Motorsport News

Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards discuss what they're expecting from the upcoming Atlanta race. (NBC Sports)

Rotoworld: Just two weeks after Kyle Busch earned a triple at Bristol, brother Kurt could take a track sweep this weekend at the uber-fast Atlanta Motor Speedway.

• Hamilton back as F1 drivers' championship leader
• Accident-prone Sebastian Vettel crashes into Jenson Button

There was thunder, rain, spectacular crashes, safety cars and penalty drive-throughs at today's Belgian grand prix and Lewis Hamilton emerged from the chaos to resume the leadership of the Formula One world championship.

He could have been some exotic creature coming out of a rainforest, for that is what the densely forested hills of the Ardennes have resembled this weekend. There were so many hazards strewn across the slippery track that he might have wondered whether he was on some fairground simulator, but fortunately for him they were mostly in his rear-view mirror and he was able to record his third win of the season and overtake the second-placed Mark Webber at the top of the table; he now leads the Australian by three points with six races to go.

But while Webber was content to finish second after a start which was so ponderous it looked as though he had engaged reverse gear, it was a desperately disappointing afternoon for Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso, who did not finish, and for Webber's Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel, who finished out of the points in 15th place.

Button started fifth but got a flyer and was running second when, on the 16th lap, he was taken out by Vettel, who lost control of his car at the Bus Stop as he exited Blanchimont. Afterwards, an angry Martin Whitmarsh, the McLaren team principal, dubbed Vettel the "Crash Kid" and added: "It's not what you expect to see in Formula One. It was more reminiscent of junior formulae. A drive-through penalty seemed a pretty light punishment to me. I'd rather he took out his own team-mate than one of ours."

In Turkey, of course, to the horror of Red Bull, the increasingly accident-prone Vettel had steered his car into Webber's when the pair were running one-two, allowing Hamilton to charge through to win his first race of the season.

Today, Vettel broke his front wing in the collision with Button and after being given a drive-through penalty then suffered a puncture after another tangle, this time with Force India's Vitantonio Liuzzi. The German said tonight: "What happened happened and we can't change it now. Obviously I'm not proud of it. I lost the car going over a bump as I was braking and unfortunately hit Jenson. I'm sorry for him."

A disconsolate Button said: "It hurts my championship a lot. Seb didn't hit me on purpose but it is sad way to go out. It is the strangest incident I've ever seen to lose control like that. The corner was dry. I paid the price for someone else's mistake. I will be positive for Monza but at the moment I am allowed to be a bit down."

At the start of the race Button was 14 points behind the leader, Webber. But he now trails Hamilton by 35. Meanwhile, Webber has opened up a gap of 28 points over Vettel, something which obviously gave him great pleasure as Red Bull appeared to favour the younger driver in the first half of the season.

Now, Webber mischievously suggested, the team might consider giving him priority. "It is still too early, but not too far away," he said. "I think it depends on how hungry we are."

Meanwhile, the hopes of Alonso, who is now 41 points behind Hamilton, took another severe knock. The Spaniard's Ferrari skidded off on the 38th lap but he was already well back in the field after being hit by Rubens Barrichello on the second lap.

Robert Kubica, who finished third, looked happy with his day's work but the biggest smiles were reserved for Hamilton, who said: "It was a great weekend and a very tough race for me. I was praying it would be a race that would go smoothly, but then the rain came late on and I locked my wheels at turn eight, but thankfully I got away with it.

"We didn't know what to expect, but fortunately I got round and changed the tyres. It didn't rain any more, and in the end it was about nursing the car home, making sure it stayed in one piece and bagging the points." He has now bagged 182 of them.

• This article was amended on 31 August 2010. The original said "I lost the car going over a bump as I was breaking and unfortunately hit Jenson." This has been corrected.

Le 31/08 à 15:04
 

Fabrizio Lai will make his World Superbike Championship debut at the Nurburgring as he assumes duties on the Echo CRS Honda.

They sail solo around the world, climb the highest mountains and race around ovals at breakneck speeds.

