Max Verstappen was victorious at the Miami Grand Prix by passing Charles Leclerc and then resisting the pressure from the Ferrari driver.

Carlos Sainz finished in third position ahead of Sergio Perez, with George Russell coming home in fifth ahead of Lewis Hamilton after gaining so much ground with the safety car timing and then beating his Mercedes teammate in battle afterwards.

At the start, Leclerc led away from pole position in P1, while alongside his teammate Sainz could not make a similarly quick getaway from away from the racing line on the right-hand side of the track.

That meant Verstappen was able to quickly get alongside the second Ferrari and the defending champion went wheel-to-wheel with Sainz through the first corner before passing with a forceful move in to the second corner sweep through which they were soon blasting.

Leclerc had a 0.8 seconds lead at the end of the first lap of 57 and quickly moved to pull clear of Verstappen’s DRS range by the time it was activated on the third lap.

For the opening phase of the race, Leclerc would gain three-four tenths each time through the first sector before Verstappen’s superior top speed brought him back towards the Ferrari along the long straights in the second two thirds of the circuit.

Leclerc’s lead reached a maximum of 1.4 seconds at the start of lap six, just as he had set a then fastest lap in the high one minute, 33 seconds, but soon after this a dark band of rubber appeared on his right front tyre.

Verstappen, informed his rival was struggling to preserve the mediums tyres all the leaders had started on, then began to edge back towards the Ferrari.

At the end of lap eight, Leclerc slid exiting the Turn 17 hairpin and Verstappen arrived right on his gearbox, moving alongside as they ran down the pit straight and then taking the lead with a simple pass into Turn 1, Leclerc opting not to fight too hard.

On the next lap, Leclerc pushed hard to keep up through the first sector that favour’s Ferrari’s higher downforce package, but was dropped as Verstappen ran down every subsequent straight and was out of DRS threat after two laps.

The Red Bull was steadily able to build a lead, aided by Leclerc locking up and sliding deep at Turn 17 on lap 12, which cost him a second and meant at the end of that tour Verstappen’s lead had reached 2.6 seconds.

That was 4.2 seconds by lap 21 – Leclerc being told Ferrari was moving to its “Plan D” strategy, while Red Bull informed Verstappen his right front tyre management was making the key difference.

Behind the leaders, Sainz had soon fallen back, with Perez initially following him closely before losing over five seconds as his engine developed an issue that Red Bull had to issue a steering wheel setting fix to correct.

Leclerc was able to set competitive times at this stage, but could not do so consistently and with Verstappen able to cover him off each time anyway, so Ferrari called him in to switch to the hards at the end of lap 24, just after he had reported his car was “so difficult to drive”.

Red Bull left Verstappen out for two more laps before he was switched on the hards, gaining another 0.8 seconds with a quicker service from his mechanics compared to those working on Leclerc’s car earlier.

Verstappen led by 7.5 seconds at the start of the second stint, which Leclerc initially cut with a series of fastest laps into the high one minute, 32 seconds, before the lead responded with an even quicker best time and restore and then maintain his advantage.

Much like at the start of the race, Leclerc regularly gained several tenths through the twisty first sector before Verstappen took back time later in the lap – the pair trading fastest laps but the gap between then staying stable.

Heading into the final third, Verstappen led by 7.8 seconds, with Red Bull seemingly only concerned about a threat of rain, as clouds built up above the Miami Gardens track.

But a serene had no chance to play out after the safety car was called out on lap 41 after Pierre Gasly and Lando Norris collided, putting the McLaren driver out just past the start of the long, meandering acceleration zone that follows the fake marina at Turn 8.

Gasly was touring slowly having just had an earlier collision with Fernando Alonso at Turn 1 as they fought in the lower reaches of the top 10 and when the AlphaTauri ran wide through Turn 8 Norris moved to overtake on its right-hand side.

But Gasly appeared to drift left, unaware Norris was coming by, reporting his “car doesn’t turn” with a problem, and the contact spun Norris around and knocked off his right-rear, after which the race was neutralised for five laps, during which Perez pitted from fourth to go back to the hards.

At the restart, Verstappen easily pulled clear of Leclerc, while Perez pressured Sainz heavily onto the pit straight but was rebuffed on the outside line into Turn 1.

There followed a thrilling 11-lap sprint to the finish, with Leclerc able to stay within DRS threat for much of the remaining action and putting Verstappen under severe pressure.

Leclerc came closest to making a pass with a look to the inside of Turn 11 at the end of the long, curving run from the ‘marina’, but was pinched on the inside line and lost ground – never getting alongside the leader.

He closed in again, but clattering the kerbs hard at the chicane on lap 52 meant he dropped from 0.5 seconds behind to 0.8 seconds and as Verstappen’s superior top speed then came into play on the next straight the writing was on the wall for the Ferrari driver.

On the next lap, Leclerc fell out of DRS range on the back straight and never recovered it – Verstappen easing clear to win by 3.7 seconds.

Sainz took the final podium spot despite his tyres being much older than those on the following Perez, who had closed in again after his restart attack did not pay off.

On lap 52, Perez, still down on power after his earlier issue, made a late lunge at the first corner, but when Sainz swept right and the pair nearly touched the Red Bull driver locked up and went deep, allowing the Ferrari back into third, which he did not lose from there.

George Russell finished fifth after gaining massively under the safety car – the Mercedes driver having started in P12 on the hards and running a very long first stint in the hope of a race interruption.

He got his wish and so was able to take the mediums while the rest where travelling slowly and restarted behind Lewis Hamilton, who had recovered from a slow first lap where he climbed over the Turn 1 kerbs and was then tapped by Alonso at the next turn, cost him momentum.

Hamilton recovered to run sixth behind Valtteri Bottas at the restart, with the Finn then gifting the Mercedes pair a place when he glanced the wall exiting Turn 17 – after which Russell came out on top of a wheel-to-wheel fight with his illustrious teammate going through the Turns 11-12 sequence.

He had to repass Hamilton at the same spot with DRS when the seven-time champion had nipped back ahead late on, but Russell held on from there to finish fifth.

Bottas was seventh ahead of Esteban Ocon, who benefitted from a late Turn 1 shunt between Sebastian Vettel and Mick Schumacher.

The pair had both been running in the points when Ocon attacked Schumacher at Turn 17 on lap 53, with Vettel passing both in one move but giving DRS to Schumacher as they ran onto the pit straight.

There was contact between the Aston Martin and the Haas at Turn 1, which spun Vettel around broke Schumacher’s front wing, the former later retiring in the pits with damage and the latter coming home P15 having missed the chance to score his first Formula 1 career points.

Alonso, who was given a five-second time addition for his clash with Gasly, took ninth, with Alex Albon completing the top ten for Williams.

Zhou Guanyu was the other retirement, ordered to stop in the pits during the early laps.

Congratulations to Max Verstappen and Red Bull in winning this Miami Grand Prix. The event was overhyped by Formula 1 standards as this is a new race in terms of location and excitement but the actual racing was simply lacking. Only the late safety car made it entertaining. Still, important championship points scored.

Miami Grand Prix race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:34:24.258
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 3.786
3 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 8.229
4 Sergio Perez Red Bull 10.638
5 George Russell Mercedes 18.582
6 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 21.368
7 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 25.073
8 Esteban Ocon Alpine 28.386
9 Fernando Alonso Alpine 32.128
10 Alex Albon Williams 32.365
11 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 35.902
12 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 37.026
13 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 40.146
14 Nicholas Latifi Williams 49.936
15 Mick Schumacher Haas 73.305s
16 Kevin Magnussen Haas DNF
17 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin DNF
– Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri DNF
– Lando Norris McLaren DNF
– Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo DNF

Charles Leclerc led a Scuderia Ferrari 1-2 in Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix qualifying ahead of Carlos Sainz, while a last-lap mistake from Max Verstappen dropped the defending champion from provisional pole to third position.

