Lewis Hamilton set for pit lane start in Hungary - MotorSportsTalk

Lewis Hamilton will start today’s Hungarian Grand Prix from the pit lane after a fire during qualifying caused severe damage to his W05 Hybrid car.

The Briton’s car suffered a fuel leak which caused his engine to catch fire during the first few minutes of Q1 on Saturday. He was forced to pull over at pit entry, and although he escaped unharmed, the same cannot be said for the Mercedes car.

The team has replaced the engine, gearbox and chassis on Hamilton’s car, meaning that he will have to start today’s race from the pit lane.

As he failed to post a time during the session, he fell foul out on the 107% rule that prevents drivers for starting the race if they are too slow. However, the stewards unsurprisingly confirmed that he will be allowed to race.

“The stewards grant permission for car 44 Lewis Hamilton to start the race, as the driver has set satisfactory times in practice at this event,” a statement read. Pastor Maldonado has also been given permission to race in Hungary.

Kevin Magnussen will also start the race from the pit lane after his crash in Q3, but he will start ahead of Hamilton.

Lewis was left in a state of disbelief yesterday after he suffered yet a car problem in qualifying for the second weekend in a row. In Germany, a brake failure caused him to crash during Q1, but he rallied from P20 to third in the race. This time around, he thinks it might be a bit of a tougher task.

“It will be a very difficult afternoon as it’s one of the hardest circuits to overtake on,” Hamilton said. “But these things are sent to try us and how I come out of it is going to be the most important thing.”

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

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An IndyCar executive said there is “absolutely” disappointment that its long-awaited video game recently was delayed beyond its target date, but the series remains optimistic about the new title.

“Well, I don’t know how quick it will be, but the whole situation is important to us,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said during a news conference Monday morning to announce IndyCar’s NTT title sponsorship. “Motorsport Games has spent a lot of money, a lot of effort to create an IndyCar title. What we’ve seen of that effort, which is not completely obvious, is very reassuring.

“I think it’s going to be outstanding. That’s our shared objective, that when it is released, it’s just widely accepted. A great credit both to IndyCar racing, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, something that our fans love.”

In June 2021, IndyCar announced a new partnership with Motorsport Games to create and distribute an IndyCar video game for the PC and Xbox and PlayStation consoles in 2023.

But during an earnings call last week, Motorsport Games said the IndyCar game had been delayed to 2024 to ensure high quality.

Somewhat compounding the delay is that IndyCar’s license for iRacing expired after the end of the 2022 season because of its exclusive agreement with Motorsport Games.

That’s resulted in significant changes for IndyCar on iRacing, which had provided a high-profile way for the series to stay visible during its 2020 shutdown from the pandemic. (Players still can race an unbranded car but don’t race on current IndyCar tracks, nor can they stream).

That’s helped ratchet up the attention on having a video game outlet for IndyCar.

“I wish we had an IndyCar title 10 years ago,” said Miles, who has been working with the organization since 2013. “We’ve been close, but we’ve had these I think speed bumps.”

IndyCar is hopeful the Motorsports Game edition will be ready at the start of 2024. Miles hinted that beta versions could be unveiled to reporters ahead of the time “to begin to show the progress in a narrow way to make sure we’ve got it right, to test the progress so that we’re ready when they’re ready.”

It’s been nearly 18 years since the release of the most recent IndyCar video game for console or PC.

“(We) better get it right,” Miles said. “It’s something we’re very close to and continue to think about what it is to make sure we get it over the line in due course.”