It was confirmed yesterday (29/8/18), that former Force India driver Esteban Ocon will race with Renault Sport F1 Team for 2020 season on a two year deal, returning to the sport after a year on the sidelines, alongside Daniel Ricciardo, completing the manufacturer's driver line-up for 2020.
Ocon started his Grand Prix with Lotus (Renault) in a first free practice session at 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on 21 November 2014. 2015, Ocon was signed by Mercedes in its junior programme. At the start of 2016, Ocon was a reserve driver for the Renault Sport F1 team doing multiple first free practice sessions for the team.
Ocon made his Grand Prix debut in F1 in the middle of the 2016 F1 season with the former Manor team, after some impressive drives with the team, Ocon moved to Force India in 2017, resulted multiple top six finishes from the 2017 and 2018 seasons.
Ocon lost his drive at Force India for 2019, after Billionaire Lawrence Stroll rescued the team from administration last year change the team name to racing Point and replaced him with Lance Stroll meaning returning to Mercedes as a test driver for 2019.
The move brings to an end to Nico Hülkenberg's time at Renault as Ocon replaces Hülkenberg in Renault's line-up for next season.
In my opinion, this was no big surprise this news happen, a French team in Renault signing a talented French driver in Ocon makes sense for Renault home market. Also, Ocon was almost signed with the team for this season until Daniel Ricciardo pipped him to the drive, which means he was still highly rated with the team.
So what's next for Hülkenberg? There is still four realistic drives left for the 2020 season, with one at Alfa Romeo, one at Racing Point, one at Hass and one at Red Bull (if they not confident with Gasly, Kvyat and Albon). Returning to Williams maybe an option, with George Russell more than likely to stay with the team next season meaning the second seat needs to be a strong pay driver and Hülkenberg is not that.
Hülkenberg best bet for a drive would be at Alfa Romeo, although Haas could be the best option. However, I do not see Hülkenberg being team-mates to Kevin Magnussen as there are bad tensions from a few seasons past. I can see Hülkenberg being team-mates to Kimi Räikkönen for 2020 at Alfa and staying there for 2021 too, also there is uncertainty on if Antonio Giovinazzi will be retain, it's too early for Mick Schumacher or Callum Ilott to be promoted to F1 from the Ferrari Driver Academy. Hülkenberg has previous experience with the team as Sauber, drove with them in 2013 and Hülkenberg has worked with Alfa Romeo team principal Frédéric Vasseur between 2007 till 2009 in the ART team winning Formula 3 and GP2 titles. Meaning Hülkenberg could be perfect option for the Alfa Romeo team on a short to mid-term for both parties.
Things are looking up for the Renault team in 2020.
It was confirmed yesterday (29/8/19) that Mercedes will retain Valtteri Bottas for the 2020 Formula 1 season alongside Current Formula 1 Champion Lewis Hamilton.
Bottas joined the team from Williams in 2017 as a late replacement for Nico Rosberg and claimed five victories in those three seasons so far.
He currently holds second place in the Drivers' standings, seventy-two points behind team-mate Lewis Hamilton with nine races to go.
Overall, a very good decision from Mercedes to keep Valtteri Bottas for another season. Although, they could have promoted Esteban Ocon instead, Ocon is off to Renault for next season meaning the Mercedes hierarchy are happy enough for Bottas to stay for another season at least.
After four weeks off, its the return of Formula one for the Belgian Grand Prix. Which means, predictions for this weekends Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, Spa.
So Predictions for the race, for the win, I predict Lewis Hamilton for the race win in the Mercedes. Valtteri Bottas second in the other Mercedes, and third place for Max Verstappen in the Red Bull. Don't forget Alexander Albon, the Ferrari drivers, the Renault drivers and the McLaren drivers as well for a podium place.
Review of Round Ten of the 2019 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at Virginia International Raceway on the outskirts of Danville, Virginia.
Porsche GT Team won the race overall and GT Le Mans Class too of Patrick Pilet and Nick Tandy in their Porsche 911 RSR. While, While, the other Porsche GT Team finished second place in their Porsche 911 RSR to complete a Porsche one-two finish, with the drivers of Earl Bamber and Laurens Vanthoor; they were seven tenths of a second behind the leaders. Meanwhile, Corvette Racing team finished in third place in their Chevrolet Corvette C7.R., with the drivers of Antonio García and Jan Magnussen; they were three seconds behind the leaders.