Verstappen led after the first runs in Q3 with a time of one minute, 28.991 seconds, with Leclerc and Sainz trailing – just 0.080 seconds covering all three.

On the final runs, Leclerc headed the pack and was up on his own personal best time from the off, then taking the best time in the middle sector to roar to a one minute, 28.796 seconds.

Running behind, Sainz registered a stunning first sector 0.2 seconds quicker than his teammate, but he lost time as the lap went on and he ended up 0.190 seconds adrift.

But that was still enough to slot him ahead of Verstappen’s run one time, which secured second position on the grid for Sunday’s race as the Red Bull driver abandoned his final effort.

Verstappen had to catch a massive oversteer snap he encountered after throwing his RB18 through the fast, flowing Turns 5 and 6, sliding off at the latter corner and winding up 0.6 seconds down on Leclerc in sector one – after which he toured back to the finish line and accepting his defeat with the note that he “fucked it”.

Sergio Perez took fourth for Red Bull ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton.

Pierre Gasly took seventh, with Lando Norris, Yuki Tsunoda and Lance Stroll rounding out the top ten.

In Q2, Fernando Alonso set his best time right at the end, but could not reach the top ten shootout as he was eliminated in P11, on spot ahead of FP2 pace-setter George Russell.

Russell went for most of Q2 without a time on the board as he struggled with wild oversteer snaps through the track’s flowing first sector and porpoising elsewhere, but finally reached the top ten with his final effort.

But that came nearly two minutes before the middle segment of qualifying had finished and he did not have enough time to return to the pits for fresh tyres and so was pushed down the order and eliminated.

He finished ahead of Sebastian Vettel, who lost time by sliding out of the chicane at the end of the second sector for his P13 result, ahead of McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo and Haas driver Mick Schumacher.

In Q1, a series of late improvements from several drivers languishing down the order after the early running – including Hamilton and Alonso – shuffled Kevin Magnussen down to P16 and out.

Zhou Guanyu was knocked out in P17, frustrated to hit heavy traffic at the final corners of his last flying lap, describing the scenes as “dangerous” and urging Alfa Romeo to report the incident to the sport’s governing body, the FIA.

Williams had hoped Alex Albon could replicate his strong speed FP3, where he finished ninth, but he rued not setting personal best times in the final two sectors of his last lap, which left him down in P18.

That was ahead of Nicholas Latifi in the other Williams, who set a personal best right at the very end of Q1 but could not climb off the back row of the grid for Sunday’s main event.

Esteban Ocon took no part in qualifying after a crack was discovered in his chassis following his heavy crash at the chicane in FP3 and he will start the race last as a result.

So congratulations to Ferrari with this front row lock-out. Championship leader Charles Leclerc achieved a brilliant pole position to beat Max Verstappen and edged ahead of his teammate Carlos Sainz. Sunday’s Miami Grand Prix is going to be interesting as this is the first time the drivers will go racing. Hopefully a good race on Sunday.

Qualifying times, Miami:
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:28.796
2 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:28.986
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:28.991
4 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:29.036
5 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1:29.475
6 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:29.625
7 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 1:29.690
8 Lando Norris McLaren 1:29.750
9 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:29.932
10 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:30.676
11 Fernando Alonso Alpine 1:30.160
12 George Russell Mercedes 1:30.173
13 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 1:30.214
14 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 1:30.310
15 Mick Schumacher Haas 1:30.423
16 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:30.975
17 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1:31.020
18 Alex Albon Williams 1:31.266
19 Nicholas Latifi Williams 1:31.325
20 Esteban Ocon Alpine No time

Max Verstappen led home a Red Bull Racing 1-2 in Imola as Charles Leclerc’s late spin threw away an opportunity for Ferrari to finish on the podium.

The current world champion made a great start in slippery conditions following a pre-race shower at Imola to jump rival Leclerc and then he took control of the race with a run of fastest laps.

With Leclerc losing a position to Perez into the opening sequence of corners, Saturday sprint race winner Verstappen did not look under threat as he went on to win by 16.5 seconds.

Ferrari had rolled the dice with a late pitstop to put Leclerc on the fastest available tyre before Red Bull did the same, but as Leclerc attempted to reel in the leaders, he spun to sixth.

The full grid opted to start on intermediates, all running a brand-new set of Pirelli except for Lewis Hamilton, who instead selected a set of scrubbed grooved tyres.

Verstappen overcame his wheelspin issues that hampered his sprint getaway by launching cleanly and pulling from the left-side of the grid to cover any potential threat off the line.

But Leclerc was much slower away, allowing Perez to get the jump on the Ferrari for second and then he had to defend from Norris, who squeezed the Ferrari into fourth at Tamburello.

There, Carlos Sainz torrid run of form continued as he ended up beached in the gravel after tangling with Daniel Ricciardo through the second part of the chicane.

It appeared as though Ricciardo touched the kerb and slid wide to tag Sainz into a spin – the incident passed without investigation. Ricciardo subsequently pitted and resumed down in P18.

Sainz was then stuck on the outside and duly retired as Mick Schumacher dropped from P10 to P17 after a half-spin, and as his rear-axle slid he tagged the sidepod of Fernando Alonso.

The safety car was eventually called at the end of the opening lap to pick up leader Verstappen, with Perez in second over Norris, Leclerc and Haas driver Kevin Magnussen.

George Russell, meanwhile, enjoyed a lightning launch to progress from P11 into sixth, as the Aston Martins of Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll made similar progress to climb four spots.

Verstappen turned down the choice from the pitwall to dive in for slicks and the rest of field stuck to their intermediates despite reports of the track drying.

The safety car pulled in at the end of lap four, and the Red Bulls aced the restart to run away by 1.5 seconds over Norris, who covered off a potential challenge from Leclerc into Tamburello.

It took until lap eight for Leclerc to demote the McLaren. Norris oversteered out of Rivazza to allow Leclerc to latch onto his slipstream and dart past on the inside into Tamburello.

From there, the Ferrari driver had a 6.2 seconds deficit to Verstappen and sat 3.3 seconds adrift of Perez.

Over the next seven tours, those gaps condensed to leave Verstappen in front by 5.5 seconds over his Red Bull teammate as Leclerc sat 1.9 seconds in arrears of Perez.

Verstappen then indicated over team radio that he was ready for slick tyres in the event of a safety car but remained on track for the time being as Ricciardo rolled the dice on mediums.

Ricciardo immediately started a run of personal best sector times to indicate the crossover from inters to the yellow-walled C4 Pirellis.

Although the Ferrari crew emerged into the pitlane, Verstappen and Leclerc stayed put as Perez and Russell – who had eventually fought his way past Magnussen at Variante Alta after running deep into Tamburello – were the leading runners to dive in.

Leclerc had clear air to close the 8 seconds gap to Verstappen until next time around, on lap 19, the top two shot into their pit boxes.

Leclerc came out in front of Perez but with the new-for-2022 tyre temperature regulations, struggled on the cooler rubber and fell back to third.

Perez, having passed at the Villeneuve chicane, again provided a buffer for Verstappen who stretched the legs of the RB18 to lead by 7.5 seconds.

Leclerc, now with his tyres up to temperature, might have repassed Perez for second after the Mexican locked his front-left into Variante Alta and skipped the chicane to hit the grass.

But while Leclerc could close, with DRS still disabled despite the whole field switching to mediums, he could not pass and again settled in behind the Red Bull.

