F1Weekly Podcast # 1147
Play Podcast: 05-11-26f1weekly1147.mp3
ON TODAYS PROGRAM…
FIA APROVE MORE REG CHANGES FOR 2027 SO…
IS FERRARI STUCK IN A LOOP OF MEDIOCRITY?
HONDA MAKING SOME PROGRESS IN RELIABILITY
WOULD VERSTAPPEN BE TOO MUCH FOR MOTORSPORTS IF HE LEAVES F1 AND…
FERNANDO SAYS PATIENCE IS MY STRENGTH WITH HINTS OF NO RETIREMENT ANY TIME SOON!!
THIS WEEK’S NASIR HAMEED CORNER WE HAVE: ROBIN FRINJS WHO JUST WON THE WEC RACE AT SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS!
THIS WEEK’S NASIR HAMEED CORNER WE HAVE: ROBIN FRINJS AND HANNES VAN ASSELDONK!…PETER BRAZIER WITH HIS REPORT FROM THE LOTUS FACTORY…
BONUS: DAVID COULTHARD AND LONG TIME F1W LISTENER CHRISTOPHER DEHARDE.
ISACK HADJAR THRILLS CROWD AT GRAND PRIX DE FRANCE HISTORIQUE HOMECOMING
Isack Hadjar roared the 2011 championship-winning RB7 past a sea of French fans as he returned to home soil for the first time as an Oracle Red Bull Racing driver at Circuit Paul Ricard.
In front of an adoring home crowd, Isack paraded around the iconic track allowing him to soak up the electric atmosphere, before taking part in the ‘Fast and Famous’ demo run alongside legends of the sport.
Joined by CEO and Team Principal Laurent Mekies, Isack was cheered on by a passionate sell-out crowd of 25,000 fans, as he completed demonstration laps around Le Castellet for the first time since claiming victory there in the Formula Regional European Championship in 2021.
Headlining the 2026 Grand Prix de France Historique, Isack took to the 5.8km Grand Prix course, returning RB7 to the historic Formula One layout, waving to his fans as their roar from the grandstands rivalled the deafening thunder of the car’s V8 engine.
Isack later joined fellow French F1 driver Esteban Ocon in the ‘Fast and Famous’ segment, which placed cars from several decades of F1 history against one another in a celebration of legacy. Earning the biggest cheer of the afternoon, Isack raced Ocon down the Mistral Straight.
Sharing the track with four-time World Champion Alain Prost, Isack followed in the slipstream of one of his childhood heroes around Circuit Paul Ricard while also driving alongside Jean Alesi, Philippe Alliot and René Arnoux, amongst some of the most celebrated names to race under the French flag.
Capping off a memorable afternoon under the Le Castellet sunshine, Isack was given the honour by waving Le Tricolore to signal the start of the ‘Historic F1 race’, featuring an extraordinary collection of World Championship-winning drivers and decades of iconic F1 machinery.
Isack Hadjar, Oracle Red Bull Racing driver, said: “Being here was the perfect day. It was my home Grand Prix here in France and it was my chance to feel the support from so many fans today. I had a lot of fun, both on track and in the paddock. The roar of RB7’s V8 is iconic and it felt so light around this circuit which made for a lovely drive. The atmosphere was unreal, you can get so close to the fans and enjoy special moments with them. Coming here brought back a lot of memories from winning races in F4 and to drive around Paul Ricard in an F1 car was a full circle moment.”
Laurent Mekies, CEO and Team Principal of Oracle Red Bull Racing, said: “Today has been an incredible event, it’s the first time Oracle Red Bull Racing have shown up in this way for the Grand Prix de France Historique and it felt like a really special occasion. Isack’s popularity here has been through the roof, you feel an extraordinary sense of passion from the French fans for their motorsport and Isack. He had a great afternoon having a good go on track against cars from so many different eras of our sport. Our heritage team and Showrun programme is so unique to Red Bull, it’s our way of bringing Formula One to those that haven’t been able to experience a Grand Prix atmosphere before and today they got that.”
