Christian Eckes was a dominant force in Saturday’s NASCAR Truck race at Martinsville, but a rash of late yellows completely changed the complexion of the finish. Several drivers chose to pit for fresh tires, rapidly cutting through the field and one of them had his sights set on the Championship 4.

Taylor Gray drove all the way to the back bumper of Eckes and powered into the race lead. Moments later, Eckes ran into the back of Gray and shot him up the track. While Gray’s title hopes shattered into pieces, more drivers with fresh tires were still charging.

Ben Rhodes, who was already eliminated from the playoffs, then forced his way into the lead. Eckes did not let that stand either, performing yet another bump-and-run to retake the position with three laps to go. He went on to win the race, securing his place in the Championship 4 alongside Grant Enfinger, Corey Heim, and Ty Majeski.

Rhodes finished second in the race, Chase Purdy third, Gray fourth, and Nick Sanchez fifth. Layne Riggs, Corey Heim, Tyler Ankrum, Grant Enfinger, and Stewart Friesen rounded out the top-ten.

“Like I told everybody, I wasn’t going to let us lose this race,” said Eckes as boos erupted from the stands. “The truck was too good. The 17 [Gray] was just hard racing. I feel bad about the 99 [Rhodes]. I just got way too loose entering the corner. Everybody’s (not) really happy with me, but I don’t really care.”

While he was giving his winning interview, an irate Gray was marching down pit road, flanked by NASCAR security and several reporters. He walked all the way to Victory Lane and shared an expletive-filled exchange with Eckes.

“Do you know how many chances I had to ship you into the f****** fence?” asked Gray.

“You should have, I guess,” replied Eckes.

Gray then appeared to say something about next week before shoving Eckes and walking off. Obviously, Gray was still livid.

“I get shipped to the fence when I raced him perfectly clean in (Turns) 1 and 2,” Gray told FOX Sports. “What comes around goes around. I have to race him next year all year long, so I guess he’s got that one for him.”

Gray was eliminated from the playoffs alongside Sanchez, Rajah Caruth, and Tyler Ankrum.

We expected the newly resurfaced track at the Brazillian Grand Prix to cause issues for teams with tyre thermal degradation. Still, nobody foresaw the issue with the bumpiness of the track itself! Most teams have commented on it – though it didn’t stop McLaren from claiming a 1-2 sprint pole position after Friday’s sprint qualifying session. But with Mercedes and Aston Martin struggling, and Max Verstappen taking a 5-place grid penalty, what can we expect over the Brazil GP weekend? Jon Noble and Filip Cleeren chat within the paddock to find out more.

Oscar Piastri pipped his McLaren team-mate Lando Norris to top sprint qualifying at Formula 1’s 2024 Brazilian Grand Prix, with Charles Leclerc third for Ferrari ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.

The McLaren drivers dominated qualifying and took very different approaches to SQ3 compared to their rivals.

Elsewhere, there was a shock SQ2 exit for Lewis Hamilton, while Sergio Perez could only take the changed chassis on his Red Bull RB20 to 13th and Oliver Bearman again shone for Haas.

In SQ3, the McLarens came out very early once on the softs they had all run for the opening two sessions, with rain clouds steadily building up and track temperatures plummeting.

But with softer softs for the 2024 event here, the McLarens had no trouble firing them up, nor keeping them alive on the resurfaced track.

Norris blasted to a 1m08.928s with his first run, with Piastri trailing him before they quickly returned to the pits – in the former’s case for a front wing setting adjustment, while the latter went straight through – before having another attempt on the same set of softs.

Piastri used his second attempt to head Norris by 0.029s with a 1m08.899s, with Norris abandoning his second go after producing a poor middle sector compared to his first attempt.

The best of the single-effort runners in SQ3 was Leclerc, with Verstappen slotting in behind in fourth and Mexico winner Carlos Sainz fifth in the other Ferrari.

Then came George Russell as the sole Mercedes runner in SQ3, as Pierre Gasly, Liam Lawson, Alex Albon and Bearman rounded out the top 10.

