MOTORSPORT: Comebacks aplenty and a fond farewell

Ferrari’s back in the winner’s circle in Formula 1, with Sebastian Vettel giving the scuderia its first victory in eight races since the mid-season break.

And, with Kimi Raikkonen also on the podium for the Italian team for the third straight grand prix, Vettel pronounced: “Our objective is to bring Ferrari back properly, get there and dominate.”

World champion Lewis Hamilton came back too from his crash in qualifying and starting from the pitlane to finish fourth in today’s Brazilian GP, which might have been third had he not punished his tyres in pursuit of Raikkonen.

Daniel Ricciardo also carved his way through the field to sixth after having started 14th, courtesy of a grid penalty for a change of a power unit component, and being down in 17th after being spun in some first-lap mayhem.

There could be another comeback imminent too, with Robert Kubica – the Polish star whose F1 career was wrecked by a severe hand injury in a rally crash after he won the 2008 Canadian GP – in contention to replace retiring Brazilian Felipe Massa at the Williams team.

Kubica is to have a third test for Williams after the season’s final GP in Abu Dhabi in a fortnight.

Massa had a second emotional farewell in front of his home fans at Sao Paulo’s Interlagos circuit. He quit a year ago but was called out of retirement because Williams sponsor Martini insisted on a driver 25 or older partnering teenage rookie Lance Stroll this season.

Mercedes-powered Massa held off the fighting Fernando Alonso’s improved McLaren-Honda today to the delight of the Brazilian fans who so often had seen him forced to be the bridesmaid to Alonso when they were teammates at Ferrari.

With both cars from each of the three top teams – Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull – finishing, seventh place felt like another victory for Massa to add to the 11 wins he has achieved in 16 seasons, including coming close to being world champion in 2008 – the year of the first of what are now Hamilton’s four titles.

Hamilton became the first driver to lap faster than 1 minute 12 seconds in the race but then Max Verstappen, who insisted on a late change of tyres against the wishes of the Red Bull team, turned in a stunner at 1:11.044 as he took fifth place, 15.75 seconds ahead of Ricciardo.

“The start was not ideal,” said carsales.com.au global ambassador Ricciardo.

“It was quite tight and I saw a space on the outside, so I tried to get as much room as I could, but I knew there were two cars on the inside so there was always a risk they would have contact and then come into me.

“I think that’s what happened, but I don’t regret trying.

“The start is an opportunity to make up a big chunk of positions and, as I was nearly at the back, I had to try something.

“Fortunately the car didn’t suffer any damage. We just changed the tyres and then I could get on with the race and make some good overtakes and it was a good race.

“Every time I was catching a car I passed it as soon as I could and there were some good fights.

“In the end a comfortable sixth. It was nice to see the chequered flag and I felt I got the maximum out of it today.”

Ricciardo remains fourth in the championship with 200 points, but Raikkonen on 193 could overhaul him in Abu Dhabi.

In the past five races Verstappen has been the most prolific pointscorer, with 90 (including two wins) to Hamilton’s 82 (also including two wins).

While Red Bull’s car has been seen as the big improver in the second half of the season, Vettel claimed – after outgunning Valtteri Bottas’ pole-position Mercedes at the start and keeping a buffer of a couple of seconds throughout the race – that Ferrari had made the most improvement this season after not winning a race last year.

Vettel has now given the Italian team five victories this year to the 11 of Mercedes – nine by Hamilton, two by Bottas. Red Bull has won the other three races – one of them, in Azerbaijan, by Ricciardo.

“We made the biggest step [of all the teams],” Vettel said.

“Nobody expected Ferrari to be that strong.

“There was a lot of talk about other people (teams), but in the end we were there from the start and also until the end (despite a horror stretch, especially through the Asian races in September-October).

“We are in a position to fight for victory. We won here – two cars on the podium. There’s a lot of positives.

“We hadn’t been very competitive last year. We hadn’t been very good developing the car.

“We’ve made massive progress this year. Hopefully we can carry that strength into the next couple of years – not just next year.”

Formula 1 World Championship driver standings after 19 of 20 rounds – 1. Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain, Mercedes) 345 points; 2. Sebastian Vettel (Germany, Ferrari) 302; 3. Valtteri Bottas (Finland, Mercedes) 280; 4. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia, Red Bull-Renault) 200; 5. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland, Ferrari) 193; 6. Max Verstappen (Netherlands, Red Bull-Renault) 158; 7. Sergio Perez (Mexico, Force India-Mercedes) 94; 8. Esteban Ocon (France, Force India-Mercedes) 83; 9. Carlos Sainz Junior (Spain, Toro Rosso-Renault and Renault) 54; 10. Felipe Massa (Brazil, Williams-Mercedes) 42; 11. Lance Stroll (Canada, Williams-Mercedes) 40; 12. Nico Hulkenberg (Germany, Renault) 35; 13. Romain Grosjean (France, Haas-Ferrari) 28; 14. Kevin Magnussen (Denmark, Haas-Ferrari) 19; 15. Fernando Alonso (Spain, McLaren-Honda) 15; 16. Stoffel Vandoorne (Belgium, McLaren-Honda) 13.

F1 constructor standings – 1. Mercedes 625 points; 2. Ferrari 495; 3. Red Bull-Renault 358; 4. Force India-Mercedes 177; 5. Williams-Mercedes 82; 6. Toro Rosso-Renault 53; 7. Renault 49; 8. Haas-Ferrari 47; 9. McLaren-Honda 28; 10. Sauber-Ferrari 5.

