Category: Motor Racing

The Haas Formula 1 team became the third outfit to reveal its livery for the forthcoming 2026 season, with an increase in sponsorship with technical partner Toyota Gazoo Racing.

Both parties entered a technical partnership at the end of 2024, but the relationship has been strengthened for this year with the official name becoming ‘TGR Haas F1 Team’.

That has been reflected in the team’s new livery: Toyota has received branding across the engine cover, front wing and the front of the halo for the season which introduces widespread regulation changes.

The US-based outfit comes into it having finished eighth in last season’s constructors standings with Oliver Bearman and Esteban Ocon, who will remain as drivers this season, giving Haas its best points total of 79 points since 2018.

“Like all teams, we’ve faced the challenge of competing in 2025 while looking to design and now build these new-regulation entries for the 2026 season,” said owner Gene Haas, whose team has joined Red Bull and Racing Bulls in already launching their new design.

“The pre-season will be crucial to understand what these cars are capable of and how the drivers, engineers and teams in general adapt to them. We at least have continuity in terms of the drivers, with Ollie and Esteban, as well as in our design and engineering teams.

“Last season’s competition in the midfield was of an exceptionally high standard, it was tough, and we need to go out again and continue to develop – both on- and off-track. Personally, I’m going to be very interested to see how the competition shakes out across the grid and what these new regulations bring in terms of performance.”

The new livery features a lot more white than last year, with it replacing the previously black engine cover and front halo plus additional red to represent Toyota branding.

Haas also unveiled its design through a simple online event, rather than a big media presentation at Detroit like the Red Bull-owned teams.

And through the images provided, it is clear that Haas has gone for a pushrod front suspension and has opted for a pushrod setup at the rear as well. The renders also feature wide winglets on its front wing.

“It feels almost a bit surreal to be unveiling a new car this early in the year, but it’s not any less exciting venturing into a new F1 campaign – especially one with such a change in regulations,” said team principal Ayao Komatsu.

“We’re fully focused on being ready for shakedown week in Barcelona. It’s been a monumental effort from everyone on the team to work with such a tight turnaround time from the end of last season to putting cars on track in January.

“It goes without saying that after so much talk, we can’t wait to see how these cars will perform and what we’ll face as we then progress through our test programs ahead of Australia.

“Track time is going to be crucial through Spain and Bahrain and while we know there’s going to be challenges along the way, we do this because we’re passionate about Formula 1.”

In a joint launch event with Red Bull, sister team Racing Bulls has revealed its updated colour scheme for the 2026 Formula 1 championship, sticking with the predominantly white livery for the upcoming season.

Held at the iconic Central Michigan train station, the launch saw both Racing Bulls and Red Bull reveal their liveries in the city known as the United States home of Ford, with the 2026 campaign marking the first in which Red Bull Ford Powertrains will act as power unit manufacturer for both outfits.

The team’s decision to turn to a white livery proved a success last year, and the colour scheme of the 2026 challenger will follow the same route, with a white base colours complemented by black and blue accents.

Although the little bulls that ran on the engine cover in last year’s car is gone, this livery seems like a downgrade or basic approach with the new Ford partnership.

The car will be driven by Liam Lawson, who stays on for what will be his first full season, and 2026’s only rookie Arvid Lindblad, who moves up to a race seat after Isack Hadjar’s promotion to Red Bull’s main factory team.

Title sponsors Visa and Cash App remain on board and take over the most visible areas on the car, while the addition of blue streaks to the engine cover and sidepod to represent Ford.

Racing Bulls finished sixth in last year’s championship after a strong and consistent campaign, equalling its best result in Formula 1, with Hadjar taking the team’s sixth-ever podium with a spectacular third place finish at Zandvoort’s Dutch Grand Prix. Alan Permane remains on board as team principal after having taken over mid-season from Laurent Mekies, who now heads up Red Bull.

Red Bull Racing has unveiled their new glossy livery with the RB22. This will be the first Formula 1 racing car fitted with in-house power units in partnership with Ford.

