INDIA in F1

Tag: Austin

  • Marc Marquez clinches gold in blockbuster Austin Sprint

    Marc Marquez clinches gold in blockbuster Austin Sprint

    Marc MThe #93’s 100% win record remains intact, but it didn’t come easy as a brilliant Tissot Sprint unfolds in Texasarquez clinches gold in blockbuster Austin Sprint

    Austin (Texas, US), 29 March 2025: Stateside Tissot Sprint glory went the way of Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team) – but not without a decent slice of drama and fireworks thrown in along the way. The #93 eventually beat Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) by less than a second in Austin to keep up his 100% victory record in 2025, as Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) – after leading on the first lap – brought home a bronze medal to set us up beautifully for Sunday.

    AN OPENING LAP SHOWDOWN: Marquez vs Bagnaia vs Marquez

    Without any shadow of a doubt, the opening lap of the Sprint was the best lap of the season – and it’ll take some beating too. Bagnaia, from P6, launched away superbly to grab the holeshot up the hill into Turn 1. Marc Marquez bit straight back at Turn 2 to retake the lead from his teammate, but at Turn 3, it was Pecco doing the overtaking again. It didn’t take long before Marquez decided to pounce back though, Turn 7 his chosen spot.So it was Marc Marquez leading Bagnaia and Alex Marquez. But at Turn 17, the #93’s Sprint very nearly came to a premature end. An almighty rear-end slide led to the six-time MotoGP Champion getting thrown out of the saddle, which cost the Championship leader P1 and P2. Thought we were done? Nope. Bagnaia and the Marquez brothers were locked together on the exit of Turn 19 and into Turn 20, the final corner, Marc Marquez passed both to retake the lead, with Alex Marquez slotting into P2. That’s worth several rewatches. 

    HOW THE SPRINT WAS WON

    That was some opening lap. But after hitting the front again and getting into a rhythm, Marc Marquez started to build a gap to Alex Marquez. It was 0.6s on Lap 3, as Bagnaia lost touch with the top two. The Italian had Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) swarming all over his rear tyre before the Frenchman had a huge moment on entry to Turn 15, which allowed Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) to slide through. Now, Quartararo was in a VR46 sandwich, with Fabio Di Giannantonio sitting in P6.

    On Lap 5 of 10, Marc Marquez’s advantage had shrunk from just under a second to 0.4s. That did rise back up to 0.6s on the next lap though, as Pecco found pace. But was it too late to lock onto the rear end of Alex Marquez?

    Meanwhile, a ferocious battle was unfolding between the two VR46 Ducatis and Quartararo. The trio exchanged fourth with four laps to go as the Yamaha star dug deep to try and cling onto a chance of finishing P4 – and what a job he was doing.

    With two laps to go, Marc Marquez’s lead was up to 1.4s, while Alex Marquez was still holding Bagnaia at bay by just over a second. However, heading onto the last lap, Alex had reeled in Marc. It was 0.7s over the line, so could anything be done by the younger Marquez to end his brother’s early season momentum?

    The answer was no. Marc Marquez held firm to pick up his third Tissot Sprint win on the bounce, with Alex Marquez continuing his P2 streak. Bagnaia claimed an important P3, just under two seconds away from his teammate, but the 2022 and 2023 MotoGP World Champion will be wanting more in Sunday’s Grand Prix despite being pleased with the result.

    SATURDAY POINTS SCORERS IN AUSTIN

    After a phenomenal mid-race scrap, Di Giannantonio won the fight for fourth, with Morbidelli keeping Quartararo behind him as the former teammates clinch P5 and P6 respectively – a top effort from the Yamaha star. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) collected seventh and acted as the lead KTM on Saturday, as Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol) earned two Sprint points with a hard-earned P8. That was a great ride from the Italian who flew the HRC flag in the points after teammate Joan Mir crashed out from the top nine early doors, with Honda again showing progress – and that was Marini’s first Sprint points with Honda too.

    Meanwhile, the final Sprint point went the way of rookie Ai Ogura (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) after a great late battle with Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) and Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing).

    If that first lap and subsequent battles didn’t get the juices flowing for Sunday in Austin, then we’re not sure what will. Tune into the MotoGP Americas Grand Prix at 14:00 local time (UTC -5) to see who will collect COTA’s 2025 crown!

  • Charles Leclerc leads Ferrari 1-2 at US GP: Formula 1

    Charles Leclerc leads Ferrari 1-2 at US GP: Formula 1

    Austin, 20 October 2024: Charles Leclerc took a dominant US Grand Prix win as Carlos Sainz followed the Monegasque driver to the flag to hand Ferrari a 1-2 finish at the Circuit of the Americas. Behind them Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took third place after a thrilling battle with title rival Lando Norris that ended with the McLaren driver getting a five-second penalty for passing Verstappen off the track. 

    At the start, polesitter Norris got away well but on the approach to Turn 1 Verstappen attacked on the inside and when both he and Norris went wide on exit, Leclerc slipped through to claim the lead ahead of Verstappen Sainz and Norris. 

    On lap 3 Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton spun off and with his car beached in a gravel trap, the Safety Car was released. Hamilton’s Mercedes was quickly recovered and the action resumed at the start of lap six. And though Verstappen stuck with the Ferrari driver on the restart, Leclerc was comfortably able to keep the Dutchman behind and once the initial threat was nullified, he was able to pull away across the remainder of an impressive first stint on Medium tyres. 

    Leclerc made his sole pit stop of the race on lap 26. He emerged behind the McLarens of Norris and team-mate Oscar Piastri, but after passing Piastri and then waiting for Norris to make his stop for Hard tyres, the Monegasque driver stretched his legs in the second stint to take a comfortable win. 

