Motorsports

Charles LeClerc has emerged victorious in Austin.

The Monacan driver cruised to a victory at the 2024 USA F1 Grand Prix, finishing with a blazing time of 1:35:09.639.

LeClerc finished 8.5 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Carlos Sainz. The two are teammates for Ferrari and became the first Ferrari 1-2 at the U.S. Grand Prix since Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa finished in first and second in 2006.

Max Verstappen finished the race in third and was nearly 20 seconds behind LeClerc. Lewis Hamilton did not finish the race and came in last place.

Verstappen still currently leads the F1 standings with 354 points but LeClerc is third and pushing Lando Norris for the second place slot.

Norris nearly claimed third place over Verstappen but was penalized and knocked down to fourth place. The penalty was assessed due to Norris passing Verstappen offtrack. Norris expressed frustration at the ruling.

McLaren remains in the lead for the constructors championship, with Red Bull currently sitting in second place and Ferrari being close behind in third.

LeClerc will hope to take this momentum into next week's Mexican Grand Prix and potentially move into second place. Verstappen still holds a significant lead over the field, but will need to push for more podium finishes in order to seal the overall victory.

Keanu Reaves is taking his talents to the racing track.

The 60-year-old actor made his pro auto racing debut this weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and TMZ Sports were able to photograph his preparation for the event.

He was seen behind the wheel of the No. 92 Eagles Canyon Racing Toyota that he will be utilizing in the GR Cup Series. He qualified as the 31st out of 35 racers and rose as high as 21st during the actual race.

He would unfortunately spin out but would find his way back to the track and finished 25th of 35.

While it wasn't a podium finish, it is extremely impressive for the actor to hold his own among other trained race car drivers in the 45-minute race.

He has some racing experience, including a victory at the 2009 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach celebrity race. However, Saturday's event was a higher level and the actor can feel strong about his day.

He is not done for the weekend as he will have one more race on Sunday. Reeves will look to translate Saturday's performance into a higher finish on Sunday.

Basketball legend Michael Jordan is on the verge of a legal battle.

Per Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports, Jordan's 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports jointly filed an antitrust lawsuit against NASCAR alleging that the league has used anti-competitive practices to prevent fair competition in the sport.

"Everyone knows that I have always been a fierce competitor, and that will to win is what drives me and the entire 23XI team each and every week out on the track," Jordan said in a release. "I love the sport of racing and the passion of our fans, but the way NASCAR is run today is unfair to teams, drivers, sponsors, and fans. Today's action shows I'm willing to fight for a competitive market where everyone wins."

Jordan and the other plaintiffs in the lawsuit retained Jeffrey Kessler as counsel, who Jones described as "one of the leading antitrust lawyers in the country." Kessler has previously represented NFL players in legal battles against the league.

NASCAR CEO Jim France was also named in the lawsuit. The release stated, "NASCAR and the France family operate without transparency, have stifled competition, and control the sport of stock car racing in ways that unfairly benefit them at the expense of team owners, drivers, sponsors, partners, and fans."

Among the anti-competitive practices highlighted were buying a majority of the premier racetracks that are exclusive to NASCAR races, preventing teams from participating in any other stock car races and forcing teams to buy their parts from single-source suppliers chosen by NASCAR.

Jordan founded 23XI Racing in 2020 alongside fellow part owners Curtis Polk and Denny Hamlin, who has won 54 NASCAR Cup Series races.

"It's actually pretty simple in my opinion," Hamlin said in the release. "When I look around, I see that the best and most competitive sports in the world understand that when teams thrive, fans benefit, and that everyone who invests in making the sport a success should share fairly in that success. With the right changes, we can certainly make that a reality in racing."

F1 driver Daniel Ricciardo is leaving the RB immediately, the team announced Thursday, despite six races remaining on the calendar.

Red Bull reserve Liam Lawson was named as Ricciardo's replacement for the rest of the season, with his first race to be at the United States Grand Prix in Austin.

"Everyone here at VCARB would like to thank Daniel for his hard work across the last two seasons with us," RB team principal Laurent Mekies said in a statement. "He has brought a lot of experience and talent to the team with a fantastic attitude, which has helped everyone to develop and foster a tight team spirit. Daniel has been a true gentleman both on and off the track and never without that smile. He will be missed, but will always hold a special place within the Red Bull family."

Ricciardo seemed to see the writing on the wall this past weekend after finishing 18th at the Singapore Grand Prix.

"Possibly, I have to acknowledge that," he told reporters when asked if Singapore could be his last race. "It's been a little bit of a race-by-race situation and I would have obviously loved the weekend to have gone better. It didn't, so I have to prepared for this maybe being it."

He continued:

I do feel, let's say, at peace with it. At some point, it'll come for all of us... I think also, I tried to get back into Red Bull, it didn't work out, so then I also have to say, 'Okay, what else am I ultimately doing here and trying to achieve?' ... Let's say maybe the fairytale ending didn't happen, but I also have to look back on what it's been. Fourteen or so years and I'm proud.

