Motorsport

Marco Bezzecchi admitted he had to head back to the pitlane and wait for the conditions to improve after nearly crashing in the opening practice for the Japanese Grand Prix.
Heading out at the recently resurfaced Motegi track for the first time on Friday morning, Bezzecchi had a big scare as he almost highsided off his factory Aprilia exiting Turn 11.
The Italian was able to save a crash ...Keep reading

Formula 1's return to Sepang International Circuit saw Max Verstappen topping Friday's FP1, and that was enough to get fans buzzing about a repeat of his 2017 win at this track. Then FP2 ended, and the Dutchman finished fourth on the timesheets. Obvious practice caveats apply, but let's jump into what the four-time champion thought of his performance today.
Why no soft tyre stint?
Verstappen ...Keep reading

Marc Marquez says he will go on the “attack” from Saturday onwards at the Japanese Grand Prix, admitting he faces a deficit to KTM rival Pedro Acosta.
A year after wrapping up his seventh MotoGP title at Motegi, the factory Ducati rider ended the opening day of running in third place, behind his younger brother Alex Marquez and Austrian GP winner Acosta.
Although the younger Marquez ...Keep reading

With seven or eight Formula 1 weekends remaining in 2026 – depending on the situation in the Middle East – Red Bull has just two objectives left: preventing 2026 from becoming the team’s first winless year since 2015 and, secondly, learning as much as possible ahead of next season.
Regarding the first objective, Verstappen has said on multiple occasions that Baku was theoretically Red ...Keep reading

Red Bull Formula 1 driver Isack Hadjar has revealed that he still does not have full movement of his wrist, but says his condition is "good enough" and joked he did a "good job" during his time out of the race seat.
The French-Algerian driver was forced to sit out the Dutch, Italian and Spanish Grands Prix after sustaining a fracture during the summer break.
Hadjar made his racing return at ...Keep reading

Alpine Formula 1 chief Flavio Briatore says his team will move on from Franco Colapinto's collision with team-mate Pierre Gasly as the squad fights Racing Bulls in the championship.
Colapinto triggered a three-car accident at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, involving Gasly and McLaren's Lando Norris, with all three drivers retiring from the event. Both Alpine drivers were on for valuable points ...Keep reading

Alex Rins joked he 'shat his pants' when Jack Miller leaned on the bike while giving him a taxi ride back to the pitlane at the end of Friday Practice for the Japanese Grand Prix.
Rins’s factory Yamaha bike ran out of fuel shortly after he crossed the finish line in the hour-long session, leaving him stranded on track.
After signalling other riders to stop, the Spaniard got a lift back ...Keep reading

Sepang has returned to the Formula 1 calendar for the 2026 season after almost a decade's absence, and more than half of the grid has never turned a wheel in anger on the iconic circuit. Oscar Piastri is one of these drivers. But when talking about how long it would take him to learn, he made a comment about the current cars that many fans believe prove his distaste for the 2026 ...Keep reading

Charles Leclerc went fastest in second practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia as the 90% threat of rain didn’t come to fruition during the Formula 1 outing. 
The Ferrari driver set a 1m37.528s at Sepang that put him 0.099s quicker than second-placed Isack Hadjar, who finished third in FP1, with Lando Norris completing the top three.
It’s come on the weekend that Sepang has ...Keep reading

Pedro Acosta has a familiar good feeling aboard his KTM RC16, as he looks to back up his breakthrough victory with another at the Japanese Grand Prix this weekend. 
The 22-year-old, who finally broke his grand prix duck last time out in Austria, says Friday at Motegi felt similar to the 2024 Japanese weekend, when he famously scored his first pole position.
Read ...Keep reading

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has given an insight into what fans of the Maranello outfit should expect from this weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.
The Frenchman explained that the team must focus its set-up entirely on race pace to combat severe tyre degradation.
Following a run of low-degradation street circuits and high-speed tracks, Formula 1's return to the Sepang ...Keep reading

Ferrari Formula 1 drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have completed a track test of the new Ferrari 12Cilindri Manuale at Fiorano.
The time on track allowed both drivers the opportunity to share their feedback on the new super GT, which is powered by a front-mid-mounted 6.5-litre naturally aspirated V12 engine producing 830 hp.
The 12Cilindri Manuale was unveiled in July 2026 and is ...Keep reading

Fred Vasseur has addressed the speculation surrounding his role as Ferrari team principal following FP1 of the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia. Rumours of his future at the Italian outfit have been building for days and further fuelled by Christian Horner's musing about wanting the role. Today, Vasseur revealed that attacks on his character became "a bit personal."
It's been a weekend of damage ...Keep reading

Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur has welcomed the public backing of his bosses and called on his team to remain united rather than point fingers and get distracted by outside noise.
While Ferrari has enjoyed an upturn in form under the new 2026 regulations, Vasseur's position returned to the centre of media speculation earlier this week. The cause was an interview in The Times in which former ...Keep reading

Alex Marquez was the fastest man on Friday at the Japanese Grand Prix, as all of the top championship contenders made it directly into Saturday's Qualifying 2 session. 
Home hero Ai Ogura, however, will need to go through the Qualifying 1 session in order to get his weekend back on track, as he failed to make the cut.
Before the session was even 10 minutes old, there had been considerable ...Keep reading

Franco Colapinto has claimed that “no one ever talks about” how he also receives lots of social media abuse, following the fallout to his clash at the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
The Alpine driver locked up from deep into Turn 1 at a safety car restart in Baku last weekend, colliding into team-mate Pierre Gasly and McLaren’s Lando Norris.
It caused an angry Norris who, before ...Keep reading

Mercedes went five months without touching the W17 and still built a 160-point lead over Ferrari in the constructors' championship. Six wins in ten races will do that. So when the team finally rolled out a serious upgrade package at Sepang for the Bahrain Grand Prix, the question isn't about whether it will be fast, it's how fast.
This upgrade package is the first serious change Mercedes has ...Keep reading

Two-time Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso has revealed that he took his son, Leonard, for a lap in a go-kart at just two months old.
The Aston Martin driver opened up about adapting to fatherhood alongside his ongoing F1 commitments during an interview with Spanish radio sports programme El Larguero. 
Alonso revealed that his son, who is now six months old, has already been introduced to ...Keep reading

Max Verstappen topped opening practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia aboard a highly competitive 2026 Red Bull Formula 1 car in an uninterrupted session at Sepang.
The four-time world champion posted a 1m37.520s to go 0.383s quicker than second-placed George Russell of Mercedes, with Verstappen’s team-mate Isack Hadjar completing the top three on a 1m38.303s. 
It came on F1’s ...Keep reading

Press conferences in Formula 1 can come with plenty of rehearsed answers - we all saw Yuki Tsunoda's briefing sheet when he temporarily took Liam Lawson's seat a month ago. These filters can sometimes tame what could be an exciting answer, but it's safe to say Max Verstappen has no such filter as one of his answers on Thursday at Sepang won over fans.
F1 has returned to the legendary track ...Keep reading