Motorsport News

Mumbai-based Jehan Daruvala will be competing in the newly launched FIA Formula 3 Championship in 2019. The young racer has been signed by Italy's Team Prema and will be joining Marcus Armstrong as part of the team's three car line-up. Prema is yet to announce its third driver in the series. Mick Schumacher, son of legendary Michael Schumacher is also a part of the Prema Racing family. The new FIA F3 championship replaces GP3 as a Formula 3 support series starting next year. With F3, Daruvala ends his association with Carlin Motorsport in the European F3 championship.

Noida's Buddh International Circuit and the MMRT in Chennai are the obvious candidates for the track venues and the street races will be held in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, and Mumbai, like the layout of the Monaco and Singapore F1 races.

The Sahara Force India F1 team was finally put to rest when the team changed hands from Vijay Mallya to Lawrence Stroll, and was renamed Racing Point Force India. The new Stroll-led consortium of investors decided to drop Force India altogether and keep the name as just 'Racing Point' for 2019. Now, however, it seems that the Silverstone-based team is planning a completely new name that will be revealed ahead of the 2019 season, with Racing Point just being a placeholder.

23-time Isle of Man winner John McGuinness will pilot the Superlight at next year's Isle of Man TT.

Aravind KP has been announced as fourth rider to join the Sherco TVS Rally Factory Team for Dakar 2019. Aravind's name has been announced after the rider recovered completely from his injuries sustained in the PanAfrica Rally earlier this year. In his third outing at Dakar, the 33-year-old joins Michael and Adrien Metge as well as Enduro Champion Lorenzo Santolino at Sherco TVS. Aravind has also been training in Spain and will be riding the Dakar-spec RTR 450 motorcycle across one of the most gruelling rally in the world.

Lance Stroll has been finally confirmed as the new driver for Racing Point Force India. While the team may have only made it official now, Stroll moving to Force India was hardly a surprise and possibly the worst kept secret at Formula 1 this year.

It was a spectacular end to yet another season of the Formula 1 Championship with the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton took this season's 11th win amidst much drama at the Yas Marina circuit, while Fernando Alonso completed the last race (for now) of his F1 career in 11th place, bringing an end to an illustrious career in the sport. The former world champion was also announced as the driver of the day after a fantastic drive. Finishing on the podium though behind Hamilton were Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, who finished second 2.5s adrift, while Red Bull's Max Verstappen finished third, 12.7s behind the race leader.

Driver Robert Kubica has been confirmed to make his Formula 1 come back next year with Williams F1 team. The 2008 Canadian Grand Prix winner was serving as as the reserve and test driver for Williams through the 2018 season, and now steps into the driver's seat in place of Sergey Sirotkin, and will be teaming up with George Russell. Kubica's last race in F1 was in 2010 season finale, after which he suffered severe injuries to his right arm in a rally crash in early 2011. The serious injuries had left him with long-term injuries, which hindered his racing opportunities for several years. The return to F1 in 2019 is big news for the Kubica, who is now 70 per cent left-handed. He was expected to return to racing last year with Williams, however, the team decided to bring Sirotkin instead.