Joey Logano was having a solid day even before his fuel gamble, but it was never supposed to end in victory. Entering the Round of 8, thanks to Alex Bowman’s shocking disqualification the week prior, Logano looked like a real long shot to make the Championship 4. 

But he’s done it — locking himself in before title favorites Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell. Logano credits it as a total team effort. Crew chief Paul Wolfe, spotter Coleman Pressley, engineers Brandon ‘Shaggy’ Pope and Joseph Bisson, even fueler Nick Hensley — he needed all of them to be able to pull this off.

“I don’t think there’s a team out there that works better together than Team Penske,” declared Logano in his winner’s press conference. “That is just in our DNA all the way through. That started years and years and years ago. I can’t even take credit for being part of that.”

What makes it even more impressive is that Logano only has six top-fives this year, and three of those are race wins.

The path to victory

Logano went into Sunday’s race in tenth and steadily moved forward, ending Stage 1 in eighth place, and Stage 2 in fifth. When the pivotal caution flew for a spin by Ty Gibbs with 74 laps remaining, Logano was running eighth for what would be the final restart.

As most of the leaders chose to pit under green for a splash of fuel with about 40 laps left to run, Logano’s team went in a different direction. He was not alone in this decision to try and stretch the field with playoff rival Denny Hamlin right behind him and Daniel Suarez four seconds up the road. Crucially, he was also a full lap ahead of Bell, who led those with fresh tires and a full load of fuel.

With 30 laps to go, a charging Bell was over 20 seconds behind Logano and Suarez, but Logano was quickly slashing away at that margin. He waited patiently, chipping away at Suarez’s lead until he was given the green light to go. With a helpful push from his wounded teammate, Ryan Blaney, Logano began to close rapidly, easily passing Suarez with just six laps left in the race.

It was the first lap Logano had led the entire race. But Bell was still forward and Logano was closing fast. With one more lap, Bell would have likely won the race no matter how much fuel Logano had on board, but the No. 22 team timed it perfectly. Logano crossed the line 0.662s ahead of a shocked Bell, locking himself into the final four.

“I was just focused on the information I was being fed,” explained Logano. “I was going as fast as I felt comfortable going with saving fuel. I knew I couldn’t waste time with Suarez. I knew I had to get by him. Took an extra lap longer than I wanted it to be. Was able to get by him in enough time. Felt like we were in good shape.

“I only knew that because of what Coleman [Pressley, spotter] was telling me up there. He is like, ‘I think we are in good shape. He is not going to catch us if we keep doing what we are doing. As long as you don’t get enough traffic friction by passing cars and not doing it efficiently, you’re going to be able to stay ahead there.’

Joey Logano, Team Penske, Pennzoil Ford Mustang

Photo by: John Harrelson / NKP / Motorsport Images

“The pace was starting to equal out as tires were wearing after a long run like that. That information made me pretty confident. I know Paul [Wolfe, crew chief] well enough now that when I hear it in his voice, he felt pretty confident we were going to make it on gas.”

Logano has been here before, turning a 2022 win at Vegas into his second NASCAR Cup title. Just like this, he doesn’t have to put any effort whatsoever into the rest of this round with all eyes now on Phoenix. “The next two weeks don’t really matter,” he declared. “It’s the advantage that we earned. We know what that advantage is worth. It’s a worth a lot. Our focus tomorrow morning will be on Phoenix, job to finish.”

Should Logano prevail, he will be the first driver to ever win three titles under this format and just the tenth driver in history to ever win three or more. 

Just 10 points separate Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia heading into the Australia-Thailand-Malaysia triple header.

Enea Bastianini and Marc Marquez are now virtually out of the title fight, but are involved in their own duel for third place in the standings.

Event	Date
	10:45
Australian GP FREE PRACTICE 1
Australian GP PRACTICE Advertisement
Australian GP FREE PRACTICE 2
Australian GP QUALIFYING 1
Australian GP QUALIFYING 2
Australian GP SPRINT Advertisement
Australian GP Warm Up
Australian GP Race

2024 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix session timings in different timezones

2024 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix session timings in the UK and Portugal

Friday 18th October 2024

• Free Practice 1: 00:45 – 01:30 BST
• Free Practice 2: 07:00 – 08:00 BST

Saturday 19th October 2024

• Free Practice 3: 00:10 – 00:40 BST
• Qualifying: 00:50 – 01:30 BST
• Sprint: 05:00 BST
• Warm up: 23:40 – 23:50 BST

Sunday 20th October 2024

2024 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix session timings in Europe 