In GT Daytona Class, Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Motorsport team won GT Daytona Class and finished in ninth place overall in their Mercedes-AMG GT3; with the drivers of Jeroen Bleekemolen and Ben Keating; they were two laps behind the leaders.
While both Prototype Class and LMP2 Class did not participate for this race.
Next Stop WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in three weeks time for Round Eleven of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.
Review of Round Seven of the 2019 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters season was held at EuroSpeedway Lausitz, Brandenburg in East Germany.
On Saturday's race, Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline driver Nico Müller took the race win in his Audi RS5 Turbo DTM. Second was Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline driver Robin Frijns in his Audi RS5 Turbo DTM, he was two and half seconds behind Müller in the end. While, third place was Audi Sport Team Phoenix driver Mike Rockenfeller in his Audi RS5 Turbo DTM to complete an Audi podium whitewash, he was three seconds behind Müller in the end.
On Sunday's race, Audi Sport Team Rosberg driver René Rast took the race win in his Audi RS5 Turbo DTM. Second was Audi Sport Team Abt Sportsline driver Nico Müller in his Audi RS5 Turbo DTM, he was five seconds behind Rast in the end. While, third place was Audi Sport Team Phoenix driver Mike Rockenfeller in his Audi RS5 Turbo DTM to complete another Audi podium whitewash, he was nine seconds behind Rast in the end.
Next stop Nürburgring, Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany for Round Eight of the 2019 Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters in three weeks time.
Recap of the last round of WRC from last weekends Round Ten of Rallye Deutschland.
Last weekend was the tenth round of the World Rally Championship at Rallye Deutschland (22nd - 25th August) was won by Ott Tänak in the works Toyota Yaris WRC.
While, Kris Meeke finished second in his works Toyota Yaris WRC, Meeke was twenty-one seconds behind Tänak at the end. Meanwhile, Jari-Matti Latvala finished third in his works Toyota Yaris WRC to compete a Toyota podium whitewash, Latvala was thirty-six seconds behind Tänak at the end of the rally.
Meanwhile in WRC-2 Pro class (Manufacturer entries competing in cars built to Group R5 specifications), that was won by Škoda Motorsport driver Jan Kopecký in his Škoda Fabia R5 Evo. Jan Kopecký finished in eleventh place overall, he was twelve minutes behind Tänak at the end of the rally.
While in WRC-2 class (Open to privately-entered cars; Group R5, R4, Super 2000 and Group N4 spec cars), that was won by Fabian Kreim in his own backed Škoda Fabia R5. Fabian Kreim finished in twelfth place overall, he was thirteen minutes behind Tänak at the end of the rally.
Highlights of the rally below, enjoy.
Next stop, Round Eleven of the 2019 WRC season for Rally of Turkey in four weeks time.
Review of the round twelve of the 2019 MotoGP season at Silverstone, on the outskirts of Northampton, UK.
In the MotoGP race (V-twin, V4, or Inline-four 1000cc four stroke class), that was won by Team Suzuki Ecstar rider Álex Rins on his works Suzuki GSX-RR.
Second was Repsol Honda Team rider and current MotoGP champion Marc Márquez on his works Honda RC213V, he was one hundredth of a second! behind Rins at the end. While, third was Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP rider Maverick Viñales on his works Yamaha YZR-M1, he was six tenths of a second behind Rins at the end.
In the Moto2 race (Inline-three 765cc four-stroke class), that race was won by Flexbox HP40 rider Augusto Fernández on the Kalex. Second was +Ego Speed Up rider Jorge Navarro on the Speed Up, he was five tenths of a second behind Fernández at the end. While, third was Red Bull KTM Ajo rider Brad Binder on the KTM, he was six tenths of a second behind Fernández at the end.
While in the Moto3 race (single-cylinder 250 cc four-stroke class), that race was won by Leopard Racing rider Marcos Ramírez on the Honda. Second was VNE Snipers rider Tony Arbolino on the Honda, he was two tenths of a second behind Ramírez at the end. While, third was Leopard Racing rider Lorenzo Dalla Porta on the Honda to complete a Honda podium whitewash, he was four tenths of a second behind Ramírez at the end.
Finally, it was also confirmed last week (14/8/19), Jack Miller has signed a new one-year deal with that will see him continue to compete with the Pramac Racing team in MotoGP for 2020 season alongside Francesco Bagnaia.
Miller currently sits third place in the championship, with a best finish of two third place finishes.