Leclerc had struggled, unlike Verstappen, to manage the graining of the front-right tyre in the sprint. Verstappen looked to have retained his superiority as his lead exceeded 10s by lap 32.

The defending champion began to dip into the low one minute, 20 seconds each lap, running 0.3 seconds quicker than Perez, and even lapping the struggling Mercedes of Hamilton on lap 40.

With Leclerc’s pursuit of Perez fading, Ferrari called him in for a set of softs on lap 50 and he only took one DRS zone to streak past Norris to resume in third place.

Red Bull responded over the next two laps by pitting first Perez and then Verstappen for softs, which brought Leclerc onto Perez’s six.

Leclerc had a seven-tenth gap only to Perez but on lap 53, he clattered the kerbs at the Variante Alta chicane and spun to the outside wall.

He broke an endplate although hit the wall square on to avoid suspension damage, resuming to pit for a new front wing and another set of softs and returned to the track down in ninth place.

That relieved the pressure on the Red Bull as Verstappen who, despite reporting some lap drops of rain, crossed the line to take his second full GP victory of the season, the same tally as Leclerc.

He landed the point for fastest lap to boot.

Perez delivered second place over Norris, who completed the podium another 18.3 seconds behind.

Russell bagged fourth, despite Mercedes not adjusting his front-wing aero balance at his pitstop, but he still came out on top in an entertaining late scrap with Valtteri Bottas.

Leclerc recovered to sixth after a late show of damage limitation to fight past Vettel and Tsunoda, while Magnussen and Stroll completed the top ten.

Alexander Albon’s much improved pace on Sunday for Williams merited P11 ahead of Gasly, while Hamilton was unable to pass the AlphaTauri despite a protracted chase.

Ocon landed P14 following a five-second penalty for an unsafe release during the switch from inters to slicks, which forced Hamilton to lift off in the pitlane and drop a place.

Zhou was P15 over Nicholas Latifi and Schumacher, who spun for the second time, while Ricciardo stopped for a set of hard tyres before rounding out the finishers in P18.

So a perfect weekend for Max Verstappen. Pole position, sprint race winner and victorious in the main Grand Prix. With his championship rival Charles Leclerc only taking P6, this result is much needed for the sake of the title.

Imola race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:32.07.986
2 Sergio Perez Red Bull 16.527
3 Lando Norris McLaren 34.834
4 George Russell Mercedes 42.506
5 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 43.181
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 56.072
7 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 61.110
8 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 70.892
9 Kevin Magnussen Haas 75.260
10 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +1 lap
11 Alex Albon Williams +1 lap
12 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri +1 lap
13 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +1 lap
14 Esteban Ocon Alpine +1 lap
15 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo +1 lap
16 Nicholas Latifi Williams +1 lap
17 Mick Schumacher Haas +1 lap
18 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren +1 lap
– Fernando Alonso Alpine DNF
– Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari DNF

Max Verstappen recovered from a bad start to pass Charles Leclerc to take victory in the sprint race at Imola. It was an exciting duel between the defending champion and Leclerc in the Ferrari.

The defending champion preserved his soft Pirellis until the closing seven laps of the 21-tour sprint to mount a late charge when it looked as though Leclerc was in control.

With the aid of DRS and as his Ferrari rival battled oversteer, Verstappen dived around the outside into Tamburello and kept his car on track to take the win and pole for the main Grand Prix on Sunday.

Leclerc had nailed his launch and with the kink on the main straight placing him on the inside, he could sprint past a wheel-spinning Verstappen to seize first into Tamburello.

Verstappen next had to ensure he retained second as Lando Norris threatened around the outside into the first chicane aboard his McLaren, but the defending champion held firm.

A super-aggressive Perez demoted Fernando Alonso and then lunged past Daniel Ricciardo for a quick rise to fifth, while Ricciardo in turn briefly tagged fourth-placed Kevin Magnussen in the concertina.

But the first lap was soon interrupted by a yellow flag then safety car when 14th-starting Zhou Guanyu and Pierre Gasly, who lined up in 17th, came to blows.

At the Piratella left-hander, the front right of Gasly’s AlphaTauri tagged the rear-left wheel on the Alfa Romeo, which sent it spinning across the track into the inside wall.

Zhou’s car suffered terminal suspension damage, while Gasly persevered with a broken wheel rim back to the pits and swapped for another set of softs to resume behind Alexander Albon in P18.

When the safety car peeled in, Leclerc escaped without a major threat from Verstappen as the points leader swiftly established a lead a touch over 1s to remain out of DRS range.

Leclerc settled a little over the 1s threshold for three tours and then on lap seven, set what was at the time the fastest lap of the race to stretch his cushion to 1.5 seconds over the RB18.

It looked as though Verstappen might struggle to find a reply, but then the gap began to close back under a second thanks to a series of personal best sectors for the Dutch racer.

Leclerc had not made an error, as Verstappen brought the gap below a second and then used DRS and the slipstream out of the final corner to bring the difference down to half a second.

But in his pursuit, Verstappen suffered a spike of oversteer to allow the gap to creep up to 0.8 seconds again, before Leclerc’s soft tyre began to deteriorate as he too ran wide at Villeneuve.

That brought Verstappen close out of Rivazza and gave him the slipstream, which combined with DRS, allowed him to make his move around the outside into Tamburello.

Leclerc gave his rival space at the first apex, and Verstappen kept within the painted lines to make the move stick before romping to a 1.5 seconds lead before sealing the win by 2.9 seconds.

Meanwhile, it was teammate Sergio Perez that could make major gains after his struggles in a wet qualifying session had him starting seventh.

The Mexican sailed past a defenceless Kevin Magnussen – both Haas drivers and Nicholas Latifi the only cars to skip softs and start on medium tyres – into Tamburello for fourth.

And Perez kept putting the slipstream out of the final corner for the run into the chicane to good use as he then copied the manoeuvre on Norris with the help of DRS to climb to third.

The second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, starting P10 after his Q2 mistake, could make similar progress, first dispatching Alonso – who had initially struggled to leave his grid box on the formation lap – into Tamburello.

Sainz could then make a similar move on medium-shod Magnussen, then Ricciardo before eviscerating a five-second gap to Norris to pass the Briton for a fourth-placed start in the Grand Prix.

Norris led Ricciardo for a McLaren 5-6 ahead of Valtteri Bottas, a declining Magnussen and Fernando Alonso, who noticeably had to fight several spikes of oversteer.

Mick Schumacher completed the top ten on medium tyres, as George Russell maintained his starting place of P11 ahead of a climbing Yuki Tsunoda, Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton.

So that’s pole position for the main Imola Grand Prix. The bonus eight points for this sprint victory is crucial for Max Verstappen in terms of closing the gap to the championship leader Charles Leclerc. Bring on the race for another duel between the Red Bull and Ferrari on Sunday.

Sprint race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 30:39.567
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 2.975
3 Sergio Perez Red Bull 4.721
4 Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari 17.578
5 Lando Norris McLaren 24.561
6 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 27.740
7 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 28.133
8 Kevin Magnussen Haas 30.712
9 Fernando Alonso Alpine 32.278
10 Mick Schumacher Haas 33.773
11 George Russell Mercedes 36.284
12 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 38.298
13 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 40.177
14 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 41.459
15 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 42.910
16 Esteban Ocon Alpine 43.517
17 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 43.794
18 Alex Albon Williams 48.871
19 Nicholas Latifi Williams 52.017
– Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo DNF

Max Verstappen will start the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix sprint event on pole position after a heavy interrupted qualifying session at Imola.

The Red Bull driver persevered through five red flags to triumph over Charles Leclerc in changeable qualifying conditions.

