Bottas surprised with top three qualifying result

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Valtteri Bottas has admitted that he is surprised to have qualified third for tomorrow’s Hungarian Grand Prix given the nature of the Hungaroring circuit.

The Finnish driver is currently enjoying a three-race podium streak, but he did not appear to stand much chance of extending it when the Williams cars struggled to even finish inside the top ten during practice.

However, in qualifying, Bottas appeared to find another gear and eventually finished third in Q3 despite the tight Hungaroring circuit not suiting the FW36 car.

“I think maybe it’s a little bit of a surprise,” he accepted. “We knew that Red Bull are going to be really quick here and also Ferrari and obviously Mercedes like always.

“The nature of the track in theory is not the best for us, but we’ve been able to work well as a team to bring some updates which really worked well.

“Obviously we’re still missing some grip compared to some other cars but today was, I think, a really good day from us. Third and sixth, we have a good chance also here to get some really good points.”

Bottas will start one place behind Sebastian Vettel on the grid and one place ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, and he is expecting to enjoy a race-long fight with the Red Bulls in Hungary tomorrow.

“Tomorrow it’s going to be a really close fight with Red Bull and us,” Bottas said. “So we need to see how the pace is.

“If it’s enough, keeping them behind us, at least one of them, that would be good.”

Vettel joked about the speed of Bottas’ car, saying: “In a Williams, I guess it’s fantastic down the straights!” when asked about the difficulty of overtaking at the Hungaroring.

You can watch the Hungarian Grand Prix live on CNBC and Live Extra from 7:30am ET tomorrow.

Roger Penske discusses flying tire at Indy 500 with Dallara executives: ‘We’ve got to fix that’

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INDIANAPOLIS – Roger Penske spoke with Dallara executives Monday morning about the loose tire that went flying over the Indianapolis Motor Speedway catchfence and into a Turn 2 parking lot.

The left-rear wheel from Kyle Kirkwood’s No. 27 Dallara-Honda was sheared off in a collision at speed as Kirkwood tried to avoid the skidding No. 6 Dallara-Chevrolet of Felix Rosenqvist on Lap 183 of the 107th Indianapolis 500.

No one seriously was hurt in the incident (including Kirkwood, whose car went upside down and slid for several hundred feet), though an Indianapolis woman’s Chevy Cruze was struck by the tire. The Indy Star reported a fan was seen and released from the care center after sustaining minor injuries from flying debris in the crash.

During a photo shoot Monday morning with Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden at the IMS Yard of Bricks, Penske met with Dallara founder and owner Gian Paolo Dallara and Dallara USA CEO Stefano dePonti. The Italian company has been the exclusive supplier of the current DW12 chassis to the NTT IndyCar series for 11 years.

“The good news is we didn’t have real trouble with that tire going out (of the track),” Penske, who bought Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2020, told a few reporters shortly afterward. “I saw it hit. When it went out, I saw we were OK. I talked to the Dallara guys today. We’re going to look at that, but I guess the shear (force) from when (Rosenqvist’s) car was sitting, (Kirkwood’s car) went over and just that shear force tore that tether. Because we have tethers on there, and I’ve never seen a wheel come off.

“That to me was probably the scariest thing. We’ve got to fix that. We’ve got to fix that so that doesn’t happen again.”

Asked by NBC Sports if IndyCar would be able to address it before Sunday’s Detroit Grand Prix or before the next oval race at Iowa Speedway, Penske said, “The technical guys should look at it. I think the speed here, a couple of hundred (mph) when you hit it vs. 80 or 90 or whatever it might be, but that was a pinch point on the race.”

In a statement released Monday to WTHR and other media outlets, IndyCar said that it was “in possession of the tire in Sunday’s incident and found that the tether did not fail. This is an isolated incident, and the series is reviewing to make sure it does not happen again. IndyCar takes the safety of the drivers and fans very seriously. We are pleased and thankful that no one was hurt.”

IndyCar provided no further explanation for how the wheel was separated from the car without the tether failing.

IndyCar began mandating wheel suspension tethers using high-performance Zylon material after a flying tire killed three fans at Charlotte Motor Speedway during a May 1, 1999 race. Three fans also were struck and killed by a tire at Michigan International Speedway during a July 26, 1998 race.

The IndyCar tethers can withstand a force of more than 22,000 pounds, and the rear wheel tethers were strengthened before the 2023 season.