Carlos Sainz captures pole for USGP in Austin; Leclerc second but facing grid penalty

Associated PressOct 22, 2022, 8:00 PM EDT
Carlos Sainz pole Austin
Dan Istitene - Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images
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AUSTIN, Texas — Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz will start on pole position for the United States Grand Prix after season champion Max Verstappen finished third in Saturday’s qualifying session that began shortly after his Red Bull team learned that founder and owner Dietrich Mateschitz had died.

Verstappen will still start on the front row. Charles Leclerc, Sainz’s Ferrari teammate, qualified second but must take a 10-place grid penalty for using new engine parts. Every winner in the previous nine races at the Circuit of the Americas has started from the front row.

Verstappen is chasing a single-season record-tying 13th victory. He clinched his second consecutive season championship at the previous race in Japan.

Verstappen and his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez had to drive less than an hour after the team was gathered together to be told Mateschitz had died at age 78.

“What he has done for me, my career so far, my life,” said Verstappen, who joined F1 as a 17-year-old with Red Bull’s junior team, then named Toro Rosso. “It’s a very tough day … We tried to give it everything but unfortunately we missed out. But there’s a race tomorrow and we’ll try and make (him) proud.”

Since its founding, Red Bull has won six driver championships and four constructors titles. The team is close to clinching a fifth team championship and could wrap it up on Sunday.

A Verstappen win would tie the season record held by Michael Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel. In nine years of racing at the Circuit of the Americas, every winner has started from the front row.

Matesich bought the Jaguar team in 2004 and rebranded it as Red Bull in 2005. He added a second team to the Red Bull stable when he bought the Minardi program renamed it Toro Rosso in 2006 to be a program for training younger drivers. That team is now Alpha Tauri.

Red Bull’s greatest success came with Sebastian Vettel’s four consecutive driver’s championships from 2010-2013.

IndyCar disappointed by delay of video game but aiming to launch at start of 2024

By Mar 27, 2023, 3:00 PM EDT
IndyCar video game 2024
IndyCar
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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.”