Auto Racing
The Canadian Press - Sep 2, 2024 / 3:06 pm | Story: 504453
Photo: The Canadian Press
WEST ALLIS, Wis. (AP) — “Pato, who?”
With a smirk on his face and a sombrero on his head, that's what IndyCar's most popular driver asked after trouncing the field in the series' long awaited return to the Milwaukee Mile.
Pato O'Ward was not happy at all when NASCAR last week announced it would race in Mexico City at Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez, the really popular Formula 1 venue and best circuit in his home country.
O'Ward could not believe that NASCAR had beaten IndyCar to the punch, and his fellow competitors were equally incensed.
NASCAR has never in the modern era held a points-paying Cup Series race outside the United States, and had somehow beaten IndyCar, which actually has raced in Mexico, back into the market.
Ben Kennedy, the 32-year-old great grandson of NASCAR’s founder, has been a broad thinker and unafraid to attack NASCAR’s tired old schedule. And last week’s deal with Mexico City was the first in which he stood center stage with neither of the Steve’s — NASCAR president Phelps, or chief operating officer O’Donnell — on site.
It was Kennedy’s show and he, along with celebrated Mexican driver Daniel Suarez, were treated as royalty as they announced a multi-year deal to bring NASCAR there starting next June.
As NASCAR celebrated this monumental moment, the IndyCar paddock was aghast.
How did NASCAR get a race in Mexico before they did?
Here's what we know:
O'Ward is without question IndyCar's most popular driver, but he has earned the title with the work he puts in on and off the track. No other driver stops for every selfie, signs every autograph card and cheekily flirts with the camera as the 25-year-old, who in addition to IndyCar is the reserve F1 driver for McLaren.
Both he and Suarez are from Monterrey, but had very different paths to the United States. Suarez came to the U.S. as a teenager, he couch-surfed to crack into the racing scene and learned English from watching cartoons. Earlier this year he became an American citizen.
O'Ward's family relocated to the San Antonio, Texas, area when O'Ward and his sister were young, and although he races under the Mexican flag, his home is also in Texas.
Either way, his popularity has soared among fans since his 2021 first full season and O'Ward works hard to cater to the Latino fan base. He offers ticket packages at his expense, goes out of his way to oblige Spanish-speaking to fans and has earned his spot in Mexico as second only to Sergio Perez of F1 in terms of motorsports popularity.
O'Ward believes he should be racing in Mexico, that IndyCar should have been working on a deal back in 2021 when O'Ward first broke through, and that NASCAR had stolen IndyCar's only chance.
Did NASCAR ruin it for IndyCar in Mexico?
Apparently not. Even though O'Ward criticized IndyCar for losing Mexico City, the bickering only spotlighted how important this issue is to all parties.
Mark Miles, the head of IndyCar parent company Penske Entertainment, seemed caught off guard by the backlash over Mexico City. As such, maybe Miles was sloppy with his names or dates and when he tried to explain the (very) confusing negotiations with Mexico City.
Miles said the promoters had previously advised that both IndyCar and O'Ward were not popular enough for an event. He even intimated that O'Ward was not as popular as retired CART driver Adrian Fernandez, at least in the eyes of the Mexico City promoters.
But what has muddled this is that those comparisons were apparently made long before O'Ward became the star of IndyCar.
CIE is the largest promoter in Latin America, and its subsidiary Ocesa is partner with Live Nation and runs more than 8,000 events a year. Ocesa already runs the F1 races and will work with NASCAR on its new deal.
CIE and Ocesa know exactly how big O'Ward can be in Mexico and have watched his rise, which they admit really exploded when he lost the Indianapolis 500 on the final lap in May. The promoters on Monday made it clear that the advice they'd given IndyCar about the series and O'Ward's popularity was years ago.
And then they heard nothing.
But then Pato won
O'Ward isn't letting this issue go, and that's why he wore a sombrero to his news conference Saturday after winning his third race of the year.
He was miffed at Miles' statements — quotes walked back a day later in a full-throated praising by Miles of O'Ward — and so ‘Pato, who?’ became O'Ward's flippant response to being told he's not big enough for Mexico.
Back in Mexico? CIE was paying attention.
They'd only heard from IndyCar just three months ago — it had been crickets since whenever they'd first advised that the Mexican driver market needed to be rebuilt before IndyCar could be successful in the city — and the initial communications were confusing.
The promoters first heard from IndyCar team owner Ricardo Juncos, who claimed to hold the series rights in Latin America and ability to negotiate a deal. Then came calls from businessman Ricardo Escotto, the father of a rising Indy car driver who claimed he could speak on behalf of IndyCar.
The Mexico City promoters were so far down the road with NASCAR, and so confused by what was happening with IndyCar, that they closed the deal for the Cup Series race and went about getting ready for the announcement. Landing the first championship-paying race outside the U.S. in modern history cemented Mexico City as one of the top venues in the world, so CIE wasn't thinking about these weird, multiple overtures from IndyCar representatives.
Eventually the game of “Who's on First” got sorted and IndyCar called off Juncos, who was essentially freelancing but by all indications with good intentions. Miles formalized in writing a July 1 letter that Escotto and former driver Michel Jourdain Jr. were IndyCar's designated proxies in Mexico, but the Mexico City promoters were busy closing the NASCAR deal.
That happened late last month, was announced last week, and then it was off to vacation.
But O'Ward wanted to be heard, and he joined a growing chorus of those critical of IndyCar's slow pace on issues others find important. Already trying to make a statement, O'Ward won at Milwaukee — and in total fairness, Milwaukee is being overlooked for being a really great success after an eight-year absence from a track that opened in 1903 and is considered one of the oldest in the world. The Mexico City promoters were paying attention and suddenly very aware of the public pressure on OSECA, IndyCar and O'Ward to get into Mexico.
Zak Brown, head of McLaren Racing, told The Associated Press on Monday that NASCAR is among the multiple inquirers he has had about O'Ward's availability for the NASCAR events next June.
“Subject to no conflicts, I'd welcome and encourage him to compete in the NASCAR Mexico race,” Brown told AP. “When I was the Mexico Formula E race and Formula 1, I had so many people yelling Pato's name.”
O'Ward — who, for those keeping track, was given the Singapore Grand Prix off from the F1 team so he can be a groomsmen in former McLaren driver Felix Rosenqvist's wedding — alas has a conflict next June in that IndyCar has a race scheduled the same weekend as Mexico City.
