Hamilton grabs F1 series lead; Newgarden wins
Lewis Hamilton capitalized on a mistake by rival Sebastian Vettel to enjoy a wire-to-wire victory at the French Grand Prix on Sunday and retake the lead in the Formula One title race.
Starting third behind Hamilton and his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas at Le Castellet near Marseille, Ferrari’s Vettel tried to use his faster set of tires to make a good start.
But the German’s lunge on the inside of the first corner crunched his Ferrari into the back of Bottas, damaging both cars and sending them into the pits for repairs.
Vettel emerged with a new front wing and the entire field to fight through, and even though he made quick work of the slower cars he had to settle for a fifth-place finish. Bottas, who needed a new rear tire, had to restart at the back with Vettel.
“It’s a shame, we had a chance for a one-two (finish),” Hamilton said, adding, “Those things happen.
“I thought I was going to get rear-ended,” Hamilton said. “(But) we are all fighting for world championships. We are not twiddling around.”
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen in his Ferrari crossed second and third to complete the podium at the Paul Ricard Circuit. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo was fourth.
Defending champion Hamilton has 145 points after eight races. It was Hamilton’s 65th career win. Only Michael Schumacher has more with 91.
IndyCar Series: Josef Newgarden put in a lot of work to make his win at Road America look easy.
With no caution flags all afternoon to slow him down, the pole-sitting Newgarden finally pulled away late from Ryan Hunter-Reay for a comfortable victory in the 222-mile race at the Elkhart Lake, Wis., track.
Newgarden led 53 of 55 laps, crossing the finish line with a 3.38-second cushion over second-place finisher HunterReay for his third win of the season.
“We had our work cut out for us today,” Newgarden said. “We had to be perfect.”
Points leader Scott Dixon finished third.
NHRA: Blake Alexander raced to his first Top Fuel victory in the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Norwalk, Ohio. Alexander had a 4.011second pass at 297.81 mph to beat Terry McMillen in the final. Matt Hagan won in Funny Car, Tanner Gray in Pro Stock, and Eddie Kraweic in Pro Stock Motorcycle. Motorcycles at Laguna Seca: Jonathan Rea bounced back from his crash in Brno, Czech Republic, to complete a Laguna Seca double in Monterey and extend his World Superbike championship lead.
Kawasaki’s Rea beat chief rival Chaz Davies on Saturday in the crash-strewn first race, and surged through the field in Sunday’s second race after starting ninth. Rea leads the series points standings over Davies 320-245.
Driver dies: World of Outlaws sprint car series driver Jason Johnson died following a crash at Beaver Dam Raceway in Wisconsin. He was 41.
The World of Outlaws series posted a message Sunday morning on Twitter saying Johnson had died.
The series says the driver from Eunice, La., was injured during a race Saturday night on the dirt oval at Beaver Dam. World of Outlaws says he crashed on lap 18 of a 40-lap race while racing for the lead.
A message posted Sunday morning on the Twitter account for Jason Johnson Racing said that the team was “heartbroken and saddened to tell you that we have lost our leader, friend, family member and our hero.”