The team hosted a special launch in Detroit, at the home of its new power unit partner, by revealing a show car featuring a refreshed colour scheme after years of very similar liveries.

The 2026 look for the RB22 features a “heritage white base” that the team said will “provide more depth and clarity and allow the iconic sun and bull logo to pop”.

The RB22, which will be driven by four-time world champion Max Verstappen and his new teammate Isack Hadjar, who has been promoted from the sister team Racing Bulls.

The black and blue livery has been tweaked with a lighter shade of blue applied in a so-called jacquard pattern, while also returning to a glossy finish after years of running the matte finish.

Following the conclusion of its partnership with Honda, which ended up moving to Aston Martin, Red Bull has been building its first-ever in-house power units at Red Bull Powertrains, the biggest technical challenge the team has taken on in its twenty year history.

“I loved the idea of it being a blank sheet of paper, not just the power unit but the whole company, so we could custom build it to what we knew the regulations were going to be, which was a pretty cool opportunity,” said Red Bull Powertrains chief Ben Hodgkinson.

“The gravity of what that meant took a while to really sink in and trying to find what’s turned into 700 people in a short space of time has been really challenging.

“If you create a really bold and audacious project it only really attracts bold and audacious people, so those people fit the Red Bull culture absolutely like a glove. It’s brilliant for the rate of innovation, so it’s been an exciting, pretty intense four years.”

The new glossy look certainly looks beautiful. Very similar style to the Sebastian Vettel’s cars from the past. Hopefully the new partnership with Ford will be competitive this season.

Lando Norris is the 2025 Formula 1 world champion after finishing third at the Yas Marina track as Max Verstappen signed off a competitive season of racing with race victory at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Norris only needed to secure a top-three result to secure the drivers’ championship, having started the race 12 points clear of Verstappen. And, although Norris lost a position to Piastri on the opening lap and thus came under heavy pressure from Charles Leclerc later on, he was able to stay in third to clinch his first world title.

Verstappen enjoyed a nice, serene drive to victory. With Piastri behind him instead of Norris, any anticipated hold-up play was not realised. McLaren’s decision to start Piastri on the hard tyre had ensured that the offset strategy spaced out the front three between the stops, and the McLaren driver went long into the race to pit on lap 41 once he was passed by Verstappen.

On fresh mediums, Piastri went after Verstappen in an effort to win the race. But Verstappen’s hard tyre pace was strong enough to maintain a healthy lead as Piastri brought the gap down to 12.6 seconds.

After batting away the early challenge from Leclerc, who put him under heavy scrutiny with DRS, Norris had stopped to cover off the Ferrari driver. This left Lando in a sea of traffic, but he was decisive. He cut through Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Alexander Albon in short order, then moved through Liam Lawson and Lance Stroll in a two-for-one move at Turn 6 to reduce the effect of the yet-to-stop runners ahead.

However, Yuki Tsunoda’s Red Bull proved to be the next obstacle. Told by his race engineer to “do what you can” to hold up Norris, Tsunoda weaved across the circuit on the straight between Turn 5 and 6, forcing Norris off-track as he was completing his overtake. The overtake itself was deemed fine by the race stewards, although Tsunoda was handed a five-second penalty for making more than one change in direction.

Once Norris was free of the traffic, he could start to reduce out a comfort zone as Leclerc’s early-stint pace began to subside versus the McLaren. Since covering off Charles was simply Lando’s priority, he was told to stop for a second time on lap 40 as Leclerc switched to a two-stopper on the previous lap.

Leclerc dropped behind the one-stopping George Russell, ensuring that Norris could get out of the pits with third intact, but the Ferrari’s early-stint pace on the mediums had given Norris a late pressure.

Thus, Norris responded to maintain the gap at around four seconds, which grew when Leclerc’s tyre life began to drop off in the final five laps – and it was simply a case of Norris holding on to ensure the title was his. Such was his pace, however, that he got within three seconds of Piastri before being told to take a little more easily in the final laps.

