Motorsport News

With five championships under its belt, the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 team is eyeing for its sixth world title this year. The team has unveiled the Mercedes W10 Formula 1 - its 2019 F1 challenger. The Brackley-based outfit released images of the new car, while W10 also made its first public appearance at the Silverstone circuit in the UK as drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas began a shakedown. The car will have its first proper outing at a race track for the pre-testing in Barcelona, ahead of the new season that starts in March.

Agra boy Shahan Ali Mohsin has become the youngest racing driver ever to start in the MRF F1600 championship. The 14-year-old made his single-seater racing debut with the MRF F1600 series as he moves up from the go-kart championships. The previous youngest age for a driver in the series was 16-years. The race weekend conducted last week was held as a support event to the international MRF Challenge (F2000) with plenty of international drivers making it to the Madras Motor Race Track (MMRT) in Chennai for the championship.

The teams blue, red and silver livery, which was first introduced in the 2017 season continues to be part of the car. Having finished 9th in the constructor's championship in 2018, Toro Rosso's synergy with Red Bull will help push the team further in the rankings this year.

Indian racing driver Arjun Maini has decided to switch to sportscar racing from Formula 2. The driver will be competing in the Le Mans 24 Hours this year and will follow it up with a full season campaign in the European Le Mans Series. The 21-year-old becomes only the third Indian driver after Narain Karthikeyan and Karun Chandhok to be part of a Le Mans weekend. Maini has signed a deal with RLR MSport and will be driving the new Oreca 07 in the endurance LMP2 class with co-drivers John Farano from Canada and Brazil's Bruno Senna. The Brazilian though will not contest in the 24 Hours of Le Mans with RLR, given his existing commitments with Rebellion Racing in the LMP1 class. RLR has promised a big replacement to Senna and will announce the driver's name when the official entry list for Le Mans 2019 is released.

Toyota has announced that will be participating in the 2019-20 World Endurance Championship (WEC). The Japanese automaker confirmed its participating in the WEC in the first season run to the winter-series format as part of its annual motorsport statement. With manufacturers Audi and Porsche pulling out of LMP1 in 2016 and 2017 respectively, Toyota was the only factory team left in the WEC's premier class category. The team has continued to race against a host of new entrants ever since the seasoned manufacturers pulled out. This means the TS050 Hybrids will be back for contention later this year in the LMP1 space.

The Haas Formula 1 team has pulled the wraps off the F1 car livery for 2019. The American outfit brings back the black and gold colour scheme that reflects its new title sponsor. The team is now funded by the UK-based energy drinks company Rich Energy after it struck a deal with the latter late last year. In addition to the colour scheme, the F1 team has also been renamed as Rich Energy Haas F1 team for the upcoming season. While the new livery was showcased on the 2018 show car at the launch event in London, the team has released digital images of the VF-19 online showcasing its 2019 F1 challenger.

Valentino Rossi talks about the challenge by Honda and Ducati, as well as facing two of his own proteges in the 2019 MotoGP season.

For the 2019 season, the Yamaha MotoGP factory team has presented all-new livery for the 2019 Yamaha YZR-M1 MotoGP bike.