Triple Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen scored victory at Imola after surviving a late race challenge from McLaren’s Lando Norris. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finished third to the cheer of the tifosi.

Higher tyre degradation than expected compared to when Red Bull struggled badly for car balance in practice on Friday appeared to ease Verstappen’s path, as he was also boosted by the setup work completed at his team’s factory ahead of qualifying.

Norris did mount an exciting late-race charge as he worked his hard tyres better than Verstappen in the second of two stints, but the defending champion held on to win by 0.7 seconds.

At the start, Norris did gain slightly on polesitter Verstappen when they reacted to the five red lights, but his line took him to the outside of the track’s first braking point at the Tamburello chicane where he could not get near enough to make an attack.

As Leclerc and his Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz slotted in behind the leaders, Verstappen was clear enough to prevent Norris of DRS even when it was activated on lap two of 63.

Verstappen then just up his race pace from his rival to build his lead to 6.5 seconds by lap 22 – although he did make his life harder later in the race for abusing track limits to such an extent he was formally warned by the FIA.

Norris initially dropped Leclerc in the first stint before the Ferrari closed back in, with Norris becoming the first of the leaders to pit on lap 22 to go from the mediums they had all started on to the hards, with Verstappen coming in two laps later.

Leclerc was left out until lap 25, which meant Norris eased away pushing early in the second stint and Sainz stopping even later meant Oscar Piastri undercut the Ferrari for fourth – having chased Sainz closely for most of the first stint.

Verstappen started the final stint with a 5.6 seconds lead thanks to Lando’s earlier stop, with the Red Bull driver then rebuilding his lead over the next stage, although not as rapidly as at the start.

Indeed, at this stage, Leclerc reduced into what had been a three-second Norris advantage post-pitstop and got to within DRS range of the McLaren by lap 43.

But an off at the Variante Alta chicane shortly afterwards stopped Leclerc’s momentum, just when Lando’s hard tyre stint was transformed and he started to quickly catch Verstappen, who complained that his tyre compound did not work.

Norris pushed hard – saving several wild moments at the track’s first two chicanes as the race traversed its final five laps – but he wound up just short, with Leclerc finishing 7.1 seconds further back in third.

Piastri came home 6.2 seconds back from Leclerc, while Sainz ended falling back to 8.2 seconds off in the McLaren.

Lewis Hamilton had a trip through the Acque Mineral gravel on his way to sixth, with his Mercedes teammate George Russell stopping for a second time late on and dropping down to seventh position, but with enough pace back on the mediums to secure the fastest lap bonus point.

Sergio Perez rescued just eighth from his P11 grid starting spot – the Red Bull driver starting on an alternative strategy and running long on hards, with most of the frontrunners easily battling by him after they pitted before he himself climbed on the mediums for the races second half.

Alex Albon was the race’s only retirement – the Williams driver having his race ruined by a stop/go penalty for leaving his first stop with a loose wheel, after which he went back to the pits slowly and ended up two laps down before he was withdrawn 10 laps from the end.

So an exciting end to the Imola race with the chase from Lando Norris and yet Max Verstappen held his nerve to win. Congratulations to Red Bull Racing in winning after a tricky start to the weekend. Hard work paid off with this triumph.

Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:25:25.252
2 Lando Norris McLaren +0.725s
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +7.916s
4 Oscar Piastri McLaren +14.132s
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +22.325s
6 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +35.104s
7 George Russell Mercedes +47.154s
8 Sergio Perez Red Bull +54.776s
9 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +79.556s
10 Yuki Tsunoda RB +1 lap
11 Nico Hulkenberg Haas +1 lap
12 Kevin Magnussen Haas +1 lap
13 Daniel Ricciardo RB +1 lap
14 Esteban Ocon Alpine +1 lap
15 Zhou Guanyu Sauber +1 lap
16 Pierre Gasly Alpine +1 lap
17 Logan Sargeant Williams +1 lap
18 Valtteri Bottas Sauber +1 lap
19 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +1 lap
20 Alex Albon Williams DNF

Max Verstappen earned his eighth successive pole position for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix beating both McLarens at Imola.

After struggling on Friday in a tricky practice sessions, the Red Bull worked on the RB20 setup and Max Verstappen delivered the result with pole on Saturday.

Verstappen needed late efforts to set his best times in the opening two parts of qualifying, but led from the off in Q3 – his first run at a time of one minute, 14.869 seconds ahead of Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc.

The Ferrari drivers then headed the pack on the final efforts, where Leclerc could not recover enough time from missing his personal best in the first sector and stayed third.

Behind, Verstappen set purple sectors in the first two thirds of the lap but slight error through the final corner – Rivazza 2 – meant he was vulnerable even as he improved the top time to one minute, 14.746 seconds.