Stop-start rain and cool tyre temperatures led to a crash-strewn session that was finally abandoned with 40 seconds remaining on the clock after Lando Norris hit the wall in Q3.

That prevented a final one-lap shootout for pole on the grid for the Saturday sprint contest, which left Verstappen atop the times ahead of Leclerc, Norris and Kevin Magnussen.

On his second and crucial lap on intermediate tyres in Q3, despite a yellow flag for a stricken Valtteri Bottas, the Red Bull driver posted a one minute, 27.999 seconds to move ahead of Leclerc.

The defending champion was quick to confirm he had lifted off and his lap time remained on the board despite the yellow, which soon developed into a red.

That move to back off proved critical when the session resumed only for Norris to crash in what had looked to be a three-minute final run to decide top spot.

Before anyone had set a time in Q3, had brought out a brief red flag after a wet-dry track caught the Haas driver out in the more treacherous second half of the lap.

He lost the rear of the car at the second entry of Acque Minerali and spun across the gravel but kept the rears spinning to eventually rejoin, but not before the session was halted.

Alonso was ready at the end of the pitlane when Q3 resumed after a five-minute delay, the Alpine driver then fighting the car and slithering off the road at Acque Minerali.

Perez and Verstappen aborted the second apex at Tamburello, the Red Bull duo both locking the front-left to run over the gravel as Leclerc set the initial pace with his one minute, 28.788 seconds effort.

Verstappen soon crossed over the timing line just 0.02 seconds adrift as he comfortably kept Norris at bay before running for another one minute, 27.999 seconds flying lap that stormed to provisional pole.

The Red Bull driver was quick to confirm over team radio that he had still backed off considerably and changed down a gear to account for a yellow flag in the final sector.

That caution then morphed into another red flag in response to Valtteri Bottas parking up in his Alfa Romeo C42 on the downhill approach to Rivazza with a technical issue.

When the track reopened a quarter of an hour later for a final three-minute dash, the remaining eight drivers queued in the pitlane ahead of a one-lap shootout for pole.

But neither Verstappen nor Leclerc looked like improving when Norris binned his McLaren also at Acque Minerali, which settled the starting order and allowed Verstappen to land the first pole of his title defence as only one Ferrari driver was there to challenge him.

Fresh from signing a contract extension at Ferrari and in front of the team’s home crowd, Carlos Sainz put his F1-75 into the wall on the exit of the penultimate Rivazza corner in Q2.

With the threat of rain returning, the first timed lap was predicted to be critical. Sainz flashed over the timing line in one minute, 18.990 seconds and he had moved top ahead of Lando Norris.

Verstappen immediately improved and brought that benchmark time down to a one minute, 18.793 seconds to take first position as Sainz was told over team radio to push for a second flying effort.

But as he turned in to the second apex of the Rivazza left, the right-rear wheel appeared to run over the painted track border, and he span across the gravel and into the outside wall.

The front-left assembly bore the brunt, and the red flag was thrown before rain duly arrived.

After a nine-minute delay to retrieve the damaged Ferrari, conditions had deteriorated sufficiently to ensure no drivers rushed to return to the circuit with 11 minutes to run.

With the risk too great to attempt a lap on slicks, both Mercedes drivers were eliminated. George Russell, whose car had broken a floor stay in FP1 due to the extreme nature of the porpoising, missed the cut off on his only flying lap by almost six tenths to land only P11.

He beat the Haas of Mick Schumacher while Lewis Hamilton failed to make Q3 for the second time in three races – Russell having struggled to generate tyre temperature all day.

In P14, Zhou Guanyu was another casualty of the declining conditions despite the Alfa Romeo driver having ended up fourth come the chequered flag of Q1 behind Sainz.

Lance Stroll rounded out the 15 drivers and had vacated the car with three minutes to run, although teammate Vettel emerged from the pits a few second later along with Bottas, Alonso, Leclerc and Perez for Q3 sighters on intermediate tyres. None improved their time.

In the first part of qualifying, a downpour that persisted overnight on Thursday had all but stopped, with the support series creating a dry line to allow most drivers to begin on softs.

Alexander Albon caused a red flag only six minutes into Q1 as the Williams FW44 endured its latest brake failure, like that which hit Nicholas Latifi in Bahrain testing.

In the cool, damp conditions at Imola, Albon complained of losing his brake pedal altogether as he was captured crawling around with flames shooting out of the right-rear brake duct.

This was swiftly followed by a small explosion inside the assembly – likely to be the brake disc failing as it subsequently tore chunks out of the suspension to drop debris on track.

Albon had yet to set a time as Q1 was halted, while Lance Stroll led on a one minute, 23.419 seconds to find 1.1 seconds over fellow soft-tyre runner Valtteri Bottas and Max Verstappen on intermediates.

The 18-minute Q1 run was also a struggle on the other side of the Williams garage as Nicholas Latifi suffered a spin while accelerating on the exit of the Villeneuve chicane.

He locked the fronts to slow the car before he ran over the sodden grass, but as Latifi tried to return to the circuit, he lost the car again and spun to bring out temporary yellow flags.

Latifi eventually recovered to prevent a second stoppage, as Hamilton ran 1.6 seconds adrift of the pace to just scrape into Q2 by only 0.004 seconds while as per FP1, he struggled to heat the tyres.

That left Yuki Tsunoda to be the first driver to miss out on progressing into the second part of qualifying. Although, he did still find 0.25 seconds over AlphaTauri stablemate Pierre Gasly.

Latifi ran to P18 fastest, while Esteban Ocon was hobbled for a significant portion by a gearshift issue to ensure his Alpine remained in the garage to only beat Albon for P19.

Qualifying positions for the sprint:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:27.999
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:28.778
3 Lando Norris McLaren 1:29.131
4 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:29.164
5 Fernando Alonso Alpine 1:29.202
6 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 1:29.742
7 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:29.808
8 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1:30.439
9 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 1:31.062
10 Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari No time
11 George Russell Mercedes 1:20.757
12 Mick Schumacher Haas 1:20.916
13 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:21.138
14 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1:21.434
15 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:28.119
16 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:20.474
17 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 1:20.732
18 Nicholas Latifi Williams 1:21.971
19 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:22.338
20 Alex Albon Williams No time

Charles Leclerc took a comfortable victory at the Australian Grand Prix, scoring 26 points while the defending champion Max Verstappen scored nothing after retiring from the race.

The Ferrari driver led throughout the returning Melbourne event, which was disrupted by two safety cars – after which Leclerc dropped Verstappen each time, despite coming under heavy pressure from the 2021 title winner at the second restart.

Sergio Perez finished second ahead of George Russell, who was a big gainer under the second safety car, but had to hold off a charging Lewis Hamilton to the flag.

At the start, Verstappen looked to get a fractionally better start than Leclerc, but the polesitter was able to sweep across his front row rival and defend the inside line on the run to Turn 1, where behind Hamilton jumped Perez, who had been looking to follow Verstappen’s line to the outside.

Leclerc pulled a 0.6-second lead by the end of lap one of 58, with the top two exchanging fastest sectors over the next lap before the race was neutralised by the safety car’s appearance.

Carlos Sainz had started on the hard tyres but got a very poor launch off the line in ninth and tumbled down the pack, with the Spaniard starting to fight back on lap two when he lost the rear of his Ferrari after overtaking Mick Schumacher’s Haas into the fast left kink of Turn 9.

Sainz’s correction took him across the grass on the inside but he spun on the slippery surface, shooting sideways back across the track at the exit of Turn 10 – just in front of Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu – and ending up in the gravel on the far side where he became beached.

The virtual safety car was briefly activated before the full safety car was called for, which stayed out until the restart at the start of lap seven where Leclerc was easily able to maintain his advantage over Verstappen despite his car porpoising badly on full tanks at the end of each straight.

