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MELBOURNE: The Australian Grand Prix has been axed for the second year in a row with the 21st round of the Formula 1 championship a victim of the country's tight border controls, organisers said on Tuesday (Jul 6). "We regret to announce that the 2021 Australian Grand Prix has been canceled due to restrictions and logistical challenges relating to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic," organizers said in a statement on the Nov 21 race. The Australian round of the MotoGP world championship, scheduled for

SPIELBERG BEI KNITTELFELD: Max Verstappen reeled off his third win in a row from pole in the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday (Jul 4) to consolidate his world championship lead over Lewis Hamilton who after finishing fourth said his toiling Mercedes team were "miles away from Red Bull". Hamilton's Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas took second with McLaren's Lando Norris a fine third after picking up a five second time penalty. Verstappen's latest step towards ending Hamilton's hold on the drivers' title triggered a

Formula One will seek to avoid a scenario where a new points-paying Saturday sprint race format being trialled this season could decide the title, according to managing director Ross Brawn. The sport wants to host three sprint races in 2021, with the first at Silverstone in July and the second scheduled for Monza in September. The venue for the third has yet to be decided, with the United States in October and Brazil in November mentioned as the most likely candidates. Both have

LE CASTELLET, France: Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes team hope to find a positive sense of "deja vu" and a return to winning form at this weekend's French Grand Prix following two shattering street circuit defeats. The seven-time champion and the defending champion team were well beaten in both Monte Carlo and Baku, losing their long consecutive points-scoring records of 54 and 55 races respectively as Red Bull took command with Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez claiming victories. Dutchman Verstappen, deprived of victory

BAKU: Sergio Perez said before the Formula One season started that he needed five races to get up to speed with Red Bull and the Mexican duly delivered by winning the sixth in Azerbaijan on Sunday. If victory fell into his lap after team mate Max Verstappen crashed out with a tyre blowout five laps from the end while leading, it was still richly deserved. Perez had qualified only seventh, moving up to sixth after McLaren's Lando Norris was demoted, but he showed

Valtteri Bottas said he raised concerns about Mercedes' pit stops ahead of last month's Monaco Grand Prix which saw the Formula One champions fail to remove a wheel from his car, forcing the Finn's retirement from second place. Bottas, whose arrival in Azerbaijan for this weekend's sixth round of the season was delayed by travel disruption, told reporters on Thursday that what happened was not a complete surprise. The stuck wheel was eventually removed at the factory in England some 43 hours after

Kyle Larson put on a show in primetime on Sunday as he streaked to a dominating victory in Sunday's crown-jewel Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR Cup Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Larson led 327 of 400 laps, won three of four stages and beat runner-up Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott to the finish line by more than 10 seconds. "Feels good," Larson said after getting his first Cup win at the 1.5-mile CMS oval. "It was not easy. I felt like I had to

Indianapolis Motor Speedway will host 135,000 racing fans for the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday and the sold-out crowd will represent a big step forward as North American sports continue to turn the page on the COVID-19 pandemic. "We've hit our capacity for this year's Indianapolis 500 and look forward to hosting 135,000 fans at the world's largest sporting event since the pandemic began," race organizers said on Thursday. "We're thrilled to welcome fans 'Back Home Again' and appreciate our loyal customers and their

Max Mosley, who has died aged 81, was one of the most influential and important figures in motorsport over the last half-century - and also among the most controversial. With a brilliant intellect and a devious, sometimes malicious mind, he was arguably better suited to a career in politics. But he was the son of the 1930s British fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley, and in his youth was involved in his father's post-war political party the Union Movement. He realised his personal history would prevent

Charles Leclerc will start on pole for his home Monaco Grand Prix after setting the fastest time in qualifying Saturday despite ending the session with crash-damage to his Ferrari. Red Bull's Max Verstappen will set off alongside him on the front row of Formula One's iconic street race with world champion Lewis Hamilton in unfamiliar territory back on the fourth row. Qualifying was red flagged at the end, depriving Hamilton and Verstappen of a late chance to better Leclerc's time with a flying lap. With overtaking difficult

