Motorsport News

A smashing and crash ridden finale to the 2018 MotoGP season, Ducati's Andrea Dovizioso won the Valencia Grand Prix turning out to be one of the few riders to actually complete the very wet race. The rain drenched track made for a spectacle at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, as the top riders were pulled out of contention after back-to-back crashes. The race was even stopped at half-point bringing with the red flag out, only to be started again for a 14 lap stint. Dovizioso ended the season just like he started it - with a win. However, the race was a game changed for KTM, which saw rider Pol Espargaro take his and the team's first ever podium in the sport. Suzuki's Alex Rins took his fifth podium of the season, finishing behind Dovizioso.

Earlier this week 2018 Formula 1 World Champion. Lewis Hamilton had stated in an interview about being conflicted to race in India, after seeing the poverty in the country. The statement has not gone down well with Indian fans and citizens alike, prompting a lot of backlash against the Mercedes driver. Following the criticism, Hamilton recently took to Twitter to clarify his stand on the issue. Mercedes F1 boss Toto Wolff also came out in support of the five time World Champion saying that his statement was misconstrued by the media. Hamilton was one of the drivers during the Indian Grand Prix that was held between 2011 and 2013.

World champion Lewis Hamilton has questioned Formula One's policy of organising races in new countries after this month's announcement of the Vietnam Grand Prix. Hamilton told the BBC that he would prefer to see more stops in countries with a genuine racing tradition, rather than expanding to new markets. On the racing side, I don't know how important it is to go to new countries as such," said Hamilton who sealed his fifth world title last month.

Verstappen looked in control of the race as he opened up a gap to Hamilton, but this elation was short lived as Force India's Esteban Ocon tried passing Verstappen down the inside at Turn 2 only to make contact with the race leader sending both the cars spinning.

In the final round, Shahan had to finish the races over the weekend, already leading the points table. Heat 1 saw the karting champion qualify third behind Suriya Varathan, while Heat 2 also saw the driver finish third leading up to the pre-final.

Adding a new venue to the calendar, Formula One has announced that the city of Hanoi in Vietnam will be hosting an F1 Grand Prix from April 2020. The Vietnamese Grand Prix is part of new F1 owners Liberty Media's commitment to the Asia region. The sport already hosts races in Singapore, China and Japan across the largest continent. The move is also expected to broaden the appeal of F1 and reach new audiences across the globe, the promoters said in a statement.

2018 MotoGP champion Marc Marquez of Honda took his ninth win of the season in the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang International Circuit. The win though was handed to him after long-time leader Yamaha's Valentino Rossi crashed. Finishing on the podium were Suzuki's Alex Rins 1.8s behind Marquez, while Tech3 Yamaha's Johann Zarco finished third 2.4s off the race leader, having started the race on pole. Marquez, meanwhile, started sixth, having been handed a six-place drop for impeding Andrea Iannone in qualifying, after securing his 80th career pole position.

In a mishap, the Suzuki GSX-RR MotoGP machine belonging to Alex Rins was destroyed in a pit lane fire ahead of this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix. The incident occurred at the Sepang International Circuit when the mechanics were warming the bike in the Suzuki Ecstar pits this afternoon. The bike caught fire after the fuel overflow pipe accidentally sprayed fuel onto the hot exhaust when the team was doing their customary post-built start-up earlier today. Fortunately, no one was injured in the incident, but the bike was severely damaged in the fire.