The top two eased clear of Hamilton and Perez – the only drivers able to stay in the one minute, 23 seconds bracket, with Leclerc gaining enough fractions in each sector of the two laps that followed the race resuming to be out of Verstappen’s DRS threat by the time the system was activated.

He continued to grow his lead with a series of fastest laps, metronomic in the 1m23.3s and that reached nearly two seconds by the end of lap 11.

But that ballooned to 3.0 seconds at the end of the next tour as Verstappen, who started to push on in response to Leclerc’s rapid pace, locked up at the penultimate corner and shipped a second, then complained his medium starting tyres were heavily grained.

Verstappen’s tyre trouble meant he slipped back to the mid 1m24s and with Leclerc able to keep his speed relentlessly high, the Ferrari soon had a lead above six seconds.

This reached 8.3 seconds by the time Red Bull called Verstappen in to go to the hards at the end of lap 18, which left Leclerc leading by miles ahead of Perez, who had repassed Hamilton shortly after the safety car came in.

Ferrari left Leclerc out until the end of lap 22 to swap his mediums for hards – the same lap Mercedes called Hamilton and got him out ahead of Perez.

But the tricky warm-up on the C4 rubber meant the Red Bull could close in on the sweeping run to Turn 9 and shoot ahead just before the quick left and just before the race was neutralised by the safety car’s appearance for a second time.

This was because Sebastian Vettel’s terrible Formula 1 return ended in the barriers ahead of the fast, tight right of Turn 5 – the Aston Martin driver having lost the rear of his AMR22 hitting the exit kerb of the previous left and spearing into the wall on the track’s inside.

With Vettel needing to be recovered from the short straight between Turns 5 and 6, and plenty of debris needing to be cleared from ahead of the former, the safety car stayed out until the start of lap 27, with Leclerc’s previous advantage – down to 6.9 seconds thanks to Verstappen’s strong pace on the hards after his stop – totally gone.

At the second restart, Leclerc’s run onto the main straight was compromised by going too wide and so Verstappen was able to close in and get alongside on the run to Turn 1.

But the Ferrari was able to stay in front with a solid defence on the inside line, which he repeated on the following straight and so was able to maintain the lead despite the pressure.

Leclerc then set about re-establishing his lead – again moving clear of Verstappen seemingly with ease to reach a gap of 3.4 seconds by the end of lap 31, the top duo reaching the one minute, 22 seconds having spent the early laps after the safety car in the one minute, 23 seconds and one minute, 24 seconds respectively as they worked to maintain critical tyre life.

Just like in the first stint, Leclerc set a string of fastest laps as he stroked clear of Verstappen, his lead back above five seconds by the end of lap 35.

It looked as if that gap would continue to grow – especially when Leclerc responded to a lap 37 Verstappen fastest time with an even quicker one on the following tour – when Verstappen suddenly pulled over a retired on the inside of Turn 2 on lap 39.

Smoke coming from the Red Bull RB18’s airbox suggested an engine issue was the cause, with the car’s recovery covered by a VSC and so Leclerc’s lead – now back over Perez – was maintained.

He cruised home, still with very strong pace in the 1m21s for most of the rest of the event, to win by 20.5 seconds – taking the fastest lap to boot with a blistering one minute, 20.260 seconds on the final lap, where he also had to negotiate traffic.

Perez was clear in second, with Russell third after he was able to stop during the Vettel safety car and get out just ahead of Fernando Alonso – yet to stop after starting on the hard tyres – Perez and Hamilton.

After Alonso went backwards on his old tyres, Perez hunted down Russell and pressured him for several laps before getting by with DRS on the outside line to Turn 11 – the Briton not fighting hard, possibly as a result of a Mercedes warning that “tyre management was more important that position”.

The looked like it might cost Russell a first Mercedes podium, but Verstappen’s retirement boosted him back and he came home ahead of an unhappy Hamilton, who noted that his run of bad luck with safety car timing continued here.

The McLaren drivers were secure in fifth and sixth, Lando Norris leading Daniel Ricciardo home, with Esteban Ocon seventh for Alpine.

Valtteri Bottas got ahead of Pierre Gasly late-on when the AlphaTauri locked up and slid off at Turn 13 – the pair having been part of a thrilling multi-car scrap with Lance Stroll and Alonso once the Spaniard had stopped in the closing stages.

Alex Albon scored a brilliant first point for Williams after doing a 57-lap stint on the hards, running ahead of Ocon for a long time after the second safety car and gaining as the battle behind raged, which meant he could stop extremely late and not slide out of the top ten.

There, Zhou ended up P11, while Stroll finished P12 – penalised 5s for his aggressive weaving in defence against Bottas – the Aston having gained by pitting twice under the first safety car and completing a net two-stopper from there to get amongst the cars that had started ahead before falling back.

Alonso ended up as the last finisher after his contra-strategy backfired when he appeared to encounter severe degradation late-on and slid down the order to end up P17.

So another fine victory for Charles Leclerc with a commanding drive in Albert Park. The Ferrari F1-75 is very fast and reliable. The championship is looking promising as the next round is the Scuderia’s home race at Imola.

Australian Grand Prix, race results:
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:27:46.548
2 Sergio Perez Red Bull 20.524
3 George Russell Mercedes 25.593
4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 28.543
5 Lando Norris McLaren 53.303
6 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 53.737
7 Esteban Ocon Alpine 61.683
8 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 68.439s
9 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 76.221s
10 Alex Albon Williams 79.382s
11 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 81.695s
12 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 88.598s
13 Mick Schumacher Haas +1 lap
14 Kevin Magnussen Haas +1 lap
15 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +1 lap
16 Nicholas Latifi Williams +1 lap
17 Fernando Alonso Alpine +1 lap
– Max Verstappen Red Bull DNF
– Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin DNF
– Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari DNF

Championship leader Charles Leclerc scored pole position at Albert Park by beating Max Verstappen in a qualifying session that was interrupted twice due to red flags and big crashes.

Leclerc led after the first runs in Q3, setting a time with one minute, 18.239 seconds just before Fernando Alonso crashed at Turn 11 – the right hander at the end of the back straight and the second DRS zone.

Alonso had just set a then best time in the middle sector when he lost the rear of his Alpine going through Turn 11, the two-time champion saying after he crashed having been sent into the gravel and then into the wall on the outside, that he had “lost the hydraulics” and “could not change gear”.

When the session resumed for the final Q3 runs – with all the qualifying running taking part on the soft tyres – Perez led the pack around, opting to leave earlier to take two flying laps while the rest built to a single final effort with two warm-up laps.

Perez’s second Q3 attempt ended up just 0.001 seconds shy of Leclerc’s earlier effort, before Verstappen forged ahead of both on with one minute, 18.154 seconds.

But Leclerc responded with purple sectors in the first and final thirds – Alonso retaining the best time in the middle sector – to post a time of one minute, 17.868 seconds and secure his second pole of the season by 0.286 seconds.

Perez’s third Q3 run ended up being no better than his second and he finished third, ahead of Lando Norris, Lewis Hamilton and George Russell in a run of three British drivers.

Hamilton had been trailing Russell with just the final Q3 laps to go – the Mercedes cars employing similar run length tactics to Perez after the Alonso red flag, which lasted nearly 15 minutes.

Home crowd favourite Daniel Ricciardo ended up in seventh position ahead of Esteban Ocon and Carlos Sainz.

Sainz was unfortunate to not complete his first Q3 flying lap just as the red flags were brought out for Alonso’s crash and he could not match his teammate’s pace in the final minutes.

Alonso took P10 as he did not set a time in Q3 as a result of his accident.