LONDON: Local hero Charles Leclerc went from last to first on home town streets to lead a stunning Ferrari one-two in a red-flagged second Monaco Grand Prix practice on Thursday. The 23-year-old Monegasque, born and bred in the Mediterranean principality, lapped the metal-fenced layout with a best time of one minute 11.684 seconds in the afternoon session. Leclerc, who has yet to score a point on home territory, had managed only four laps in the morning sunshine before being sidelined by a gearbox

LONDON: Charles Leclerc has yet to score a point in his home Monaco Grand Prix but, with two retirements followed by no race in 2020 due to the pandemic, the Ferrari driver is due a change of fortune this weekend. The 23-year-old, who grew up watching the cars race around the harbourside track and took the school bus along roads familiar to every Formula One fan, was excited at the prospect on Wednesday. "I love it, but I've had a bit of a

The French race at Le Castellet will now be on Jun 20, kicking off a "triple header" of three grands prix on successive weekends, the Liberty Media-owned sport said in a statement on Friday (May 14). The Red Bull Ring will host the newly-inserted Styrian Grand Prix on Jun 27 and the Austrian Grand Prix on its original Jul 4 date. "We were all looking forward to racing in Turkey but the travel restrictions in place have meant we are not able to

LONDON: Red Bull need Sergio Perez much closer to the front to put pressure on Mercedes and help Max Verstappen in his title battle with Lewis Hamilton, team boss Christian Horner said after Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix. Mexican Perez started in eighth place, after suffering shoulder pain in qualifying, and finished fifth at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya - more than a minute behind Mercedes' winner Lewis Hamilton. Seven-times champion Hamilton and Verstappen were so far ahead of the rest that the decisive strategy

Lewis Hamilton says he wants to seal a new contract with Mercedes before Formula 1's summer break. The 36-year-old left it until last winter to sign his current one-year deal with the world champions. He said after winning Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix: "We don't want to rush anything but I think we have to be sensible and start conversations. "They're very complex, so hopefully soon we can start, as long as it doesn't interfere with the actual job." The delay in his contract

Lewis Hamilton said he was "proud" of the lap that took him to the remarkable milestone of 100 Formula 1 career pole positions, but that was only one of the emotions whirling through him as he celebrated this landmark, almost incredible, achievement. "I don't really feel like I can compute it right now," he said. "It's a huge number. I don't know how I'm supposed to feel but I am excited it's so close and it felt amazing. "Qualifying is so special. When

BARCELONA: Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso admits his return to Formula One has been a "challenge" but is "not worried" by his form with the marathon season still in its infancy. Alonso, who will turn 40 in July, has endured a roller-coaster of a campaign with Alpine, the rebranded Renault team, after two years out of the sport. At the season-opener in Bahrain, he "over-performed" with a ninth place in qualifying followed by a dispiriting race retirement due to a brake problem. In

The Spanish Grand Prix will allow 1,000 circuit members to attend Sunday's Formula One race after local COVID-19 regulations are eased, organisers said on Monday. The May 9 race is the fourth round of the season and a home grand prix for Ferrari's Carlos Sainz and Alpine's double world champion Fernando Alonso. Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya announced last month that the race would be behind closed doors due to the pandemic, but said on Monday that outdoor events in the region will now

LONDON: Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton won the Portuguese Grand Prix for Mercedes on Sunday (May 2) to stretch his Formula One lead over Red Bull's Max Verstappen to eight points after three races. Verstappen finished second at the Algarve circuit with Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas completing the podium, and taking a bonus point for the fastest lap, after starting from pole position. Verstappen's Mexican team mate Sergio Perez was fourth. The victory was a record-extending 97th of Hamilton's career, second of the year

Great Britain's 4x400m women's team won bronze at the 2021 World Athletics Relays event in Silesia in Poland. The quartet of Laviai Nielsen, Ama Pipi, Emily Diamond and Jessie Knight finished behind winners Cuba and second-placed Poland. The British runners set a time of three minutes 29.27 seconds. "There were about four of us who got the baton at the same time and I think I got overly excited," said Knight, who ran the final leg. "I just went for it, which to