Indholdsfortegnelse for 15/11/18 i Autosport

Max Verstappen’s charge in the early stages of last weekend’s Brazilian Grand Prix was remarkable, albeit aided by tyre issues for Mercedes. Just after half distance, the Dutchman looked like he had done enough to take one of the best victories of 2018. Then his old Formula 3 sparring partner Esteban Ocon decided he wanted to unlap himself in his fresh-tyre-shod Force India. As the backmarker in the situation, Ocon was undoubtedly in the wrong in the ensuing clash with the race leader. But was Verstappen blameless? Or did Lewis Hamilton have a point when he said that Max was the one with more to lose? Those questions sparked some debate in the Autosport office, particularly given Edd Straw’s driver ratings (see page 28). It’s hard not to think that…

BLANCPAIN GT SERIES Black Falcon Mercedes-AMG GT3 drivers Maro Engel, Yelmer Buurman and Luca Stolz have been crowned Blancpain GT Series Endurance Cup champions after their exclusion from Barcelona’s season finale in September was overturned. The national court of appeal of the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium, under whose auspices the series is run, upheld the decision of the series technical delegate and the stewards of the meeting that the application of self-adhesive tape to the car’s air intake system contravened its homologation. However, it ruled that disqualifying the car from victory was disproportionate with the infringement because the modification did not “provide any advantage of performance”. The punishment has been transmuted to a €5000 fine. That means that Engel, Buurman and Stolz are reinstated in the results as the…

BTCC The success ballast system in the British Touring Car Championship will be tweaked next season, meaning leading cars will carry less weight. Since 2015, the top 10 in the points have been required to carry 75kg – down a sliding scale to 9kg for the 10th-placed car. Then, the ballast is applied for finishing positions in race one and race two. For 2019, the weight will be reduced to 54kg for the most successful, dropping by increments of 6kg down to ninth–10th place will also carry 6kg. Series director Alan Gow said: “It is a good thing that we can reduce the level of ballast: it’s a reflection of how competitive the grid is right now. The field is so tight that 75kg can have a huge effect.” The…

LEWIS HAMILTON DIDN’T PUT THIS DOWN AS ONE OF HIS greatest pole position laps, but on a short circuit like Interlagos the Mercedes driver did enough right to be almost a tenth clear of nearest challenger Sebastian Vettel. What’s more, his first-run time was already enough to give him pole and, along with seventh-fastest Marcus Ericsson, he was one of only two drivers to improve their time on the second run. “That was a tough qualifying session,” said Hamilton. “The last lap wasn’t that great, I had a bit of understeer in a few places. I was so grateful when I heard I got pole.” Hamilton’s second lap shaved two hundredths off his original mark, but Vettel’s hopes of challenging for Ferrari’s first pole position since Monza six races earlier…

Sebastian Vettel was reprimanded and fined €25,000 after a stewards’ investigation into his behaviour at the weighbridge during Brazilian Grand Prix qualifying. Vettel, who was called up to the weighbridge when he came into the pits without setting a lap time early on in the second segment of qualifying, was anxious to get through the process. He hit a cone and hurried FIA staff through the motions. He subsequently incurred the wrath of technical delegate Jo Bauer, who reported that the four-time world champion had ignored instructions, didn’t switch off the engine as required and “destroyed the scales” by speeding off under his own power after the procedure. After deliberations, FIA stewards gave Vettel his first reprimand of the season, as well as the fine, for “failing to follow the…

His own charmingly down-to-earth, self-deprecating manner has previously led Callum Ilott to describe his crash-strewn first experience of the Macau Grand Prix in 2015 as “getting to know all the recovery-truck drivers”. In 2016, he led the qualification race but got done over in the slipstream away from the start of the final and finished fifth. Last year, he won the Saturday quali race, but collided with Joel Eriksson as they tussled for the lead of Sunday’s big race in the early stages. This weekend he’s back. No longer an F3 regular – Ilott has been racing instead in the parallel GP3 Series this season – he just can’t resist returning to the category in which he made his name for one last shot at Macau in what looks set…

