ZigWheels Motorsport News Of The Week July 06 To July 12

Formula 1

Formula One returned to the Red Bull Ring for the Styrian Grand Prix which turned out to be a calmer affair compared to the season opener a week earlier. A wet qualifying saw Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton take pole with Red Bull's Max Verstappen second and McLaren's Carlos Sainz lining up third ahead of championship leader Valtteri Bottas.

The race saw the two Daniel Ricciardo.

Bottas continues to hold on to his lead at the drivers standings over Lewis Hamilton with Lando Norris' consistent performance keeping him 3rd in the standings. It already looks like Mercedes is set for the constructors' championship with its latest 1-2 finish with McLaren 2nd and Red Bull catching up in 3rd place.

Formula 2

While the results don't necessarily tell the whole story, round 2 of the FIA Formula 2 Championship was a cleaner weekend for Carlin's Jehan Daruvala. Starting. In a close battle for 6th, he wound up 9th, and just one place away from a points paying position in 8th.

MotoGP

With the 2020 MotoGP season just around the corner, plenty of action has kicked off in the rider market for 2021. Honda has officially announced Pol Espargaro will join Marc Marquez till the end of the 2022 season with Alex Marquez heading towards the LCR Honda squad with factory backing. Alex Marquez will be taking the seat of Cal Crutchlow who's MotoGP future is uncertain. Another piece of the puzzle solved in the rider market is at the Petronas Yamaha SRT squad has extended Franco Morbidelli's contract till the end of the 2022 season. And it looks like the second Yamaha SRT seat is all but confirmed to go to Valentino Rossi who will essentially be swapping rides with Fabio Quartararo for 2021.

Aside from this there was some bad news for the current season as the US GP slated for November has been cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

WRC

Preparations for reigning WRC champion Ott Tandauml;nak and on the weekend of September 4-6 at Rally Estonia.