Magazine: Imola cancellation analysis, Indy 500 preview

It’s been a sorry past week in motorsport, with flooding forcing the cancellation of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, racism over the radio in NASCAR and fatal shootings in the Baja California Rally.

In F1’s case, at least we can say that lessons have been learned since the 2020 Australian GP. As Alex Kalinauckas explains, all the right decisions seem to be made in good time.

Looking forward, various teams will have updates for the Monaco GP this weekend and the nature of the circuit – and relative strengths of the Aston Martin AMR23 and Ferrari SF-23 – mean the result might not be a foregone conclusion. If Fernando Alonso or Charles Leclerc are going to defeat the dominant Red Bulls this year, this could be their chance…

The second part of motorsport’s triple crown will also take place on Sunday, at Indianapolis. Qualifying for the 500 was close and it’s hard to pick a winner, though rivals Ganassi and Arrow McLaren have multiple drivers up at the sharp end. As well as reporting on some dramatic qualifying stories, Charles Bradley picks out the key themes in our six-page preview.

Incredibly, the other big motorsport classic is coming up, too. And to continue our build-up and celebration of a century of the Le Mans 24 Hours, Gary Watkins takes a look at the events true king: Porsche.

Elsewhere, we cover Ferrari’s first victory in the Nurburgring 24 Hours and Marcus Simmons reports from Snetterton, where Ash Sutton and Tom Ingram were the stars of the British Touring Car Championship’s latest encounters.

Track limits remains a contentious issue in British motorsport. The rules are about to change and Stephen Lickorish argues things could have been handled differently as part of our 15-page National section, which also includes the latest club news and reports.

Next week’s issue (1 June) will be a must for motorsport fans. We’ll have in-depth reports of both the Monaco GP and Indy 500, plus our free 52-page Le Mans supplement.

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