Miami Grand Prix winner Norris also improved but paid the price for a slower middle sector than he had managed on his opening go in Q3, with Oscar Piastri then stealing ahead of his teammate and Leclerc as he beat Verstappen in the final sector to end up 0.074 seconds adrift.

Despite setting the second quickest time, the race stewards have decided to penalise Piastri with a three-place grid drop after impeding Kevin Magnussen late in Q1. This penalty promotes his McLaren teammate Norris onto the front row.

Behind the trio came Carlos Sainz, George Russell and Yuki Tsunoda, who had shone with a rapid Q2 time before fading from the lead fight.

Next came Lewis Hamilton in eighth, Daniel Ricciardo in ninth and Nico Hulkenberg rounding out the top ten.

Verstappen topped Q2 ahead of Leclerc, in which Sergio Perez was knocked out despite setting his best time at the end of the middle segment.

Esteban Ocon, Lance Stroll, Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly were also eliminated at this stage.

In Q1, which Verstappen led also ahead of Leclerc when the Ferraris progressed on the mediums, last-gasp personal bests were not enough to save Valtteri Bottas, Logan Sargeant and Zhou Guanyu in 16-17-18.

Magnussen ended up P19 ahead of Fernando Alonso, who missed the start of the opening segment as Aston Martin worked to repair the car he had damaged during his FP3 crash.

But the 2005 race winner abandoned his final effort as he failed to improve on his personal best late on having made a mistake and gone through the Tamburello exit gravel on his second attempt.

Sargeant later got his lap time deleted and was demoted to last position on the grid.

So a dramatic turnaround for Red Bull with Max struggling in FP1 and FP2, but when the matter counts, the triple champion produced the result to take pole.

Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:14.746
2 Lando Norris McLaren 1:14.837
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:14.970
4 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:15.233
5 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:14.820*
6 George Russell Mercedes 1:15.234
7 Yuki Tsunoda RB 1:15.465
8 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:15.504
9 Daniel Ricciardo RB 1:15.674
10 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:15.980
11 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:15.706
12 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:15.906
13 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:15.992
14 Alex Albon Williams 1:16.200
15 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:16.381
16 Valtteri Bottas Sauber 1:16.626
17 Zhou Guanyu Sauber 1:16.834
18 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:16.854
19 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:16.917
20 Logan Sargeant Williams No time
*Three-place grid penalty for impeding Kevin Magnussen

Lando Norris finally scored his first Formula 1 race victory in the 2024 Miami Grand Prix, thanks to the mid-race safety car which helped the McLaren driver to beat Max Verstappen.

The victory ends Lando’s streak as having the most podiums without a Grand Prix victory, with McLaren scoring its first such win since the 2021 Italian Grand Prix after Oscar Piastri’s 2023 Qatar sprint race success.

At the start, Verstappen made a smooth getaway while Leclerc fell backwards off the start line and got swamped before the late-braking Sergio Perez nearly wiped out Verstappen and pushed others including Norris wide at Turn 1, which allowed Leclerc back to second.

As Verstappen escaped to a healthy lead of a few seconds, Piastri edged ahead of Sainz as the first corners of lap one of 57 unfolded to run third behind Leclerc.

The Ferrari driver then slid around more on the mediums all the leaders had started on and without DRS to Verstappen ahead Piastri was able to pass by and then led the Ferrari drivers for much of the first stint.

Behind, Perez held up Norris a bit further back from the fight for second before he became the first of the leaders to pit for hards on lap 17.

Leclerc, who Sainz wanted to be waved by, then pitted at the end of lap 19, shortly after which Verstappen made a mistake at the chicane, knocking a bollard off the kerb and carrying it through his car until he reached the exit of Turn 16.

When this fell off a virtual safety car was called so the marshals could retrieve the bollard, after which Verstappen stopped at the end of lap 23.

Four laps later, Piastri and Sainz pitted, which meant Norris, who had been reducing Sainz’s previous advantage with a string of fastest laps, moved into the lead.

His race was then transformed when Kevin Magnussen and Logan Sargeant collided at Turn 2, with the Haas driver penalised for leaving his nose alongside the right rear of the Williams as they headed off to Turn 3, with the contact pitching Sargeant off backwards and the wreckage having to be cleared under the safety car.

McLaren was able to pit Norris then, although he did a full lap at the safety car delta speed before coming in to switch to the hards and subsequently getting out ahead of Verstappen, who had been picked up by the safety car before he and the rest were waved through.

The race restarted on lap 33, with Norris having to defend hard at Turn 1’s inside against Verstappen’s attack before the McLaren driver was able to shoot clear to escape DRS over the first lap back at racing speed.

Leclerc was close enough to Verstappen to have a look to Turn 11’s inside on this lap before he dropped back out of DRS to the Red Bull and it became a fight at the front.

But Norris’s hards being six laps younger provided a critical advantage, as ten laps later his lead had reached the three-second mark – his rival ruing his RB20 understeering on the hards, a situation Verstappen called a “disaster” over his team radio.