Kucharczyk Breaks Through
for First INDY NXT Win at IMS
INDIANAPOLIS (Saturday, May 9, 2026) – Tymek Kucharczyk was Mr. Consistency for the first five races of the INDY NXT by Firestone season. But now he’s a winner.
Series rookie Kucharczyk, the first Polish driver to compete in the INDYCAR development series, earned his first career victory by holding off Max Taylor to win Race 2 of the Indianapolis Grand Prix doubleheader Saturday on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
SEE: Race Results
“What a special day,” Kucharczyk said. “To do it here, coming back to November in my first test in an INDY NXT car, now a winner here at Indy, it’s spectacular. I’m so grateful to my sponsors, to my team. It was a tough race. It was really, really hard to hold Max behind me. He was pushing me for the whole race.”
Kucharczyk was the only driver to record a top-five finish in the first five races this season, but his best was third place, three times. He finished fourth in Race 1 of this doubleheader in mixed conditions Friday.
But Kucharczyk climbed from fifth to the lead after the first two turns on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile circuit, leading all 30 laps in the No. 71 HMD Motorsports car. He took the checkered flag .6273 of a second ahead of Taylor in the No. 28 Susan G. Komen machine of Andretti Global after a taut, race-long duel in the caution-free race.
Enzo Fittipaldi, who won Race 1 Friday, prevailed in an exciting three-way fight over the last 10 laps of the race for the final podium spot in the No. 67 HMD Motorsports machine. Lochie Hughes placed fourth in the No. 26 Andretti Global car, with Alessandro de Tullio rounding out the top five in the No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing entry.
Series leader Nikita Johnson placed sixth in the No. 21 Cape Motorsports Powered by ECR car. Kucharczyk climbed to second in the standings with his win, 11 points behind Johnson.
There were two main flashpoints in the race, which took place under sunny skies in a contrast to the wet conditions at the finish Friday.
The first came at the green flag. Taylor started from pole and went side by side with Josh Pierson’s No. 29 Starchive Andretti entry of Andretti Global, with both cars going wide. Kucharczyk snuck through the opening for the lead, with Taylor clinging to second.
Kucharczyk maintained a gap of six- to seven-tenths of a second for the next 16 laps before the second main incident of the race. Kucharczyk locked his right front wheel braking for Turn 1 on Lap 17, creating a large flat spot on his Firestone Firehawk tire.
“Other than the lockup that I made midway through the race, it was a pretty flawless execution,” Kucharczyk said. “I don’t think we had probably the fastest car on the grid today, but the first lap helped me massively. Max was pushing really hard, so I had to save the Push to Pass at the end, as well. It’s all good. I made it happen, so super, super grateful.”
Taylor pulled to within .4807 of a second on Lap 23, and it appeared the flat spot on his tire may have started to sap speed from Kucharczyk. But the Pole managed his tires and saved enough Push to Pass engine boost to increase the gap to .7830 of a second on Lap 25. He maintained a steady gap to the checkered flag.
“That was everything,” Taylor said of his effort. “I thought we were going to catch him. I messed up on the start, I think. So, something to look over. But still good points, decent points this weekend, and a lot to take away and a lot to improve on if we want to win this championship.”
Taylor is third in the standings, three points behind Kucharczyk and 14 behind Johnson.
The next INDY NXT by Firestone race is the Detroit Grand Prix on Sunday, May 31 on the streets of Detroit.
Lundgaard Breaks Long Drought
To Win Sonsio Grand Prix
INDIANAPOLIS (Saturday, May 9, 2026) – Christian Lundgaard prevailed in a race filled with thrills, incidents and enough pit wall decisions to prematurely age strategists to win the Sonsio Grand Prix on Saturday on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, his first NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory in nearly three years.
Lundgaard drove his No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet to his second career victory by 4.6713 seconds over the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet of David Malukas. Lundgaard’s first career win came at the Honda Indy Toronto on July 16, 2023, while driving for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. This victory ended a 47-race winless drought for the Danish driver, and he became the third McLaren driver to win in the INDYCAR SERIES, joining Johnny Rutherford and Pato O’Ward.