Despite pitting and coming out behind, Leclerc was 25 seconds clear of Russell as the Mercedes struggled with degradation after 44 laps on the hard tyre. Fernando Alonso was a further 18 seconds back, his sixth place ensuring that Aston Martin clinched seventh in the constructors’ championship ahead of Haas. Esteban Ocon ran to seventh, after making a decisive Turn 9 re-pass on Lewis Hamilton on lap 52 as the Ferrari went past at Turn 6.

Hamilton had recovered to eighth after being eliminated in Q1, his two-stopper yielding a points finish to sign off on a difficult first year with Ferrari.

Lance Stroll and Ollie Bearman finished ninth and tenth on the track, but both were given five-second penalties for making more than one change in direction in their on-track battle. This promoted Nico Hulkenberg to ninth, while Stroll was classified P10 ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto.

So congratulations to Lando Norris in become the eleventh British world champion after the success of Lewis Hamilton. Kudos to McLaren in winning both the drivers’ and constructors’ title.

As for Max Verstappen, winning the season finale was a nice sign off for Red Bull. The fifth title did not happen but he will feel satisfied that his good friend Lando Norris is the new champion of the sport.

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:26:07.469
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren +12.594s
3 Lando Norris McLaren +16.572s
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +23.279s
5 George Russell Mercedes +48.563s
6 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +67.562s
7 Esteban Ocon Haas +69.876s
8 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +72.670s
9 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +74.523s
10 Oliver Bearman Haas +76.166s
11 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber +79.014s
12 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber +81.043s
13 Carlos Sainz Williams +82.158s
14 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull +83.794s
15 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +84.399s
16 Alexander Albon Williams +90.327s
17 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls +1 lap
18 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +1 lap
19 Pierre Gasly Alpine +1 lap
20 Franco Colapinto Alpine +1 lap

Max Verstappen achieved pole position in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri next up in a tense qualifying session.

The top three championship contenders are 1-2-3 on the grid for the season finale. It will be interesting come race day as one of these drivers will be the 2025 Formula 1 world champion.

With the pressure of on title battle, Verstappen showed his experience as Lando’s nerves was starting to affective throughout the progression of the session. On his opening Q3 lap, Verstappen posted a time of one minute, 22.295 seconds, a lap that would have been good enough for pole on its own.

The Papayas, who opened the final stage of qualifying with marginally used soft tyres – carried over from their final aborted Q2 laps – were some way off, as Piastri was just over a tenth clear of Norris ahead of the final runs.

Norris found some improvement on new softs, posting a time of one minute, 22.408 seconds on his second run. Piastri’s effort was a touch slower, giving the championship leader the upper hand on the grid. Meanwhile, Verstappen found 0.09 seconds of improvement and achieved pole position, with the championship contenders all in close situation for Sunday’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

George Russell clinched fourth on the grid, despite moments of oversteer on both laps. In his opening run, Russell had a slide at Turn 14 and lost time, and then a tank-slapper at Turn 16 on his final effort.

Charles Leclerc was fifth, although admitted over the team radio that it was a “surprise” that he had made it through Q2 – noting that he was on the edge of aborting his lap “like five times” due to the Ferrari’s handling.

Fernando Alonso outqualified Gabriel Bortoleto, who jumped his way into a fifth Q3 appearance of the year, while Esteban Ocon finally found a good braking balance in qualifying and worked his way to eighth on the grid. Isack Hadjar was ninth, while Yuki Tsunoda will line up P10 having been use to give Verstappen a slipstream on his laps.

Despite impressive pace throughout the weekend, Oliver Bearman was unable to repeat it in Q2 and drop just 0.007 seconds outside of the cut-off to make it into the final stage of qualifying. Despite this, Bearman’s late lap carried him up to P11, placing him above Carlos Sainz in the order.

Sainz showed flashes of speed throughout the opening sector, but was unable to keep the lap together and was just 0.001 seconds behind Bearman’s effort.