There are good reasons why Spa has become a favourite of recent generations of grand prix drivers

The majestic circuit of Spa-Francorchamps looked much the same at the weekend as it did the last time I visited it in 1967 – the year of Sgt Pepper and the assassination of Che Guevara. But that's one thing about great race tracks. You can spend 43 years smoothing out the trickier corners, replacing earth banks with run-off areas, moving the pits and the start-finish line from one bit of straight road to another and erecting new grandstands here and there, yet the essential character of the place – its integrity, you might say, as well as its ambiance – will usually survive.

Generally speaking, this is because the older circuits followed two patterns: that of the public roads on which the earliest motor races were held, and that of the land itself. Spa is a particularly good example, since a track laid out on what were originally public roads also follows the hills and valleys sculpted over millennia by wind, water and geology among the pine forests of the Ardennes.

It is no accident that Spa has become a favourite of recent generations of grand prix drivers. As grateful as they may be for the safety precautions introduced over the past half-century, they still relish the challenge offered by corners that do not conform to the regular geometry usually produced when a circuit architect fires up his computer, and they are not entirely impervious to a sense of history.

The longest track currently used in Formula One, at 7km, it was twice as long back in 1967. The old Masta Straight and its legendary kink may have disappeared in the intervening years but surviving features such as Eau Rouge and the hairpin at La Source retain a shape that was originally dictated by custom and nature.

A week before the race in Belgium, and about 150 miles south-east of Spa, I stopped on a straight piece of road cutting through agricultural land outside the city of Rheims, where long-disused whitewashed pits and grandstands still mark the location of the circuit that hosted important races between 1926 and 1966, including the French grand prix on 14 occasions. It was not hard to imagine the crowd in the tribunes rising to their feet as Mike Hawthorn's Ferrari and Juan Manuel Fangio's Maserati roared neck and neck towards the finish line in 1953, the bow-tied Englishman becoming the first British winner of a round of the world championship. If the long-silent Rheims circuit is a well-known place of pilgrimage, the fine memorial at the junction of the D937 and the D1029, on an otherwise featureless plateau south of the town of Péronne, came as a complete surprise. It commemorates the deaths in June 1933, during the Picardy grand prix meeting, of a pair of Bugatti drivers.

The first, Louis-Aimé Trintignant, one of five sons of a Vaucluse vineyard owner, died during practice after losing control at high speed when a gendarme wandered into the road. The second fatality came the following day, during the race itself, when Guy Bouriat, a French count and a talented driver, was attempting to retake the lead from Philippe Etancelin. As the two of them came up to lap a slower car, its driver spotted Etancelin's Alfa Romeo and let him through but then moved back on to his original line and collided with Bouriat, whose car left the road and burst into flames.

Trintignant was 30 years old, Bouriat 31. The last race at Péronne was held in 1939, and the memorial, once pockmarked with the evidence of fighting in the second world war, has been carefully restored. No other trace of the triangular circuit, which passed through the villages of Brie and Mesnil-Bruntel, remains.

Standing in these places, listening to the echoes of heroism and tragedy, it made me laugh to think that Hermann Tilke, Bernie Ecclestone's pet circuit designer, has apparently been asked to incorporate the outlines of famous corners from historic tracks into a new Formula One facility in Austin, Texas. Just what the world needs: the first karaoke grand prix.

Church Cup final is perfect antidote to spot-fixing

Even lifelong cynics are experiencing a sense of profound disillusionment following the allegations of spot-fixing in the Lord's Test. My own preferred antidote is to attend Thursday's 60th Church Times Cup final, the climax of a competition between cricketing clergymen representing the various geographical subdivisions of the Church of England. The match takes place, as it always has, at the attractive Southgate ground in north London, and this final pits Litchfield against Bath & Wells, neither of whom has appeared in any of the previous 59 finals. It is almost certain that any no-balls will be the consequence of excessive exertion rather than skulduggery.