Brown will not allow him to miss an IndyCar race.
So will IndyCar ever get to Mexico?
CIE says this last 72 hours of IndyCar interest is news to them, but they of course are interested in having an event and including O'Ward. He, during F1 weekends, usually does on-track demonstrations for celebrities and this October could participate in the first practice of the F1 weekend for McLaren.
They recognize his rise in popularity, and reiterate that their earlier lukewarm feelings toward O'Ward and IndyCar were when he was a rookie, and Mexicans were having to rediscover the series after the retirements of Fernandez and Jourdain.
Mexico City is flattered to be caught in the middle of this NASCAR vs. IndyCar/Suarez vs. O'Ward jealousy: for CIE, it shows that in a city of 22 million, Mexico City has the venue capable of hosting international events that become must-attend events.
So don't worry, Mexico City and IndyCar are definitely talking now. And it is what it is, the earliest a deal can be done is for the 2026 calendar.
The entire thing was a debacle won by NASCAR in a knockout. But IndyCar has entered the chat and will see what it can get done. It's not fast enough for O'Ward, or most of the teams and drivers and sponsors, but this entire Mexico City mess has shown IndyCar leadership it has got to keep up.
___
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
Back to Homepage
TyposNews TipsForums
Must-Read Stories
Get all the day's most vital news with our newsletter, sent every weekday.
The Canadian Press - Sep 2, 2024 / 10:04 am | Story: 504424
Photo: The Canadian Press
DARLINGTON, S.C. (AP) — NASCAR's regular season finished with a pair of surprises in winless drivers Harrison Burton and Chase Briscoe pulling off unexpected victories at Daytona and Darlington.
Don't look for more stunners when the playoffs start next week and NASCAR's power programs, Hendrick Motorsports, Joe Gibbs Racing and Team Penske, dominate the grid with 11 of the 16 drivers who will chase the championship next Sunday in Atlanta.
Throw in Burton and owner Wood Brothers' connection with Penske, and 75% of the field has blue-blood connections to research, equipment and advanced technology that give their racers most everything they need to succeed.
“I mean, the way I look at it is we got nothing to lose, right?” Briscoe said after his dramatic, late, three-wide pass to win the Southern 500. “If you can win at Darlington, you can win anywhere on the schedule.”
Briscoe gave soon-to-be-shuttered Stewart-Haas Racing, once a power program with championships from Tony Stewart in 2011 and Kevin Harvick in 2014, a final chance to add to that legacy when he passed Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain for the lead, then outran Kyle Busch at the end.
History says it won't be easy for Briscoe and others non-power players to celebrate in Phoenix when the championship will be awarded in two months.
Drivers from Hendrick Motorsports, JGR and Team Penske have won the past 10 titles.
Hendrick's lineup features past champions Larson and Chase Elliott along with William Byron and Alex Bowman.
“You work hard all year long to get stage wins, to get race wins to position yourself in the playoffs,” said Larson, the 2021 Cup Series champion who will open as the top seed in Atlanta. “Just keep on doing what we're doing. Our cars have been fast. Keep it up and hopefully, we can advance on through.”
All four Gibbs drivers reached the playoffs, with Joe Gibbs' grandson, Ty Gibbs, earning his first playoff berth and 2017 series champ Martin Truex Jr. holding on to the 16th and final spot despite an early wreck that knocked him out of the Southern 500 when his playoff fate was very much in doubt.
Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin each won three times this year.
Ty Gibbs, who turns 22 next month, won the Xfinity Series title in 2022 and now can add to JGR's five Cup Series crowns.
“I'm very happy to be able to make it,” he said. “We'll just see what we can do in 10 weeks.”
Penske enters with the past two reigning champions in Joey Logano in 2022 and Ryan Blaney last year. Austin Cindric won his way into the field in June at World Wide Technology Raceway outside of St. Louis.
Blaney is ready to run it back, even though his Southern 500 was cut short when he was taken out early in the wreck with Truex, who took all the blame for the miscue.
Blaney recalled how his title bid got off to a slow start before those final six races when “just about everything went right.”
“You feel like, well, ‘We’ve done this before,'” Blaney said. “That experience, I think, is good for you, your guys, we've done this, what are the things that worked really well that we can apply, what are the things we have to be prepared for that can be different and what are things we did poorly that we” can improve this year.
The rest of the field includes 23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick, who won the regular-season championship by a point over Larson; Brad Keselowski of Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, who won the series title in 2012; and Daniel Suarez, who runs for Trackhouse Racing.
Bring it on, says Briscoe, energized that he and Stewart-Haas have something to race for before the garage is shut for good. If he comes up short, Briscoe likely has more chances down the road since he's headed to JGR next season to replace Truex, who is retiring after the playoffs.
“We just got to go" and compete, Briscoe said of this playoff run. “If we do what we did (at Darlington), we can beat anybody. It’s just a matter of putting it all together.”
___
AP NASCAR: https://apnews.com/hub/nascar-racing
Back to Homepage
TyposNews TipsForums
Must-Read Stories
Get all the day's most vital news with our newsletter, sent every weekday.
The Canadian Press - Sep 2, 2024 / 3:48 am | Story: 504400
Photo: The Canadian Press
MONZA, Italy (AP) — What a difference a year makes.
Even Max Verstappen is at a loss as to how he went from having such a dominant Formula 1 car last season to one that he now describes as “a monster.”
The Red Bull driver had a weekend to forget at the Italian Grand Prix as he could only qualify in seventh place and went on to finish sixth in Sunday’s race.
“Last year we had a great car, which was the most dominant car ever. And we basically turned it into a monster,” a dejected Verstappen said. “So we have to turn it around.”
Last year at Monza, Verstappen secured a record 10th straight win in a season where the final outcome was never in doubt.
Now the three-time defending F1 champion is without a victory in six straight races, his longest winless run since 2020, and is seeing his lead in the drivers’ standings being chipped away by Lando Norris race by race.
There was some consolation on Sunday as Norris could only finish third, behind his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc — who delighted the passionate red-clad tifosi with a win at Ferrari’s home track after an audacious one-stop strategy.
Nevertheless, Norris trimmed the gap to Verstappen to 62 points, while McLaren moved to just eight points behind Red Bull in the constructors’ championship.
“At the moment both championships are not realistic,” Verstappen said.
