Daniel Ricciardo used to rank the US Grand Prix among his favourites on the calendar and, while he’s not on the grid anymore, he’s still making the most of the circus being in town.

The popular Australian F1 driver turned Ford ambassador was out in Arizona over the weekend for the third Raptor Rally, where Ford Raptor owners came from far and wide to congregate in Lake Havasu.

With that event all wrapped up, Ricciardo and co. packed up and hit the road for a road trip over to Austin, Texas to jump in with the USGP festivities.

Probably a fairly short hop, right? Not so much. Lake Havasu to Austin will actually put something like 1,200 miles on your odometer – in other words, nearly five times the distance between the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia and the Singapore Grand Prix, which Valtteri Bottas cycled earlier this month.

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Ricciardo ‘can’t wait’ for Austin road trip

Ricciardo’s lifestyle brand Enchante posted a video of the Aussie climbing into his Ford truck after the weekend’s event, captioned: “Raptor’s packed. First stop, the Nellie E Saloon. The long road to Austin starts now.”

The Enchante founder wrote in a note: “Last night we kicked things off in Lake Havasu at the Ford Raptor Rally, and in a couple of days we’re taking the long way to Austin. And I mean the lonnnng way. Desert, backroads, swimming holes, all of it. Not gonna lie, I can’t wait.”

Enchante and Ford Racing are hosting a pop-up event in Austin over the course of the race weekend, but it’s unclear whether or not the former Red Bull and McLaren driver will attend the track itself.

He and his company were in attendance in Austin last year but, just a year after he was pushed out of the door and his racing career ended, he chose not to actually rock up at COTA at any point.

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Lewis Hamilton‘s brother Nicolas has opened up on their relationship and how he has handled the move to Ferrari.

Nicolas is a half-brother to Lewis through their father Anthony’s side.

Anthony divorced from Lewis’s mother Carmen Larbalestier when the seven-time world champion was two and once he remarried to Linda they had Nicolas in 1992.

Now 34-years-old, Nicolas competes in the British Touring Cars (BTCC) despite suffering from a cerebral palsy that affects how he moves his muscles in the lower half of his body.

Despite his close connections with Lewis, Nicolas’s motorsport career is purposely funded outside of any support from the Ferrari star.

The two remain close, and Nicolas revealed the nature of their relationship, including his assessment on the 41-year-old’s move to Ferrari.

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Nicolas opens up on Lewis relationship

He told The Times: “Me and Lewis, we’re very close. We don’t always tell each other our true feelings, because we feel like we do it through how we show each other our love and our passion towards each other.

“I know it’s [his career] not easy — he makes it look easy sometimes, but he works so hard. He’s gone through some really difficult, tough and dark times, like you would have seen in his first year at Ferrari last year. He’s picked himself up and he’s come out of it and he’s doing well.

“At the end of the day I don’t care whether he’s winning or whether he’s last, I want him to be happy. At the moment he seems happy and so I just want him to keep doing what he’s doing.”

Demonstrating how close the pair are, Lewis invited his brother to Ferrari’s Fiorano test track during the summer to give him the taste on an F1 experience with a three-seater F1 car equipped with a V10 engine.

Nicolas revealed the pride he has for Lewis, saying: “I’ve been a part of Lewis’s career my whole life [but] when you’re in the car, you’re alone, and I got to witness what it was like to be him for five laps or whatever it was.

“I stepped into the car and as I sat down, I literally sat down directly behind his helmet. What really hit me deeply was my pride for him, to really see where we were in that moment. We were in Fiorano, in a Ferrari Formula 1 car, Lewis driving me around.

“We’ve come a long way from the days of just playing games in my bedroom at home.

“He’s pretty much the Ayrton Senna of our generation and even though he’s my brother I’m such a fan of him as a driver. I’ve always felt that as a brother, I’ve always been in the car with him.

“Whatever’s going on I feel like my spirit, my soul has always been with him. So he’s not alone in the car, and this time, physically, I was there with him. It was a day I’ll never forget.”

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Max Verstappen and Álex Palou are both in top form in their respective championships and one day they could yet meet on a racetrack.

Verstappen is right back in form in F1 while Palou is a five-time IndyCar champion, and both have raced in GT3 racing. The Dutchman is hoping they both take on the same race soon.

Since joining IndyCar, the brilliant 29-year-old Palou has not only competed in prototype races in IMSA and at Le Mans, but has also taken part in two GT3 races.

In 2024, and earlier this month, he raced in the Indianapolis 8 Hour with Lone Star Racing’s Mercedes-AMG. His debut race saw him complete 11 laps less due to a transponder issue. In the 2026 edition of the Indy 8H, he didn’t get to race at all after teammate Lin Hodenius was involved in a crash during the fifth round.

There were rumours that the five-time IndyCar champion might join Verstappen and Chris Lulham at Portimão this weekend, but ultimately, Ben Barnicoat was selected. We will have to wait a little longer for the big clash of the titans.

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Verstappen vs Palou: Max wants it

Verstappen is determined to some day share a racetrack with Palou – whether it is as team-mates sharing a car or as competitors battling each other remains to be seen.

“There are so many skilled drivers with years of experience who race these GT3 cars day in and day out,” the Dutchman explained at Portimao when discussing the challenges of the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup. You can watch Verstappen in action live all weekend.

Palou revealed before the Indy 8H how much he enjoys the close competition in GT3 racing, even with the cars being very different. Verstappen completely agrees.

“It makes sense that the differences are minimal,” he said.

“Driving this type of car is a bit outside my comfort zone, but I love the challenge. I enjoy competing across a variety of categories.

“As for Alex, we’ve raced online against each other before. We haven’t shared the track in person yet, but I’m definitely looking forward to the day that changes.”

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