I think when you've experienced the highs of winning, you can only fight for P10 for so long. There is nothing like that feeling, and if that no longer is possible, and if it is becoming a little harder—that's the truth: I was able to do some moments of maybe greatness this year, but it was trickier to do it week in, week out. Maybe that's [being] 35, maybe that's the competition's getting better and better. Who knows?

Ricciardo, now 14th in the driver's standings, tallied eight wins, 32 podiums and 1,329 points in total across 258 Grands Prix and 14 seasons during his time in F1. He finished third in the driver's standings in both 2014 and 2016, his best campaigns.

As for Lawson, the 22-year-old has been a reserve since 2022, though he did replace the injured Ricciardo for five races last year and acquitted himself well, including a ninth-place finish at the Singapore Grand Prix.

Red Bull will now have the chance to further evaluate him alongside Yuki Tsunoda, who currently sits 12th in the driver's standings.

"He already knows the team well," Mekies said of Lawson in his statement. "He drove for us last season, and coped well under difficult circumstances, so it'll be a natural transition. It's great to see young talent from within the Red Bull family make the next step. We're looking forward to getting our heads down and focusing on the rest of the season together."

Lando Norris continued to trim the gap on Formula One points leader and reigning champion Max Verstappen with a win in Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix.

Fifty-two points now separate Norris from Verstappen. The Dutch star's second-place finish helped to limit the damage in terms of losing ground on his top challenger.

Oscar Piastri claimed the other podium spot in third.

At least when it came to the top of the race leaderboard, there was little drama to be had at Marina Bay Street Circuit. Norris started from the pole and held firm over the first few laps. It didn't take long for him to show he had the fastest car on the track.

When the dust cleared at the finish line, Norris was more than 20 seconds ahead of Verstappen. It was a role reversal from 2023 when Verstappen was the one winning at a canter.

It was a different story for Norris' compatriot Lewis Hamilton.

The seven-time F1 champion was frozen out of the podium for the third straight race, winding up in sixth. That was two spots behind Mercedes teammate George Russell, a point some fans couldn't ignore with Hamilton himself calling out the team's strategy midway through.

Six races remain in Hamilton's farewell campaign with Mercedes and Norris' quest to overtake Verstappen. In both cases, it's looking increasingly like they're wind up disappointed in the end.

For Norris, the challenge is not just finishing ahead of Verstappen but creating enough distance to where he starts to meaningfully eat into their difference in the driver standings. As much as Verstappen is failing to hit the heights he did last year, he's remaining relatively consistent from race to race, which is stymying Norris' comeback bid.

Verstappen and the Red Bull team have nearly a month off before the United States Grand Prix on Oct. 20 to figure out how to return to the top of the podium.

Oscar Piastri might be overshadowed by McLaren teammate Lando Norris in the bigger picture, but the spotlight was all his Sunday in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Piastri held off Charles Leclerc to win his second race of the 2024 Formula One season. George Russell rounded out the podium in third place.

Leclerc and Piastri started from the first and second positions, and that's the order they stayed in for the first 19 laps. On Lap 20, Piastri made his move for the lead and deftly passed on the inside.

Between overtaking Leclerc and subsequently holding firm at the top of the field, the Australian made a strong impression in Azerbaijan. Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid was among those who labeled him an F1 champion in the making:

Piastri coasted to the finish line after a wreck involving Carlos Sainz and Sergio Pérez brought out the virtual safety car. The pair were battling for third on the penultimate lap when they made contact and hit the wall.

The most consequential drama from the weekend unfolded in qualifying, when Norris didn't make it through the first round and was relegated to starting from the 16th position. He was originally going to start from 17th before Esteban Ocon was disqualified.

Norris trailed Max Verstappen by 62 points in the driver standings heading into Sunday's race, so his bid to dethrone the reigning champion suffered a serious setback thanks to his performance in qualifying.

A fourth-place showing was a missed opportunity considering Verstappen wound up in fifth.

Like Ocon, Lewis Hamilton had to begin the Azerbaijan Grand Prix from pit lane, so any quest for the checkered flag was over before it started. He finished in ninth and was a non-factor for the most part.

Seven races are left in the F1 season with the Singapore Grand Prix now on tap. Verstappen has never won at Marina Bay Street Circuit, which will offer Norris and his fans a glimmer of hope the 24-year-old can trim the gap in the standings.

Charles Leclerc took the checkered flag in the Italian Grand Prix at Autodromo Nazionale di Monza on Sunday as Lando Norris continued to close the gap on Max Verstappen in the Formula One drivers' standings.

This is Leclerc's second victory of 2024 after he cruised to a win in the Monaco Grand Prix. He finished more than three seconds ahead of Oscar Piastri. Norris, who started from the pole, rounded out the podium in third place.