THE MAIN HEADLINE CHANGE FOR THE RACING spectacle is the Mario Kart-inspired attack-mode system. Known as hyperboost during its planning phase, the attack mode will be activated after a driver passes through an activation zone that will be visible both at the circuit and on TV. This will allow the drivers to use an additional 25kW and take their maximum power level to 225kW, with fanboost – only available to the three winning drivers during their attack-mode stints – taking this to 250kW. It is understood that the wording of the sporting regulation regarding attack mode has been left deliberately vague as the FIA and FE work on fully implementing the system ahead of the season opener next month. How long each attack-mode activation lasts and how many each driver…

CLIO CUP UK Paul Rivett has become a four-time Renault UK Clio Cup champion after successfully appealing his exclusion from race two at Silverstone in the National Court. Westbourne Motorsport driver James Dorlin had provisionally claimed the title by five points after winning the Brands Hatch finale – but the result still had a question mark over it pending Rivett’s court hearing. Now, over a month after the season concluded, the WDE Motorsport driver has successfully argued that his contact with title rival Max Coates at Woodcote was not worthy of an exclusion and his third-place finish was reinstated. This result was enough to hand Rivett a fourth title by 17 points over Dorlin and dropped Coates to third in the standings. “I’m over the moon with the result,” said…

LEGENDS Legends Cars runner-up Steve Whitelegg sampled a current British Touring Car Championship machine after being awarded the run for his performances this season. The 49-year-old claimed the award for encapsulating the spirit of the championship, and he was let loose on the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit in the HMS Alfa Romeo Giulietta that has been raced by Rob Austin this season. “The car is just something else: the braking and the acceleration are on a whole different level to anything I am used to,” said Whitelegg. “Rob Austin gave me some pointers first with a passenger run, but there is so much to take in. I had six laps and I don’t think I was near the limit – but it was the chance of a lifetime. I am…

ANGLESEY RACE OF REMEMBRANCE NOVEMBER 10-11 A race that pauses partway through for a remembrance service is no ordinary meeting. But the Race of Remembrance makes no claims about being ordinary. As its organisers point out, this is a remembrance service that happens to have a race alongside it. This, its fifth running, was especially poignant, concluding 100 years to the day since The Great War’s armistice. The lack of convention of this Anglesey 12-hour endurance event – organised and run by armed forces charity Mission Motorsport – applies also to its eclectic machinery as well as to its willing and skilled competitors. It applied also to this latest event’s conclusion, which came amid confusion for the winning squad. Even with the typically diverse machinery, it was clear the Catherhams,…

1 Class of the field, taking most wins and podiums as well as leading more laps than any other driver. Highlights included a triple podium at Rockingham as well as a double victory at Spa. Bounced back superbly from a disastrous Donington Park weekend to seal the title in race one at Silverstone. 2 Arguably the surprise of the season as a single-seater rookie. The 2017 Ginetta Junior champion claimed the most fastest laps and three poles, including an impressive double at Spa. A lack of single-seater experience showed at times with silly mistakes but he took two impressive wins. 3 The only man to challenge Lundqvist throughout the season. Led the standings after the opening round at Oulton Park and was dominant at Brands Hatch and Donington Park. But…

INDY 500 Fernando Alonso will return to the Indianapolis 500 with McLaren in 2019 as he bids to complete motorsport’s unofficial Triple Crown. The two-time F1 world champion will step away from McLaren’s grand prix team at the end of this season. Beyond completing the 2018/19 World Endurance Championship superseason with Toyota, he had nothing else firmed up for next year. However, McLaren announced last weekend that it will once again make a one-off entry at Indianapolis with Alonso, as it did in 2017. “I’ve made clear for some time my desire to achieve the Triple Crown,” said Alonso – Indy 500 success is all he needs to emulate Graham Hill’s triumph, having won the Monaco Grand Prix twice and Le Mans on his debut this year. “I had an…

