Motorsport Roundup: Bottas Dominates F1 Russian GP, Quartararo Bounces Back At MotoGP Catalunya, Strong Showing For Daruvala At F2 Russia And More

Formula One  

Valtteri Bottas took top honors for Mercedes at the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi followed by Red Bull-Honda’s Max Verstappen in 2nd place. In some ways it was an inherited win as Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was handed two five second penalties for practice start infringements even before the race began. It dropped him too far back to challenge for a victory. Bottas took full advantage of Hamilton’s mistakes, to score a dominant win and close the gap to his teammate in the driver’s championship 

Off-track, former Ferrari team principal and Lamborghini CEO Stefano Domenically will take over as President and CEO of Formula 1 effective January 2021. He replaces Chase Carey, the current Chairman and CEO, who will be moving to the role of non-executive Chairman.

MotoGP

Fabio Quatarao bounced back from a difficult run of races to win the Catalan Grand Prix for Petronas Yamaha SRT. Closely following him were the two Suzuki riders Joan Mir and Alex Rins in 2nd and 3rd. With Andrea Dovizioso wiped out on lap 1 itself, Quartararo has retaken the lead in the riders standings by 8 points from Mir. While Valentino Rossi had his podium hopes dashed with a DNF, his 2021 future was secured as Petronas Yamaha SRT squad confirmed that Rossi would fill the vacant seat left by Fabio Quartararo for the 2021 season. He’ll be partnering with his VR46 graduate Franco Morbidelli.

F2

Carlin’s Jehan Daruvala almost had his best race weekend of his 2020 FIA Formula 2 Championship season at round 10, in Sochi, Russia. Qualifying 2nd and just six thousandths of a second off pole position, the Indian driver crossed the line in 5th place in the feature race. Daruvala was set to repeat that feat in the suspended sprint race as well, but a five second time penalty dropped him to 11th in the end.  Overall, it was more progress made for Jehan Daruvala.  

WEC 

As was the case with F1, there were some major management changes announced for the next season as Gérard Neveu will step down as CEO of LMEM (Le Mans Endurance Management) after a nine year journey that ends after the 2020 season. Neveu’s successor is yet to be announced.