Friday 18th October 2024

• Free Practice 1: 01:45 – 02:30 CEST
• Free Practice 2: 06:00 – 07:00 CEST

Saturday 19th October 2024

• Free Practice 3: 01:10 – 01:40 CEST
• Qualifying: 01:50 – 02:30 CEST
• Sprint: 06:00 CEST

Sunday 20th October 2024

• Warm up: 00:40 – 00:50 CEST
• Race: 05:00 CEST

2024 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix session timings in the US (Eastern Time)

Thursday 17th October 2024

• Free Practice 1:  19:45 – 20:30 ET

Friday 18th October 2024

• Free Practice 2:  00:00 – 01:00 ET 
• Free Practice 3: 19:10 – 19:40 ET 
• Qualifying: 19:50 – 20:30 ET 

Saturday 19th October 2024

• Sprint: 00:00 ET 
• Warm-up: 18:40 – 18:50 ET
• Race:  23:00 ET 

2024 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix session timings in the US (Pacific Time)

Thursday 17th October 2024

• Free Practice 1:  16:45 – 17:30 PT
• Free Practice 2:  21:00 – 22:00 PT

Friday 18th October 2024

• Free Practice 3: 16:10 – 16:40 PT
• Qualifying:  16:50 – 17:30 PT
• Sprint: 21:00 PT

Saturday 19th October 2024

• Warm-up: 15:40 – 15:50 PT
• Race:  20:00 PT

2024 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix session timings in Australia

Friday 18th October 2024

• Free Practice 1: 10:45 – 11:30 AEDT
• Free Practice 2: 15:00 – 16:00 AEDT

Saturday 19th October 2024

• Free Practice 3: 10:10 – 10:40 AEDT
• Qualifying: 10:50 – 11:30 AEDT
• Sprint: 15:00 AEDT

Sunday 20th October 2024

• Warm-up: 09:40 – 09:50 AEDT
• Race: 14:00 AEDT

2024 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix session timings in Japan

Friday 18th October 2024

• Free Practice 1: 08:45 – 09:30 JST 
• Free Practice 2: 13:00 – 14:00 JST 

Saturday 19th October 2024

• Free Practice 3: 08:10 – 08:40 JST 
• Qualifying: 08:50 – 09:30 JST
• Sprint: 13:00 JST

Sunday 20th October 2024

• Warm-up: 07:40 – 07:50 JST
• Race: 12:00 JST

2024 MotoGP Australian Grand Prix session timings in India

Friday 18th October 2024

• Free Practice 1: 05:15 – 06:00 IST 
• Free Practice 2: 09:30 – 10:30 IST

Saturday 19th October 2024

• Free Practice 3: 04:40 – 05:10 IST 
• Qualifying: 05:20 – 06:00 IST
• Sprint: 09:30 IST

Sunday 20th October 2024

• Warm-up: 04:10 – 04:20 IST
• Race: 08:30 IST

Can’t find your country or region in the list? Check the MotoGP schedule page for the broadcast times in your local timezone.

Can I stream the Australian Grand Prix?

MotoGP has its own on-demand streaming service, offering live broadcast of practice, qualifying and the Sprint, as well as highlights. The MotoGP Video pass is available for an annual fee of 139.99 euros. Several local broadcasters also stream MotoGP races on their official websites

Lando Norris labelled his United States Grand Prix weekend a “momentum killer” for his Formula 1 title hopes after losing ground to Max Verstappen.

The McLaren driver had gone into the Austin event 52 points behind his Red Bull rival and well aware that, with time running out, he needed to start cutting the deficit dramatically.

But rather than continuing to close down the margin, Norris actually lost five more points after being classified behind Verstappen in both the sprint and the grand prix.

His efforts on Sunday though were not helped by a controversial five-second penalty for overtaking off the track that dropped him from third on the road ahead of Verstappen to behind his rival.

Asked how much the weekend had impacted his title prospect, Norris said: “I mean, quite a bit. It’s a momentum killer.

“But we came in here with our mind open, not expecting to dominate or just win or anything. The fact that Ferrari was so quick showed they’re just as competitive.

“Even if I had come around Turn 1 in first, I would never have finished first or second and only could have finished third.

“The one guy I needed to beat was Max, and that’s the guy I didn’t beat. So, it was an unsuccessful weekend all in all.

“But we gave it a good shot. I tried. It wasn’t good enough, and we have work to do, and I’ve work to do on myself.”

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

While McLaren’s form in the United States was not as good as it has been in recent race weekends, team boss Andrea Stella said he was not surprised that things were more difficult this time out.

