it brought to aid the problem this weekend.

Amid a hugely disappointing start to the season, Ferrari introduced a series of updates to its problematic SF-23 car in a bid to improve its race pace and consistency.  

However, Leclerc was eliminated from Q1 in qualifying for the first time since May 2019 on Saturday after complaining that something was amiss at the rear of his car.

Despite Ferrari withdrawing his car from the starting grid in order to replace the rear end, the Monegasque driver was unable to breach the points running a contra-strategy, crossing the line in 11th position once a penalty was applied against Yuki Tsunoda.

While Leclerc claims the new parts produced the anticipated results, he asserts he was still hampered by the same unpredictability with the tyres as in previous races.

“Today in terms of balance the car was alright, but the performance was not at all consistent,” he said. “We ran the hards twice, but with the first set I struggled a lot, while with the second one it was reasonably good and I was catching Pierre (Gasly) towards the end.

“We really must analyse all the data, because while the upgrades seem to work as expected, we are always slightly caught out by what is happening with the tyres and we struggle to get them in the right window which is a big problem.

“We ran the same tyre twice in the same race and we went from having a very bad car to quite a good one towards the end of the race.

“Now we will go back to the factory and find out what went wrong yesterday in qualifying because that’s what put us in a tricky situation today. There’s a lot of work to do.”

Ferrari concluded ahead of the race that it had been unable to identify what had contributed to one of its drivers sustaining a nightmare qualifying display.

Leclerc admits the subsequent decision to remove his SF-23 from the starting grid in order to make alterations did improve his feeling inside the car.

But the 25-year-old states that the narrow operating window of Ferrari’s 2023 challenger meant he encountered new problems during Sunday’s race.

When asked whether he had a better grasp on the car in the race, Leclerc responded: “I did. The limitations were the opposite. Yesterday, I had a rear that was super loose and super strange, and we will analyse this at the factory. Today, it was the front.

“It’s such a tiny window and we know that this is one of our weaknesses and we are struggling in those conditions and we need to be on top of those things.”

On the opposite side of the Ferrari garage, Carlos Sainz was hit by severe degradation troubles to drop from the front row of the grid down to fifth at the chequered flag.

Sainz was easily swarmed by the Mercedes pain on 10-lap younger tyres before he also relinquished a position to the recovering Red Bull of Sergio Perez in the latter stages.

Reflecting on his weekend, the Spaniard believes he did the maximum he could in tough circumstances.

“It put in harder work today, but it didn’t show. This is what I was talking about yesterday with race pace and high-speed corners is our main weakness, and unfortunately, Barcelona has a high deg tarmac and high-speed configuration,” he explained.

“That is why we were struggling so much out there. And, with the predictability of the car. I did everything I could. I did the most optimal stints and driving I could, but P5 was the best we could achieve.”

Yuki Tsunoda has hit out the five-second penalty decision that dropped him out of the point-finishing positions for a Turn 1 incident with Zhou Guanyu.

The AlphaTauri driver was defending P9 from Zhou – and the two championship points along with it – through Turn 1 on lap 59, when Zhou approached on the outside.

The two drivers were almost neck-and-neck through the apex of Turn 1 with Zhou edging ahead. But as the pair approached Turn 2, Zhou darted into the run-off area to avoid a collision between the two. 

The Stewards awarded Tsunoda with a five-second time penalty for the incident, dropping him from P9 to a point-less finishing position of P12.

However, Tsunoda believes that he left an adequate amount of room for the Alfa Romeo driver to progress on track. 

“I feel like it’s really harsh that penalty to be honest from my perspective,” he said after the race. 

“I gave it literally everything, every lap. There was still space there, it’s just the other car suddenly [went into the] run-off area and pretends like he got forced.”

Onboard footage from the incident shows that Tsunoda was steering away from Zhou, rather than towards the driver but nonetheless, the Stewards found Tsunoda in breach of Appendix L, Chapter IV Article 2b of the International Sporting Code due to Zhou being ahead at the apex of Turn 1, concluding that Tsunoda forced Zhou off the track. 

“He could have stayed on the track from my perspective,” Tsunoda added.. “But I just accept the reality that I lost points after that big race so it’s disappointing. Really disappointing.”

Tsunoda has had a positive start to the season but the AlphaTauri driver has only managed to score points in Azerbaijan and Australia and after losing out on points in Barcelona, the Japanese driver has his sights set on further points finishes this season.