The Dutch driver added that he had given as much feedback as he could to the team in recent weeks but “unfortunately I don’t have a degree in engineering or aerodynamics.”
“Now it’s up to the team to come with a lot of changes with the car because we basically went from a very dominant car to an undrivable car in the space of, what, six to eight months?” Verstappen continued.
“So that is very weird for me. And we need to really turn the car upside down.”
There are eight races left, including ones in Austin, Texas, Mexico City and Abu Dhabi — three tracks on which Verstappen has triumphed in each of the last three years.
“It doesn’t matter. With how we are at the moment, we are bad everywhere,” Verstappen said.
Norris could have been even closer to Verstappen if McLaren had intervened in the final few laps, and ordered its drivers to swap positions as Piastri’s chances of chasing Leclerc down for victory faded.
That would have handed Norris what could prove to be a vital three points in the title race.
“I’m not here just to beg for someone to let me pass, that’s not what I’m here for,” Norris said. “I’m here to race, he (Piastri) drove a better race than me so I finished third and that’s where I deserved to finish.”
But when pressed, Norris acknowledged that he would prefer the team to make his title push the priority.
“I mean I would love it, but it’s not up to me,” he said. “It’s a tough one, obviously I wouldn’t say we’re running out of time but time is going away slowly and I still believe we can do it. The pace is obviously great. I still believe we probably have close to if not the best car again today.
“I don’t know, it’s not for me to decide, it’s for the team … when you’re fighting for a championship you want every little thing and I’m doing everything I can. The best way simply is just to win the race and I didn’t do that today because of some silly things.”
___
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
Back to Homepage
TyposNews TipsForums
Must-Read Stories
Get all the day's most vital news with our newsletter, sent every weekday.
The Canadian Press - Sep 1, 2024 / 7:18 pm | Story: 504388
Photo: The Canadian Press
DARLINGTON, S.C. (AP) — Chase Briscoe knew he carried the full weight of everyone at Stewart-Haas Racing into the final laps Sunday night at Darlington Raceway. And he couldn't have been happier.
“I feel like I run better under heavy pressure,” Briscoe said. “I love the Game 7, pressure-heavy moment.”
He made a dramatic, three-wide, late-race pass and held on to win the Southern 500 and qualify for the playoffs, giving Stewart-Haas Racing a final chance to add to its championship legacy before it shuts down after the season.
Briscoe and his team head to the postseason reveling in that pressure in the final days of the program that won NASCAR titles with Tony Stewart in 2011 and Kevin Harvick in 2014.
Briscoe got a call from Stewart, his owner, and drivers came up to congratulate him on the win.
Briscoe took the lead with the three-wide pass over Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain for the lead, then outran two-time series champion Kyle Busch at the end.
Briscoe pulled away on a final restart with 17 laps and held off Busch, who like Briscoe needed a victory to reach the postseason.
“We just won the Southern 500!” an emotional Briscoe said on the car radio.
Briscoe is prepared for more milestones with Stewart-Haas.
“Yeah, this group, the day we found out that the team wasn't going to exist anymore, we went over to the shop board, looked at each other and said, ‘We’re in this to the end,'” Briscoe said. “I was saying all week, `We've got one bullet left in the chamber.' That bullet hit.”
Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Ty Gibbs and Martin Truex Jr. got the final two postseason spots on points, while Bubba Wallace and Chastain, both within 27 points of the cutoff line when the race began, came up short.
Briscoe's dramatic move spoiled another dominant Darlington run by Kyle Larson, who led 263 laps but was not the same after getting passed by the winner. Larson was trying to overtake Tyler Reddick for the regular-season points title — and the 15 bonus points the leader receives — but came up a point short.
Christopher Bell was third, followed by Larson, Chastain, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Corey LaJoie and Reddick.
Truex, racing his last season before retirement, just needed a solid, problem-free run at the track “Too Tough To Tame” to advance. Instead, he left his fate in others' hands when he crashed out on Lap 3 as his car slid up and hit defending NASCAR champion Ryan Blaney.
But following Larson’s victory in the second stage — he also won the first stage — NASCAR announced that Truex had wrapped up a spot in the 16-driver playoff field.
Bubba Wallace entered the weekend as the first-man out of the playoffs and got a boost when he won his first Darlington pole Saturday. But with 23XI co-owner Michael Jordan in his pit box to watch, Wallace got caught up in a six-car wreck 24 laps from the finish.
Jordan, wearing a headset and watching intently, threw his hands up and bowed his head when he saw Wallace involved in the wreck.
“Wasn't good enough for 16th this year, hate that," Wallace said. “Stinks saying that, but wasn't for a lack of effort.”
Busch came up short a second straight week, losing to a fellow winless driver this season. He was beaten by Harrison Burton last week at Daytona.
“Hate it for our guys,” said Busch, who won titles in 2015 and 2019. “Something to build on and get better for. We just missed a lot early in the year, the middle part of the year to be in this spot, on the outside looking in.”
Reddick's race
Tyler Reddick worked through a stomach illness as he held off Larson to win the regular season. He said his son was ill last week at Daytona and, as most parents know, that left Reddick susceptible to getting sick.
Reddick felt it coming on midday Friday and thought it had cleared up earlier Sunday. Then it came on in full force once the race began. Reddick thanked his crew, who kept him medicated and hydrated to make it through.
“At one point, I was just waiting to puke all over myself,” he said. “Thankfully, they kept that from happening.”
Playoff field
Reddick won the regular-season title, with Larson in second. The rest of the playoff field is: Chase Elliott, followed by Christopher Bell, William Byron, Blaney, Denny Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, Austin Cindric, Daniel Suarez, Alex Bowman, Briscoe, Gibbs and Truex.
The first round starts in Atlanta, then goes to Watkins Glen and Bristol before the field is cut to 12.
Honoring Cale
Cale Yarborough, the Hall of Famer driver who died at age 84 on New Year’s Eve, was remembered at his hometown track as Dale Jarrett drove the 1977 Oldsmobile Cutlass that Yarborough used to win his third straight Cup Series title in 1978 during pace laps. Yarborough won five of the Labor Day weekend crown jewel races, second to Jeff Gordon’s six, at Darlington after growing up there a few miles away.
Up next
The playoffs start next week at Atlanta on Sunday, with the first round continuing at Watkins Glen and Bristol the following two weeks.