Bearman might have done better had he not had a big moment in the Senna S and gone so wide in Turn 2 that he had his time deleted for track limits, before staying on a lap that would not count despite having time to back off and go again, plus with the soft tyres apparently capable of doing multiple laps here.

At the end of SQ2 topped by Norris looking in dominant form at this stage, Bearman and Lawson got through with just a single flying lap in the middle segment compared to most of the rest, while Nico Hulkenberg only had one shot too and he failed to progress.

Hulkenberg was knocked out around the big fallers in Hamilton and Perez, with Franco Colapinto and Valtteri Bottas also eliminated for Williams and Sauber respectively.

Perez’s exit came after he failed to complete his final out-lap in time and so was ordered to park his car in the pits by Red Bull.

In SQ1, which Norris also topped, Colapinto’s last-gasp improvement knocked out Alonso, who had previously jumped from the drop zone with his second and final run on the mediums.

He was joined in exiting at the first hurdle by Esteban Ocon, Yuki Tsunoda and Lance Stroll, who all set personal bests on their final fliers before being shuffled back, plus Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu.

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc has been handed a €10,000 fine, half of which suspended, for swearing in the Mexico Grand Prix’s post-race press conference.

After finishing third in Mexico City, Leclerc used an expletive in the FIA press conference to describe his thinking as he went off the track at Mexico’s final corner, which allowed McLaren driver Lando Norris through to claim second.

“I had one oversteer and then when I recovered from that oversteer, I had an oversteer from the other side and then I was like, ‘f***’,” Leclerc said.

He then realised he might get in trouble over his choice of words given FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem’s recent crackdown on swearing, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen handed a community service penalty for his own use of the word in Singapore.

“Oh, sorry! Oh no, I don’t want to join Max,” Leclerc laughed.

But after investigating the matter on Friday evening in Brazil, the FIA stewards decided to hand the Ferrari driver a €10,000 fine instead, with €5,000 suspended provided there is no repeat offence over the next 12 months.

Explaining their verdict, the stewards argued that Leclerc immediately being apologetic was a mitigating factor in his punishment, and that Leclerc’s offence was not at the same level as Verstappen’s swearing in Singapore.

Carlos Sainz, Scuderia Ferrari, Charles Leclerc, Scuderia Ferrari

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

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“The Stewards reviewed the transcript of the Post-Race Drivers’ Press Conference in Mexico and found that Charles Leclerc, the driver of car 16, used language in response to a somewhat leading question asking him ‘What did you say to yourself’ in relation to the significant moment towards the end of the race when Leclerc was fighting to control the car at the exit of the last corner,” the verdict read.

“In response, Leclerc used coarse language being the accurate recollection of what he thought to himself at the time. Leclerc immediately realized his error and apologized. Such language is not considered suitable for broadcast.

“This is “Misconduct” as defined in Article 20 of the International Sporting Code, and is a breach of Article 12.2.1.k. The Stewards noted that the language was not directed at anyone or any group and that Leclerc immediately apologised.

“During the hearing Leclerc expressed his regret for his momentary lack of judgment and shared that he understood his responsibility as a role model for the sport. The Stewards considered the mitigation factor that Leclerc was immediately apologetic.

“The Stewards while noting that the driver’s contrite behavior conclude that a breach has occurred and a penalty is warranted. The Stewards do not consider that this breach reached the same level as the most recent case and as such chose to levy a fine of €10,000 with €5,000 suspended pending no repeat within 12 months.”

Verstappen therefore remains the only F1 driver to serve community service penalties, with the Dutchman previously joining the FIA stewards at the 2019 Formula E round in Marrakesh as an observer to gain a better understanding of how they worked.

Verstappen was given the penalty for shoving Esteban Ocon in parc ferme at the 2018 Brazilian Grand Prix.

Later on, Verstappen also joined a meeting of the FIA’s International Stewards Programme as part of his community service.

