Motorsport update – Xmas Special

The motorsport season has finally come to an end and below is a review of the 2021 motorsport season as well as some of the latest news from the world of motorsport.

F1:

Top 3 drivers standings:

• 1st: Max Verstappen (Red Bull),
• 2nd: Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes),
• 3rd: Valtteri Bottas (Mercedes).

Highlights of the season:

• Alpine’s Esteban Ocon won the 2021 Hungarian GP after bowling ball collisons into turn 1 which saw Mercedes’s Valtteri Bottas and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll cause two huge multi car pileups. It was also Ocon’s first ever career win in F1 and the first for the Alpine outfit since Australia 2013 when Kimi Raikkonen won for the team when it was known as Lotus.

• Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won the 2021 F1 World Championship after overtaking Mercedes’s Lewis Hamilton into turn 5 after a titanic battle for the championship all season,
• Mclaren 1-2 Finish with Daniel Ricciardo heading home Britian’s Lando Norris and was also the first win for Ricciardo since the 2018 Monaco GP driving at the time for Red Bull,
• Title rivals clollide at Silverstone, Monza and Jeddah. (Lewis Hamilton And Max Verstappen).

BTCC:

Top 3 drivers standings:

• 1st: Ash Sutton (Laser Tools Racing),
• 2nd: Colin Turkington (WSR Team BMW),
• 3rd: Josh Cook (BTC Racing)

Highlights of the season:

• Brands Hatch GP BTCC Meetings which saw a multi car pileup in one of the races and Team BMW’s Stephen Jelley getting spun round by MB Motorsport’s Jake Hill into Surtees plus a retirement on the opening Lap of Race 2 as Senna Proctor beached his BTC Racing Honda Civic Type R in the gravel,
• A third BTCC title for Ash Sutton,
• Laser Tools Racing’s Aiden Moffat race 1 win at Croft from pole,
• Lap 1 race 2 pileup at the season opener in Thruxton involving an airbourne crash for Team Hard’s Glynn Geddie,
• Dan Cammish’s one off appearance for BTC Racing as he replaced Michael Crees at the season opener in Thruxton. Cammish would return to the Porsche Carrera Cup GB for 2021 with Senna Proctor taking the final seat at BTC Racing for the rest of the season.

There has also been some driver news in the BTCC as well:

• Ash Sutton moves to NAPA Racing for the 2022 season partnering Multiple Porsche Carrera Cup GB Champion Dan Cammish. Both drivers will pilot Ford Focus ST for the season as Sutton joins the team on a multi year deal,
• Scottish Racing Driver, Dexter Patterson joins Laser Tools Racing for 2022 and will partner fellow Scot Aiden Moffat at the team. Patterson will be driving the Infiniti Q50 for the 2022 season,
• Tom Olliphant takes a sabbatical from the BTCC and will miss the 2022 season.

Formula E:

Top 3 drivers championship:

• 1st: Nyck De Vries (Mercedes),
• 2nd: Eduardo Motara (Venturi)
• 3rd: Jake Dennis (BMW I Andretti),

Highlights of the season:

• Second London E Prix which saw Mahindra’s Alex Lynn take victory in a chaotic race which saw Audi’s Lucas Di Grassi get disqualified after DI Grassi overtook other drivers behind the safety car by using the pitlane to do so,
• Valencia E Prix Race 1 ending in which all teams apart from Mercedes miscaculated how much battery usage they had left and Nyck De Vries would end up winning that day in wet condtions for Mercedes EQ,
• The Monaco E Prix provided great racing by Formula E and also saw one of the best overtakes of the year as Jaguar’s Mitch Evans pulled off a thunderbolt after he passed DS Techeetah’s Antonio Felix Da Costa into a narrowing gap into Beau Rivage.

Indycar:

Champion: Alex Palou

Highlights of the year:

• Indy 500: Helio Castroneves taking top honnors in this year’s event for Meyer Shank Racing,
• A pole postion at the one of the Indy Road Course Races for Romain Grosjean driving for Dale Coyne Racing in his rookie Indycar season,
• A huge crash for Felix Rosenqvist at Detroit after his suspension snapped on his car,
• The Music City GP in Nashville including a late race crash for Colton Herta which saw Marcus Ericsson claim the win late on.

Nascar:

Champion: Kyle Larson (Hendrick Motorsports),

Highlights of the season:

• Micheal McDowell won his madien Daytona 500 after navigating his Ford Mustang through a huge final lap pileup before turn 3,
• Alex Bowman and Denny Hamlin’s collison during the closing stages of the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville,
• Chase Elliot and Kevin Harvick’s Bristol and Charlotte Roval collisions,
• A shock win for Aric Almirola at New Hampshire as Almirola won the Foxwoods Resort Casino 301 that day to book himself into The Chase,
• The return of Dirt Racing to the Cup Series as Bristol Motor Speedway hosted the Food City Dirt race which saw Joey Logano win a chaotic race.

Opening round race dates Are Below for the motorsport series that are listed above:

• F1: Barhrain GP: 20th March 2022,
• BTCC: 23rd-24th April (Donnington Park),
• Indycar: Streets Of St Petersburg (27th Febuary 2022),
• Formula E: Al Dirayh E Prix (28th January 2022),
• Nascar Cup Series: Busch Light Clash At The Colosseum ( 6th Febuary 2022) (Daytona 500 will kickstart regular season on the 20th Febuary 2022).

Merry Christmas and a happy new year to you all. The motorsport update will return in early January 2022 with a look ahead to the new season. Tune in to Daytime with Aston Avery every Tuesday on Gateway 97.8 to listen live to the motorsport update only on Gateway 97.8 from 10am.