Liam Lawson dropped out of the top ten by teammate Hadjar, while Andrea Kimi Antonelli was a surprise contender from Q3 as the Mercedes driver struggled to tame his rear end through the final sector. Lance Stroll also fell out in Q2 and will start P15.

Lewis Hamilton dropped out of Q1 for the third successive race, as he sat on the edge of elimination before Bortoleto found enough improvement to leap into Q2. The Sauber driver’s lap, good enough for P14 in that session, put Hamilton among the bottom five.

Alexander Albon was up to seventh after his final lap of the session, but quick improvement across the field forced the Williams driver into a descent down the timing order. The slide stopped when he was down in P17, and already in the pits at the close of the session.

Bortoleto outqualified Nico Hulkenberg to ensure their qualifying head-to-head ends level at 12-12, as the Sauber driver was unable to deliver the team’s promising pace in practice to finish the session P18, ahead of the two Alpines. Pierre Gasly was 0.4 seconds clear of Franco Colapinto, who had two laps deleted in the session for track limits.

So congratulations to Max Verstauen by taking his eighth pole position of the season. It will be fascinating if the defending champion can win the race and use luck to affected the McLaren to win his fifth title. As for Lando Norris, starting a front row is a bonus. Just need to finish in P3 or higher to take the championship.

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:22.207
2 Lando Norris McLaren 1:22.408
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:22.437
4 George Russell Mercedes 1:22.645
5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:22.730
6 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:22.902
7 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber 1:22.904
8 Esteban Ocon Haas 1:22.913
9 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls 1:23.072
10 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull 1:23.083
11 Oliver Bearman Haas 1:23.041
12 Carlos Sainz Williams 1:23.042
13 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls 1:23.077
14 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:23.080
15 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:23.097
16 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:23.394
17 Alexander Albon Williams 1:23.416
18 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:23.450
19 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:23.468
20 Franco Colapinto Alpine 1:23.890

Max Verstappen was victorious at the Qatar Grand Prix thanks to Red Bull making the right call on strategy to beat the McLarens and the four-time title winner is still in the championship fight as the battle for the drivers’ standings goes to the season finale.

By winning his 70th career Formula 1 race, Max has closed to within 12 points of Lando Norris in the 2025 title race, as McLaren threw away a potential win thanks to a poor strategy call on a seventh-lap safety car.

Polesitter Oscar Piastri had looked settled in the lead of the race and, owing to the difficulty of overtaking around the Losail circuit, the McLaren driver was in prime position to make good on his track position.

But the race was turned on its head when Nico Hulkenberg clashed with Pierre Gasly, which produced a safety car. As this had occurred on the seventh lap, this was at the point where the drivers could do their two stops and fulfil the maximum 25-lap stint length. All but Piastri and Norris took as an opportunity to call into the pitlane.

This forced both McLaren drivers onto the offensive as they aimed to build a pitstop’s grace over the chasing pack, but the lack of pit call affected the outcome of the team’s race.

Both McLarens cleared the majority of the midfield as a lengthy DRS train – led by Fernando Alonso – by more than the 26-second time loss needed for a pit stop. After Oscar’s lap 24 stop and Lando’s stop on lap 25, it effectively left just Verstappen, Carlos Sainz, and Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

The rest of the field had to complete their stops at the end of lap 32. This put Piastri and Norris back into the lead positions, but had to pit again. Although Piastri demonstrated solid pace, Norris was unable to go with him and this allowed Verstappen to close in on the championship leader.

Piastri contended that he could go quicker on a new set of hard tyres, with the intent of putting Verstappen onto the defensive. Indeed, the McLaren driver called in at the end of lap 42, with the hope of setting a string of terrifying lap times to close the Red Bull driver down.

Yet, he could not quite make the difference, and Verstappen was 7.9 seconds clear at the finishing line to take a crucial victory for his championship chances.

