Formula 1’s drivers usually spend nine months of the year crisscrossing the globe and effectively living out of a suitcase, but recent months have seen them far more time at home than is normally the case.
So what is an F1 driver’s ‘Crib’ actually like?
McLaren’s Lando Norris gave Sky F1’s Natalie Pinkham an exclusive and entertaining video tour around his home and garden while in lockdown, in the first of a new series.
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McLaren chief executive Zak Brown is enthusiastic about the idea of Daniel Ricciardo racing in the Bathurst 1000 touring car race, even if the Formula One schedule makes it unlikely the Australian could be freed up.
In a move announced two weeks ago, Ricciardo will leave Renault at the end of this season to join British driver Lando Norris at McLaren, Formula One’s second most successful team.
American Brown, who owns part of the Walkinshaw Andretti United team which ran a car in last year’s edition of Australia’s most prestigious Supercar race, said he would be delighted to see both drivers on the Mount Panorama track.
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“I think they’d both love to do it,” he told Australian TV show Supercars Sidetracked.
“I think people now know I’m a little bit different than most of the team bosses in F1 as I like to see our drivers go out and give it a go at Daytona or Le Mans, things of that nature.
“I think it’ll just come down to schedule and whether they can fit it in the schedule.”
That looks unlikely given the Bathurst 1000 takes place in the second week in October when the Formula One season is still in full-swing.
Brown’s impressive personal collection of racing cars includes the last works version of the Holden Commodore to win at Bathurst in 2011.
Even if racing at Mount Panorama did not work out for Ricciardo and Norris, Brown would at least ensure they had a run in an icon of Australian motorsport.
“I’d love to see them do it there,” he said. “Let’s see. For sure, they’ll get a go in my Holden.”
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The TV channel for a NASCAR race is elusive enough in a normal season when Fox and FS1 trade broadcasts of Cup Series events through the first half of the schedule. The challenges associated with the coronavirus pandemic make the “what channel is today’s NASCAR race on” question even more understandable.
Tonight, for just the third time in a couple months, those who seek the TV channel for the NASCAR race will be doing so in order to watch a real, live event rather than a virtual competition. The Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the first of two Cup races at the track in a four-day span, will broadcast live on Fox with a start time of 6 p.m. ET.
The Coca-Cola 600 is the third race in NASCAR’s return on an altered, short-term schedule as it attempts to keep a 36-race slate intact for 2020. For now, with remaining doubt about how NASCAR can construct its schedule beyond June given differing restrictions on gatherings of people from state to state, the short-term schedule includes only a handful of tracks.
As for Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600, it is the only race on the modified slate that will run on its originally scheduled date and at its originally scheduled time. Wednesday’s race at Charlotte, which is running in place of the canceled June Sonoma race, will start at 8 p.m. ET.
Below is how to watch Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte, including the TV channel and live stream options.
Like the schedule itself, the TV channels for Cup Series races after June are up in the air. The Coca-Cola 600, though, as well as three more Cup Series races currently on the schedule for June, will broadcast live on Fox.
Last week’s Darlington race Sunday, which was the first for NASCAR since the coronavirus pandemic shut down live sports in March, drew 6.32 million viewers with its 3:30 p.m. ET start time on Fox. That was a 38 percent jump over the last Cup Series race, which ran March 8 at Phoenix Raceway. Another Sunday race on Fox’s cable network should bring similarly strong TV ratings.
Below are the top 40 TV markets in the Unites States and the local Fox affiliate for each.
A 6 p.m. ET start time has become the customary protocol for the Coca-Cola 600, NASCAR’s longest race. It’s the only event in the sport that features four stages rather than three, and each Coca-Cola 600 stage will be 100 laps.
The Coca-Cola 600 begins in the heat of the daylight, but it gradually turns into a night race over the span of roughly 4 1/2 hours. That leads to cooling track temperatures and puts the onus on adjustments as teams attempt to navigate the race.
Fox’s coverage of pre-race ceremonies from Charlotte Motor Speedway — which are special on Memorial Day weekend — will begin at 6 p.m. ET, and the Coca-Cola 600 is scheduled to take the green flag 28 minutes later.
Anybody who has a cable or satellite subscription can stream Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600 live via Fox Sports Go. This should be the preferred route for a viewer who has such a subscription but isn’t able to get in front of his or her TV.
For those who don’t have a cable or satellite subscription, there are five OTT TV streaming options that carry Fox — Sling, Hulu, YouTubeTV, fuboTV and AT&T Now. Of the five, Hulu, YouTubeTV and fuboTV offer free trial options.
