Oscar Piastri wins Belgian Grand Prix, extends F1 championship lead
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Arab News
2 minutes ago
- Arab News
Cassidy signs off in style with double win in London as Porsche clinches teams' and manufacturers' titles
LONDON: Nick Cassidy capped off his final weekend with Jaguar TCS Racing in spectacular fashion, claiming victory in Round 16 at the London E-Prix. For the latest updates, follow us @ArabNewsSport The win marked his third in a row and Jaguar's fifth in six races, wrapping up an emotional send-off for both the New Zealander and team principal James Barclay. Cassidy's lights-to-flag triumph at a sold-out ExCeL London also secured him second place in the FIA Drivers' World Championship. Having scored just a single point in the opening six rounds of the season, his late surge underlined a remarkable turnaround. 'Honestly I love racing in this place,' said Cassidy. 'It's not been that kind to me in the last few years, but this weekend it's absolutely delivered. When this stadium is packed full of people it's a pleasure to race here and it's great for Formula E. Also, it's my last race for the team, again I've had the best car today, and this one is 100 percent for them. 'When the tyres are working well, when the car's perfect, everything becomes efficient. For sure it wasn't easy at the start to keep the lead, but I think between Mitch (Evans) and myself we could manage that well. I'm gutted for him, to have had a one-two would have been perfect,' he added. Cassidy finished 13.5 seconds clear of Mahindra Racing's Nyck de Vries, the second-largest winning margin in Formula E history. Only Antonio Félix da Costa has previously won three consecutive races. 'It was certainly a very challenging race,' said de Vries. 'Obviously Nick didn't want to get too down on energy versus everyone behind, so he was making sure he stayed on the same energy as us and that resulted in a little bit of a concertina effect behind us. 'I'm very pleased to bring home another podium and give P4 to our team, because they've done an incredible job. To consider that last year we qualified last on merit, and we've come back from such a long way – finishing fourth in the championship here this year is a great effort, so I'm very proud of everyone at Mahindra,' he added. Envision Racing's Sebastien Buemi completed the podium, charging through the field from 19th on the grid to third place, his second podium in three races after also finishing in the top three in Jakarta. 'In the end it was important to not get caught up in those incidents, I think I was lucky enough to make sure I was avoiding them well,' said Buemi. 'I saved quite a bit of energy at the beginning and that basically allowed me to take the ATTACK MODE properly. So in the end I'm very happy with that, it's good for the Teams' Championship, and it's good when you have a bad qualifying like that to finish and score some good points.' Jake Dennis of the Andretti Formula E Team crossed the line in fourth, while Jaguar's Mitch Evans was classified fifth after receiving a five-second penalty for speeding under Full Course Yellow conditions — a punishment that dropped him from the second place he had claimed on track. Newly-crowned drivers' world champion Oliver Rowland failed to finish after a collision with Nico Mueller on Lap 16 forced both out of the race. Despite the DNF, Rowland received a hero's reception from the London crowd, having sealed his championship title earlier in Berlin. With Rowland's early exit, Nissan's slim hopes of overtaking Porsche in the Teams' and Manufacturers' standings came to an end. Porsche, who had quietly gathered momentum throughout the season, clinched both the FIA Teams' World Championship and the inaugural FIA Manufacturers' title — their first in Formula E. Jaguar TCS Racing also overtook Nissan to secure second place in both championship standings, closing out a high point in their final race under Barclay's leadership after 127 starts in the all-electric series. Elsewhere, it was a disappointing end to the campaign for NEOM McLaren. Both drivers — Taylor Barnard and Sam Bird — failed to finish the final race after separate incidents. The team concluded the season sixth in the Teams' standings, with Barnard finishing fourth overall on 112 points and Bird eighteenth with 31 points.
Al Arabiya
2 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Delayed Start At Belgian Grand Prix Highlights Formula 1's Challenge With Racing In The Rain
Of all the thousands of pieces of equipment that Formula 1 hauls around the world, few are used less often than the full wet tire. They stayed piled up in stacks, not on the cars, on Sunday as drivers sat out a rain delay of more than an hour to the start of the Belgian Grand Prix. It wasn't because F1 cars lack grip in heavy rain. Manufacturer Pirelli says the full wet tires can cope with that. The problem is that drivers behind can't see through the spray, and the first attempt to start Sunday's race on time illustrated the problem. Even crawling around at formation lap pace with only Lando Norris and the safety car ahead, eventual winner Oscar Piastri said he couldn't see a thing, adding, 'You can only imagine what it's like for the guys at the back.' When the race started, it was behind the safety car at low speed before the all-clear to go racing. Like all of the drivers, Piastri was using the intermediate tires, which are recommended for light rain or a drying track, when he eventually passed Norris for the win. 'The past few years, particularly here, we've given the (governing body) FIA feedback that we would much rather be on the safe side than risk anything,' Piastri said. 'If you were to be picky, maybe we could have done one less formation lap (behind the safety car), but in the grand scheme of things, if that's one lap too early, is it worth it? No.' Visibility is a particular concern at Spa, a fast track with a history of serious accidents. They include Anthoine Hubert's death in a Formula 2 crash in dry conditions in 2019, and another fatal accident claiming the life of Dutch teenage driver Dilano van t Hoff in a junior series in the rain in 2023. 'I have to say that on a track like this with what happened historically, I think you cannot forget about it. For that reason, I would rather be safe than (start) too early,' said Charles Leclerc, who finished third Sunday and who was friends with Hubert since childhood. Under the current F1 design regulations in place since 2022, cars have ground-effect aerodynamics which use the floor to generate grip but can also throw up more spray. If there's enough rain for the full wet tires to be faster than the intermediates, it's likely the race will be stopped because of poor visibility anyway. There was a reminder of the importance of visibility this month at the British Grand Prix when Isack Hadjar collided with Kimi Antonelli's car from behind while driving in the Italian's trail of spray. 'I didn't see him,' Hadjar said. 'He just appeared out of nowhere, man. Oh my God.'
Al Arabiya
4 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Euro 2025: Spain leads England 1-0 at halftime in the final on Mariona Caldentey's header
Spain leads England 1-0 at halftime in the Women's European Championship final on Sunday after scoring a very English-style goal. Mariona Caldentey's header in the 25th minute was fair reward for Spain's precise passing patterns around the tightly packed England penalty area. It was the fourth time in England's six games at this tournament that the defending champion trailed to the first goal before halftime. The English flavor to the opening goal was in a full back's cross from the byline finding the head of an Arsenal player to score as Ona Battle sent an accurate cross from the byline to Caldentey. Caldentey had gone close with a shot just minutes before scoring and tournament top scorer Esther González also had three scoring chances. Still England had a clear chance to lead in the 19th. Spain goalkeeper Cata Coll saved well from Lauren Hemp's low shot after her own reckless pass in the penalty area gifted the ball to the England winger. There was royalty from both nations in the VIP box watching the game. Prince William who is the first in line to the British throne was with his daughter Princess Charlotte. He is president of the English Football Association. Also present were Princess Leonor of Spain and her younger sister Infanta Sofía.