In Q2, which Perez topped, Pierre Gasly and Valtteri Bottas paid for not bettering their personal bests on their final laps as they exited in P11 and P12 – the latter losing his long Q3 appearance streak as a result.

Yuki Tsunoda and Zhou Guanyu did produce their best laps on their final fliers, which yielded P13 and P14 for the AlphaTauri and Alfa Romeo drivers respectively.

Mick Schumacher, who completed his last Q2 lap, a personal best, before most of the rest of the pack, took P15.

After the middle segment had concluded, several Q3 runners – including Leclerc, Hamilton and Verstappen – complained about the setting sun compromising their vision as they lapped the Albert Park circuit.

The visibility problem, which prompted Leclerc and Hamilton to request darker visors for Q3, was because the session was running long due to the delay following Alonso’s crash and Q1 being suspended with two minutes remaining following a massive crash between Canadians Nicholas Latifi and Lance Stroll.

Stroll had only just entered the fray once Aston Martin’s repairs on his car after his late FP3 crash, when the pair came together in an apparent misunderstanding regarding letting cars pass when on a slow lap as they exited Turn 5.

Latifi had just let Stroll by as they ran at slow speed towards Turn 5 – the tight, fast right hander than ends the track’s first sector – when the Williams accelerated and passed the Aston on its right hand side, with Zhou approaching both from behind at higher speed.

As Latifi was passing by, Stroll turned right – possibly to get out of Zhou’s way as is the requirement for drivers not on a flying lap – and the pair made contact, breaking the Aston’s right-front suspension and sending Latifi spearing into the wall and smashing all the corners on his Williams.

When the session resumed after a 15-minute delay, which Aston used to finish the repairs it had also been completing on Sebastian Vettel’s car that looked set to be incomplete before the red flag, a series of drivers queued at the end of the pitlane and then raced to gain a track position advantage and find the required tyre temperature for one final lap.

On that, only Gasly and Vettel were able to set personal bests, which meant Alex Albon and Kevin Magnussen – one of the most active on the final warm-up lap as he passed the Williams and Ricciardo to head the pack – missing the cut in P16 and P17 behind Schumacher, who out-qualified Magnussen for the first occasion in their time as Haas teammates.

Vettel’s effort was enough to get him ahead of Latifi’s time from before his crash with Stroll, who brought up the rear of the field with no time set.

As he returned to the pits at the end of Q1, Albon, who will drop three places on the Melbourne grid as a result of his crash with Stroll in the Jeddah race, was ordered to pull over and stop his car ahead of the penultimate corner when Williams detected a problem.

The crash between Latifi and Stroll will be investigated now qualifying has concluded, while Vettel was fined €600 for speeding in the pitlane during his brief appearance in Q1, which Verstappen led.

So congratulations to Charles Leclerc in scoring his second pole position of the season. The Ferrari F1–75 looks beautiful and fast and with Saudi Arabian Grand Prix winner Max Verstappen on the front row, we are ready for another battle for supremacy on race day. Bring it on!

Australian Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:17.868
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:18.154
3 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:18.240
4 Lando Norris McLaren 1:18.703
5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:18.825
6 George Russell Mercedes 1:18.933
7 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 1:19.032
8 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:19.061
9 Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari 1:19.408
10 Fernando Alonso Alpine –
11 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 1:19.226
12 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1:19.410
13 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:19.424
14 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1:20.155
15 Mick Schumacher Haas 1:20.465
16 Alex Albon Williams 1:20.135
17 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:20.254
18 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 1:21.149
19 Nicholas Latifi Williams 1:21.372
20 Lance Stroll Aston Martin –

The defending world champion Max Verstappen scored his first win of the 2022 season following a thrilling battle with Charles Leclerc in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

The Red Bull Racing driver grabbed the spoils by just half a second after a DRS-enhanced slipstreaming duel with Leclerc in the second half of the contest on the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, after the Ferrari driver tried again to tactically outmanoeuvre Verstappen on track.

But the 2021 champion held on for victory as Ferrari scored a double podium, Carlos Sainz completing the rostrum while an mistimed pitstop dropped polesitter Sergio Perez to fourth position.

The Red Bulls appeared to enjoy the stronger start as Perez pulled over to cover second-starting Leclerc into Turn 1 but was largely unchallenged as Verstappen provided stiff competition to Sainz.

As Sainz had to keep conservative to miss the rear of his teammate at the first left-hander, Verstappen was able to tip-toe around the outside as the track snaked back for Turn 2.

Verstappen out dragged the Ferrari to take third position, while Perez escaped to an early 1.3 seconds lead over Leclerc in the opening two laps with Verstappen the same interval back again.

Attention swiftly turned to a frenetic multi-lap scrap between the Alpines, arriving after George Russell had made an early move on Ocon to take fifth place in the Mercedes.

Ocon pulled to the inside down the main straight and appeared to squeeze a DRS-assisted Fernando Alonso against the pit wall, forcing the double-champion to back out of the lap-five move.

The following lap, Alonso tried again but was further back and had to abort a possible manoeuvre around the outside of Turn 1 before the squabble continued next time around.

Alonso was eventually able to nip past but only briefly, as Ocon recovered sixth with DRS into Turn 1 but ran across the run-off and missed the apex and had to give back the position.

The Alpine teammates were then told to hold position, with Alonso ahead of Ocon.

Perez had been able to extract a lead of over two seconds against Leclerc, with Verstappen 1.5 seconds behind the Ferrari driver while Sainz was a further 3.1 seconds in arrears.

Then the lead dipped below 1.5 seconds to prompt Perez to dive for the pits on lap 15 for a set of the C2 hard compound, but a sluggish stop and cold tyres brought him out behind Russell in fifth position.

The race win appeared to then slip away from Checo as double waved yellows grew into a virtual then full safety car owing to the end of a difficult weekend for Nicholas Latifi.

After shunting in Q1, the Williams again crashed out on lap 16 when he jumped on the power too early exiting the final corner, Turn 27, and over corrected to head towards the wall.

Although Latifi locked all four corners as he jumped on the brakes, he still hit the barrier.

That interruption allowed the leaders to pit in neutralised conditions to leapfrog Perez, with Leclerc taking the lead from Verstappen, who narrowly avoided Sainz in the pit lane.

Sainz then had a run in with the next Red Bull as Perez, delayed behind Russell on his out-lap, nipped past at the safety car line as Sainz was squeezed against the Turn 2 wall.

At the restart, Verstappen attempted to put Leclerc off-line at the final corner but the Ferrari driver could break the tow to lead unchallenged and build an initial advantage of 2 seconds.

Perez was instructed to hand back the position only after the resumption to slip to fourth ahead of Russell, while Lewis Hamilton stayed put on his hard tyres to climb to sixth.

But only after an engaging battle with Kevin Magnussen that was resolved when the Mercedes driver dived for position into Turn 1, the Haas have repassed in similar circumstances on the previous lap thanks to the double DRS effect on the main straight.

Verstappen, meanwhile, began to respond to Leclerc’s blistering sector one times with a string of fastest laps to reel the Ferrari driver in and cut the gap to under 1.5 seconds.

A second virtual safety car was called into play to press pause on the action on lap 38 when Alonso, Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo effectively retired in tandem.

The Alpine was the first to expire as Alonso suffered a total power loss and dropped out of seventh place, though did recover to the pitlane.

Ricciardo’s McLaren gave up the ghost at the start of the main straight after he locked up into Turn 27 and then never got the MCL36 going again.

While Bottas was able to return to the pits and be wheeled into the Alfa Romeo garage, the location of the Ricciardo and Alonso cars meant the pit lane was closed to hurt Hamilton most of all.