Below are links to each.
NASCAR on May 14 released its revised Cup Series schedule for May and June of 2020. It remains committed to running 36 races, four of which were completed before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the sports world. According to Fox Sports, NASCAR hopes to keep its 10 playoff races in the fall intact and at their original tracks.
Below is the schedule revision for the Cup Series:
(NASCAR warns that the stage lengths and start times for the races above are tentative and subject to change.)
To start, NASCAR is scheduling races within driving distance of the Charlotte area, where most race teams are headquartered. That eliminates most of the travel-related logistics issues associated with running multiple races in one week, which appears necessary for a full season of racing.
Because those tracks are hosting more races than originally scheduled, NASCAR had to take races away from Chicagoland, Richmond and Sonoma. Via NASCAR, below are the details of those changes:
— “Chicagoland’s NASCAR Cup Series race, originally set for June 21, has been reassigned to Darlington on May 17. The 1.5-mile Illinois track’s Xfinity Series race that was scheduled June 20 will be held May 19 at Darlington. Chicagoland was also set to host the Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series (June 19) and ARCA Menards Series (June 18); officials indicated that those races will be reassigned at a later date.”
— “Richmond Raceway’s springtime Cup Series event on the initial schedule for April 19 has been moved to Darlington on May 20. A Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series race that was to be run April 18 remains postponed, with officials saying details would come later for rescheduling. The .75-mile Virginia track’s Sept. 11-12 race weekend remains on the schedule.”
— “Sonoma Raceway’s Cup Series date for June 14 has been moved to Charlotte on May 27. Officials for the road course said in a release that they had worked with NASCAR to find an alternate date on the schedule, but that a suitable replacement could not be reached, ‘given the ongoing uncertainty around large events in California.'”
Below are the four NASCAR Cup Series races that are currently postponed (and their original dates on the schedule):
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There are fresh doubts over whether the British Grand Prix will now be able to take place following confirmation from Home Secretary Priti Patel that travellers into the UK will soon have to self-isolate for 14 days.
The government measures are expected to contain an exempt list but as it stands F1 is set to be snubbed.
With the coronavirus pandemic leading to the cancellation of several races, F1 officials are planning to start the season in Austria on July 5.
That would then be followed by back-to-back races at Silverstone on July 26 and August 5.
Earlier this week, Oliver Dowden, the culture secretary, was in favour of F1 earning an exemption.
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But the government’s quarantine plans announced by Patel mean it will be difficult for the British Grand Prix to go ahead.
Talks between F1 chiefs and the government are ongoing with a spokesperson saying: “We have been working closely with government on the implications of the policy for Formula 1 and Silverstone.
“Those discussions are ongoing at this time with the aim of finding a solution with safety as our first priority.”
With several teams and drivers also based in the UK, the sport faces a battle to overcome the rising number of complications.
Charles Leclerc lifts lid on bizarre plan as Alex Albon ends streak Speaking in an interview with Sky Sports before Patel’s comments, Stuart Pringle, managing director at Silverstone, insisted he was hopeful F1 would be able to earn an exemption.
“It’s a very complex sport to get going because it’s a global championship with a huge logistical tail,” he said.
“So Formula 1 does need to know that it can set off on its global travel and be able to come in and out of its home base.
“I am very clear that the importance of the industry is understood by government. I remain very optimistic that they will find away.
“I’m very, very conscious that it’s extremely complicated drafting these things and working up against ever-moving deadlines – it’s not a task I’d wish to undertake.
“So I remain optimistic that a sensible and pragmatic solution, which puts the onus on the sport quite rightly to come up with the right solution, can be found.”
If Britain is unable to stage the races, Hockenheim is braced to step in and hold a double-header.
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Sebastian Vettel may have suffered “burnout” from his time at a Ferrari team where there is “always friction”, Grand Prix Drivers’ Association chairman Alex Wurz has told Sky F1.
Vettel is leaving Ferrari at the end of 2020, and while he has shown flashes of his brilliant best in red, the five-year partnership between F1’s four-time champion and its most successful team has so far resulted in zero titles.
Wurz, who heads up F1’s drivers’ body where Vettel is a director, had his say on the sport’s big news during his appearance on Friday’s Sky F1 Vodcast – believing the Ferrari “system” can take its toll on the drivers.
Button, McLaren back Sainz to be Ferrari hit
“Sebastian is a friend of mine, but I didn’t see it coming,” said Wurz, who made his name in F1 with Benetton, McLaren and Williams before his role with the GPDA. “He keeps those cards always very close to his chest.