“I’ll try my best for the next one, we qualify higher to have a higher position to start and try to score points more.”

Mercedes has been fined €10,000 for a breach of parc ferme regulations after Formula 1’s Spanish Grand Prix.

Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell finished second and third respectively at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya to pick up the team’s first double podium of the season.

As per the regulations, and a note from the FIA Media Delegate which is issued as standard pre-race, no team PR personnel, or driver physios, are permitted to enter parc ferme.

Mercedes was summoned after receiving a report from the Media Delegate, subsequently confirmed by video evidence, that the driver physios from Mercedes entered parc ferme after the race on Sunday.

As a consequence the team has been issued with a €10,000 fine.

Lewis Hamilton has suggested that he is extremely close to signing an extension with the Mercedes Formula 1 team to remain with the squad beyond the 2023 season.

Hamilton’s current F1 contract expires at the end of the current campaign and for several weeks, rumours have been swirling regarding his future.

Some outlets reported that Ferrari was heavily interested in offering the seven-time World Champion a contract – however Hamilton asserted on multiple occasions that his future lies with Mercedes.

After crossing the line in second place at the Spanish Grand Prix, Hamilton stated he is set for immediate talks with team boss Toto Wolff as he hopes to finalise details.

“I haven’t signed anything yet, but I think we are meeting with Toto tomorrow so hopefully we can get something done,” he said.

Wolff, too, confirmed to Sky F1 that talks are at an advanced stage.

“I just think we need to get time and to sit over coffee,” he commented. “It’s going to take half an hour.”

Hamilton acknowledged that his proclamation regarding his Monday meeting “wasn’t a subtle hint” over his future plans.

 “We’ve had so many meetings and this is just another one of the meetings we are having,” he added.

“You could see today my performance is not affected by that, but it’s always something that’s at the back of your mind. Once that’s done then you are able to then focus more and think about the future.

“I’m working as hard as I can with this team and I see so much strength within the team. They are still so hungry.

“The podium today was really, really special. To be able to see the excitement in all the people that have worked for such a long time.

“When we go back right now, there will be great energy in the office. 

“These guys take two seconds to enjoy themselves and be happy and then they’ll be back down into the books and trying to figure out how we can win the next race.”

George Russell is confident that Mercedes’ double podium finish in the Spanish Grand Prix is a “sign of things to come” for the team.

Following a disastrous qualifying that left him languishing a lowly 12th on the grid, Russell completed a heroic comeback to charge through the pack to score his first podium finish of the year in third.

Both Russell and team-mate Lewis Hamilton optimised a strong race car that was gentle on its tyres to overhaul the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz to bring two Mercedes cars home inside the top three in Barcelona.

While Russell admits his stellar rise on race day was unexpected, the Briton believes the result showcases the promise Mercedes’ revised package, which debuted in Monaco last weekend, upholds.

“I’m a little bit surprised, for sure,” Russell expressed.

“Kudos to the team for giving me a really great car today. A strong race for us as well from P12 coming all the way to P3.

“A sign of things to come hopefully for us as a team.”

After an error on his final run in Q3 that saw him miss out on a place on the front row, Hamilton survived contact at the start with the McLaren of Lando Norris to notch a record 11th podium appearance in Spain.

A mundane Friday outing had prompted Hamilton to worry about his weekend prospects, but Mercedes’ overnight transformation into establishing itself as Red Bull’s closest challenger in Spain has left him feeling more encouraged for the races ahead.

“What a result for our team, we definitely didn’t expect to have the result we had today,” Hamilton added.

“I just really want to take my hat off to my team, a big, big thank you to everyone back to the factory for continuing to push and bring us a little bit closer to the [Red] Bulls.”

Red Bull continued its flawless start to the campaign as Max Verstappen registered his third win on the bounce to extend his World Championship lead to 53 points over Red Bull partner Sergio Perez.

Although Hamilton, who finished 24s adrift of Verstappen, acknowledges Red Bull remain too far ahead currently, the seven-time World Champion hopes Mercedes can begin to close the gap over the remainder of the year.

When asked by former F1 title rival Nico Rosberg if Mercedes can reduce the deficit to Red Bull this year, Hamilton replied: “I think they are too quick at the moment, but we’re working at it.

“So, just one step at a time and if we can get close by the end of the year, that’d be awesome. But if not, next year.”

With Aston Martin enduring its most troublesome performance of the season, Mercedes’ double top-three finish means the Brackley side has moved into second place in the Constructors’ Championship.