___
AP NASCAR: https://apnews.com/hub/nascar-racing
Back to Homepage
TyposNews TipsForums
Must-Read Stories
Get all the day's most vital news with our newsletter, sent every weekday.
The Canadian Press - Sep 1, 2024 / 4:38 pm | Story: 504379
Photo: The Canadian Press
DARLINGTON, S.C. (AP) — Martin Truex Jr. qualified for the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs after some nervous moments when he crashed out on the third lap of the Southern 500 on Sunday.
Others drivers hopeful of a spot like two-time series champion Kyle Busch and playoff participants last year in Bubba Wallace and Chris Buescher weren't so fortunate after Chase Briscoe used a late-three wide pass to take the lead and hold off Busch down the stretch to win the race.
Busch had a second straight close call in missing the postseason for the first time since 2012, also finishing second to Harrison Burton a week ago at Daytona.
Busch thought he had enough to catch Briscoe and got near his back bumper in the final few laps, but could not move past Briscoe.
“To come in here in a last ditch effort and have a shot,” said Busch, who has not won in his last 47 races. “Early in the race, I wouldn't of thought we'd have a shot so I really felt like we overachieved.”
Buescher, who won three races to reach the playoffs a year ago, came in last inside the projected field, but could not overtake Truex for the final playoff spot.
“We thought we did what we needed to do today,” the Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing driver said.
“We've been so fast and we've outrun so many of these cars that are going to run for a championship,” he continued. “But that's the system we're in.”
Truex's playoff grip certainly looked tenuous when he slid up into defending champion Ryan Blaney and both cars went to the garage. But after two stages (230 laps) at Darlington Raceway, NASCAR announced that Truex, the 2017 series champ, was locked into the 16-driver field.
Truex is in his last full season as a driver for Joe Gibbs Racing. He started the race 58 points ahead of the cutoff line to reach the playoffs, which start next week at Atlanta, and he said Saturday he felt good about his position at 14th on the playoff grid entering the weekend.
The wreck left Truex watching the race unfold and hoping others behind him wouldn't do enough on the track to knock him out.
“It was all my fault, all my doing,” Truex said outside the infield care center.
Truex said he had a run on William Byron's No. 24 when the car got away from him.
“I thought everything was going fine and I ran into him. Obviously, that was on me,” he said.
Blaney, like Truex, was taken to the care center. The Team Penske driver said he was hurting at first, but felt like he'd be OK going forward as he prepares to defend his series title beginning next week in Atlanta.
“I saw Martin get loose, and I thought he was going to spin to the bottom, so I kind of gassed up to get around him, but it was just terrible timing,” Blaney said. “He overcorrected, and we were just right there.”
Truex's JGR teammate, Ty Gibbs, qualified 15th on points.
Wallace, who started from the pole, was the first man out of playoff position, 21 points behind Buescher when the race began. 23XI co-owner Michael Jordan was in his pit box to watch things unfold.
“Got caught up in someone else's mess,” he said of the multi-car wreck 24 laps from the end. “Unfortunate. I hate it for our guys.”
Truex's wreck shuffled him out of playoff position temporarily. Despite getting in, he knows he'll need to turn things around to make a deep playoff run.
“It sucks. We just had a miserable two months,” he said. “Tonight was on me, sorry to my team and all the guys who work so hard.”
___
AP NASCAR: https://apnews.com/hub/nascar-racing
Back to Homepage
TyposNews TipsForums
Must-Read Stories
Get all the day's most vital news with our newsletter, sent every weekday.
The Canadian Press - Sep 1, 2024 / 12:31 pm | Story: 504342
Photo: The Canadian Press
WEST ALLIS, Wis. (AP) — Alex Palou was helpless as he sat in the cockpit of his disabled car watching his hold on the IndyCar championship slip away.
The second of two races at the Milwaukee Mile was about to begin and the Spaniard's car suddenly lost power.
He was stuck. The car wouldn't start.
And rival Will Power was going to take control of the title race.
At least that's how it seemed.
Chip Ganassi Racing changed a battery inside Palou's car and he rejoined the action 29 laps into the race Sunday. By that time, Power had taken the race lead and wiped out all of Palou's 43-point lead in the standings.
Attrition and Power's own mistake dramatically changed outcome.
Palou watched car after car retire from the race and finished 19th. Power, on a restart, inexplicably spun on his own. The Australian fell a lap off the pace, finished 10th, and ultimately only cut Palou's lead to 33 points with the season finale remaining.
“Long shot now,” Power conceded “God gave us a chance. That’s a season, man, you can’t make those mistakes.”
What could have been a dead-heat headed into the Sept. 15 finale at Nashville Superspeedway is still Palou’s championship to lose.
“Bit sad and disappointed today. It was out of my control and the team’s control,” Palou said. “It is a sport, it is what it is. We were getting happier and happier getting more points, one more point, one more point. On to Nashville.”
Scott McLaughlin, Power's teammate at Team Penske, won for the third time this season. He beat Scott Dixon, Palou's teammate at Ganassi, in a 1-2 finish for New Zealanders.
For Dixon, who made his 400th career start on Saturday, his 142nd podium passed Mario Andretti for most in series history.
But this race was primarily about the championship and Palou somehow recovered from a nearly catastrophic issue. IndyCar midway through the season introduced a new hybrid engine and teams had been greatly concerned it would have a negative impact on the championship.
The engine failed on Dixon's car in its debut race in July and Dixon said when he saw Palou stranded, he twice asked his team what had happened.
“I was kind of trying to make sure we weren’t doing the same thing, making sure it wasn’t the same problem I had at Mid-Ohio,” Dixon said. When told the Ganassi team changed a battery in Palou's car, Dixon said it could still be related to the hybrid.
“The DC to the DC on the hybrid could kill that, as well. There’s a lot more parts now,” Dixon said. “The hybrid can get into a funny kind of mode, which will just kill the car. Just sad to see. I think Alex would have had a great race. I think he probably would have had it sewn up.”
Palou is the reigning IndyCar champion and is seeking a third title in four years. Power is a two-time champion and winner in 2022, sandwiched between Palou's two titles.
Colton Herta of Andretti Global was third. Santino Ferrucci finished fourth for the second day in a row as he continues to put A.J. Foyt Racing solidly in the standings that will earn the organization a critical end-of-season bonus.