“If you look at the history of Ferrari, you have this first few years and months of big love and all these radio calls, all the emotions that come out of it, which makes Ferrari so beautiful.
“But at one point, even with Fernando [Alonso, who Vettel replaced in 2015], it seems like the whole system makes you go into burnout. Maybe the love is not there anymore, and that seemed to happen. But Sebastian hasn’t spoken to me about that.”
Don’t miss the full Vodcast later this afternoon as Wurz and the Sky F1 team talk about F1’s restart plans, driver market gossip and more.
Wurz joined Ted Kravitz, Paul Di Resta and Simon Lazenby on the Vodcast, and Ted pondered: “Do you think it’s Ferrari’s passion that is the great thing about them but also hurt them in some ways?”
“There’s more to it than just racing passion,” responded Wurz. “There is really the national pressure up on you and the drivers go through that.
“Ferrari are really demanding of the drivers, they really love you if you push them forward but if the success is not coming then suddenly that starts to backfire and they will also be protective about their heritage, work and quality.
“There is always friction, and that’s not just for drivers, they have also changed team principals also over the years. And I think that comes with outside influence but also the lifestyle. That mixture seems to be tricky.”
Ferrari won six consecutive F1 titles from 1999 to 2004 but have not won a championship in over a decade, despite its high-profile talented drivers.
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Any Formula 1 team would be “very lucky” to have Sebastian Vettel in their line-up for 2021, according to FIA president Jean Todt.
Four-time champion Vettel’s Ferrari career will end at the end of this year after they decided to part ways after six seasons of mixed fortunes.
Should he want to stay in F1, then the 32-year-old’s options of a front-running drive already appear very limited – but Todt, Ferrari’s most successful team boss of all time, believes the German should not be written off.
“Sebastian Vettel is one of the greatest talents in motorsport,” said Todt in an exclusive interview with Sky Sports.
“An announcement has been made that he will not drive for the team beyond 2020.
“There are a lot of other opportunities. We can only wish him the best and I mean that. Whoever will take him will be very lucky.”
Initial links to McLaren were quickly quashed when the Woking team signed Daniel Ricciardo to replace the Ferrari-bound Carlos Sainz.
Red Bull, Vettel’s former outfit, have said it is “enormously unlikely” they will pair the German with Max Verstappen, while any prospect of Mercedes teaming Lewis Hamilton up with Vettel also appears remote.
Renault will need to replace Ricciardo, but Fernando Alonso and others are in the frame there too.
Although only in his early-mid 30s, Vettel could also conceivably walk away from the sport for either a break – or for good.
Speaking on the Sky F1 Vodcast, Romain Grosjean echoed the comments of Jenson Button by admitting he found it a “big surprise” Vettel was leaving Maranello.
“I was surprised by some of the decisions, in some ways,” said the Haas driver of last week’s inter-linked driver moves.
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Haas’ Romain Grosjean, a director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, says F1’s stars are keen to help the sport return to racing as soon as is practical.
With F1 officials working on a July start to the campaign with a double header under strict safety measures and regular testing for COVID-19 in Austria, Haas driver Grosjean told the latest Sky F1 Vodcast that the grid’s drivers were in regular contact and had recently been briefed by plans by the sport’s officials.
“We have got a WhatsApp group and it has been very active, I must say,” said Grosjean of the drivers’ body. “A lot of discussions on different subjects.
“We had a call with Formula 1, Chase Carey and Ross [Brawn]. I just couldn’t make the call, but I know Alex [Wurz, GPDA chairman] and Sebastian [Vettel, GPDA director] were on it, and then I got the feedback.
“We are trying to be as much as we can involved; trying to help the best we can because to help the teams we need to go racing earlier than later.
“Obviously not doing anything costs money for nothing and if we can go racing then we know what’s happening.”
With the prospect of a very different type of grand prix weekend awaiting F1 personnel at the Red Bull Ring, with extensive safe logistical measures being in operation, Grosjean added: “Everyone is doing his best. Obviously, it’s very difficult to know what the situation is going to be like.
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Fernando Alonso says he has an “idea in my head” about what he will do in 2021 – but does that involve a dramatic return to F1 for the two-time world champion?
Not for the first time, Alonso finds himself at the centre of many ‘silly season’ discussions, with the F1 driver market enlived by Ferrari’s decision to replace Sebastian Vettel with Carlos Sainz for next year and Daniel Ricciardo agreeing to fill his place at McLaren.
That has opened up a seat at Renault – the Enstone team where Alonso made his name by winning his two world titles in 2005-2006, before returning for a second shorter stint two years later.
