Motorsport Update – 14th December

As the Motorsport season draws to a close below we take you though the all the latest news below.

F1:

Abu Dhabi GP Top 5 Drivers:

• 1st: Max Verstappen (Red Bull),
• 2nd: Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
• 3rd: Carlos Sainz (Ferrari),
• 4th: Ykuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri),
• 5th: Pierre Gasly (Alpha Tauri)

Highlights:

• Red Bull’s Max Verstappen wins his maiden F1 title after passing his rival, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton at turn 5 to seal the title,
• A late safety car was deployed following a crash on the exit of hotel section at turn 14 by Williams’s Nicholas Latifi. Mercedes were not happy after the FIA brought the Saftey Car in just as lapped cars had just passed it which gave Max and Lewis a final lap showdown for the title,
• Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr finished 3rd which was a fantastic result for the prancing horse, however Yuki Tsunoda surprised the bookies as he finished 4th which gave him his best F1 Race result in his rookie season and Career,
• Red Bull’s Sergio Perez produced some pretty skilful defending as he tried to keep Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton at bay and eventually when Hamilton got past he let his teammate Max Verstappen through as Red Bull played tactical team play to give Max the chance to hunt down Lewis for the title,
• Haas’s Nikita Mazepin unfortunately couldn’t participate for the 2021 F1 Season Finale F1 race in Abu Dhabi following a positive Covid-19 test. Mazepin will be back on the grid for Haas in 2022 .

Final Top 5 F1 Drivers Championship Standings for 2021 after the Abu Dhabi GP:

1^st: Max Vertsappen (Red Bull Racing) (Champion) (395.5 Points)

2^nd: Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) (388.5 Points),

3^rd: Valteri Bottas (Mercedes) (226 Points)

4^th: Sergio Perez (Red Bul) (190 Points)

5^th: Carlos Sainz Jr (Ferrari) (164.5 Points)

There were plenty of talking points from the race as well as new futures for 2022.

• 2007 F1 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen raced for the final time with Alfa Romeo at the Abu Dhabi GP as he retires from the sport after a glittering career,
• Antonio Giovinazzi will also be leaving Alfa Romeo at the end of the 2021 season as the Italian joins Formula E with Dragon/Penske for 2022,
• George Russell will move to Mercedes F1 Team for 2022 to partner 7 time F1 Champion Lewis Hamilton at the team for an all British driver lineup for the Silver Arrows. Russel will leave Williams after final race in Abu Dhabi with Alex Albon taking his seat in 2022 driving for iconic Grove outfit partnering Nicholas Latifi,
• Alfa Romeo will field an all new driver lineup in 2022 with Valtteri Bottas departing for Mercedes and former F2 Driver Guanyu Zhou joining the team for next season.

Formula E:

• Driver Lineups for the 2022 Season have now been confirmed.

• Avalanche Andretti: Jake Dennis and Oliver Askew,
• Dragon/Penske Autosport: Sergio Sette-Camara and Antonio Giovinazzi,
• DS Teetcheeta: Jean Eric Vergne and Antonio Felix Da Costa,
• Envision Racing: Robin Frijns and Nick Cassidy,
• Mahindra: Alexander Sims and Oliver Rowland,
• Mercedes EQ FE Team: Nyck De Vries and Stoffel Vandoorne.
• Nio Formula E Team: Oliver Turvey and Dan Ticktum,
• Nissan E Dams: Sebastien Buemi and Maximillian Gunther,
• Jaguar TCS Racing: Sam Bird and Mitch Evans,
• Rokit Venturi Racing: Lucas Di Grassi and Edoardo Mortara,
• TAG Hauer Porsche: Andre Lotterer and Pascal Wehrlein

Indycar:

• Santino Ferrucci and Sage Karam have been announced by Dreyer And Reinbold Racing as their two participants for the 2022 Indy 500.

BTCC

Napa Racing have announced they have joined Motorbase as commercial partners for the upcoming 2022 season.

Tune in every Tuesday to listen live to the motorsport update on Daytime with Aston Avery only on Gateway 97.8 from 10am.