The Ford Mustang, which will replace the outgoing Falcon FG/X for the 2019 Supercars season, completed its first running last week. DJR Team Penske driver and current championship leader Scott McLaughlin drove a prototype at Queensland Raceway, prior to a run at Phillip Island. The Mustang still requires its official aerodynamic homologation, to be conducted in back-to-back testing alongside the Nissan Altima and the Holden Commodore ZB. The example McLaughlin tested had begun life as a Falcon, and has been Penske’s spare chassis for almost two seasons. When it makes its competitive debut, the Mustang will become the first two-door car to race in Australian tin-tops for nearly 20 years.…

WRC Ready? The final act in the most astonishing World Rally Championship season is upon us as three drivers start this week’s Rally Australia with a shot at the title. Who’s favourite? Who knows? Well, actually, we can probably call Ott Tanak an outsider. Despite the Estonian’s fearsome pace – pace that has helped him to win four of the last six rounds (and he had Wales Rally GB and Spain in the bag as well before a heavy landing and a puncture ended his tenure at the top of the timesheets) – he’s 23 points behind series leader Sebastien Ogier. But what of Thierry Neuville? What of the pretender to Ogier’s crown, on track to end 14 years of French rule? After leading for much of the campaign –…

Verstappen was robbed of race win How can a driver who is unlapping himself think it is OK to take out the leader, as was the case with Esteban Ocon on Max Verstappen in the Brazilian Grand Prix? Verstappen (right) was robbed of victory in a grand prix where he had worked so hard to get to the lead through a combination of fantastic overtaking and excellent Red Bull strategy. Let’s take the positives, though, as he did finish second in a grand prix where he started fifth and recovered well after the incident. However, that still doesn’t stop the wrath of Kerr, who was screaming at his television at around six o’clock on Sunday night… Joshua KerrKidderminster, Worcestershire Max’s ego was to blame Verstappen’s ego was the prime reason…

Charles Leclerc claimed seventh place in the Brazilian Grand Prix, his second ‘Class B’ victory of the season – while Renault driver Nico Hulkenberg clinched the unofficial title despite retiring. Based on Autosport’s unofficial scoring system, which removes Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull from the tally then reallocates the points, Hulkenberg now has an unassailable lead over Racing Point Force India’s Sergio Perez even though he retired to protect his engine at Interlagos. Leclerc’s midfield victory was built on a stunning performance in Q2, in which he was set to be eliminated thanks to rain that hit with five minutes remaining. The Sauber driver argued with his team to allow him to stay out, and he was able to nail a lap at the end of the session that got…

Both Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne were hit with penalties for ignoring blue flags during the Brazilian Grand Prix. Alonso was given his penalty during the race, meaning five seconds were added to his race time when he took the chequered flag. This dropped him to 17th, behind Williams driver Sergey Sirotkin. Vandoorne’s offence was handed down after the race, meaning he lost a place to Esteban Ocon in the final results and was classified 15th after a strong drive from last place. He passed Lance Stroll, Alonso, Sirotkin and Ocon to take 14th on the road. Alonso had a more difficult race after stopping earlier, at one stage declaring “no more radio” to the team and expressing frustration at having to target a lowly position ahead. He has now…

SUPER GT MOTEGI (J) NOVEMBER 11 ROUND 8/8 Jenson Button, the 2009 Formula 1 world champion, returned to title-winning ways at Motegi last weekend. Third place earned him and team-mate Naoki Yamamoto the Super GT spoils, and in the process the Kunimitsu Racing duo wrapped up a flurry of historic achievements. The NSX-GT drivers’ title win returned Honda to the top of the Super GT tree for the first time since 2010, and ended drift king Kunimitsu Takahashi’s 25-year wait for the GT500 teams’ title. Button became only the second rookie to win Super GT, equalling Toranosuke Takagi’s 2005 efforts. Perhaps most impressive of all, Yamamoto, who won the Super Formula title last month at Suzuka, became the first driver to complete a clean sweep of crowns in Japan’s two…