Time for Button to take races by scruff of the neck

Over the past few years it has been customary to compare Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton in terms of Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna, the smooth approach shared by Prost and Button contrasting with Senna and Hamilton. The comparison has been even more tempting this season, in which they are both driving McLarens, as Senna and Prost did 20 years ago. But on Sunday Hamilton turned that comparison on its head. Once he had taken advantage of Mark Webber's poor start, he drove with an air of calmness that Prost would have recognised. Now all we want to see is Button performing a similar volte-face, taking a race by the scruff of its neck, and reminding us of the great Brazilian.

Wenger slipped up when he sold Diarra to Real Madrid

Le 30/08 à 23:06
 

• Hamilton denies needing special help from McLaren to win title
• Button does not feel his chances will suffer because of rivalry

Lewis Hamilton says he requires no special help from his McLaren team in order to win his second Formula One world title.

While Ferrari are in the dock next week for asking their driver Felipe Massa to move over for Fernando Alonso, and Red Bull's Mark Webber is mischievously suggesting his team should be looking to "prioritise" after yet another failure by Sebastian Vettel, Hamilton says he is happy for Jenson Button to retain joint top billing at the Woking factory.

"I've just got to continue doing my job," he said, after his third victory of the season had taken him back to the top of the drivers' table, 35 points ahead of a fading Button, the world champion who has not won a race since the first week in April and whose last podium position was in June.

"As long as my guys do their job, which they always do, then I don't need anything else. If they're giving you all they can, they're giving you all then can. I don't think, by taking the focus off the guy next to me, they can help me.

"I think if they're giving me 100% and they're giving Jenson 100% then we're going improve twice as fast as a team. So as long as they're giving us both 100% there's no problem. It works for us now so why not continue that?"

McLaren have always insisted that neither of their world champions will receive preferential treatment. Button certainly feels that is the way to go. "I don't fear either of us will miss out on the title by approaching it the way we are," he said. "But if we do, we do – we are here to go racing."

Button had targeted this race and the next one, in Monza on Sunday week, as his best chance to get his campaign back on track. But after getting a flyer and moving up from fifth to second he collided with the reckless Vettel – who has converted only two of his seven pole positions to victories – and had to retire from the race.

Hamilton's race was excellent. It was straightforward enough – he led from virtually the start until the chequered flag. However, he also showed the race management skills which many had identified as a weakness in the 2008 champion. There was rain and there were safety cars but he showed the smoothness and control that is more readily associated with his team-mate. And the only help came from … the Lord.

The biggest danger to his 15th grand prix win came with 10 laps to go, when it rained yet again on a weekend in Belgium which was so wet if felt like an uncut edition of Blade Runner. Hamilton ran wide and on to the gravel at Rivage and was inches away from hitting a wall. "That was the biggest moment for me. I made it all the way out to the wall and just clipped it a little with the edge of my wing. The gravel actually pulled me out. The gravel was horrible. I was very fortunate to get away with that. I was blessed. The Lord definitely had his hand over me there."

With six races to go it looks as though the championship will be won by either Hamilton or Webber, who made up for an awful start by producing another solid drive. "Mark's got the experience. And it's showing. He's 34. He's a very experienced and very mature man. A 24-year-old or a 23-year-old is not as wise as a man of 34. He's been here a lot longer than myself and Sebastian, though Sebastian has got some serious pace."

According to Martin Whitmarsh, the McLaren team principal, the team have got their momentum back. "Lewis did a fantastic job. "He commanded the race and built up a buffer. He had one moment which gave us a bit of a worry, but he did a fantastic job.

"It was a bit of a strange mistake [by Vettel]. I realise it wasn't intentional but if he was going for the inside he had about three inches to sneak down so God knows what he thought he was doing. But we've got our momentum back."

Vettel, meanwhile, is adamant he can still win the title despite failing to finish for the third time this term. "I'm holding my head up," he said. "There are still six races to come and we have all seen how quickly things can change. Everything is still possible. I can still make it happen."

Le 30/08 à 21:01
 

Josh Brookes claims victory in MCE Insurance British Superbike race two at Cadwell Park which was cut short following James Edmeades high-speed accident.

Out of Bounds: When it comes to high-speed motorsports events such as the one in which Peter Lenz was competing (in which bikes are ridden as speeds of up to 120 mph), how young is too young?

