RaceFans Round-up: Alpine expect to “suffer” in Monaco

In brief

Alpine expect to “suffer” in Monaco – Famin

Despite being far from the slowest team in Friday practice, Alpine team principal Bruno Famin does not expect the characteristics of Monaco or the weather will play into the team’s hands

“We know that it’s going to be difficult here for our car, which is stiff, low, and we are going to suffer if the weather situation remains as it is – dry,” Famin said.

“We’re working, but it’s a good opportunity to work on the set-up, to improve it, and to work always harder to improve the car.”

Dixon quickest on Carb Day

[mpuu]Scott Dixon led the final ‘Carb Day’ practice session for the Indianapolis 500. The Ganassi driver, who will start tomorrow’s race from 21st on the grid, set a fastest time of 365.652kph (227.206mph), leading fellow seventh-row starter Helio Castroneves of Meyer Shank.

Pato O’Ward was third for McLaren followed by Andretti’s Colton Herta and Castroneves’ team mate Tom Blomqvist. Marcus Ericsson, the 2022 race winner who narrowly qualified for this year’s race in 32nd place, had an encouraging run to the sixth-quickest time.

NASCAR points leader Kyle Larson set the 13th quickest time after triggering a caution period when he ran out of fuel on-track with 15 minutes remaining. The McLaren driver will start Sunday’s race from fifth. Pole-winner Scott McLaughlin was 20th in his Penske.

Software glitch halts Formula E practice

Five Formula E cars stopped almost simultaneously within minutes of the first practice session at the Shanghai International Circuit beginning yesterday. Porsche pair Pascal Wehrlein and Antonio Felix da Costa, ERT duo Sergio Sette Camara and Dan Ticktum, and Mahindra’s Nyck de Vries all came to a stop, bringing out the red flags.

The session was suspended while the fault was traced to a software update which had been applied to all cars since the previous round in Berlin. Once practice was resumed, Mitch Evans lapped quickest for Jaguar and all 22 drivers set times.

Bearman, Correa and Maini penalised

Three drivers received three-place grid penalties for today’s F2 sprint race – Oliver Bearman, Juan Manuel Correa and Kush Maini – all for impeding rivals in yesterday’s qualifying session.

As a result, they will start 15th, 16th and 19th, respectively, on the grid for today’s sprint race. Taylor Barnard will start from reverse-grid pole.