NO GRAND PRIX, NO PROBLEM FOR WIN-HUNGRY VERSTAPPEN<\/p>\n
There was no grand prix at the weekend, but that wasn\u2019t enough to prevent Max Verstappen from winning a race.<\/p>\n
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The reigning Formula 1 world champion emerged from the latest round of the N\u00fcrburgring Endurance Series (NLS) with an overall victory driving a Ferrari 296 GT3 with Emil Frey Racing co-driver Chris Lulham.<\/p>\n
The four-hour endurance race takes place on the fearsome N\u00fcrburgring Nordschleife, the 20.832-kilometre circuit better known as the Green Hell.<\/p>\n
Verstappen started from third on the grid but immediately took the lead, passing both front-row starters at the first turn and controlling the race with co-driver Chris Lulham.<\/p>\n
The Dutchman had amassed an advantage of more than a minute when he handed over to Lulham after 14 laps around two hours in. His British teammate cruised to the finish with a reduced but comfortable winning margin of 24 seconds.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was super,\u201d Verstappen said, per The Race.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe car performed superbly again in the dry during the first stints, which I already knew from qualifying.<\/p>\n
\u201cA bit of bad luck there [in qualifying] of course, but in the race, with the traffic, everything worked out. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think I made any major mistakes during the first two stints. Winning here for the first time is super.\u201c<\/p>\n
It was Verstappen debut race in the top GT3 class, having competed in a four-hour race in GT4 machinery earlier this month \u2014 in the weekend between victories at the Italian and Azerbaijan grands prix \u2014 to earn the necessary competition licence.<\/p>\n
While he stunned with an assured victory on his GT3 debut, a strong performance had been in the offing since a test day in May, when he broke the track record for an NLS-spec GT3 car.<\/p>\n
His speed put some veteran NLS drivers off-side at the time, including GT champion Maro Engel, who suggested the Dutchman had benefited from running a car that would have been illegal on a race weekend \u2014 something Verstappen and his team both denied.<\/p>\n
Verstappen has signalled he intends to enter more races at the Nordschleife with an eye to competing in the famous N\u00fcrburgring 24 Hours, which was formerly part of the series but now a round of the Intercontinental GT Challenge, following the Bathurst 12 Hour.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course I would like to do the 24-hour race,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhether that happens next year [we\u2019ll see]. But anyway, we still need more experience. That\u2019s the case. Hopefully next year we\u2019ll do more NLS races.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marc Marquez wins MotoGP World Title | 01:10<\/p>\n
ALONSO OUTLINES RETIREMENT PLANS \u2014 AND WHAT IT WOULD TAKE TO SIGN A NEW DEAL<\/p>\n
Two-time champion Fernando Alonso is contemplating extending his career beyond the end of his current contract ending in 2026.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s 20 years since 44-year-old Alonso won the first of his two Formula 1 world titles, and it\u2019s been 12 years since his last race victory at the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
But the evergreen Spaniard returned to Formula 1 in 2021 after a two-year hiatus to add to those statistics, and his mission could now see him race past his mid-40s.<\/p>\n
In a revealing interview given to the Aston Martin website, Alonso admitted that he was contemplating retirement but that he would make his decision based on next year\u2019s results.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have thought about it,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I will leave the decision for next year, and also how the team is in that moment and what they need from me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m open to helping the team as much as I can. It\u2019s not about me now. I don\u2019t need to keep racing. I\u2019m just here to help Aston Martin become world champions, whether that\u2019s with me behind the wheel or without me behind the wheel. That\u2019s the main purpose of this second chapter of my career.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf things go well, I think it\u2019s a very good moment to stop, because I\u2019ve been chasing a competitive car and a competitive racing for many, many years, and if I have that I think it\u2019s a very good way to close my career.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aston Martin has spent big on preparing itself for next year\u2019s regulation changes, when it will become Honda\u2019s de facto works team.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s recently opened a state-of-the art factory, including a brand-new wind tunnel, and has been aggressively poaching top talent from rival teams, the most notable of whom is legendary designer Adrian Newey, who most recently led the design team behind all Red Bull Racing\u2019s championship-winning cars.<\/p>\n
Alonso gives the team credibility inside the cockpit and would be expected to lead Aston Martin to wins or in a potential title tilt if the car stacks up, just as he added eight podiums to his tally during the team\u2019s jump up the grid in 2023.<\/p>\n
