Motorsport weekend wrap: Bagnaia claims hat-trick at Dutch GP; Russell beneficiary of Verstappen-Norris scuffle in Austria

This racing weekend proved pivotal for MotoGP as Francesco Bagania closed the gap down to the leader Jorge Martin after a successful Dutch Grand Prix. F1 saw a fifth race winner in Mercedes’ George Russell, who finished on top for the first time since 2022. Joey Logano ended his winless drought at a chaotic NASCAR Nashville race.

MotoGP: Bagnaia makes it hat-trick of wins at Dutch Grand Prix

From claiming his first pole position of the season with a new lap record to picking up his 23rd victory with Ducati, Francesco Bagnaia had a terrific weekend at the Dutch Grand Prix. The Italian won Saturday’s sprint and made it three consecutive wins in a row at Assen after winning Sunday’s race.

Coming in second was current Championship leader Jorge Martin, who fought long and hard to steal the lead. The Prima Pramac driver picked up 20 crucial points, well aware of the fact that Bagnaia is catching up quickly, with the gap now down to 10.

Enea Bastianini’s third-place finish meant Ducati claimed a double podium finish. The 26-year-old had to recover from P10 on the grid, including a tricky overtake on Marc Marquez in the ending stages. Marquez, who eventually finished fourth, was handed a 16-second tyre pressure penalty, dropping him to a disappointing 10th. 

NASCAR: Logano breaks winless streak after chaotic Nashville race win

Joey Logano managed to battle past yellow flags, a rain delay and a record-breaking five overtimes to win at Nashville, breaking his Cup Series winless streak since March 2023. The race, which seemed like it wasn’t ending anytime soon, went 31 laps longer than the 300 scheduled.

Leading for only nine out of the 400-lap race, the Team Penske driver had enough fuel for the final laps to take the chequered flag. While other drivers lost significant time and track positions due to fuel issues, the 34-year-old drove a staggering 110 laps with only a tank. 

Logano held off Tyler Reddick’s attempts to get past him not once, but twice on the final lap to cross the finish line first. However, it wasn’t over yet as his race-winning car was taken for post-race inspection. The victory was eventually confirmed, meaning Logano took his 33rd victory of his NASCAR Cup Series career. 

F1: Russell stumbles upon Austrian Grand Prix title, second career win 

The Austrian Grand Prix has never fallen short of being an overtaking fest with cars being pushed to the limits, quite literally. This year, however, saw 2023 winner Max Verstappen lose his comfortable lead from Lando Norris in a matter of seconds after the two collided towards the last few laps, causing the latter to retire his car.

George Russell, who could not have placed his Mercedes any better, drove past the tottering Red Bull and McLaren to take the lead in the race. He had Oscar Piastri on his tail but finished ahead – his second career win since Brazil 2022. 

Russell became the fifth different race winner this season – an occurrence that not many saw coming after Verstappen’s strong start in 2024. While the defending champion still maintains a healthy lead in the points table, Red Bull Racing will be starting to realise that the title race is very much on. 

F2: Bortoleto wins first-ever F2 race, Bearman opens his podium account

Gabriel Bortoleto had a race to remember as he took his first-ever F2 victory at Sunday’s Feature Race in Spielberg. Despite starting from third, the Invicta Racing driver had better pace than the rest as he reclaimed the lead after his pit stop to win by a comfortable margin.

Oliver Bearman was assured his first win of the season after taking the lead in the first lap of the Sprint race. The 19-year-old driver benefited significantly from the poor start by pole-sitter Kush Maini, who eventually finished seventh. Bearman defended well from Josep Maria Marti to end Prema’s pointless run.

F3: Browning, Tsolov take their second win of the season during Spielberg weekend

Nikola Tsolov took the Sprint victory in Spielberg after a late overtake just before the Safety Car. The Bulgarian earned his second Sprint Race victory of the year. He finished ahead of his ART Grand Prix teammate Christian Mansell who led the race for a while but came home third. 

Luke Browning led from start to finish in the Spielberg Feature Race to earn his second Formula 3 victory of the season. The Hitech Pulse-Eight driver had his PREMA Racing teammates Gabriele Minì and Dino Beganovic in sight who eventually rounded up the podium. Browning is now in atop the Drivers’ Championship with Mini in second.

Formula E: Porsche’s da Costa does the double in Portland

Antonio Felix da Costa’s dominant performance on both days in Portland made it a hat-trick of wins for the Porsche driver this season. After driving to victory at Race 2 in Shanghai, he extended his winning streak with a double top-place finish at the Portland International Raceway.

The race wins, however, were out of the ordinary on both days. Despite finishing second on Saturday behind winner Mitch Evans, the latter was handed a post-race five-second penalty, eventually handing the win to da Costa.

The Portuguese driver, who picked up damage on his front wing after making contact with Edoardo Mortara, continued despite the issue. He made the most during the race restart and took the lead of the race despite late pressure from Robin Frijns. Da Costa finds himself in fourth position in the Championship standings, as the title race gets tighter.