Piastri at least kept his own title hopes alive with P2, while Norris was punished for his lack of pace as he was unable to rescue a podium finish – instead, Sainz clinched his second podium of the season with an excellent drive.

The Williams driver had made up a position on Isack Hadjar at the start, and then capitalised on Antonelli’s slow stop during the safety car to move up a further position. Sainz was well clear of Antonelli, who went off track on the penultimate lap to allow Norris to make his way up to fourth.

Antonelli finished 20 seconds clear of George Russell, who dropped to seventh at the start of the race, then lost more places as he was held up double-stacking behind Antonelli in the first stop. However, Alonso made an unforced error and spun to let Isack Hadjar and Russell through, before Hadjar suffered a puncture late on to give Russell a further place.

Alonso recovered from his pirouette to finish seventh ahead of Charles Leclerc, who spent most of his day ensconced in the Alonso-led DRS train behind Russell, while Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda completed the top ten.

The championship has turned upside down following the result at Qatar. Congratulations to Max Verstappen winning the race and is within 12 points of Lando Norris. Why didn’t McLaren pit under the safety car? This mistake was costly in terms of track position for both Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. Anyway, stranger things has happened in the season finale at Abu Dhabi. Bring it on!

Qatar Grand Prix, race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:24:38.241
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren +7.995s
3 Carlos Sainz Williams +22.665s
4 Lando Norris McLaren +23.315s
5 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +28.317s
6 George Russell Mercedes +48.599s
7 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +54.045s
8 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +56.785s
9 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +60.073s
10 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull +61.770s
11 Alexander Albon Williams +66.931s
12 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +77.730s
13 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber +84.812s
14 Franco Colapinto Alpine +1 lap
15 Esteban Ocon Haas +1 lap
16 Pierre Gasly Alpine +1 lap
Lance Stroll Aston Martin DNF
Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls DNF
Oliver Bearman Haas DNF
Nico Hulkenberg Sauber DNF

Oscar Piastri edged out his McLaren teammate and championship rival Lando Norris to take pole position at the Qatar Grand Prix.

By starting in P1, Oscar has a great chance to score big points to stay in the title chase following his sprint race win. In addition, overtaking is limited around this circuit so track position is important.

Lando Norris had to settle with P2 but this is a Papaya front row. The championship leader is directly behind his teammate and yet ahead of Max Verstappen, the winner of last weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix and another title threat.

The McLarens laid down a significantly gauntlet at the start of Q3, as Norris opened the final stage with a lap of one minute, 19.495 seconds, which shaded Piastri’s one minute, 19.530 seconds opener. This put the Papaya cars around three tenths clear of George Russell after the first efforts, demonstrating their performance difference.

A short wait preceded the final Q3 run with a red flag to remove a sticker at Turn 2, caused by Carlos Sainz as the Williams car peeled off the markings from his garage floor.

On the resumption of the Q3 session, Norris decided to go out earlier – but made a mistake in Turn 2 and did not have the fuel on board to back off and go again. This opened the opportunity to Piastri, who found time on Norris in the opening sector and maintained an advantage to take his first pole since the race at Zandvoort – setting a lap time of one minute, 19.387 seconds.

Max Verstappen found time on his final effort to move his way up to P3, which ensured he was able to jump ahead of Russell. Andrea Kimi Antonelli was just under two tenths behind his teammate to grab fifth.

Isack Hadjar was sixth fastest, having lost a position to Antonelli in the final runs, while Sainz’s sticker issue was not a problem in ending up seventh in the overall order – although Carlos does face an investigation for being released in an unsafe condition.

Sainz joins Fernando Alonso on the fourth row of the grid, while Pierre Gasly outqualified Charles Leclerc – who suffered a high-speed spin after his first effort of Q3.

Nico Hulkenberg’s attempt to break out of Q2 was denied by a late recovery from Leclerc, who moved his way into the top ten late on. The Sauber driver fell just 0.003 seconds of beating Hadjar into P10.