Marcus Ericsson of Andretti was fifth and followed by Alexander Rossi of Arrow McLaren, Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing, Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti and Romain Grosjean of Juncos Hollinger Racing.
The Juncos team scored its first career IndyCar podium on Saturday with Conor Daly's third-place finish. But Daly's car had mechanical problems and he finished 17th on Sunday.
Pato O'Ward, winner Saturday, also had mechanical problems and failed to finish the race. Eight cars retired after Palou's initial electrical issue, and that, combined with Power's spin, kept Palou in control of the championship.
Newgarden's start
Josef Newgarden was the pole-sitter but had to wait until the sixth lap to go green because of Palou's early issue.
But there was confusion at the start as the green LED light showed that Newgarden could launch, but an official in the flagstand was clearly waving a yellow flag.
Newgarden thought the start had been called off didn't seem to go. While some cars behind him also slowed, others didn't and it created a pileup that crashed Newgarden out for the second consecutive day.
Up next
The Sept. 15 season finale at Nashville Superspeedway, which took the place on the IndyCar calendar of what was supposed to be a downtown street race. But the NFL's Titans have both a home game that day, and construction on a new stadium made portions of downtown unusable and so IndyCar returns to the short track in Lebanon, Tennessee, for the first time since 2008. Scott Dixon won the final three races at the Nashville oval.
___
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
Back to Homepage
TyposNews TipsForums
Must-Read Stories
Get all the day's most vital news with our newsletter, sent every weekday.
The Canadian Press - Sep 1, 2024 / 7:43 am | Story: 504322
Photo: The Canadian Press
MONZA, Italy (AP) — Charles Leclerc secured Ferrari a rare win at the Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix, much to the home fans’ delight, as the team's bold one-stop strategy paid off on Sunday.
Ferrari, which had brought nine upgrades to its home race, was one of the teams to choose to only pit once.
And that proved the right decision for Leclerc, who despite heavily degrading tires, managed to hold off Oscar Piastri and his McLaren teammate Lando Norris.
As it became obvious what was on the cards, the passionate, red-clad tifosi got on their feet, stamping and roaring Leclerc’s every lap, and they went wild when he crossed the line 2.664 seconds ahead of Piastri.
Polesitter Norris finished 6.153 behind Leclerc to trim the gap to 62 points to championship leader Max Verstappen, who was sixth in his Red Bull.
Leclerc had also won in 2019, making this Ferrari’s second win on its home track in the past 14 races.
“It’s an incredible feeing, actually I thought that the first time would feel like this and the second time wouldn’t feel as special. But my God the emotions in the last few laps," Leclerc said immediately afterward.
“The tifosi were incredible, mamma mia!”
Before Sunday's triumph, the Italian Scuderia had managed only a second for Leclerc in 2022 and a third by Sainz last year since that 2019 victory.
It was Leclerc's second win of the season. His first was equally as special as it came at his home track in Monaco.
“Monaco and Monza are the two races I want to win every year and I’ve managed to win them this year. It is so, so special,” he said.
Leclerc started fourth at Monza, with the McLaren duo locking out the front of the grid.
With Norris chasing the title, there were questions over whether team orders would come into play.
That was swiftly answered. Both McLarens got a good start — unusually for them — but Piastri managed to get a slipstream and overtake his teammate into the second chicane, with Norris slipping into third as Leclerc also managed to get past.
Norris managed to undercut Leclerc and, with him sitting just behind Piastri after the first set of pit stops, the duo were told on team radio that they were free to race.
But the expected battle between them for the victory never emerged because of Ferrari’s audacious move.
As more and more drivers came in for their second set of pit stops, and the laps continued to tick down, it became clear that the Ferrari pair were going to try to nurse their hard tires all the way to the end.
And so it proved, with Leclerc managing to hold off Piastri despite being on tires that were nearly 40 laps old.
“I wasn’t surprised you stayed out, I was surprised you survived,” Piastri told Leclerc in the cooldown room.
“It hurts. It hurts a lot. I did a lot of things right today," Piastri said. “There was a lot of question marks on the strategy going into the race. Doing a one-stop looked like a very risky call — and in the end it was right.
“Today we unfortunately got it a bit wrong, we had everything to lose from being in the lead. Charles could try something different as he’d finish third either way. Painful.”
There was some consolation for McLaren as it closed the gap to just eight points behind Red Bull in the constructors’ championship.
“At the moment both championships are not realistic,” Verstappen said. "Last year we had a great car, which was the most dominant car ever. And we basically turned it into a monster. So we have to turn it around.”
There are just eight races remaining and Norris was asked whether he felt team orders should come into play.
“I’m not here just to beg for someone to let me pass, that’s not what I’m here for,” Norris said. “I’m here to race, he (Piastri) drove a better race than me so I finished third and that’s where I deserved to finish."
But when pressed, Norris admitted he would prefer the team to make his title push the priority.
“I mean I would love it but it’s not up to me,” he said. “It’s a tough one, obviously I wouldn’t say we’re running out of time but time is going away slowly and I still believe we can do it. The pace is obviously great. I still believe we probably have close to if not the best car again today.
“I don’t know, it’s not for me to decide, it’s for the team … when you’re fighting for a championship you want every little thing and I’m doing everything I can. The best way simply is just to win the race and I didn’t do that today because of some silly things.”
Birthday boy Carlos Sainz Jr. was fourth on Sunday, the 30-year-old just ahead of Lewis Hamilton who will replace him at Ferrari next year.
Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate George Russell finished seventh after a dreadful start. He was sandwiched between the Red Bull duo of Verstappen and Sergio Perez with Alex Albon and Kevin Magnussen rounding out the top 10.
Williams debutant Franco Colapinto finished his first F1 race in 12th. That was better than Logan Sargeant — who he replaced — managed in all but one of his races this year.
Magnussen will miss the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in two weeks’ time after being handed a two-point penalty for causing a collision with Pierre Gasly.
That saw Magnussen reach 12 penalty points over a 12-month period, invoking a one-match ban. The Haas driver is the first to be suspended since Romain Grosjean in 2012.
___
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
Back to Homepage
TyposNews TipsForums
Must-Read Stories
Get all the day's most vital news with our newsletter, sent every weekday.
The Canadian Press - Aug 31, 2024 / 5:36 pm | Story: 504290
Photo: The Canadian Press
WEST ALLIS, Wis. (AP) — The Arrow McLaren Racing team members began scheming the moment Pato O'Ward took the lead at the Milwaukee Mile.
