Kimi Antonelli’s rapid rise at Mercedes has turned the 20-year-old Italian into a genuine Formula 1 title contender, and Toto Wolff has kept backing the decision to promote him. Mercedes chose Antonelli over a more experienced option after Lewis Hamilton left for Ferrari in 2025, a move that drew criticism that he was too young for the seat. Antonelli is now in his second F1 season, leads George Russell by 81 points and has eight grand prix victories this year. Former Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer said Wolff deserved credit for taking the risk, and David Coulthard called Antonelli a phenomenon, rejecting the idea that his success is mostly luck.
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Weekend Sweep Lifts Thorson to Memorial Win
Tanner Thorson won the 16th annual Jesse Hockett-Daniel McMillin Memorial on Saturday night at Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, Missouri, earning $25,000 in what was described as the biggest victory of his sprint car career. Starting third in the 35-lap finale, Thorson took the lead on a lap-five restart and held off Tyler Courtney in the closing laps, winning by 0.618 seconds. Giovanni Scelzi finished third, Rico Abreu fourth and Brent Marks fifth.
Thorson’s victory capped a strong weekend at the memorial, as he also won Friday night’s 30-lap High Limit/POWRi 410 feature for $10,000. He led every lap in the JST Motorsports No. 88, with Justin Peck finishing second and Scott Bogucki third. That run locked Thorson into Saturday’s finale.
The event opened Thursday with Courtney charging from 12th to win the 30-lap feature and collect $10,000. He passed Peck on lap 26 and beat him by 0.781 seconds, with Giovanni Scelzi third, Ashton Torgerson fourth and Thorson fifth. Courtney earned the weeklong Hockett/McMillin Hard Charger Award for gaining 30 positions across the three nights, and the weekend carried added emotion for Thorson and JST Motorsports after the tribute race win, with tire specialist JT Nichols moved by his personal connection to Jesse Hockett.
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Jorge Martin takes Austrian MotoGP pole at Spielberg
Jorge Martin took pole position for the Austrian MotoGP at the Red Bull Ring, beating Marc Marquez by 0.015 seconds and Pedro Acosta by 0.071 seconds in qualifying. Martin’s 1:27.917 lap secured his third pole of the season and his fourth at Spielberg, and it put him at the head of the grid for both the Saturday Sprint and the main race.
Acosta joined Martin and Marquez on the front row after briefly going quickest early in Q2, while Marco Bezzecchi, Ai Ogura and Alex Marquez lined up on row two. Francesco Bagnaia advanced from Q1 and headed row three, with Fabio di Giannantonio and Fabio Quartararo also on that row. There were no grid penalties.
Martin and Marquez entered the weekend level on points, with Marquez officially leading on countback, and Martin said he had made a big step in qualifying after finishing fifth on Friday. Marquez, who crashed at Turn 1 in damp practice before returning for qualifying, said the front row should help in both the Sprint and the race. Martin also took back the championship lead from Marquez in Saturday’s sprint, and Acosta said he was pleased to secure his first front-row start since Balaton Park in KTM’s home Grand Prix.
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Antonelli stretches F1 lead after wins in Asia and Spain
Kimi Antonelli’s dominant Formula 1 title run drew strong praise from across the paddock, with Lando Norris calling the Mercedes driver’s season a “scarily good job” and David Coulthard describing him as a “phenomenon.” Norris said Antonelli had impressed him from the first race, was beating his more experienced teammate George Russell by a wide margin and had made very few mistakes this season, while Coulthard rejected suggestions that Antonelli’s success was mainly down to luck.
Antonelli became the youngest driver to lead the Formula 1 standings after back-to-back wins in China and Japan, then added his eighth grand prix victory at the Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid. Antonelli said that win was helped by a well-timed virtual safety car. The results left him 81 points clear of Russell, 101 ahead of Lewis Hamilton, and if he goes on to win the title this year he would break Sebastian Vettel’s record as the youngest Formula 1 world champion. Norris briefly cut the lead to 83 points by winning the two races around the summer break, but Antonelli won the next two rounds and pushed Norris 106 points behind.
Former Williams chief Rob Smedley said Peter Bonnington had been essential to Antonelli’s title charge, saying the engineer keeps him “on the straight and narrow” and gives him the information he needs. Smedley and former Alpine boss Otmar Szafnauer both said Antonelli remains the driver producing the results, with Szafnauer describing him as part of the feedback loop with his race engineer. Antonelli called working with Bonnington a privilege because of his experience. Coulthard said Mercedes had given Antonelli a strong car and praised his consistency and risk management, adding that he expects Antonelli to become the 2026 world champion unless he is very unlucky. Antonelli is in his second Formula 1 season, and the Azerbaijan Grand Prix is scheduled for Sept. 24-26.
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Martin wins sprint, regains MotoGP lead from Marquez
Jorge Martin seized the spotlight at the Austrian Grand Prix by beating Marc Marquez to pole at the Red Bull Ring by 0.015 seconds, setting up another tight fight between the championship’s top two riders. Martin’s pole lap of 1:27.917 gave him his third pole of the season and his fourth at Spielberg, while Marquez recovered from a difficult Friday to line up second and Pedro Acosta completed the front row in third. Martin and Marquez entered the weekend level on points, with Marquez officially leading the standings on countback after Misano.
