MOTORSPORT: Decisive weekend for top titles

In all probability the two major world championships in four-wheel motor racing will be decided this weekend.

Lewis Hamilton needs only finish in the top five at the Mexican Grand Prix to become a four-time Formula 1 world champion, irrespective of where Sebastian Vettel finishes.

The margin between them is already 66 points, with a maximum 75 left to be scored. Mercedes has already won its fourth straight constructors’ title.

Australian Daniel Ricciardo said at last weekend’s United States GP that, after his Red Bull contract expires as the end of next year, he’d like to go up against Hamilton as his teammate in his prime and the message from the Brit this week has been ‘bring it on’.

Carsales.com.au global ambassador Ricciardo’s teammate Max Verstappen now admits the language he used after being denied a podium at the Circuit of the Americas in Texas last weekend was wrong.

Verstappen denies though that his barbs about an “idiot” and “mongol” steward were directed at Australian official Garry Connelly and he’s not apologising directly. Connolly, who has been vigorously defended by F1 race director Charlie Whiting, won’t be on duty in Mexico.

There’s talk in F1 ahead of a future rules meeting on October 31 about making the hybrid cars four-wheel-drive, through the use of a front-axle kinetic energy recovery system (KERS), of three-car-wide grids and of abolishing Friday practice sessions.

Meanwhile, Sebastien Ogier could clinch a fifth World Rally Championship in Wales, where he has won in the muddy forests the past four years.

And the M-Sport team will seal Ford’s first manufacturer crown in the WRC since 2007 with any of its three nominated drivers in Fiestas – Frenchman Ogier, Estonian Ott Tanak or Welshman Elfyn Evans – simply finishing the event, the penultimate round.

Ogier leads Tanak by 37 points and Hyundai’s Belgian Thierry Neuville by 38. Tanak, who is headed to Toyota’s Tommi Makinen-run factory team next year, needs to score at least seven points more than Ogier in Wales to extend the title fight to the season finale, Rally Australia at Coffs Harbour on November 16-19.

Neuville needs to outscore Ogier by eight points this weekend to keep his mathematical chance of becoming champion alive, but he’s already conceded the ‘war’ has been lost, even though he has vowed to keep battling until the end.
Ogier’s four titles in the past four years came with Volkswagen before its sudden withdrawal.

A fifth now will promote him to second in the all-time rankings, behind countryman Sebatien Loeb, who won nine titles in a row between 2004 and 2012.

M-Sport chief Malcolm Wilson says “it’s hard to find the words to describe just what a momentous achievement” his privateer outfit is on the cusp of securing against the teams of manufacturers Hyundai, Toyota and Citroen.

“But it’s not done yet and we cannot forget just what a challenging event Wales Rally Great Britain can be,” Wilson said.

“The changeable weather, unpredictable grip and long days make it one of the most demanding events of the year.”

Hamilton happy to have Ricciardo as his teammate
Only incapacitated Michael Schumacher and the late Juan-Manuel Fangio will have won more titles – seven and five respectively – than Lewis Hamilton after he clinches his fourth F1 drivers’ championship, whether it be in Mexico or the Brazilian or Abu Dhabi GPs that follow.

Hamilton’s Ferrari rival Sebastian Vettel and retired Frenchman Alain Prost are four-time world champions.

Hamilton doesn’t “truly necessarily believe that people want to be up alongside me” (as teammate), but he says Daniel Ricciardo is welcome to give it a try.

“Daniel is a fantastic driver. It would be a privilege to race against him,” Hamilton has told Britain’s Autosport publication.

“He’s a great character. He always brings a lot of positivity within his team.

“I think it’s interesting [that Ricciardo would want to be teammates]. I think it’s cool. I take the compliment that people say they [want to race against me].

"I don't truly necessarily believe that people want to be up alongside me, because that is not always necessarily the best thing for an individual.

“But, in some cases, it could be a really good thing because it can help you grow.

“You look at Daniel, he's got a great driver in his teammate (Max Verstappen), and, to be honest, he has got to really work to outperform him first.

“You've always got to beat the person you’re with first before you can look at competing against someone else and beating them – that’s just my personal opinion.”