Although Liam Lawson improved on his final effort of Q2, it was only enough for the Racing Bulls driver to jump Ollie Bearman, who had been knocked into the danger zone when Antonelli’s late effort secured the Mercedes path into Q3.

Gabriel Bortoleto moved ahead of Alexander Albon after his final run but could do no better than P14. Albon was unable to exact any meaningful pace in his Q2 lap and, his laps in Q1 and Q2 were both recorded at one minute, 20.629 seconds.

Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda dropped out in the final moments of Q1 when Bortoleto moved his way up into P14 with his final lap of the session. Tsunoda had entered the final five minutes of a closely contested opening stage of qualifying in the drop zone, but got up to a provisional P12 with his final time.

The Red Bull driver, expected to be leave his seat at the end of the year to the impressive Isack Hadjar, was then pulled back to the bottom five when his rivals began to improve.

Esteban Ocon improved on his final lap, but could do no better than P17, while Lewis Hamilton’s miserable weekend continued as he dropped down to P18 in the order.

Lance Stroll and Franco Colapinto are at the back of the grid in Sunday’s race after finishing in the bottom two places of qualifying.

So congratulations to Oscar Piastri with a perfect Saturday work with the sprint win earlier and taking pole for the main race. As overtaking is so limited around this track, starting in P1 will be vital in fighting back in the championship.

Qatar Grand Prix, qualifying positions:
1 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:19.387
2 Lando Norris McLaren 1:19.495
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:19.651
4 George Russell Mercedes 1:19.662
5 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:19.846
6 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls 1:20.114
7 Carlos Sainz Williams 1:20.287
8 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:20.418
9 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:20.477
10 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:20.561
11 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:20.353
12 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls 1:20.433
13 Oliver Bearman Haas 1:20.438
14 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber 1:20.534
15 Alexander Albon Williams 1:20.629
16 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull 1:20.761
17 Esteban Ocon Haas 1:20.864
18 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:20.907
19 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:21.058
20 Franco Colapinto Alpine 1:21.137

Oscar Piastri is a winner once again by finishing in P1 in the final sprint race of the season. The McLaren driver took the chequered flag ahead of George Russell, with Lando Norris holding off Max Verstappen to take P3.

The 19-lap sprint at Qatar’s twisty Losail circuit was decided at the start, with polesitter Piastri safeguarding his lead from Russell and Norris, while fourth-placed Fernando Alonso losing out to both Red Bulls of Yuki Tsunoda and Verstappen.

Tsunoda then left the door open for his title contending teammate to take into fourth, as Verstappen set chase on Norris. But the reigning world champion soon started complaining of bouncing and jumping issues, which also affected him in sprint qualifying.

Either way, there was no chance for Verstappen to threaten Norris, as the dirty air on Doha’s motorcycle circuit ensured that cars would all fall away from each other due to the dirty air, and the lack of pitstops ensured they were nearly guaranteed to finish in the positions they held on the opening lap.

The notable exception was Alonso, who made a mistake coming out of the final corner on lap 12 and Andrea Kimi Antonelli went past into Turn 1, taking away sixth position.

Antonelli looked set to be promoted to fifth after a five-second track limits penalty for Tsunoda, but a late track limits penalty for the Mercedes driver reversed that impending position change. Behind seventh-placed Alonso, Williams driver Carlos Sainz claimed the final point in eighth, holding off Isack Hadjar and Alex Albon.

Charles Leclerc lost out by dropping from ninth to P13 early on, while Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton was one of four cars to start from the pitlane and was stuck in P17.

After the sprint race, Norris now leads teammate Piastri by 22 points, with Verstappen 25 points behind. It means that a victory in the main Grand Prix for Norris would secure his maiden world championship.

This sprint event was not the most exciting with the action only happening on the very first lap. With fast, flowing corners and only a single DRS zone, overtaking is going to be tricky. The all-important qualifying is up next and getting a good grid spot will decide the outcome of the main race.

