Qualifying Tag

By Adam Tate, Managing Editor Lewis Hamilton has claimed pole position for the Australian Grand Prix with a stunning 1 minute, 23.837 lap around the Albert Park circuit to reach career pole number 50. It was about the only true excitement of the session as F1’s controversial new qualifying format completely imploded. Q1 had barely begun and the field was immediately thrown into chaos as teams struggled to cope with the elimination countdown clock. Many drivers complained as they were on good laps, but the 90 second countdown clock nullified theirRead More

By Reid Spencer, NASCAR Wire Service Running a track-record lap he described as “insanely fast,” Las Vegas native Kurt Busch led qualifying for Sunday’s Kobalt 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (3:30 p.m. ET on FOX). The Coors Light Pole Award was Busch’s second straight in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, following last week’s top qualifying effort at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Busch remains the only driver to win a pole this year with the 2016 lower-downforce competition package. “Two poles in a row — this is great,” said Busch, whoRead More

By Adam Tate, Managing Editor With the Strategy Group and the F1 Commission both meeting today in a series of last ditch efforts to draft new rules for 2017, 2018 and beyond; a series of announcements are set to stream out of Geneva over the following days that will have massive implications for the sport. The first of these broke today with changes to the now, well established qualifying format. What replaces the tried and true system is a gimmicky scheme that surely has Bernie Ecclestone rubbing his hands with glee. QualifyingRead More

Maximum Field Sizes / Corresponding New Points Systems NASCAR Sprint Cup Series – Maximum 40-car field (36 Charter team cars, 4 Open team cars), race winner awarded 40 points, 40th place awarded one point. NASCAR XFINITY Series – Maximum 40-car field, race winner awarded 40 points, 40th place awarded one point. NASCAR Camping World Truck Series – Maximum 32-truck field, race winner awarded 32 points, 32nd place awarded one point New points systems apply to driver, owner, and manufacturer championships. Existing 2015 Bonus points remain in place for 2016. QualifyingRead More

Nico Robserg took his sixth consecutive pole position and his seventh of the season as he beat team-mate Lewis Hamilton by almost four tenths of a second in qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Kimi Raikkonen was third for Ferrari as team-mate Sebastian Vettel was sensationally eliminated in Q1. The opening segment began with both Mercedes driver taking to the circuit on option tyres. Hamilton and Rosberg immediately vaulted to the top of the order, with the champion elect putting in a lap of 1:40.974 that remained as theRead More

Despite constant deluge dominating the US Grand Prix weekend so far, conditions are set to improve by the race start time of 2:00 pm today when there will only be a 15 percent chance of showers. Qualifying this morning followed the script of the weekend and thus Daniel Ricciardo and Danil Kvyat line their Red Bulls up on row two behind the all conquering Mercedes. The wet, low grip conditions allowed the down on power Red Bull chassis to shine and close the gap on the Silver Arrows. Today’s raceRead More

Nico Rosberg edged Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton by a tenth of a second to claim pole position for this afternoon’s United States Grand Prix. The German took his fourth pole of the season with his Q2 time as heavy rain once again disrupted running and led to the final part of the session was cancelled. Row two of this grid at the Circuit of the Americas will be an all-Red Bull affair with Daniel Ricciardo qualifying fourth ahead of Daniil Kvyat. Q1 began with steady rain falling across the trackRead More

Neel Jani came through in a clinch to snag pole position and make it an all Porsche front row for tomorrow’s 6 hours of the Circuit of the Americas, from Austin, Texas. The Swiss driver put in a flyer in his No. 18 919 hybrid crossing the line with a strong 1:46.018 displacing the sister car of Brendon Hartley, Timo Bernhard, Mark Webber by just 0.146 of a second. Behind the dominant Porsches lines up the first Audi machine of Loic Duval, Oliver Jarvis and Lucas di Grassi. The championshipRead More

The Italian Grand Prix is special. A look in the team garages to see the likes of FCA boss Sergio Marchionne and Mercedes chief Dieter Zetsch reveals just how much the Italian round of the championship means to to teams. Just one look at the scarlet coated grandstands shows how much it means to the fans, the tifosi. Just one look at the drivers shows how much it means to them, their commitment, their passion. Qualifying at Monza is all about speed and today we were treated to a spectacularRead More

Helio Castroneves captured his 45th IndyCar pole for Sunday’s ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway and leads an all Team Penske 1-2-3. Teammate Simon Pagenaud set the pace with a 220.485 two lap average that was just a scant .1 mph clear of Will Power. Charlie Kimball initially laid down the fastest warmup lap of the day. A fast warmup lap would lead to disaster as Kimball lost it in turn 3 and hit the outside wall head on and briefly went airborne. The rear of the #83 Chevrolet grazedRead More