It’s a classic hero-to-zero-to-hero story. Thirteen years ago, Gary Paffett was crowned DTM champion with Mercedes at the age of 24, before leaving the series for one year to become McLaren test driver as he pursued his Formula 1 ambitions. In 2014, after several seasons of coming close but not close enough to his second title, he finished 22nd in the DTM – ahead only of Vitaly Petrov. Surely he was coasting towards a GT career twilight… Yet four years after that, now aged 37, he’s been celebrating that elusive crown number two in a series whose standard of drivers is second only to F1. “It’s gone in waves, as motorsport does,” says Paffett as he reflects on those dark days before his redemption. “Mercedes were very competitive and we…

GINETTA JUNIOR Ginetta Junior driver Ruben Del Sarte heads the entry for the Winter Series at Brands Hatch this weekend. The Dutchman is the highest-placed driver from this year’s main series to return for the winter competition, after finishing fifth in the standings with five podiums, with the TCR team. Harry Dyson (Premiership Academy Racing) – a race winner in 2017 – and James Hedley (Elite Motorsport) are the only other drivers on the entry list to have taken a podium in the past. Currently, 17 drivers have signed up. Six are completely new to the category. Ginetta motorsport manager Ash Gallagher said: “I’ve had a look back at the last few years and I think 18 is the biggest we’ve had. “It always gives a good indication of how…

1 The pick of the BMW drivers missed out on the title through factors outside of his control. Consistently had a slight edge on co-driver Green and was on a par with more experienced Mitchell. Unlucky with safety cars at Snetterton and Brands Hatch while leading, but stormed back to second in a photo-finish at the latter. 2 Unfussed by stepping back to GT4, Mitchell coped well with limited time in the M4 pre-season and constant changing of team-mates to claim the title, despite a nervy finish. Crucial Spa win owed much to luck, but he kept Fagg behind brilliantly in a slower car to give himself a points buffer. 3 Had the edge on his fellow McLaren development drivers all year and was unlucky not to end the year…

FROM THE ARCHIVE Graham Whitehead (#76 Aston Martin DB3S) leads Tony Brooks (#74 Aston Martin DB3S), Noel Cunningham-Reid (#91 HWM-Jaguar), Roy Salvadori (#73 Aston Martin DBR1), Peter Blond (#80 HWM-Jaguar) and Archie Scott Brown (#92 Lister-Jaguar) at the start of the 1957 Sussex Trophy at Goodwood, very much a highlight of the Easter meeting. Scott Brown (see Autosport Engineering, November 1, for a mini biog) took a convincing victory ahead of Salvadori and Brooks in the 21-lap race, also setting fastest lap. For more great photographs, visit motorsportimages.com…

ROBORACE The driverless Roborace initiative will commence its inaugural season with an upgraded version of its autonomous development car and not the bespoke Robocar revealed last year. Roborace’s ‘Season Alpha’ is due to launch in spring next year, supporting some Formula E events, and the series will use an evolution of the development car that can also be driven by a human. ‘DevBot 2.0’ (above) retains the LMP-inspired design of the original mule but will be rear-wheel drive instead of all-wheel drive and has updated styling and hardware. Autosport has learned that the initial season will likely comprise fewer than 10 cars, which will be piloted by a human for one part of the race. Roborace CEO and 2016/17 Formula E champion Lucas di Grassi told Autosport that this is…