Tommy Hill comes out on top after a fantastic duel with Josh Brookes to claim victory in MCE Insurance British Superbike race one at Cadwell Park.

• Button thinking positive despite Spa disappointment
• Reigning champion believes he can bridge 35-point gap

Jenson Button expects to get his bid to retain his Formula One drivers's title back on track at next month's Italian grand prix. After being t-boned by his title rival Sebastian Vettel in yesterday's Belgian grand prix when running second, Button was dejected in the immediate aftermath.

The loss of 18 points means Button is now 35 adrift of his McLaren team-mate and the championship leader Lewis Hamilton, and facing an uphill battle to retain the crown he won with Brawn GP last year.

But Button will head to Monza for the Italian grand prix on 12 September in a more hopeful mood. "When I got out of my car and walked into my drivers' room I said what happened had massively hurt my championship, and coming back from it would be very difficult," Button said.

"But I was very down at that point, as you would be after losing so many points. I had gone from a massive high to a massive low. Looking at it now 35 points is still a lot, which in old money is about 14 points, but it's definitely still possible.

"I go to Monza positive I can have a good race, but also forgetting the championship. I'm in a position now where I have to work towards a race victory because if I come away with that it's a very different atmosphere and a very different feeling for me.

"That's my aim. It's a circuit I love, one I will do very well on this year, confident in the car and that I'll have a good weekend. I learned last year that you have to take every race as it comes and work on fine-tuning the car, on making sure it's the best for that race and not thinking too far ahead. And I'm definitely thinking like that for now. In two weeks' time we'll be in Monza, we'll have a good car and I will be fighting for a victory."

Yet Button was angered by what unfolded on lap 17 of the 44-lap race. Vettel apologised to Button after losing his Red Bull under braking into the bus stop chicane as he attempted to pass the 30-year-old. As he wrestled for control of his car, Vettel speared into the left-hand side of Button's McLaren, bursting the radiator and sending the Briton into retirement.

Vettel was able to continue but after serving a drive-through penalty and later sustaining a puncture he finished 15th. "He just made a mistake, and for me it was a big mistake that cost me a lot of points," Button said.

"It was a very costly mistake and I'm the person who has paid for it, but he's made a couple of them this year. I'm not saying he's dangerous, I'm saying that for me he has made too many mistakes this year to fight for the world championship.

"But he is extremely quick, we can't take that away from him, and to get seven poles is extraordinary in the amount of races we have had – but to throw that many away is also very surprising."

Le 30/08 à 14:21
 

• Hamilton says he and Button will be treated the same
• 25-year-old hails 'phenomenal win' in Belgium

Lewis Hamilton said he will not receive preferential treatment from McLaren despite opening up a significant lead over his team-mate Jenson Button following yesterday's Belgian grand prix.

Hamilton won his third race of the season and the 14th of his career to move three points clear of Mark Webber with six races remaining. Button was left feeling despondent after he crashed out for the second successive season at Spa.

Button was on course to finish runner-up when he was speared from his left-hand side by an out-of-control Sebastian Vettel in his Red Bull who had misjudged his braking in attempting to overtake.

Yet with 150 points still available, Hamilton said McLaren will not favour himself over Button until the situation dictates otherwise.

"I get the same treatment as Jenson and that enables us both to score maximum points so I don't feel there should be any preferential treatment," Hamilton said. "Obviously the team do the best they can to the maximum for each of us. There's no more they can do."

Hamilton dismissed the suggestion the title race is now between himself and Red Bull's Webber, who had to be content with second after starting from pole. Along with Button, Vettel and Fernando Alonso also failed to score a point, with the German finishing 15th and the Spaniard crashing out in the wet late on.

Hamilton is now 31 points ahead of Vettel yet despite the cushion he added: "You've seen in the last few races how quickly things can change. We still have a long way to go and there are still many points to be grabbed by any of the drivers who are fighting for the title.

"Clearly for me my closest rival in the championship is Mark in terms of points, but I still think the championship is open. Obviously we want to make sure that's not the case after another few races."

The Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner, described Hamilton as "the luckiest man in Belgium" after the 25-year-old narrowly avoided collision with a barrier. As the rain came with 10 laps to go, Hamilton ran wide on the greasy surface and on to the gravel at Rivage, coming within inches of hitting a wall.

Hamilton said: "That was the biggest moment for me. I made it all the way out to the wall and just clipped it a little with the edge of my wing. I was very fortunate to get away with that. I was very blessed. The Lord definitely had his hand over me there."

Le 30/08 à 11:05
 

The talented young German driver will not become world champion until he learns to control his emotions

Sebastian Vettel will become world champion one of these years but not as long as he drives the way he did in the Belgian grand prix today. This was a performance seething with the sort of uncontrolled emotion that can undermine a great talent.

Starting from the fourth slot on the grid after mistakes in the qualifying session, he survived the slipping and sliding of the opening lap and two laps later forced his way inside Robert Kubica to snatch third place. But a dozen laps of sitting behind Jenson Button, whose stout defence of his position was enabling Lewis Hamilton to build a cushion at the front, clearly frayed Vettel's patience. An attempt to challenge the second-placed McLaren as they approached the Bus Stop chicane saw him losing control under braking before spearing into the flank of Button's car.

It was a clumsy error, born of frustration and intemperance, and not unlike the one that caused him to crash into his team-mate, Mark Webber, while trying to force his way into the lead in Istanbul in May. This time the perpetrator was lucky to be able to limp in for a new front wing while the world champion's race ended amid clouds of steam from a ruptured radiator. The stop dropped Vettel to 13th, and he found himself even further back after serving a drive-through penalty for provoking the accident that severely prejudices Button's chance of defending his title.

Impatient to work his way back through the field, the young German chopped so brusquely across Vitantonio Liuzzi that he punctured a rear tyre against his rival's wing. Later he took a risk on fitting a set of full wet-weather tyres in anticipation of a predicted shower but wore them out on a mostly dry track and, with six laps to go, came in for a second set, which suited the worsening conditions well enough to allow him to finish an undistinguished 15th. Vettel is now 31 points behind Hamilton in the drivers' standings and 28 behind Webber, who failed to capitalise on starting from pole position but drove a canny race to secure second place.

Having made his Formula One debut as BMW's reserve driver in 2006, Vettel became the youngest driver in history to win a world championship grand prix two years later when, at the wheel of a Toro Rosso, he mastered difficult conditions on a rainy weekend at Monza. It was a victory that owed nothing to luck and everything to touch.

The following summer he won a memorable standing ovation from a Silverstone crowd yearning for a home win by Button or Hamilton, when he started from pole position and took a flag-to-flag victory as imperious as anything produced by the great Jim Clark in the Scot's four wins (all from pole) on the same track. His speech at the subsequent press conference, which showed a graciousness to go with his quick sense of humour, earned him more admiration.

"This is what I was dreaming of when I saw the grands prix here in the era of Mansell and so on," he said then. "It's kind of unreal now to think I am here and I have won this grand prix. I regret a little bit that I am not an Englishman as the fans are fantastic." His listeners swooned, momentarily forgetting that there have also been glimpses of a darker side to his temperament.

It was Nigel Mansell who, as one of today's race stewards, imposed the drive-through penalty, and Vettel's summary was appropriately downbeat. "What happened happened," he said, "and we can't change it now. Obviously I'm not proud of it. I lost the car going over a bump as I was braking and unfortunately hit Jenson. I'm sorry for him."

In terms of sheer ability Vettel ranks with Hamilton and Fernando Alonso as the best of the current generation but he is currently being outperformed by the more mature man in the other Red Bull. Until the 23-year-old learns to focus his gifts at all times the brilliant will continue to be mixed with the best forgotten and he will have to wait to become Formula One's second German world champion.

Le 29/08 à 21:40
 

Repsol Honda's Dani Pedrosa wins the Indianapolis MotoGP from pole sitter Ben Spies with Jorge Lorenzo completing the podium.