Oscar Piastri says he would be willing to give up a potential victory in the sprint race of Formula 1’s Brazilian Grand Prix to help McLaren team-mate Lando Norris in the championship, despite getting pole position in sprint qualifying on Friday.

Norris trails title favourite Max Verstappen by 47 points after taking 10 out of the Dutchman’s lead in Mexico, and the Briton will have to increase the rate of points he is gaining if he is to overhaul the Red Bull driver by Abu Dhabi’s season finale.

McLaren decided at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix to support Norris in his title bid, with Piastri expected to help his team-mate if the situation called for it. At the time McLaren said Piastri wouldn’t be asked to sacrifice grand prix victories for Norris. But the Australian says he wouldn’t have a problem with handing his partner a less important sprint win, with a one-point difference between each position in the top eight.

“We’ll see what the pace is like tomorrow for both of us,” Piastri told Sky Sports F1. “I think first and second is the first objective, and then we’ll see what the order it is.

“I know Lando is in the running for the drivers’ standings, and for the team it doesn’t matter which way around we are.”

Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

Asked if he would give away a victory, he replied: “Yes, I’ve said I would when we had these discussions. It would be nice to win, but it’s a one-point difference and it’s not the main race, so we’ll see.

“Lando needs the points in the driver standings a lot more than I do. Of course, I still want to win, so I put in the effort and have good pace that I’m sure that won’t go unnoticed.”

Piastri grabbed Sao Paulo’s sprint pole over Norris by a mere 0.029s as McLaren secured a front-row lockout, which has been somewhat of a return to one-lap form for Piastri after struggling to match Norris in qualifying lately.

“I think it was coming together maybe a bit better than we expected, but I think we felt pretty comfortable after FP1 this morning,” he explained.

“The [resurfaced] track was just moving on really quickly, it was like a second and a half quicker by the end. The last lap on softs, they hung on for a second lap, which was nice, and I managed to put it on pole.”

Piastri said McLaren’s new rear wing, which is an option in between its low- and medium-downforce wings, delivered as expected and was a nice little boost on a weekend the papaya team’s direct rivals didn’t bring upgrades.

“Yeah, it’s nice,” he said. “It’s a constant push from the team to try and get the car even quicker, and this wing is a nice new upgrade for us here. We’re pretty happy with it.”

Formula 1 drivers have been caught up by the bumpiness of Interlagos’ new track surface, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri joking “seeing the end of the straight is the first objective” in Saturday’s sprint.

The historic Brazilian Grand Prix venue in Sao Paulo has been completely resurfaced for 2024, and while drivers agreed the new asphalt delivered more grip, they also felt it made the 4.3km loop a lot bumpier than it used to be

“I think everybody was thrown off a bit by just how bumpy the track was,” Piastri said after claiming a sprint pole ahead of McLaren team-mate Lando Norris.

“Seeing the end of the straight is the first objective. It’s bad, it’s really, really bumpy. And I think everyone’s had to change a lot of things on the car to make them somewhat comfortable.

“The grip is actually quite good, it’s just trying to keep all four wheels on the ground at once is not that easy.”

Piastri was not alone in his observations, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen also suffering aboard his Red Bull, which has been historically weaker over bumpy circuits.

“The car was a bit difficult on the bumps,” the world champion said after taking fourth on the sprint grid.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

“They did the resurfacing, but they actually made it worse to drive. It’s extremely bumpy everywhere, so that’s not good for our cars.

“All the bumpy areas, the car is jumping around a lot, and it’s costing me quite a bit of lap time.”

The Mercedes drivers had a similar experience, with George Russell wondering “what happened” when they repaved it and Lewis Hamilton getting flashbacks to Mercedes’ bouncing-affected 2022 season.

“Yeah, the ride is pretty bad on the track, I think for everyone,” Hamilton said. “The track has been resurfaced, and they’ve not done a particularly great job. It’s bumpy for everyone.

“FP1 was like Baku 2022. It was a little bit better, in terms of it wasn’t hitting the deck so badly, so I wasn’t in pain or anything like that. But the thing is hopping through the corners, so it’s very hard to drive.”