Motorsport update – 19th April

Last weekend featured lots of great motorsport action. Action includes: F1 headed to the legendary Imola circuit for the Emilia Romagna GP, Nascar visited Richmond Raceway for the Toyota Owners 400 whilst Indycar kicked of their 2021 season at Barber Motorsport’s Park in Birmingham, Alabama.

F1: 

Emilia Romagna GP top 5 drivers: 

• 1st: Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
• 2nd: Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)
• 3rd: Lando Norris (McLaren)
• 4th: Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 
• 5th: Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) 

Highlights 

• Mercedes’s Valtteri Bottas and Williams’s George Russell suffered a horrifying crash down on the entrance to Tamburello, (both drivers walked away from the horror shunt without any serious injuries). 
• All of the drivers struggled for grip early on as track conditions were very wet,
• Red Bull’s Sergio Perez received a 10 second time penalty for overtaking other drivers behind the safety car,
• Mercedes’s Lewis Hamilton survived a scare during the midpoint of the race after his Mercedes W12 went off down at Tosa. The Brit however managed to get out of the wreck as he had enough momentum to rejoin the circuit. 
• Mclaren’s Lando Norris had a superb day at the office as he put up a sterling drive in the changeable conditions to finished 3rd. (It was Norris’s second podium in F1 and the first for the Brit since the opening round of the 2020 season in Austria). 

(Next F1 meeting: F1 Portuguese GP) (Algarve, Portimao)  (30th April – 2nd May 2021)

Nascar Toyota Owners 400:

• 1st: Alex Bowman (Chevrolet)
• 2nd: Denny Hamlin (Toyota) 
• 3rd: Joey Logano (Ford) 

Next Nascar meeting: GEICO 500 (Talladega) (25th April 2021)

Indycar Barber:

• 1st: Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing, 
• 2nd:  Will Power, Team Penske
• 3rd:  Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing

Highlights:

• There was a huge crash in the Honda Indy GP at Barber which saw two drivers retire including 2 time Indycar Champion, Josef Newgarden and 2012 Indycar champion and 2014 Indy 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay,
• Romain Grosjean finished 10th in the Honda GP of Alabama after starting 7th on the grid. 

Next Indycar meeting: St Petersburg street course (25th April 2021)  

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