WTCR In the battle to win the inaugural World Touring Car Cup title, two of the main stalwarts from the past two decades of touring car racing will go head to head for honours in Macau this weekend. Although seven drivers mathematically remain in contention for the WTCR crown, realistically 2009 world champion Gabriele Tarquini and four-time title winner Yvan Muller are the two whose moves will be under most scrutiny. It’s nine years since Tarquini defeated Muller by four points to claim his only World Touring Car Championship to date, and the Italian again faces stiff competition from the French driver to add to his title tally in the first year of the new TCR era. The gap is a far more comfortable 39 points this time around, courtesy…

“RIGHT, LET’S GET A GAP TO HIM THEN STROKE it to the end,” Max Verstappen was told over the radio after he’d passed Lewis Hamilton to take command of the Brazilian Grand Prix. He’d done the hard work to climb from fifth on the grid, there were no more pitstops to make, and Hamilton’s Mercedes team was focused more on getting him to the end amid engine problems than fighting back. The race was won. Verstappen’s lead over Hamilton crept up to 2.8 seconds by the start of lap 44, four laps after the pass, but having been told “we don’t need any pace” there was no need to pull away any more dramatically than that. Hamilton was no threat, but there was another Mercedes driver who posed a problem…

NASCAR CUP PHOENIX (USA) NOVEMBER 11 ROUND 35/36 Victory in Phoenix secured Kyle Busch his place in the NASCAR Cup championship finale, where he will join fellow ‘championship four’ drivers Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick and Martin Truex Jr in the Homestead showdown this week. A win for any of the remaining playoff drivers would have automatically advanced them to the final four. But when Erik Jones had a moment at Turn 2, that moved contender Kurt Busch up the track. Busch was in turn collected by Denny Hamlin, and the pair collided with Chase Elliott. The incident eliminated both Kurt Busch and Elliott from the race and, as a result, title contention. That ensured 2015 Cup champion Kyle Busch would advance on points, regardless of his finishing position. He won…

Look underneath any Autosport social-media post relating to a Formula E story and there’s always the same tiresome, and factually incorrect, comments: “It’s not a sport”, “FE should race on the same tracks as Formula 1, even though I moan about those too”, “The cars don’t make any noise so I can’t possibly like this”. All irritating, all wrong. That third gripe, which many FE detractors seem to have, is even more out of date with the introduction of the Gen2 cars that will make their debut in the upcoming 2018-19 season. Standing in the pitlane during pre-season testing at Valencia last month, it was possible to not only hear that the cars are noticeably louder than during FE’s first generation – largely thanks to their aggressively styled spec body…

AFTER THE SEVENTH OF the 20 races in the DTM this year, Gary Paffett never once made up places from his qualifying position to the finish of a race. Part of that is down to his qualifying form – after all, you can’t gain ground from pole position, which he managed four times in the final 13 sessions. But more significantly, it illustrates the difficulties faced by Mercedes when sporting regulations introduced before the August Misano round dictated new minimum tyre pressures. “It completely changed the face of the championship,” says Paffett. “We weren’t – and still are not – very happy about it. It’s difficult to understand. They kind of make the rules as they go along. We hung onto the championship, but it was too close. I don’t…

A Volkswagen Caddy Race Van was among the most eye-catching sights at the Race of Remembrance last weekend at Anglesey, and even challenged for outright victory. Entered by MAK Racing, the van’s owner, Chris Webster, was joined in the driving line-up by 2013 World Endurance GTE Am champion Stuart Hall and Michael Kirk. The van had been gathering dust for three years since it last raced at the Anglesey event in ’15. It was near the front in the early wet running and led a lap but finished seventh overall, and second in the invitational class.…

RACE OF REMEMBRANCE British Touring Car Championship racer Rob Austin joined former series rival Dan Welch in Paul Roddison’s Mazda MX-5 Race of Remembrance line-up last weekend, replacing Jon Halliwell who was unable compete due to injury. Halliwell, who with Roddison is co-founder of the MaX5 championship and won the title in 2017, drove in previous Race of Remembrance events alongside Roddison and Welch, but has been unable to race this year due to a work accident. Austin had already driven alongside Welch in the Citroen C1 Challenge 24-hour race at Rockingham a couple of months ago, so Roddison invited him to take Halliwell’s place for the Anglesey 12-hour endurance event. “I jumped at the opportunity,” said Austin, who has raced the Alfa Romeo Giulietta in the BTCC this season.…