If the team isn\u2019t competitive, however, Alonso appears to be leaving the door open to signing a new deal.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s say that if we are competitive, there is more chance that I stop,\u201d he said. \u201cIf we are not competitive, it will be very hard to give up without trying again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Max claims Azerbaijan as Piastri crashes | 02:20<\/p>\n
\u2018THEY MADE ME CRY\u2019: ROMAIN GROSJEAN GETS FINAL F1 LAPS<\/p>\n
Romain Grosjean has made his return to the Formula 1 cockpit for the first time since his grand prix career ended in a fireball crash in 2020.<\/p>\n
Grosjean\u2019s Formula 1 career ended when he crashed on the opening lap of the 2020 Bahrain Grand Prix in a 67g impact that almost cost him his life.<\/p>\n
The Frenchman lost control of his Haas car after making contact with Daniil Kvyat\u2019s AlphaTauri and speared into the barriers at 192 kilometres per hour.<\/p>\n
The impact split his car into two, and the cockpit became wedged between sections of the barrier, where it burst into flames.<\/p>\n
The halo saved Grosjean\u2019s life on impact, giving him a chance to escape from the fiery wreckage. It took his 28 seconds to haul himself around the debris and out of the car, but his safety suit and helmet limited his injuries to second-degree burns to his hands.<\/p>\n
He was unable to compete in the final two rounds of the season, and having already lost his seat for the following year, the crash was his final moment in a Formula 1 car.<\/p>\n
Mercedes boss Toto Wolff had promised Grosjean a run in one of his team\u2019s F1 cars in 2021, but scheduling conflicts following the Frenchman\u2019s IndyCar switch meant it never came about.<\/p>\n
Five years later, Haas has granted Grosjean his first laps as part of a Pirelli tyre test at Italy\u2019s Mugello circuit at the weekend.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a special day,\u201d he said, per the F1 website. \u201c[Team owner] Gene Haas and [team principal] Ayao Komatsu \u2014 they made it happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a wet day, but as we say with weddings, rainy wedding, happy wedding, so it was a rainy day, happy day.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt a bit rusty at first, then everything came back.<\/p>\n
\u201cI even got to do a standing start, and guess what? My last standing start was Bahrain 2020. This time it turned out way better!<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was fantastic. I\u2019m very, very grateful. There are just no other words.\u201d<\/p>\n
The opportunity also gave Grosjean a chance to wear a helmet designed by his children that he had intended to use in his swan song 2020 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
By the end of the day, the emotion of the moment overwhelmed the 10-time podium-getter.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey made me cry at the end of the day!\u201d he said. \u201cI kept my visor down, but for my last in-lap everyone from Ferrari, Red Bull, Pirelli and of course Haas was here, clapping and giving me like an ovation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s something I was expecting in Abu Dhabi 2020, but I think it was even better today.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Max Verstappen will arrive at this weekend\u2019s Singapore Grand Prix as the sport\u2019s form driver, with three wins…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":176756,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[573],"tags":[944,2074,1724,64,63,114492,114496,114482,114493,114489,114488,114486,114495,90132,2057,817,845,114490,813,816,114483,114485,5717,2105,841,114499,14211,114484,2328,4280,114491,825,114487,78374,21786,16193,6069,114497,3595,2020,85,114494,114479,114481,114480,41547,13773,106464,31303,12000,2062,16198,2086,114498,2798],"class_list":["post-176755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-formula-1","tag-abu-dhabi","tag-adrian-newey","tag-asia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-brand-new-wind-tunnel","tag-british-teammate","tag-car-stacks","tag-christian-kaspar-bartke","tag-competition-licence","tag-competitive-car","tag-contract-ending","tag-debut-win","tag-design-team","tag-europe","tag-f1","tag-fernando-alonso","tag-final-moment","tag-formula-1","tag-formula1","tag-four-hour-endurance-race","tag-front-row-starters","tag-germany","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-grand-prix","tag-grand-prix-career","tag-grands-prix","tag-incredible-comeback-story","tag-italy","tag-marc-marquez","tag-maro-engel","tag-max-verstappen","tag-nurburgring-endurance-series","tag-race-victory","tag-race-weekend","tag-regulation-changes","tag-retirement-plans","tag-second-degree-burns","tag-southern-europe","tag-spain","tag-sports","tag-standing-start","tag-state-of-the-art-factory","tag-swan-song","tag-team-credibility","tag-team-owner","tag-team-principal","tag-title-gap","tag-title-hopes","tag-western-asia","tag-western-europe","tag-works-team","tag-world-championship","tag-world-titlemotorsport","tag-world-titles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/176756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}