Still on his starting set of hard tyres, he received the call to stop too late and had to stay put until racing conditions return on lap 41, and Hamilton immediately pitted for medium tyres.

Verstappen now only sat 0.6 seconds off Leclerc as he chased his first win of the 2022 season after his RB18 retried with a fuel vacuum issue in Bahrain.

With a tow down the main straight, Leclerc was forced to pull to the inside and defend on lap 42 of 50 but Verstappen thought against an attempted lunge.

The Red Bull instead saved the fight for position until Turn 27, at which point Leclerc repeated his Sakhir strategy by checking his pace over the DRS detection zone.

So, while Verstappen had track position, Leclerc was backed up by the overtaking aid and defended his regained lead into Turn 1.

Verstappen was poised for a similar lunge next time around but as he sought DRS, locked up over the detection line and fell back to hand Leclerc position and marginal breathing space.

The battle, though, appeared to take its toll on Leclerc’s rear tyres and on lap 47, the Ferrari oversteered out of the final corner to allow Verstappen to successfully get the run for first place.

Leclerc was forced to abort Turn 2 as a result, teeing up a last-lap showdown. While Leclerc could close to within 0.5 seconds, Verstappen hung on to a sensational win.

Sainz was seven seconds further behind Leclerc, as Perez completed the top four over a subdued race by Russell. Ocon, meanwhile, bagged sixth ahead of Lando Norris and Pierre Gasly.

Magnussen, who entered the race with neck pain after tweaking it in qualifying, was ninth as Hamilton hung on for the final point in tenth.

Despite drive through penalty for not serving a 5s pitstop penalty plus the latest clutch and anti-stall issues for Zhou Guanyu, the rookie returned 11th as the Aston Martins of Nico Hulkenberg and Lance Stroll completed the finishers.

Stroll was able to limp over the line after a late Turn 1 coming together with Alex Albon, that ended the Williams’ drivers race a touch early and introduced a yellow flag at Turn 1 during the final stages of the Verstappen-Leclerc duel.

Yuki Tsunoda, who was unable to set a qualifying lap following a water system issue, then pulled up in sector one aboard his AlphaTauri on his way to the grid with an engine issue.

That, combined with Haas electing not to start Mick Schumacher’s car to avoid rushed repairs after the German’s huge Q2 shunt, created a scenario in which only 18 cars started.

So congratulations to the world champion in winning the battle from Charles Leclerc. This race victory was crucial for Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing after last weekend’s non-finish. As for the duel between the Red Bull and Ferrari, this is such a highlight. More please!

Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:24:19.293
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 0.549
3 Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari 8.097
4 Sergio Perez Red Bull 10.800
5 George Russell Mercedes 32.732
6 Esteban Ocon Alpine 56.017
7 Lando Norris McLaren 56.124
8 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 62.946
9 Kevin Magnussen Haas 64.308
10 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 73.948
11 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 82.215
12 Nico Hulkenberg Aston Martin 91.742s
13 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +1 lap
14 Alex Albon Williams DNF
– Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo DNF
– Fernando Alonso Alpine DNF
– Daniel Ricciardo McLaren DNF
– Nicholas Latifi Williams DNF
– Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri DNF

Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Perez achieved his first Formula 1 pole position by beating both Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in Saudi Arabia, while last year’s P1 driver Lewis Hamilton was knocked out in Q1.

Checo went to the top with his final flying lap of Q3 on the Jeddah Corniche Circuit with the weekend’s best of one minute, 28.200 seconds to triumph over the strong Scuderias.

That meant the late improvement of Leclerc, as the free practice pacesetter finally had an answer to Sainz in qualifying, missed out on consecutive pole positions by just 0.025 seconds.

Sainz, who had headed the leader board after the first runs in the Q3 ten-minute battle, could not put together one final lap and so slipped to third position by two tenths compared to his teammate.

A messy Q3 showing for defending champion Max Verstappen resulted in only fourth position, with the Red Bull driver struggling initially in Q3 as he battled oversteer while applying the throttle out of Turn 2.

Esteban Ocon ran to fifth for Alpine, dropped eight tenths to the leaders but beating Mercedes driver George Russell and Fernando Alonso.

Russell executed an off-beat strategy by leaving his best effort for the mid-point of the session rather than engage in a last-ditch shootout over the line.

Mr Saturday clocked a time of one minute, 29.104 seconds to land sixth over Fernando Alonso and the Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas. Pierre Gasly and the Haas of Kevin Magnussen completed the top ten runners.

Russell was the only Mercedes-powered contender to move into the top ten shootout after Daniel Ricciardo and his McLaren teammate Lando Norris failed to hook up an improved lap in the massively delayed Q2 fight.

A huge crash for Mick Schumacher forced the 15-minute session to be put on ice for nearly a hour while the Haas driver was taken to hospital after an initial check at the medical centre revealed no injuries.

This came after the Haas driver ran wide out of Turn 10 over the exit kerb and on the slippery surface, the VF-22 swapped ends and Schumacher ran nose first into the wall at high speed.

As per new crash structure designs, when the car was craned, the rear end split from the main chassis to cause a further clear up delay in addition to the track needing cement dust and a steam blast before FIA race director Niels Wittich was satisfied with his inspection.

With a little under five minutes to run, late improvements were few and far between.

But Kevin Magnussen and Esteban Ocon – who was delayed by Ricciardo in an incident that remains under investigation – made it through in eighth and ninth.

That left Russell prey as Gasly improved to seventh, but Ricciardo could not whittle down his personal best to survive while Zhou Guanyu only climbed his Alfa Romeo to P13.

Norris was out in P11 ahead of Ricciardo, Zhou and Schumacher – ninth at the time of his crash – over Lance Stroll.

Hamilton, meanwhile, was the first driver to miss out on progressing into the second part of qualifying after his final flying lap was 0.087 seconds slower than the cut off set by Stroll.

The seven-time champion was only P16 in Q1 after initially losing the rear end of his Mercedes W13 challenger with a snap of oversteer at Turn 2 on his first flying soft-tyre run.

After beginning the Saturday evening session on the medium compound alongside Russell only, Hamilton was forced into a final push lap with a minute to spare in order to progress.

However, the lap started off the pace when the Brit was adrift of his personal best throughout sector two on his way to a one minute, 30.343 seconds.

Despite a better sprint to the finish to initially move P15, Stroll was next over the line to bump Hamilton out in Q1 for the first time since he crashed in Brazil qualifying in 2017.

He was only faster on merit than the Williams of Alex Albon and Aston Martin’s substitute driver Nico Hulkenberg, the pair dashing to P17 and P18 respectively.

Meanwhile, Nicolas Latifi crashed out to bring the red flags into play after seven of the 18 minutes when the rear of his FW44 snapped out of control at Turn 13.

The Williams driver appeared to immediately lose the back axle when he turned in, glancing the TecPro barrier before landing in the outside wall.

Yuki Tsunoda was unable to set a lap either side of the eight-minute delay owing to a fuel issue for the AlphaTauri, which arrived in Saudi with a fresh power unit.

So congratulations to Checo Perez in achieving his first pole position in Formula 1. To beat both Ferraris and his Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen is impressive. Looking forward to the race.

Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:28.200
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:28.225
3 Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari 1:28.402
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:28.461
5 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:29.068
6 George Russell Mercedes 1:29.104
7 Fernando Alonso Alpine 1:29.147
8 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1:29.183
9 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 1:29.254
10 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:29.588
11 Lando Norris McLaren 1:29.651
12 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 1:29.773
13 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1:29.819
14 Mick Schumacher Haas 1:29.920
15 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:31.009
16 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:30.343
17 Alex Albon Williams 1:30.492
18 Nico Hulkenberg Aston Martin 1:30.543
19 Nicholas Latifi Williams 1:31.817
20 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri –

Charles Leclerc led a Scuderia Ferrari 1-2 in the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix, beating new world champion Max Verstappen in an exciting race which ended with both Red Bulls suffering a late double retirement.