GINETTA GT5 CHALLENGE The Ginetta GT5 Challenge will make a return to Zandvoort next July after deciding not to visit Spa. The popular category joined British GT in having races in Belgium last year but organisers have opted to revert to Zandvoort – where the series had an overseas round in 2017. Ginetta motorsport manager Ash Gallagher explained: “We just thought we’d mix it up a bit. Spa is great and we will probably go back in the future but we can possibly offer a little bit more track time at Zandvoort and it’s [the race meeting] not as busy as Spa. When we spoke to teams and drivers, they were quite happy to go back [to Zandvoort].” However, the manufacturer has shelved plans to run a winter GT5 competition…

British GT owes a debt of thanks to the Automobile Club de l’Ouest and FIA World Endurance Championship. The decision to move to a winter-series calendar resulted in a transitional ‘superseason’ with just five races in 2018, leaving drivers with a lot of spare time on their hands. With Aston Martin’s venerable V12 Vantage GT3 entering the final season of its seven-year cycle, it was a perfect opportunity for AMR boss John Gaw to sweeten the deal for prospective customers with significant works support. The result was five Aston factory drivers on the grid – 2016 WEC GT drivers’ champions Nicki Thiim and Marco Sorensen landed at TF Sport, joined by new signing Maxime Martin at series newcomer Jetstream Motorsport and marque stalwart Darren Turner at the returning Beechdean AMR…

“I’d much rather be the hunted than the hunter, I like this position.” It’s just as well that Linus Lundqvist prefers being chased, because the Swede was the man to beat for much of the 2018 BRDC British Formula 3 Championship o his way to the title. It was a campaign of dominance, with more wins and podiums than anybody else, his consistency arguably just as big an asset as his speed. Another key to his success was managing the British F3 Pirelli tyres, a change from the Hankook rubber that the Stockholm teenager used in British F4 last season. “I prefer a bit of oversteer, I like rotation, that’s what I want to have,” says Lundqvist. “With the Pirellis, they might not be the best thing considering the rears…

INTERNATIONAL MOTORSPORT TITLE DECIDER Rally Australia World Rally Championship Rd 13/13 Coffs Australia November 15-18 TV Live BT Sport 2, Friday 2000. BT Sport 1, Saturday 0100. BT Sport 2 2130. Red Bull TV, Saturday 0045. BT Sport 1, Sunday 0200 Live coverage on wrc.com. All live service via WRC+. TV Highlights Red Bull TV, Friday 1200. BT Sport 1, Friday 1215. Red Bull TV, Saturday 1200. BT Sport 3, Saturday 1230. Red Bull TV, Sunday 1200. BT Sport 1, Sunday 1400 World Endurance Championship Rd 5/8 Shanghai, China November 18 TV Live BT Sport 3, Sunday 0230. Eurosport 1, Sunday 0530, 0830 MotoGP Rd 19/19 Valencia, Spain November 18 TV Live BT Sport 2, Sunday 1230 Macau Grand Prix Formula 3 World Cup Macau, China November 18 TV Live…

WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN? WHO IS THIS? Born with racing in his blood, this versatile racer upheld family honour. Following domestic success, he followed in his uncle’s wheeltracks and made the move to foreign lands. He was a nearly man in the third and second tiers, but it was enough to land him a minnow. He made his point against the odds, but it was his aerial acrobatics that really grabbed the headlines. He hot-footed it down the paddock and bagged a couple of strong results, but with no top-line options he took another well-trodden path across the pond. After a slow start he eventually became a regular frontrunner until injury interrupted him in his prime. Although he returned to winning ways, he was never a title contender again. He…