Miffed that NASCAR this week announced it will race in Mexico City next yea r — beating IndyCar to the punch to get O'Ward into an event in his home country — O'Ward has has spent the weekend criticizing IndyCar leadership for the whiff.
So a team employee ran to the “Pato Shop” — IndyCar's most popular driver is so beloved he has his own merchandise truck at most events — to grab one of the $149.99 sombreros. The 25-year-old from Monterrey, Mexico, then wore it to his victory news conference.
Runner-up Will Power immediately said, “We really should be in Mexico City, not NASCAR.”
O’Ward replied: “Pato who?”
O'Ward desperately wants to race in his home country. Instead, NASCAR got a date next June and O'Ward fears there's no longer room for IndyCar.
The situation escalated when IndyCar CEO Mark Miles said the Mexico City promoters have felt the series and O'Ward are not popular enough to warrant anything but a lease agreement to stage the race themselves.
That irritated O'Ward, who has organically and steadily built his fanbase and is probably second only to Formula 1 driver Sergio Perez in popularity in Mexico.
His response was Saturday's win at Milwaukee, his third win of the year but first on an oval since Iowa Speedway in July 2022. His wins this year are on a street course (St. Petersburg, where he was promoted to winner following Josef Newgarden's disqualification), the road course at Mid-Ohio and now the Milwaukee oval.
The three wins are the most in one season for an Arrow McLaren Racing driver and came hours after Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, his F1 counterparts, swept the front row in qualifying for Sunday's race in Italy.
O'Ward led 133 of the 250 laps and said he never let the Mexico City fiasco distract him.
“No, I was chilling in the morning, I was chilling in the afternoon. I was just here for business,” O'Ward said.
The victory overshadowed the championship battle between points leader Alex Palou and Power, who started the race in a 54-point deficit to the reigning IndyCar title holder.
But Power finished second to cut Palou's lead to 43 points with two races remaining, both on ovals.
“Palou is a serious contender, man,” Power said. “Nothing can rattle that guy. Very tough to go head-to-head with him.”
Conor Daly, who was out of a ride earlier this season but hired last month to finish the year for Juncos Hollinger Racing, finished third in JHR's first ever podium. It was Daly's first podium since 2016 and he celebrated by pouring the celebratory champagne all over his face.
“It feels amazing,” Daly said. "We had a lot of bad luck, and I think a lot of people were wondering was this the guy to do it. They gave me the car to do it. I want to do well in the series. My goal is to be on the podium in this series, and it’s been far too long since I’ve been on the podium. It’s nice to get another one.”
Chevrolet swept the podium in IndyCar's return to Milwaukee after an eight-year absence.
Santino Ferrucci, who was running second late, gave up position to Power as his A.J. Foyt Racing team has an alliance with Power's Team Penske group. Daly used the moment to squeeze his way through and Ferrucci fell to fourth.
Power said he didn't expect Ferrucci to move over for him,
“Santino, I’m good friends with him,” Power said. “I didn’t expect him just to move over. He deserved to be there and he’s going to fight for it.”
Either way, Daly thanked Power for creating the hole that gave him his podium.
“Is that how you got it?” Power asked.
“Yes,” said Daly.
Palou finished fifth and is still in control of the title race, which wraps up after Sunday's second race at Milwaukee and then next month with the finale at Nashville Superspeedway. Palou has never won an oval, while Power has 10 career victories on ovals, including one at Milwaukee.
Power has also raced before at Nashville, while Palou has not. Both drivers are seeking a third IndyCar title. For Palou, it would be his third in four years, while Power won the 2022 title in between Palou's two campaigns.
Palou twice was boxed in on pit stops by Power, who was in the stall in front of him. It forced Palou to get aggressive to get around Power's car — and he needed to take an evasive maneuver when one of Power's tire changers was awfully close to the edge of the pit box as Palou pulled around his title rival.
He was actually monetarily penalized for “hitting another team's equipment” as he pulled away. Power insisted he was not gaming the pit stops and racing Palou cleanly.
“Not at all. I tried my best to be square,” Power said. “The best thing I can do is hit my marks, that will give me the quickest stop. Going around Palou, none of that. I’m not into that. Just straight up shitty to do that sort of thing.”
Up Next
IndyCar races Sunday at the Milwaukee Mile in the second part of a doubleheader weekend.
___
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
Back to Homepage
TyposNews TipsForums
Must-Read Stories
Get all the day's most vital news with our newsletter, sent every weekday.
The Canadian Press - Aug 31, 2024 / 12:12 pm | Story: 504254
Photo: The Canadian Press
DARLINGTON, S.C. (AP) — Josh Berry was grateful the frightening crash at Daytona last week ended with him walking off and racing in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on Sunday night.
“I was thankful more than anything,” Berry said Saturday. “I was OK. Got out of the race car on my own. I was home with my family. The race car did its job.”
That looked in doubt as Berry flipped in crash with just two laps remaining that left him skidding along on its roof and slamming into a wall after making contact with Austin Cindric.
“It's not ideal, by no means, to have a car flip over like that,” said Berry, who drives the No. 4 Ford for Stewart-Haas Racing. “I'm here racing next week. I think it says a lot about the Next Gen (car) and the job NASCAR's done.”
Berry said he had a couple of “very small” bruises from the seat belts, “but nothing like I expected.”
The racer hasn't changed his seatbelt or head restraint set up this week because it held up under pressure.
Berry will start 15th in Sunday night's race.
—-
AP NASCAR: https://apnews.com/hub/nascar-racing
Back to Homepage
TyposNews TipsForums
Must-Read Stories
Get all the day's most vital news with our newsletter, sent every weekday.
The Canadian Press - Aug 31, 2024 / 10:52 am | Story: 504249
Photo: The Canadian Press
DARLINGTON, S.C. (AP) — Kyle Busch has experienced a maddening, frustrating season so far that's left the two-time Cup Series champion on the outside of a 12th straight NASCAR playoff appearance.
Busch hopes to put past problems aside at Darlington Raceway, where winning the Southern 500 on Sunday night is his only option to keep his postseason streak alive.
“Every week, it just kind of seems like, ‘OK, what’s next?'” Busch said Saturday. “But that's something that we can't change.”
