Roger Diez
The decline and fall of the Red Bull Formula 1 team continued last Sunday at Monza. McLaren locked out the front row in qualifying with Lando Norris on pole, but Max Verstappen could only manage seventh.
Oscar Piastri jumped teammate Norris at the start, but when the checkered flag flew it was Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc with the win, much to the delight of the Italian fans. The McLarens took the other two podium positions and pulled to within eight points of Red Bull in the Constructors’ championship, 446-438. Ferrari is another 31 points back at 408.
And in the Drivers’ title chase, Verstappen’s lead over Norris has shrunk to 62, 303-241 with Leclerc third at 217. There was also a new driver on the grid, as American Logan Sergeant has been abruptly dismissed at William, replaced by Franco Colapinto for the remainder of the season.
With 16 races in the books and eight to go, it’s the most competitive F1 season since 2021, and we could well see a different champion in both driver and constructor categories. Next up is the Qatar Airways Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Sept. 15.
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At one point on Sunday the NTT IndyCar points gap between Alex Palou and Will Power was down to three as a battery problem on Palou’s car at the start left him many laps down. Then Power spun and a stop for a front wing change left him mired in traffic, finishing 10th. Combined with his second place Saturday finish, he was left with a 33-point deficit heading for next weekend’s season finale at the Nashville Superspeedway.
Pato O’Ward won the Saturday race with Scott McLaughlin the Sunday winner, but just short of the points needed to catch Palou.
The season finale on Sept. 15 will be the first outing at the Nashville oval for the IndyCar series, as it has raced on the streets there for the last three seasons. Power is better on ovals than Palou, but that 33-point gap is going to be hard to overcome. It will be the series’ last race on the NBC family of networks as Fox will take over coverage for 2025.
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The NASCAR Cup regular season finale at Darlington scrambled the playoff field as new winner Ryan Briscoe locked into the field, leaving Chris Buescher and Bubba Wallace on the outside looking in.
Martin Truex Jr. had enough points to hang on to 16th place despite a third-lap crash that took him and Ryan Blaney out of the race. And the regular season championship was decided by a single point as Tyler Reddick overcame illness to finish 10th and take the title from Kyle Larson, who faded to fourth at the end after leading 263 of the 307 laps. Briscoe held off a charging Kyle Busch in the final laps, leaving Busch out of the playoffs for the first time in 13 seasons.
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This weekend is the first race of the Round of 16 in the playoffs, and Atlanta Motor Speedway is the venue. Daniel Suarez won the spring race there to lock himself into the playoffs. But if he wants to repeat, he’ll have to contend with seven other previous Atlanta winners in the field, six of them also in the playoff field. William Byron has two wins there, as does Brad Keselowski and non-playoff driver Busch. One-time winners are Joey Logano, Chase Elliott, Blaney, and Denny Hamlin. Larson leads the playoff field with 2,040 points due to his race and stage wins.
The USA network will broadcast Xfinity qualifying at 8 a.m., Cup qualifying at 9:30 a.m., and the Focused Health 250 at noon Saturday.
Sunday’s Quaker State 400 airs at noon, also on USA.