He said that the contrast in pace, between dominating in Singapore in the last race and being on the back foot a little in Austin, was down to track characteristics.

“Compared to Singapore here, there’s quite a lot more low-speed braking into low-speed corners, plus wind, and we know that in these conditions, not necessarily our car performs at the best.

“It is not as good as in some medium speed corners, low wind conditions, which we had in Singapore, we had in Zandvoort, and we had in Hungary.

“We know that these three venues that I’ve just mentioned do suit our car, but here I would have expected this event to be the most difficult of the remaining six events.”

Stella also thinks it important to understand that Ferrari’s dominant form in Austin was not a big shock, because analysis of recent races shows that perhaps the Italian squad had not maximised its chances before.

“They have been quick over the previous races pretty consistently,” he added. “If anything, they have not been capable of maximising their potential.

“In Baku, Leclerc, in fairness, was definitely in condition to win the race. In Singapore, we were expecting Leclerc to be competitive for pole position and the same in the race. So, we are not surprised that Ferrari is so close.

“I think the next circuits should be more suitable to the characteristics of our car. We also have to keep developing the car.

“Here, we took some developments to the front of the car, but they were nothing too large in terms of potential lap time impact. We have a couple more things that are coming in the next two races, and we will see if we are in a condition to alter the competitiveness of the car.”

Additional reporting by Alex Kalinauckas

Red Bull boss Christian Horner has backed the US GP stewards over the penalty given to McLaren’s Lando Norris after his battle with Formula 1 title rival Max Verstappen, calling it a “black-and-white” case.

Norris was fighting for the final podium position at the Circuit of the Americas when he made an overtake around the outside at Turn 12, which Verstappen defended robustly and, with both cars leaving the circuit and continuing, the British driver kept hold of the position.

McLaren expected Verstappen to be on the receiving end of an investigation for forcing its driver off-track when defending, much like Mercedes’ George Russell had been earlier in the race in battle with Valtteri Bottas’s Sauber.

However, the stewards instead decided Norris was the one at fault and handed him a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

The Woking-based outfit condemned the decision that reversed placings in the final results and saw Verstappen extend his lead to 57 points in the race for the title, while Mercedes’ team principal Toto Wolff suggested ‘bias’ in the decision-making.

But Horner has insisted the call was the correct one, explaining: “The racing between the two of them was competitive and great to watch and obviously, all the drivers know acutely what the rules are.

“They discuss these issues and particular corners in the briefings with the various stewards and driver stewards and race directors.

“The pass was made off-track. We’ve been on the receiving end of that, in fact here, I think against Kimi, 2018. So for us, it was crystal clear that the pass had been made off the track, so he should have given the place back. He chose not to so therefore there was a penalty. So for us, it was very much a black-and-white scenario.”

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, battle into turn 1

Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images

On the perceived inconsistency of stewarding across the weekend, in particular, with Russell and Yuki Tsunoda both penalised when on the inside of the corner for pushing rivals wide, Horner replied: “I think it’s very difficult for the stewards and every incident is different, so you have to look at every incident individually.

“When you’re on the receiving end of it, it’s not nice. As I say, we’ve been on the receiving end of it numerous times, not just at this track, but at other tracks. So they all know what’s at stake.

“What I perhaps didn’t understand was: it was clear there was going to be a penalty, or it looked pretty clear there was going to be a penalty, with the car advantage and tyre advantage that McLaren had at that point of the race.

“It looked like he went to give the place back up at Turn 1, but there was some confusion there. If he’d given the place back immediately, he probably would have had enough pace to make the pass.”

Verstappen had also pushed Norris wide at the first corner of the race in a move that allowed eventual race winner Charles Leclerc to scamper up the inside and into the lead.

That incident was dismissed despite bearing resemblance to the move that earned the Dutchman a penalty at the Las Vegas Grand Prix last season when fighting Leclerc on lap one, but Horner insisted: “We discussed this many, many times, it goes back to Niki Lauda making an impassioned plea to Charlie Whiting of just let them race.

“It was agreed then, for the first lap it used to be, now it’s very much the first corner, let them race and that was a classic case of that and they all know that.”

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38 battle into the first corner, followed by Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24, Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

Given the gravity of the decision in the battle between both for the drivers’ title – and with Norris’s belief the verdict was rushed – Horner was asked whether he felt the stewards could have held a hearing post-race.

“I think it was a slam dunk and the problem is, again, we then have the arguments of you want the right people on the podium,” explained Horner.

“So you have this… It happened so many times that I actually think the stewards dealt with it pretty rapidly and decently.”