SEE: Race Results
“Very happy,” Lundgaard said. “I really didn’t expect this today. I hoped for it. This was a long wait for this win, especially around this place. You know how fast I’ve always been around here, and it’s just been time after time after time disappointments. Now we’re here. Let’s go!
“We did it. Let’s go. Good start to May.”
Graham Rahal was the final podium finisher today, third in the No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Honda to tie his season-best result.
Josef Newgarden placed fourth in the No. 2 Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet to put two Penske cars in the top four. NTT P1 Award winner Alex Palou, who led every session he was on track this weekend entering the 85-lap race, rounded out the top five in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
Lundgaard, who started fourth, took the lead for good with a scintillating pass of Malukas on Lap 68. The two drivers raced side by side through Turns 3 and 4 before Lundgaard slipped through a small opening in the Turns 5 and 6 chicane leading to the backstretch of the 14-turn, 2.439-mile circuit.
Then Lundgaard, who last pitted for the final time one lap earlier than Malukas on Lap 65, pulled away over the closing laps. Malukas led a race-high 27 laps, four more than Lundgaard, as he fell just short of earning his first career victory.
“We were very strong in those middle stints, and then toward the end, we maybe made the wrong decision on wing (adjustments) there,” Malukas said. “We were just falling apart. I was doing everything I can just to survive, and Rahal was coming from behind.
“But either way, that is a fantastic result. We went into this weekend knowing it was going to be a struggle for us. We thought we wouldn’t even make the (Firestone) Fast Six (in qualifying), and here we are P2 on the podium. We’re one step closer to getting that win.”
Chaos and snap decisions from strategists reigned from the drop of the green flag until the race settled into a rhythm after the final round of pit stops for the field with 20 to 25 laps to go.
Palou led into Turn 1 at the start, seeking his fourth consecutive victory in this road race that opens the Month of May at IMS. Behind him, O’Ward in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, Scott Dixon in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, Felix Rosenqvist in the No. 60 SiriusXM Honda and Caio Collet in the No. 4 Combitrans Amazonia Chevrolet were collected in a chain-reaction accident as the 25-car field funneled from the front straightaway to the tight Turns 1-2 complex.
That incident helped Malukas jump from fifth to second and triggered the first of three full-course cautions in the race. Many teams began to adopt alternate strategies to cope with the early field shuffle, entering for tires and fuel when the pits opened on Lap 3.
Meanwhile, Palou stayed on track and began to pad his lead. Kyle Kirkwood drove his No. 27 JM Bullion/Gold.com Honda of Andretti Global past Malukas for second place on Lap 7, and the top two drivers in the series point standings started to pull away and possibly set up a one-on-one duel for victory.
The race turned on its head on Lap 22 when the No. 20 Java House Chevrolet driven by Alexander Rossi of ECR stopped along the pit wall near the Yard of Bricks start-finish line on the front straightaway with a mechanical problem. Many other cars had started to pit before the full-course yellow, but Palou and Kirkwood did not from the top two spots.
Palou and Kirkwood entered the pits on Lap 25, dropping them to 19th and 20th, respectively, when they returned to speed. Palou and Kirkwood just avoided calamity on the restart on Lap 28, darting around another chain-reaction collision – this time in Turn 13 – between Rosenqvist, O’Ward, Sting Ray Robb in the No. 77 Juncos Hollinger – Goodheart Chevrolet and Kyffin Simpson in the No. 8 Sunoco Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
Kirkwood’s chances at contending for victory ended during his pit service on Lap 39, when a slow right-front wheel change resulted in a 15.2-second stop. Palou’s stop was 7.2 seconds on the same lap, allowing him to continue to march toward the front. But he never got any closer than fifth, ending up 14.3630 seconds behind winner Lundgaard.
Palou’s two-race win streak this season ended, but he still padded his series lead over Kirkwood to 27 points. Kirkwood finished ninth.
Lundgaard will try to repeat Palou’s 2025 “double” of winning the Sonsio Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge when the 110th edition of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” takes place Sunday, May 24. Practice on the fabled 2.5-mile oval opens Tuesday, May 12.