The excitement started early as Norris went from first to third on the first lap. Piastri overtook him for the lead and then Leclerc came up from behind to move into second.

Piastri and Norris decided to pit on the 17th lap, which opened the door for Carlos Sainz and Red Bull Racing teammates Verstappen and Sergio Pérez to fill out the top of the leaderboard.

A pit stop beckoned for those three as well sooner or later, though, and that bumped them down a few spots once they returned to the track.

Leclerc watched Piastri and Norris make a second trip to the pit and gambled he and his Ferrari team would only need one stop for the 53-lap affair.

The gambit paid off as the Monaco native built a sizable gap on the rest of the field. Piastri and Norris chipped away at the deficit down the final stretch but couldn't make up the ground.

Norris can at least take some solace from the fact he trimmed eight points from the difference between and Verstappen in the overall standings. The reigning champion is now 62 points up in first place.

For Norris and his McLaren team, though, there might be more disappointment they failed to take fuller advantage of Verstappen's sixth-place showing.

Elsewhere in the race, Lewis Hamilton missed the podium for the second straight week after placing fifth.

Eight races remain in Norris' quest to dethrone Verstappen with the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Sept. 15 the next event on the F1 calendar. The possibility remains for the 24-year-old to do the impossible, though his odds only improved slightly thanks to Sunday's results.

With Lewis Hamilton set to race for Ferrari in 2025, Mercedes has announced Kimi Antonelli will join the Mercedes F1 team starting next season.

The 18-year-old Antonelli was confirmed to be racing with George Russell as part of the Mercedes driver lineup on Saturday.

Team Mercedes CEO Toto Wolff issued a statement about the addition of Antonelli to the roster:

"George has proved that he is one of the very best drivers in the world. He is not only fast, consistent, and determined, but has also developed into a strong leader within the team. Kimi has consistently shown the talent and speed needed to compete at the very top of our sport.

"We know it will be another big step up, but he has impressed us in his F1 testing this year and we will be supporting him every step of the way in the learning process. In George, he has an experienced team-mate from which he can learn and hone his craft. I am confident that both will contribute greatly as we continue to build momentum and fight at the front of the field.

Hamilton has been the face of Mercedes since joining the team in 2013 after spending the first five years of his career racing for McLaren. The seven-time F1 champion pulled off a surprise move in February when Ferrari announced he signed a multiyear deal.

The move came after Hamilton signed a two-year extension with Mercedes in August 2023, but the team later confirmed he activated an opt-out clause in the deal to become a free agent after the 2024 season.

Hamilton will be teammates with Charles Leclerc, who signed an extension in January, under the Ferrari umbrella.

Antonelli, who just turned 18 on Aug. 25, joined the Mercedes Junior Team in 2019. He got his first run during Grand Prix weekend on Friday with Russell's car during the first practice session on the Monza Circuit in Italy.

It was an inauspicious debut with Antonelli spinning out and crashing into the barrier after five laps. He did receive precautionary medical attention, but was uninjured following the incident.

Since turning pro as a 15-year-old in 2021, Antonelli has won 37 races across various circuits. He won the 2022 Italian F4 Championship with 13 victories in 20 starts.

Antonelli is currently competing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship. He's seventh in the point standings with wins at the Silverstone sprint race and Budapest free race.

The first F1 race for Antonelli as part of the Mercedes team will be at the Australian Grand Prix on March 16, 2025.

NASCAR has announced its schedule for the 2025 season, which includes some notable changes to the playoff races.

The Daytona 500 will kick off the Cup Series season on Feb. 16. Darlington Raceway will host the first playoff race on Aug. 31, with the Championship Race taking place at Phoenix Raceway on Nov. 2.

NASCAR will also hold its first-ever international points event for the Cup Series on June 15 at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City.

TNT Sports will air five consecutive races from June 28-July 27 starting with the Atlanta race before going to Chicago for the street race, Sonoma, Dover and Indianapolis.

Darlington is returning as host of the playoff opener after Atlanta Motor Speedway was given the honors this year. World Wide Technology Raceway in St. Louis (Sept. 7) and New Hampshire Motor Speedway (Sept. 21) will host playoff races in 2025.

Other tracks hosting playoff races include Bristol, Kansas, Charlotte, Las Vegas, Talladega and Martinsville.

NASCAR will use the second race at Daytona Motor Speedway on Aug. 23 as the regular-season finale.

The Clash event that serves as the unofficial start of the season will be held on Feb. 2 at Bowman Gray Stadium in North Carolina. It had been held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in each of the past three years.

Los Angeles is not on NASCAR's 2025 schedule. Richmond Raceway will only host one event on Aug. 16. This marks the first time since 1958—excluding the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic—that Richmond won't have two Cup Series races in a season.

Once the Cup Series season begins, the only break until the Championship Race will be the weekend of April 20 for Easter.