Valterri Bottas, the Finn who joined Mercedes this season after 2016 world champion Nico Rosberg’s shock retirement, has won two GPs and is contracted by Mercedes for another year.

Hamilton has won nine GPs this season, including five of the past six, for a career tally of 62 – second only to Schumacher’s 91.

Ricciardo has won five GPs with the Red Bull-Renault team – three in 2014, one last year and another this season – and is fourth in this year’s championship, 69 points ahead of sixth-placed Verstappen.

While 20-year-old Verstappen’s Red Bull contract has been extended until the end of 2020, and the energy drink company’s team would like to keep 28-year-old Ricciardo, the Australian is eyeing a move to Mercedes or Ferrari in 2019 to improve his chances of becoming a world champion.

However, Vettel – who didn’t win a race in the one season (2014) he had Ricciardo as his teammate at Red Bull – is expected to resist any Ferrari move to sign the Aussie as successor to Kimi Raikkonen.

Hamilton doesn’t have any such qualms, at least publicly.
He says he doesn’t mind who is in the other car at his team.

“I already feel like I’ve raced against the best, which in my personal opinion is Fernando (Alonso),” Hamilton said.

That was at McLaren in 2008, the year of Hamilton first world title – in just his second season in F1.

“There is a lot of great drivers here [in F1] who I would be happy to race against [as teammates],” he said.

“I don’t mind who I race against, anyone in the world, as long as somehow you’re able to maintain positivity in the team – and hopefully you’re still fighting another team as well.
“Harmony is incredibly important.”

Alonso to go round the clock at Daytona
McLaren driver Fernando Alonso skipped this year’s Monaco GP to race in America’s Indianapolis 500 and now he’s going to compete in the major US sports car endurance race, the 24 Hours of Daytona, next January – before the new F1 season or even testing begins.

Spanish two-time F1 world champion Alonso will drive a Nissan-powered Ligier LMP2 car entered by the United Autosports team co-founded by McLaren’s commercial chief, American Zak Brown.

One of Alonso’s co-drivers will be British teenager and McLaren junior Lando Norris, this year’s European Formula 3 champion and winner of last year’s Toyota Racing Series in New Zealand.

Apart from the 24-hour race in Florida on January 27-28, perhaps a precursor to Alonso driving in the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France, the United Autosports entry will compete in the ‘Roar before the 24’ test at Daytona on January 5-7.

America’s RACER publication has reported that it understands McLaren would not stand in Alonso’s way if Toyota (perhaps the only manufacturer participating in the World Endurance Championship’s hybrid prototype category next year) approaches Alonso to drive for it at Le Mans in 2018.

Hartley’s sweet at Toro Rosso
New Zealander Brendon Hartley, who made his F1 debut in Texas last weekend, has been retained by Red Bull junior team Toro Rosso for the rest of the season.

French youngster Pierre Gasley returns to the team in Mexico after missing the US GP because of a commitment in Japan, while Russian Daniil Kyvat – 10th in Texas, three places ahead of Hartley – has been stood down, with his F1 career probably now over.

Hartley, 27, and with a reputation from his sports car racing with Porsche for being good at saving fuel and tyres, is in line to keep the Toro Rosso drive next year.

He won Le Mans this year and is poised to claim a second World Endurance Championship next weekend.

Thin GT field for Oz championship round in NZ
The third round of the Australian Endurance Championship has a field of only 15 GT cars for this weekend’s 500km race at New Zealand’s Hampton Downs circuit.

The meeting also is to see the debut of Tony Quinn’s ‘Fast & Furious Racing’ concept for the GTs, intended to be motor racing’s equivalent of Twenty20 cricket.

The move by the Supercars organisation to take over the Quinn-owned GT category was blocked recently by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport.

CAMS chief executive Eugene Arocca said a request by Supercars to extend the category management agreement for GTs for three years beyond the existing expiry date in 2020 was deemed “commercially inferior to the current agreement”.

While the Australian GT endurance series is at Hampton Downs and concludes in a fortnight at another NZ venue, Highlands Motorsport Park (both Quinn-owned circuits), Supercars star Chaz Mostert is racing a BMW M6 GT3 at China’s Zhuhai track this weekend in the first round of the Asian Le Mans Series.