Extreme E finale was a close-run mud bath

The first Extreme E electric off-roader racing season ended with a nail-biting (and muddy) finale at the Bovington Camp military base in Dorset. 

A week after missing out on an eighth F1 title, Sir Lewis Hamilton’s mood might have been lightened by a first win for his X44 entry, driven by Sébastien Loeb and Cristina Gutiérrez, only to be darkened again by losing the XE title to old nemesis Nico Rosberg.

The 2016 F1 champion’s Rosberg X Racing team, helmed by Johan Kristoffersson and Molly Taylor, endured an uncharacteristically difficult final in the Jurassic X Prix so could finish only fourth. But that was just enough, the Rosberg and Hamilton teams ending the season equal on points but RXR claiming the crown on wins countback. 

Jenson Button’s JBXE outfit ended the year third, completing a clean sweep for teams owned by F1 champions.

Motorsport Greats

Sir Jack Brabham: He won three Formula 1 titles, yet somehow the late Sir Jack Brabham is too often overlooked as a great. The Australian cut his teeth in midgets and on hillclimbs before heading to Europe and establishing himself with Cooper.

Titles in 1959 and 1960 were the first for rear-engined F1 cars and began a revolution. But his greatest achievement came in 1966, when he became the only F1 champion in a car bearing his own name – and all at the age of 40.

He retired from F1 after 1970. David Brabham, the youngest of three successful racing sons, recently revived the family firm.