SUTTON

F1 half-term report – who measures up, who falls short?

It’s summer-break time in Formula 1 – not that the staff of the seven UK-based teams would recognise it as they crank the heating up and gaze out at the latest dismal rainy day – so it’s time to present our half-term wrap-up of the season so far. Beginning on page 18, Alex Kalinauckas takes a look at the running themes of 2023 and how they might play out between now and the end of the season. Meanwhile, Jake Boxall-Legge – that’s Mr Boxall-Legge to you! – brings you his driver reports. Who does ‘Sir’ rank as top of the class, and who’s staying behind for extra tuition?

One driver who was undoubtedly on top of the sport was Tazio Nuvolari. Pre-eminent motorsport historian Doug Nye returns to these pages to tell the tale of the great Italian, who bestrode the pre-war era. You can read that on p34. Talking of Italians, the new Isotta Fraschini Le Mans Hypercar project is delved into by Gary Watkins, who talks to the programme’s key players, on p30.

F1 action may be on hiatus but the sport as a whole is in full flow. Tom Howard was in Finland to see Elfyn Evans produce arguably his greatest drive to date (p40), Lewis Duncan donned his waterproofs at Silverstone as a thrilling British GP for motorcycles warmed up the crowd (p50), and Charles Bradley brings you the latest IndyCar action from the streets of Nashville (p46).

Sadly, the sport lost a key player last week in the form of Neil Brown. The engine maestro leaves behind a huge legacy in such fields as the BTCC, DTM, F3 and historics. We pay tribute on p11.

Marcus Simmons Deputy Editor Marcus.Simmons@autosport.com

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Cover images Andy Hone/Sam Bloxham/Jake Grant/Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images; Kiwihug /Unsplash

PIT & PADDOCK 4 Sulayem targets US, Chinese marques 6 Cassidy joins Evans in Jaguar superteam 8 Frijns set for WEC as he grabs BMW seat 10 Huff to make shock BTCC comeback 13 Opinion: Jake Boxall-Legge 15 Opinion: James Newbold 16 Guest column: Tom Gamble 17 Feedback: your letters

FEATURES 18 Half-term report: how F1 is shaping up 30 Isotta Fraschini’s WEC Hypercar crusade 34 Looking back at the great Tazio Nuvolari

RACE CENTRE 40 WRC Finland: Evans eclipses Rovanpera 46 IndyCar Nashville: Kirkwood’s pedal steel 50 MotoGP Silverstone: Espargaro’s thriller 54 World of Sport: IMSA; DTM; Super GT;

Indy NXT

CLUB AUTOSPORT 65 McGuinness to make Trucks debut 66 Prize money for Equipe Super Sprint 68 Nasamax LMP1 returns to the track 70 Opinion: one-day meetings versus two 71 National Reports: Oulton Park;

Brands Hatch; Donington Park

FINISHING STRAIGHT 76 What’s on this week 79 What could have been: Giorgio Pantano 80 From the archive: 1969 Le Mans 24 Hours 82 My favourite team-mate: Andy Priaulx

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10 AUGUST 2023 AUTOSPORT.COM 3