Red Bull Racing’s reliability drama meant Carlos Sainz was able to follow his Ferrari teammate home in second, while Lewis Hamilton took third position for Mercedes.

At the start, Leclerc and Verstappen shot off the grid together, with the Ferrari quickly swinging across to his right to cover off the Red Bull and seal the inside line for Turn 1.

There, Verstappen braked later and got completely alongside Leclerc, but the leader’s position on the inside meant he was easily able to pull ahead through Turns 2 and 3, then weave once on the short straight up to the Turn 4 right, where he pulled away clear in the lead.

Leclerc was already out of DRS range ahead of Verstappen by the end of the first lap of 57, with Sainz chasing the world champion and being followed by Hamilton, who had edged out Sergio Perez as the Red Bull driver slid out of Turn 1, falling behind Kevin Magnussen’s Haas as a result.

Over the next few laps, Leclerc – running new soft tyres versus used ones on Verstappen’s car – pulled away from his Red Bull rival who at one stage complained about his mid-corner engine braking being “funny”.

Leclerc’s gap increased by a few tenths per lap, the pair the only drivers of the front runners able to regularly stay in the one minute, 38 seconds zone.

By lap 10, Leclerc’s lead had reached three seconds, with Sainz a further chunk behind and now running ahead of Perez, who had passed Hamilton after the Mercedes driver had fallen from pressuring Sainz to dropping back unable to match the front running pace.

At the end of lap 14, Verstappen and Sainz, who had also started on used softs, came in to take new ones, with Leclerc stopping at the end of the next tour to do the reverse.

Verstappen had used his out-lap on fresh rubber to erase Leclerc’s lead completely, but the Ferrari was able to maintain the lead at the pit exit.

But the next time by at the start of lap 17, Verstappen used DRS to close a 0.7 seconds gap and dive to Leclerc’s inside at the first corner, taking the lead with a thrilling move on the inside line, although only briefly as Leclerc used DRS himself on the run to Turn 4, retaking first with a bold pass outside the Red Bull.

The same sequence played out again on the next lap, although this time with Leclerc retaking the lead by nipping to Verstappen’s inside on the Turn 4 approach, then edging his rival wide to get back ahead.

On his third attempt into Turn 1, this time on lap 19, Verstappen went from 0.9 seconds behind to send a wild move on the inside, but this time he locked up heavily and the Ferrari was able to nip back by and run clear, moving out of DRS range as a result.

The lock-up and DRS loss sapped Verstappen’s momentum, as he slipped back to run in the low one minute, 38 seconds while Leclerc put in a series of mid-to-high one minute, 37 seconds that soon restored his three second advantage.

By the halfway point, Leclerc was running four seconds to the good, losing a chunk while lapping Nico Hulkenberg before gaining it back and more as Verstappen got around Sebastian Vettel’s temporary replacement at Aston Martin.

Red Bull stopped Verstappen first at the second round of stops, pulling the Dutchman in to go to the mediums at the end of lap 30, with Ferrari getting Leclerc to cover him exactly the next time by.

Leclerc emerged much further ahead this time around, despite Verstappen doing a slightly quicker out-lap than earlier on, with Ferrari beating Red Bull on the stationary time by half a second.

The pair immediately hit the one minute, 36 seconds bracket they had not been doing earlier on, even as they lapped traffic during the early phase of the third stint, where Verstappen furiously told Red Bull he had taken it easier on the out-lap than he wanted and would “never ever” do so again, such was his fury to have stayed so far behind Leclerc even with an undercut advantage.

Although Verstappen cut into Leclerc’s lead to reach two seconds behind in the laps immediately following their second stops, the Ferrari was soon able to restore its advantage once again, with Leclerc holding onto the mid one minute, 36 seconds as Verstappen fell towards the one minute, 37 seconds.

By lap 43 Leclerc had built his lead back to four seconds, when Red Bull opted to bring both its cars in for a third stop – Perez having run the mediums on his second stint and then closed in to run adrift of Sainz, well behind the two leaders.

Ferrari appeared to be leaving Leclerc out to see out the race on a two-stopper, with Sainz brought in to cover Perez, but the final stages were made more dramatic when Pierre Gasly retired with an engine issue that became an engine fire on lap 46 – the AlphaTauri stopped at the exit of Turn 3, just at the start of the short second straight.

The virtual safety car was activated but the full safety car was called into action, which was when Ferrari brought Leclerc in and he was able to take another set of softs for the restart.

Racing got back underway at the start of lap 51, all lapped cars allowed having been allowed to overtake, before which Verstappen complained loudly about his steering getting heavier in corners and on straights, with Red Bull moving to tell him it was would be an issue to the end of the race that he would have to adapt too.

When the safety car came in, Leclerc shot back to racing speed while Verstappen was pinched tight against the penultimate corner and was so far clear the action became about Sainz attacking for second.

Verstappen obliged Sainz to take the outside line, with the pair quickly falling behind Leclerc, who roared to a 1.6 seconds new lead with the race’s fastest lap – one minute, 24.570 seconds.

Charles easily pulled clear to win by 5.5 seconds, taking his first Bahrain Grand Prix win at the venue where he lost a first career Formula 1 victory to a late engine issue three years earlier.

But it was Sainz who was able to follow Leclerc home as Verstappen went from complaining about his steering issue to reporting a battery problem Red Bull initially dismissed and then reported it was a fault that it could do nothing about.

With two laps to go Verstappen suddenly dropped back on the penultimate straight and then crawled back to the pits to retire, with Perez then reporting a power loss as Hamilton – who had run a soft, hard, medium, soft three-stopper – closed in to threaten an unlikely Mercedes podium.

Just when it looked like Perez might hang on, he spun at Turn 1 on the final lap, his engine seizing and spinning his rears, putting him out on the spot.

Hamilton therefore finished third, 9.6 seconds behind Leclerc, with George Russell fourth having quickly risen up the order from his ninth position grid spot during the early stages and been tracking his teammate at 14 seconds behind before the safety car period.

Magnussen battled his way to fifth, having run most of the race between Russell and Gasly, with Valtteri Bottas recovering from a slow start to finish sixth.

Esteban Ocon and Yuki Tsunoda got ahead of Fernando Alonso ahead of the safety car, with that trio taking seventh to ninth at the flag.

In his first Formula 1 race, Zhou Guanyu finished tenth to claim a maiden point in the championship, with Mick Schumacher P11 for Haas, ahead of Lance Stroll, who led the former lapped runners home well adrift of the pack – the restart having taken place before they could catch back up.

So congratulations to Charles Leclerc with this race victory. After missing out back in 2019, this time the Ferrari was fast and reliable to take the top spot. To have a double podium, this is a fantastic achievement for the Scuderia.

Bahrain Grand Prix, race results:
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:37:33.584
2 Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari 5.598
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 9.675
4 George Russell Mercedes 11.211
5 Kevin Magnussen Haas 14.754
6 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 16.119
7 Esteban Ocon Alpine 19.423
8 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 20.386
9 Fernando Alonso Alpine 22.390
10 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 23.064
11 Mick Schumacher Haas 32.574
12 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 45.873
13 Alex Albon Williams 53.932
14 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 54.975
15 Lando Norris McLaren 56.335
16 Nicholas Latifi Williams 1:01.795
17 Nico Hulkenberg Aston Martin 1:03.829
18 Sergio Perez Red Bull DNF
19 Max Verstappen Red Bull DNF
– Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri DNF