Martin then converted pole into victory in the 14-lap sprint, finishing ahead of Marquez and Marco Bezzecchi. Acosta had taken the lead early after Martin and Marquez brushed at the first-lap chicane, but his race ended with a crash at Turn 2 while leading with three laps remaining, ending a likely KTM win. Martin’s sprint result moved him back ahead of Marquez in the championship standings.
Marquez had been fastest in Saturday practice in damp conditions before crashing at Turn 1, although Ducati said his bike was not badly damaged. He returned to take second in qualifying and said starting on the front row would help in both the sprint and the main race. Acosta said he was pleased to secure his first front-row start since Balaton Park in KTM’s home Grand Prix. Marco Bezzecchi qualified fourth, Ai Ogura fifth, Alex Marquez sixth after a late crash, and Francesco Bagnaia seventh after advancing from Q1.
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Uriarte grabs Moto3 pole with Red Bull Ring record
Brian Uriarte claimed pole position in Moto3 qualifying on Saturday at the Red Bull Ring, setting a new all-time lap record with a 1:39.544 on his final flying lap. He beat David Almansa by 0.064 seconds, with Alvaro Carpe third on 1:39.859 and Maximo Quiles fourth. Red Bull KTM Ajo put two riders on the front row through Uriarte and Carpe, and the top four riders in the championship filled the first four grid spots for Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix.
Almansa had set the pace in both Friday sessions. He led FP1 in dry conditions with a 1:40.595, ahead of Quiles, Adrian Fernandez, Carpe and Uriarte in a top five made up entirely of Spanish riders. He then topped Friday practice with a 1:39.668, again ahead of Quiles and Carpe, while Matteo Bertelle and Uriarte completed the top five. Less than a second covered the top 14 riders in practice, and Almansa’s session-leading time marked the 20th time he had topped a session this season.
Uriarte also went fastest in Saturday morning’s wet FP2, clocking a 1:47.740 on a track that never fully dried. Joel Esteban was second and Leo Rammerstorfer third, with Hakim Danish, Marcos Uriarte and Guido Pini among the other frontrunners. Several riders, including Almansa and Quiles, did not set a time in the wet session, which featured 26 riders and was listed as provisional.
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McFadden Wins Dennis Roth Classic Opener at Stockton
James McFadden won the opening race of the World of Outlaws Dennis Roth Classic on Friday night at Stockton Dirt Track in Stockton, California, giving Tarlton Motorsports its third overall series victory with a third different driver and ending a 12-year drought for the team in World of Outlaws victory lane. McFadden started from the third row in the 35-lap Feature and took the lead on lap 30 when Michael “Buddy” Kofoid got stuck behind a lapped car in Turns 3 and 4. The win was McFadden’s first World of Outlaws victory of 2026 and the 13th of his career.
The result came one week after McFadden won the Tuscarora 50 at Port Royal Speedway in a different car, giving him back-to-back wins in different cars on opposite coasts. Kofoid finished second after nearly winning his third straight race, with Carson Macedo third, David Gravel fourth and Bill Balog fifth.
The preliminary event for the Dennis Roth Classic was slowed by multiple cautions and red flags after flips and incidents involving Austin Wood, DJ Netto and Cole Macedo. Balog and rookie Jett Yantis started on the front row, and Yantis finished 23rd in his first career World of Outlaws start. The Dennis Roth Classic finale was scheduled for Saturday and paid $83,000 to win.
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Mercedes sets Malaysia upgrade to chase pole pace
Mercedes said its next major W17 upgrade will arrive for the Malaysian Grand Prix on Oct. 2-4, as it tries to end its run without pole positions and get back into qualifying contention. The team has not introduced a major update since Montreal in May, relying on smaller race-specific changes while Ferrari and McLaren have developed their cars more aggressively.
Trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said Mercedes expects only modest changes for Baku before the Malaysia package lands. He said the upgrade should bring a decent step and could put the car back in the fight for pole, though not by a wide margin. Mercedes is using Monza as its baseline for Baku, where it expects to be strong on the straights but still challenged by the slower, twistier sections.
Mercedes leads Ferrari by 145 points in the 2026 championship, and Andrea Kimi Antonelli has won the team’s last two races at Monza and Madrid. Even so, Mercedes has not taken pole since Spa in July, after opening the season with poles in the first 10 rounds. Since Miami, the team has added 26 FIA-declared aerodynamic items, the fewest among the top four, compared with Ferrari’s 39, McLaren’s 38 and Red Bull’s 35. McLaren’s development has helped Lando Norris win in Hungary and at Zandvoort, and contend in Spain.
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Mitchel Moles Ends Drought, Wins at Circle City
Mitchel Moles ended a three-month winless streak Friday night by winning the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship feature at Circle City Raceway in Indianapolis, leading all 30 laps from the pole and setting a track record in 6:43.614. He beat runner-up Jake Swanson by 3.909 seconds to win the Ashlea Albertson Memorial and collect the $8,222 top prize.
The victory was Moles’ seventh series win of the season and his 12th career USAC National Sprint Car triumph. It also marked his first win at Circle City Raceway after several previous near-misses at the track.
Kevin Thomas Jr. finished third, C.J. Leary was fourth and Kyle Cummins took fifth after starting 10th to earn hard-charger honors. Moles’ 12th career win moved him into a tie with Eric Gordon for 49th on the all-time USAC National Sprint Car victory list.
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