    Sainz, meanwhile, used his sole pit stop to undercut Verstappen and though stayed in touch with Leclerc, the Spanish driver settled for second and his 24th career podium finish. 

    While the Ferrari drivers’ drive to the podium was smooth, behind them a more turbulent contest was developing. 

    Verstappen was unhappy with his Hard tyres in his second stint, telling the Red Bull pit wall that he couldn’t “brake” or “attacke the corners”. And with Norris more comfortable on six-lap younger Hard tyres behind him it was only a matter of time before the McLaren driver reeled in the Dutchman. 

    After the pit stops, Norris rapidly chewed through a six-second deficit to Verstappen and hauled himself within DRS range of Verstappen by lap 45. He then began a relentless series of attacks, always pressing in Turns 1 and 12 to see if he could provoke a mistake. 

    Verstappen defended expertly, however, to keep Norris at bay with the result that on lap 52 Norris went for broke. 

    The McLaren driver tried to attack on the outside of Turn 12 but both drivers went wide and Norris overtook his rival off track to steal P3. Expecting a sanction he tried to press ahead and gain a five-second advantage over the Red Bull driver, but Verstappen was resolute and when they crossed the line he was just four seconds in arrears. The race Stewards had already delivered their verdict of a five-second for passing off-track and Verstappen made it onto the podium by just 0.9s.

    Oscar Piastri took fifth place in the second McLaren, 34 seconds clear of George Russell. The Mercedes driver put in a strong performance, starting from the pit lane and recovering from a five-second penalty in the race to power through to P6, passing Red Bull’s Sergio Pérez in the closing stages. 

    Nico Hulkenberg took eighth for Haas, while Liam Lawson delivered an equally strong race rising from 19that the start to claim P9 and two points on his return to F1. Franco Colapinto collected the final point for Williams. 

    2024 FIA Formula 1 United States Grand Prix – Race 
    1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 56 1:35’09.639 
    2 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 56 1:35’18.201 8.562
    3 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 56 1:35’29.051 19.412
    4 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 56 1:35’29.993 20.354
    5 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 56 1:35’31.560 21.921
    6 George Russell Mercedes 56 1:36’05.934 56.295
    7 Sergio Pérez Red Bull/Honda RBPT 56 1:36’08.711 59.072
    8 Nico Hülkenberg Haas/Ferrari 56 1:36’12.596 1’02.957
    9 Liam Lawson RB/Honda RBPT 56 1:36’20.202 1’10.563
    10 Franco Colapinto Williams/Mercedes 56 1:36’21.618 1’11.979
    11 Kevin Magnussen Haas/Ferrari 56 1:36’29.421 1’19.782
    12 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 56 1:36’40.197 1’30.558
    13 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 55 1:35’11.365 1 lap /1.726
    14 Yuki Tsunoda RB/Honda RBPT 55 1:35’17.851 1 lap /8.212
    15 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 55 1:35’26.622 1 lap /16.983
    16 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 55 1:35’27.731 1 lap /18.092
    17 Valtteri Bottas Sauber/Ferrari 55 1:35’43.972 1 lap /34.333
    18 Esteban Ocon Alpine/Renault 55 1:35’51.751 1 lap /42.112
    19 Zhou Guanyu Sauber/Ferrari 55 1:35’58.879 1 lap /49.240

  • Still recovering Pedrosa to join Marquez in Austin for next round of MotoGp

    Still recovering Pedrosa to join Marquez in Austin for next round of MotoGp

    A Honda illustration

    Austin, 18 April 2018: After undergoing successful surgery to his right wrist one week ago, Dani Pedrosa has begun his rehab period and, although he’s obviously not yet at 100% fit, he will join Marc Marquez in the United States to try and take part in the third round of the MotoGP World Championship in Austin.

    Marquez and Pedrosa have strong records at the technical, 5.513-km Texas circuit. Marquez took his first MotoGP pole and victory at the venue in 2013 and has continued to post flawless qualifying performances and victories there ever since, bringing his tally of consecutive successes in the USA to 11 across all classes. Pedrosa has climbed the Circuit of the Americas podium three times out of the four occasions on which he has raced there.

    The Repsol Honda Team, in turn, have a streak of 14 GP wins in a row on American soil, starting with Pedrosa’s Indianapolis victory in 2010.

    At the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas, Marquez has five wins and five Pole positions (MotoGP: 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017) and Pedrosa has three podiums (MotoGP: 2nd in 2013 and 2014; third in 2017)

    Marquez said: “After a good start to the season in Qatar, we got no points in Argentina, but I was feeling good on the bike in both races, which is positive. The season is long and the most important thing is that our level is there.

    “Now we go to Austin, a good circuit with a good atmosphere and great memories: it was the place of my first pole and my first MotoGP victory and we’ve been able to be strong there since then, so it’s a good place to try and get a good result.

    “That said, every season is different: the bikes, the tyres, the conditions. This year some work was done to reduce the bumps, so we’ll see how the track is. As we’ve done so far, over the weekend we’ll focus our work on the race setup, and then on Sunday we’ll see where we’re able to finish.”

    Pedrosa said: “Since the operation, I started feeling a bit better every day. I’ve been doing exercises to gain mobility and reduce the inflammation. Little by little I’m recovering muscle tone, and this allows me to see some progress.

    “From here, it’s difficult to know our real possibilities. We’re going to a difficult track and until I’m back on my bike I won’t be able to really know my situation. But what’s clear to me at this moment is that it’s well worth it to travel and try. An important part of my strength to go to Austin comes from your messages of support, so thank you very much to all of you.”

    Honda Press Release