Qatar Grand Prix, sprint race results:
1 Oscar Piastri McLaren 26:51.033
2 George Russell Mercedes +4.951s
3 Lando Norris McLaren +6.279s
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull +9.054s
5 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull +19.327s
6 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +21.391s
7 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +24.556s
8 Carlos Sainz Williams +27.333s
9 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls +28.206s
10 Alexander Albon Williams +28.925s
11 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber +32.966s
12 Oliver Bearman Haas +34.529s
13 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +35.182s
14 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +36.916s
15 Esteban Ocon Haas +38.838s
16 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber +39.638s
17 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +46.171s
18 Pierre Gasly Alpine +69.534s
19 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +77.960s
20 Franco Colapinto Alpine +80.804s

Oscar Piastri achieved an important sprint pole at Qatar, for the sake of the Formula 1 world championship as his title rivals were only P3 – Lando Norris – and P6 – Max Verstappen.

The McLaren driver set the pace when it mattered most in Friday’s SQ3, by being at the top of the times after both his flying laps, with Oscar’s final benchmark of one minute, 20.055 seconds leaving him just 0.032 seconds clear of George Russell.

Lando Norris, who holds a 24-point lead over Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix, which means he can claim a maiden Formula 1 title this weekend, finished two-tenths further back after running wide at the last corner on his final effort.

Fernando Alonso is P4 for Aston Martin while Yuki Tsunoda has finally out-qualified his Red Bull teammate to P5. Max Verstappen, the defending champion, was complaining of bouncing throughout the sprint qualifying.

Verstappen had been investigated alongside Norris as both were apparently impeding each other at various phases of SQ1 – but no further action was taken from the race stewards.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli was pushed down into seventh despite almost falling out of qualifying in the second stage of the session, 0.01 seconds ahead of Carlos Sainz.

Charles Leclerc finished the session ninth ahead of Alex Albon, who ensured that both Williams cars had got into SQ3 despite the team’s expectations to struggle with the range of corners present at the Qatar circuit.

Antonelli had earned a reprieve and an entry into the final part of sprint qualifying when Isack Hadjar had his lap deleted for track limits at Turn 8. The Mercedes driver had not initially done enough on his final lap to progress, but Hadjar lost his P10 lap time after going off.

Ollie Bearman improved on his final lap but was unable to progress beyond P12, while Gabriel Bortoleto out-qualified teammate Nico Hulkenberg. The Saubers will line up in P13 and P14. Esteban Ocon was also eliminated from SQ2 in P15.

Lewis Hamilton is having a tricky time in the Ferrari and was the first big name to drop out in the opening stage of sprint qualifying as he was unable to improve enough in his final lap to progress to SQ2. Hamilton sat in the drop zone ahead of his last effort, and only progressed up to P15 – with drivers lower down the order improving on their final runs.

Antonelli’s subsequent lap put Hamilton back into the bottom five, and improvements from Hadjar, Bearman, and Ocon ensured that Hamilton was pushed further down the order. The late improvement of the Haas drivers and Albon put Lance Stroll and Liam Lawson into the bottom five, ahead of Hamilton.

The Alpine duo of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto will form the bottom end of the grid.

So congratulations to Oscar Piastri with the sprint P1 grid position. This is an important step in terms of fighting back in the championship. Only eight points is on offer in the sprint race but every points counts. It will be fascinating how Lando Norris and Max Verstappen will perform in the final sprint event of the season.

Qatar Grand Prix, sprint qualifying results:
1 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:20.055
2 George Russell Mercedes 1:20.087
3 Lando Norris McLaren 1:20.285
4 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:20.450
5 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull 1:20.519
6 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:20.528
7 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:20.532
8 Carlos Sainz Williams 1:20.542
9 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:20.622
10 Alexander Albon Williams 1:20.788
11 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls 1:21.433
12 Oliver Bearman Haas 1:21.494
13 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber 1:21.567
14 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:21.631
15 Esteban Ocon Haas 1:21.666
16 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:21.807
17 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls 1:21.851
18 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:22.043
19 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:22.112
20 Franco Colapinto Alpine 1:22.364

Max Verstappen hit the jackpot by winning the Las Vegas Grand Prix and is still in the championship battle following his 69th career Formula 1 win. He finished ahead of Lando Norris and George Russell.