Speaking in a video conference hosted by the Real Madrid graduate school, Italy’s Gazzetta dello Sport quotes Alonso as saying his next challenge will be at the “highest level” – and that he lists F1, IndyCar and the World Endurance Championship as his three possible destinations.
Flavio Briatore, Alonso’s long-time associate and former Renault team boss, has gone further by saying the Spaniard is “ready to return” to F1 having “detoxed himself” since leaving the grid in 2018 and successfully racing in other disciplines, including sportscars and rally raid.
So is a third spell at Renault truly on the cards for a driver who will turn 39 in July?
Two men who know him well from his time at McLaren, former team-mate Jenson Button and Zak Brown, the Woking team’s chief executive, have had their respective say to Sky Sports F1…
“If Renault were close to the front and he could see in 2021 and 2022 there’s a chance of podiums and wins, I think he would jump at the chance if he had the option,” explained Button, who was Alonso’s team-mate for two seasons.
“But I think it’s going to be a longer process than that. If they do get to the front it’s probably going to be four-plus years – and he doesn’t have that time. He’s not willing to put in that time, I don’t think. Fernando is that sort of guy that when he has an opportunity he really does take it.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=d8zJMNJyDU8%3Ffeature%3Doembed
“I’m just not sure this is the right opportunity for him. If he was able to get into one of the top three teams? Of course, he would jump at the chance because he would be able to show his speed, and he hasn’t lost it at 39 years old. But building a team for three or four years? I don’t think that is what Fernando is looking for.”
“I spoke with him the other day and I was kinda poking around. I think he’s undecided,” said Brown to Sky F1. “If I was running Renault, that’s who I’d put in the car. Big name, fast as anyone, won two championships with them – so he’s got history. So, from a Renault perspective, I think he’s a bit of a no-brainer to put in.
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After two months away from the track, the NASCAR Cup Series finally returned Sunday afternoon, a welcome sight for racing fans across the United States.
Kevin Harvick took the checkered flag at The Real Heroes 400, an event held without any fans in attendance at Darlington Raceway. Drivers will stay at the 1.366-mile oval for Wednesday night’s Toyota 500 (6 p.m. ET, FS1), which will also include only essential personnel.
There were some initial concerns about how NASCAR would be able to operate amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, but teams didn’t encounter many issues at their first fan-less race outside of general awkwardness.
“On the way to the race track, I’m like, ‘Man, this could be a complete mess trying to get in the race track when I get there,'” Harvick crew chief Rodney Childers said (via Fox Sports). “I get to the race track and everything is just absolutely seamless.
“Pulling in, the way it was operated outside the race track coming in, the amount of detail that was in all that — I was kind of blown away by it.”
It’s far from an ideal scenario, but NASCAR is back. Which drivers will be ready to handle the quick turnaround?
Unlike a typical race, the Toyota 500 will not have a qualifying run.
The starting lineup will be based on the finishing order from The Real Heroes 400 with one inversion, per NASCAR:
Ryan Preece, who finished 20th on Sunday, will be on the pole for the Toyota 500 because of the inversion. Ty Dillon, Joey Logano, Clint Bowyer and Ryan Blaney round out the top five for Wednesday’s race.
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Formula One have upped the battle to save the British Grand Prix by telling Boris Johnson that if it is cancelled the race will go to Germany.
F1 bosses continued to talk to the highest levels of Government on Tuesday in the hope of brokering an 11th-hour agreement to win the sport an exemption over controversial plans to impose a 14-day quarantine period on travellers arriving in the UK.
The Prime Minister is being informed of developments and will make the final call.
Formula One have upped their battle to save the British Grand Prix at Silverstone this year
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is being informed of developments and will make the final call
If the exemption is not forthcoming, the two races planned for Silverstone in July and August — the British GP and a second round to make up for time lost to coronavirus — will move to Hockenheim in Germany’s Rhine Valley.
An F1 spokesman said: ‘Quarantine would make it impossible to have a British Grand Prix this year. We would be travelling back to the UK on F1-only aircraft and all staff would be tested, making quarantine totally unnecessary.’
Sportsmail understands talks between F1 and Hockenheim are at an advanced stage, with a source saying: ‘It is basically a matter of turning the key in the gates.’
Losing the British Grand Prix to a venue that was not even slated on the original calendar would be a massive blow to the prestige of British sport.
Silverstone staged the first F1 race, won by Giuseppe Farina in 1950, and has held a grand prix in all of the world championship’s 70-year history. A decision is expected in the next 36 hours.
Silverstone races will be moved to Hockenheim if F1 is denied exemption from new travel rules
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