Its lead driver Thierry Neuville has won three of the 12 rounds – more than any other driver – but his second place three weeks ago at Rally Great Britain in Wales was his best finish since his victory in Poland at the start of July.

That lifted him back to second in the championship behind M-Sport Ford’s Sebastien Ogier, who goes into this week’s Rally Australia as a five-time champion,
having won the title the previous four seasons with Volkswagen before its withdrawal.

Ogier’s Estonian teammate Ott Tanak will be fighting with Belgian Neuville at Coffs Harbour on the NSW Coast to be runner-up to the Frenchman.

The doyen of rally correspondents Martin Holmes has pointed out in his preview of Rally Oz that Hyundai’s WRC activities were conceived in Australia but it has never won here.

“I have finished on the podium a couple of times in the past in Rally Australia,” said Neuville, who was second in 2013 and third last year.

“We know we have the technical package to compete at the front, so with the addition of a bit of luck I am hopeful we can do what we need to do.”

Neuville has won more stages this season than any WRC driver – 48 to next-best Tanak’s 27, while Ogier has won only 21. Toyota’s Jari-Matti Latvala and M-Sport’s Elfyn Evans, who scored his maiden victory in Wales, have each won 26 stages.

Hyundai’s other drivers at Coffs Harbour will be last year’s victor for Volkswagen, Norwegian Andreas Mikkelsen, and New Zealander Hayden Paddon.

“Australia is probably my favourite rally of the season,”Mikkelsen said.

“And we have an advantageous starting position (ninth, by which time the gravel roads should have been nicely ‘cleaned’ by the cars ahead).”

Ominous though may be that Fords won the last three Rally Australia’s before the era of VW dominance.

And Finn Latvala has been second in the event three times in the past five years. Of course, he was in the VW ‘family” most of that time.

Latvala has been Toyota’s top gun in its return to the WRC this season for the first time this century.

The only other driver for the Japanese manufacturer this week will be his young countryman Esapekka Lappi, winner of the WRC2 class at Coffs Harbour last year in a Skoda Fabia R5 and outright victor at his home rally this season for Toyota – his maiden WRC success.

They will be joined by Tanak in the Tommi Makinen-run team next year.

Not to be forgotten leading into Coffs Harbour either is that the past two events this season have been won by British drivers – before Evans in Wales it was up-and-down Northern Irishman Kris Meeke in Spain’s Rally Catalunya in a Citroen.

Australian Peter Hackett and New Zealander Dominic Storey clinched the title with sixth place after a late scare in the weekend’s Highlands 501kme race at Tony Quinn’s Highlands circuit on NZ’s South Island.

Storey had to pit six laps from the finish because of a loose camber bolt that was creating steering difficulties in the Eggleston Motorsport Mercedes-AMG GT3.

Hackett, a GT racer for a decade, said that adding a GT title to those he won in Australian Formula 3 and the defunct Formula 4000 (also known as Formula Holden) was “pretty special – it’s got a nice ring to it”.

Max Twigg and Tony D’Alberto won the final round in another Mercedes-AMG GT3, ahead of Andrew Waite and Tony Quinn in a McLaren 650S GT3 and Adrian Deitz and Cameron McConville in a Lamborghini Huracan.

Shane Van Gisbergen’s co-driver in another McLaren, Mike Whiddett, led early but was soon out after contact with a backmarker, while previous championship leaders Tim Miles and Jaxon Evans (Audi R8 LMS) also were non-finishers and wound up 62 points behind Hackett and Storey.

It’s Close – but the margin six minutes
Matt Close and Cameron Reeves in a 2017 Porsche GT3 RS have won Victoria’s three-day Targa High Country for the second time – this time by more than six minutes.

Runners-up were Peter Nunn and Keith Johnstone in a Porsche GTS after the 2015 Nissan GTR in which Angus Kennard and Ian Wheeler had been second spun and got stuck on the final stage to Mt Buller.

Ben Calder and Steve Glenney claimed the final podium position in a Mitsubishi Lancer after Craig Dean got a flat tyre on his Ford Mustang on the last day.

Orders wins final RX battle, Dowel the ‘war’
Justin Dowel has added the new Australian Rallycross Championship’s all-wheel-drive to his 2011 Australian Rally Championship.
However, another former ARC driver, Will Orders, won the final round to finish runner-up in the six-round series ahead of Dowel’s 16-year-old son, Troy.

Orders, in a Mitsubishi Lancer, won two heats – one of them by just 0.0063 seconds from Justin Dowel in a Hyundai i30 – as well as the final and Super Final at Carnell Raceway at Stanthorpe, Queensland, at the weekend.

The younger Dowel, who drove a VW Polo in the AWD class, won the weekend’s two-wheel-drive round in a Mazda2 although Mike Conway, driving a Ford Escort Mk 2, had already clinched the title in that class.

Swedes dominated the final round of the World Rallycross Championship as it visited South Africa for the first time.

Johan Kristoffersson notched his seventh victory – and 11th podium – in the 12-round season, but his PSRX Volkswagen Team Sweden boss, Norwegian Petter Solberg, champion the first two seasons, had to settle for third this year behind Audi ace and 2016 champion Mattias Ekstrom.

Another Swede, Timmy Hansen in a Peugeot 208, was runner-up in the event at Cape Town’s Killarney Raceway, ahead of Ekstrom and Solberg.

American Ken Block led on the first night and then finished second in a semi-final, but his Ford was later disqualified in his World RX finale for being underweight.

Rally legend Sebastien Loeb retired on the final lap of a semi-final but finished fourth for the season, ahead of teammate and boss Hansen.