The Red Bull driver made a quick start in which Lando Norris was forced into an aggressive defence into the opening corner, but the McLaren driver outbraked himself in the short run to Turn 1. The reigning world champion pull enough of a gap to lead the race, while Norris ended up losing another position to George Russell, who slipped past Carlos Sainz off the line.

Although Russell put Verstappen under pressure in the early laps, the Red Bull driver resisted the challenge and rebuilt a gap to keep the Mercedes out of DRS range. As such, Russell then began to fall back, providing Norris with an opportunity to upgrade his position.

However, Russell’s undercut strategy to collect the hard tyre means that any Norris challenge would have to wait until after the stops, and briefly offered the Mercedes driver a chance to get closer to Verstappen once the pitstop had played out.

Verstappen emerged from his own stop just over a second clear of Russell and, with fresher tyres, easily drove into the distance. This again left Russell into the pressure of Norris, who cruised past on lap 34 at Turn 14 – the now third-placed Russell admitting that he did not want to take risk and concede a podium finish.

Norris was told to chase after Verstappen, but the four-time world champion was kept informed of the McLaren driver’s renewed challenge and began to turn in a series of quick laps. This ensured that Norris had little chance of reclaiming the lead, and the deal was done when Lando’s pace dropped significantly late on.

A need to save fuel at the end of the race cost Norris around 14 seconds in the final four laps, although his advantage over Russell was enough to keep second at the finishing line. Russell had encountered the same steering issues that he had suffered in qualifying, although protection from a long-stinting Andrea Kimi Antonelli ensured that George faced no further threat to his podium finish.

After starting P17, Antonelli had done 48 laps on the hard tyre having stopped early on to switch to the soft tyres he had started on, but dropped from fourth to fifth due to a five-second penalty – following a jump start by a barely perceptible amount on the grid.

Oscar Piastri thus moved up to fourth to reduce the damage in the championship, although he now sits 30 points behind Norris in the standings, having kept Charles Leclerc while battling behind Antonelli.

Sainz collected seventh, over ten seconds clear of Isack Hadjar as the duo’s impressive qualifying performances were converted into points finishes, while Nico Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton completed the top ten. Hamilton moved up from P19 on the grid, having survived contact with Alex Albon on the lap 13.

So congratulations to Max Verstappen in winning the LAs Vegas race and is still in the championship battle. This latest success means he is now ten points behind Oscar Piastri in the drivers’ standings. As for Lando Norris, he can win the title at next weekend’s Qatar event.

UPDATE: Following post-race checks, McLaren were found to have failed to meet the minimum thickness requirement of the rear skid block. Meaning both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have been disqualified from the race results. That promotes a double podium for Mercedes with George Russell and Kimi Antonelli taking P2 and P3. Following the disqualification, Max is now on equal points with Oscar with 366. Just 24 points from championship leader Lando, who has 390 points. The title battle just got tense and interesting!

Las Vegas Grand Prix, race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:21:08.429
2 George Russell Mercedes +23.546s
3 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +30.488s
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +30.678s
5 Carlos Sainz Williams +34.924s
6 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls +45.257s
7 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber +51.134s
8 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +59.369s
9 Esteban Ocon Haas +60.635s
10 Oliver Bearman Haas +70.549s
11 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +85.308s
12 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull +86.974s
13 Pierre Gasly Alpine +91.702s
14 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls +1 lap
15 Franco Colapinto Sauber +1 lap
Alexander Albon Williams DNF
Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber DNF
Lance Stroll Aston Martin DNF
Lando Norris McLaren +20.741s/DSQ*
Oscar Piastri McLaren +27.650s/DSQ*
*Disqualified for excessive skid block rear