Busch, who has not won in 46 races, nearly clinched his spot at Daytona last week, but lost out on a wild, final lap duel with Harrison Burton. So Busch sits 19th on the playoff grid, 106 points out of the field and knowing his only chance is his first Darlington victory since 2008.
Busch hasn't missed the playoffs since 2012. Yet, he won't let his struggles this year steal his focus in the final race of the regular season.
“You can use that as a distraction or a motivation tool,” said Busch, who won the series championship in 2015 and 2019. “We'll look to make that our motivation.”
That won't be easy at Darlington, where Busch had a seventh-place finish here in May 2023, his best showing since leaving Joe Gibbs Racing two seasons ago to join car owner Richard Childress.
Busch was 27th in the spring event here and never in contention.
“We don't come in this weekend holding our heads low and thinking that we're going to not run well,” Busch said. “We put heads together and try to figure out why and said, ‘We’re going to go there with the best car we can and try kick their butts and get a win.'"
Busch is not alone on the outside.
Chris Buescher, a playoff team a year ago, is on the bubble, without a win this season and 21 points ahead of Bubba Wallace for the final postseason spot. Should there be no new winner — 13 drivers has qualified for the playoffs through race victories — Buescher would be in good position to advance on points.
Buescher, too, knows that victory Sunday is the surest way to continue his championship chase. “Been really close in a lot of races, but haven't sealed the deal,” he said. “Didn't expect to be in this position.”
Bubba Wallace and Ross Chastain, both playoff drivers a year ago, are 17th and 18th on the grid with hopes to qualify on points
Wallace got a boost heading into Sunday by winning the Southern 500 pole. Buescher qualified 10th, Busch 17th and Chastain 22nd.
Chastain, who's won four times the previous two years, was surprised to be winless. “If you would have had me fill out a bingo card at the start of the season, I wouldn’t have dabbed this block, for sure,” he said.
Martin Truex Jr., the 2017 series champion, is the leading driver without a win currently in the playoffs. He's 58 points above the cutoff and is likely safe in his final Cup Series season. But he's taking nothing for granted.
“I've seen a lot of crazy stuff happen,” he said.
Race for the top
The race to make the playoffs isn't the only one going on at Darlington. Points leader Tyler Reddick is just 17 points head of 2021 series champion Kyle Larson for the regular-season title and the critical 15 bonus playoff points. Second place in standings receives 10 bonus points.
Reddick and Larson don't plan on tracking each other. Both say they'll rely on their successful history at Darlington and their strong teams this season to finish on top.
“Coming at a place like this, it's pretty much in our control, it's in mine, it's in his,” Reddick said.
Larson has led 785 laps in his career here and won the Southern 500 a year ago.
Reddick was second to Larson at Darlington last September and led 174 laps here this past May.
Trip home
The reaction to Mexico City hosting a NASCAR race in 2025 even surprised Daniel Suarez, who is from Monterrey, Mexico.
NASCAR announced its schedule this week and included its first points-paying race in Mexico.
Suarez said the response from fans and friends of the upcoming NASCAR Cup Series event next June has been impressive.
“I'm very, very happy,” he said at Darlington. “This is like a dream come true. Coming from Mexico, being born and raised there, this is something very special.”
—-
AP NASCAR: https://apnews.com/hub/nascar-racing
Back to Homepage
TyposNews TipsForums
Must-Read Stories
Get all the day's most vital news with our newsletter, sent every weekday.
The Canadian Press - Aug 31, 2024 / 10:34 am | Story: 504245
Photo: The Canadian Press
WEST ALLIS, Wis. (AP) — The line for Pato O'Ward at every IndyCar autograph session snakes around corners, blocks the entrances for other drivers and pretty much shames his rivals.
When his Arrow McLaren Racing team tries to debrief at the track, fans of the 25-year-old Mexican gather outside the team transporter and are so raucous that teammate Alexander Rossi said the meetings have to be halted.
So when NASCAR announced this week that it would race in Mexico City in 2025, IndyCar drivers were stunned that another American series beat them to a fertile market starving to see their most popular driver.
“I think that’s a massive miss,” six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon said. “I don’t know how that happens.”
Neither does O'Ward, a Monterrey native who in five full IndyCar seasons has built a following in Mexico probably second only to Formula 1 driver Sergio Perez. And yet it is NASCAR — with Mexican driver Daniel Suarez — who will be racing next season at Autodromo Hermanos Rodríguez.
O'Ward is the reserve F1 driver for McLaren and needs security to navigate track property. It's not that he's in danger; it's just that his 2022 trip into the stadium bowl grandstands with a GoPro camera showed how quickly the petite driver can be mobbed by adoring fans.
But he wants to race in front of them and given NASCAR's new multiyear deal in Mexico City, O'Ward isn't sure it will happen.
“They beat us to the cake,” O’Ward said. “I strongly believe that we’re not only late, but I strongly believe that there isn’t more room in Mexico City. Like, not only did they beat us there, but now that is not an option for IndyCar. You need to understand that these people save up their money to go to these events."
His fellow competitors felt for O'Ward, who has opened his own wallet with ticket promotions to get his fans to IndyCar races.
IndyCar points leader Alex Palou smacked his forehead in exaggerated shock as to how IndyCar did not get the race that went to NASCAR, which next June will hold a points-paying event outside the United States for the first time in modern history.
“It’s like, everybody is overtaking us, like left, right, left, right,” Palou said. “One-hundred percent, we should have been (in Mexico City). It doesn’t make much sense for me. But for Pato, he’s been growing, so I think we’re like five years too late, and now NASCAR overtakes us.”
O'Ward thinks IndyCar's only shot to race in Mexico now is finding an entirely new venue. The series raced in Mexico from 2001 through 2006 in Monterrey at Parque Fundidora, a circuit that needs major upgrades for any kind of big league return. The 2007 CART season finale was held in Mexico City.
Salvador de Alba, the reigning NASCAR Mexico champion who currently competes in Indy NXT, disagreed that Mexico City can't sustain three international races. He also acknowledged that there aren't any other suitable venues in the country ready for an IndyCar race.
“At the moment I think none of them. It has to be rebuilt, a racetrack,” de Alba said. “But we have a pretty good racetrack in Monterrey, which is Pato’s hometown. Guadalajara is also a big city, which is my hometown, but we don’t have a big racetrack. But I'll do whatever it takes to have IndyCar in Mexico.”
The Monterrey track would need such extensive upgrades for IndyCar that it likely would be cheaper to rebuild it from scratch, said Michel Jourdain Jr., a former NASCAR and IndyCar driver who promotes races in Mexico.
Penske Entertainment CEO Mark Miles said IndyCar has annual discussions about returning to Mexico, but before Roger Penske bought the series in 2020, IndyCar was offered only a deal to lease the track in Mexico City because the promoters of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez road course did not believe the series was a big enough attraction.
But, Miles said, “Mexico remains a market of heavy interest, and we believe there will be an amazing IndyCar race weekend there sooner rather than later.”
Later Saturday, The Associated Press reviewed a letter written by Miles in July to the operators of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez that authorized two proxies to negotiate in Mexico on behalf of IndyCar. The letter stressed that IndyCar wants to be in the country and suggested the race dates of April 12, 2026; April 4, 2027; and April 2, 2028.
Miles was clear Saturday that O'Ward is a key piece of the puzzle.
“Pato is a superstar, and his popularity and talent will be critical to making this happen,” Miles said. Pato is a natural star, and his popularity is tremendous and growing. He is a marquee personality for our series and a terrific partner in our marketing and promotional efforts. We continue to invest in our drivers, and Pato absolutely continues to be a primary individual we direct resources and support to.”
O’Ward steadily has grown his following, which exploded after his second-place finish in the Indianapolis 500 in May. Had he not lost to Josef Newgarden on the final lap, O’Ward would have been the first Mexican to win “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” and an instant legend in his country.
But he argues the push to get IndyCar back to Mexico should have begun in 2021 when he earned his first career victory and was deep in the title hunt throughout the entire season.
“That was the year for talks to have already started, or at least been commencing,” O’Ward said. “OK, maybe you can’t get it done for 2022, but it should have been a very hard push for it to be done by 2023 and at the latest 2024. Obviously, if I had all the money in the world, it would have already been part of the calendar.”
Miles said O'Ward isn't involved, and probably not even aware, of conversations that have occurred regarding racing in Mexico. O'Ward very much wants to be in the discussions and said he'd fund a race in Mexico himself if he had the cash.
“I don’t have the capital to risk $5, $6, $7 million to put up a race. And I don’t promote the race," he said.
And he acknowledged not being privy to all the details but believes IndyCar badly missed out on a massive growth opportunity for both the series and O'Ward.
"Just as an outsider looking in, obviously, there wasn’t enough pressure from the series in order to get it done,” O’Ward said.
Miles said IndyCar is in international discussions to hold exhibitions outside of the regular season and that a backer of Marcus Ericsson is interested in holding a demonstration in Sweden featuring the series' Scandinavian drivers. IndyCar has three drivers in the field from Sweden and two from Denmark.
But if IndyCar ever went to Mexico, Miles said, it would be a championship race and not part of any offseason exhibitions. O'Ward believes that's the right way to go, even if exhibitions in Australia and Japan also would likely draw large turnouts.
“To me, Latin America should be the focus of where we go,” O’Ward sad. “But I think the way they (IndyCar leadership) do things is not with urgency. At some point, I get it. If you’re impatient, you could end up being too antsy getting to where you want to go.
"But the series has moved way too slowly. That’s the reality. You’d at least want to see we’re getting somewhere, but as an outsider looking in, it seems like a no-brainer that we’re already three years late.”
___
This story has been corrected to show that Roger Penske bought IndyCar in 2020, not 2002.
___
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
Back to Homepage
TyposNews TipsForums
Must-Read Stories
Get all the day's most vital news with our newsletter, sent every weekday.
The Canadian Press - Aug 31, 2024 / 8:21 am | Story: 504236
Photo: The Canadian Press
MONZA, Italy (AP) — The Formula 1 title race just might be back on after all.
Lando Norris surged into pole position in qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix on Saturday and will be hoping to cut further into Max Verstappen’s championship lead after a bad day for the Red Bull driver.
McLaren, which is also looking to reduce the gap in the constructors’ standings behind Red Bull, locked out the front of the grid for Sunday's race at Monza as Norris finished 0.109 seconds ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri.
Verstappen will start in seventh on a circuit where overtaking is tricky. That offers Norris the chance to continue to chip away at the three-time defending champion's advantage in the drivers’ standings — which is down to 70 points, with nine races left.
“For sure it’s a good opportunity,” Norris said. "I expect (Verstappen) to come through and probably be behind us quite quickly. Their race pace looked very strong on Friday ... for some reason they just didn’t seem to take those steps forward through qualifying.
“Even his gap to Perez wasn’t as big as what it normally is so I don’t know if he just struggled more with something or just didn’t put good enough laps in but it’ll be for a reason I’m sure and we need to try and make the most of that.”
Norris achieved back-to-back poles for the first time, and his fifth pole overall. He won from the front of the grid last weekend at the Dutch Grand Prix.
“Another pole, which is amazing," he said. "To have two cars first and second when the field is as tight as it has been all weekend is a surprise, but a nice one. My lap, it hurts me to say, wasn’t a great lap. So a bit surprised at the end but very happy.”
Given Red Bull's recent difficulties, Norris could have been even closer to Verstappen in the standings had he not listened to team orders and let Piastri win in Hungary.
The McLaren duo were asked if Piastri would be told to do the same in the remaining races.
“That's our Sunday morning meeting,” Norris said with a laugh. “It’s a little bit been discussed already, but at the minute it’s free to race, like it always is.”
The top six in qualifying at the ‘Temple of Speed’ were separated by less than two-tenths of a second.
Mercedes driver George Russell will start third, just ahead of the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.
Lewis Hamilton will be sixth on the grid in his last time racing at Monza as a Mercedes driver before his move to Ferrari at the end of the season.
There was then a much bigger gap to the Red Bulls, as Verstappen was 0.695 behind Norris and just ahead of teammate Sergio Perez.
Verstappen is without a victory in five races, his longest winless run since 2020.
“As a team we are concerned by our form but more than that it is confusing," Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said. "We will work hard overnight to try and understand it, but it gives us a tough race tomorrow.”
Alex Albon and Nicolas Hülkenberg rounded out the top 10.
Williams debutant Franco Colapinto was eliminated in Q1 in his first F1 qualifying session and will start 18th.
___
AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing
Back to Homepage
TyposNews TipsForums
Must-Read Stories
Get all the day's most vital news with our newsletter, sent every weekday.
More Auto Racing articles