With five laps left, Norris’s lead was up to 6.1 seconds and he continued to pull away to a final winning margin of 7.6 seconds, with Leclerc 2.3 seconds further back in third.

Sainz ended up fourth after two controversial battles with Piastri post-restart. Then first involved both drivers going deep at Turn 11 on lap 34, with Sainz feeling he was pushed off but the stewards not deeming the incident worthy of a penalty.

On lap 39, Sainz attacked at Turn 17 at the end of the back straight but lost the rear of his car and, as it swung around it, hit Piastri’s front wing and broke it, with both drivers able to continue battling to Turn 1 where Piastri went deep and Sainz could run clear.

Piastri was then passed by Perez and a resurgent Lewis Hamilton at Turn 11 shortly afterwards, with McLaren soon pitting him to replace his front wing and dropping him to the back of the field.

Oscar battled back to finish P13 – McLaren warning him during fights not to have another clash and risk the safety car reappearing and erasing his team-mate’s lead.

Another safety car stopper, Yuki Tsunoda, finished seventh, ahead of George Russell and Fernando Alonso, who fought his way by Esteban Ocon late on.

With P10, Ocon scores Alpine’s first point of the 2024 season.

So congratulations to Lando Norris in winning his first Formula 1 race. Been a long time coming and yet fully deserved it. Brilliant team effort by McLaren and this result is an excellent reward for the hard work. Hopefully the first of many for Lando.

Miami Grand Prix, race results:
1 Lando Norris McLaren 1:30:49.876
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull +7.612s
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +9.920s
4 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +11.407s
5 Sergio Perez Red Bull +14.650s
6 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +16.585s
7 Yuki Tsunoda RB +26.185s
8 George Russell Mercedes +34.789s
9 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +37.107s
10 Esteban Ocon Alpine +39.746s
11 Nico Hulkenberg Haas +40.789s
12 Pierre Gasly Alpine +44.958s
13 Oscar Piastri McLaren +49.756s
14 Zhou Guanyu Sauber +49.979s
15 Daniel Ricciardo RB +50.956s
16 Valtteri Bottas Sauber +52.356s
17 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +55.173s
18 Kevin Magnussen Haas +64.683s
19 Alex Albon Williams +76.091s
Logan Sargeant Williams DNF

Max Verstappen achieved his sixth pole position of the season by taking his usual spot in qualifying for the Miami Grand Prix, beating both Ferraris.

Verstappen posted a time of one minute, 27.241 seconds to lead Charles Leclerc by 0.141 seconds on the first runs in Q3, where they were trailed by Carlos Sainz.

On the final runs, although Verstappen set the session’s fastest time in the first sector, the leading trio could not better their previous best times – Leclerc in particular having a wild time on this final lap.

Sergio Perez did find time on his final Q3 go to jump to fourth position, while Lando Norris took fifth having run mediums on his first Q3 effort.

This pair improving shuffled Oscar Piastri down to sixth on the second Q3 runs, while the Mercedes duo of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton took seventh and eighth.

Both Mercedes drivers had to run mediums for the last Q3 laps after running out of new soft compound, but only Hamilton went quicker with the yellow-walled tyres.

Behind, Nico Hulkenberg was ninth and Yuki Tsunoda took tenth, with the only significant incident in Q3 being Sainz getting cleared of impeding Hulkenberg at Turn 17 late on.

In Q2, Russell’s last-gasp effort knocked out Lance Stroll, who was joined by Alpine pair Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon – both drivers failing to set personal best times on their final runs in the middle segment.

Behind, Alex Albon’s late personal best pushed Fernando Alonso down to P15.

In Q1, Alonso just managed to get through with an 0.01 seconds ahead of Valtteri Bottas in P15 and P16, with home hero Logan Sargeant eliminated in P17 behind Bottas.

Sprint qualifying and race hero Daniel Ricciardo was also knocked out in P18, complaining of lacking rear grip. The RB driver will drop down to last on the grid following a three-place grid penalty for overtaking under safety car conditions in the previous race at China.

Kevin Magnussen lost time with traffic at the final corner on his last Q1 lap, while Zhou Guanyu faces a post-session stewards investigation for pushing in front of Ricciardo when before the pitlane opened for the first segment and for crossing the pit exit line late in Q1.

So a simply lovely Saturday for Max Verstappen. Winner in the sprint race and now pole position for the Miami Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver is looking strong for the race but can the Ferraris be able to challenge? We shall find out on race day.

Miami Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:27.241
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:27.382
3 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:27.455
4 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:27.460
5 Lando Norris McLaren 1:27.594
6 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:27.675
7 George Russell Mercedes 1:28.067
8 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:28.107
9 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:28.146
10 Yuki Tsunoda RB 1:28.192
11 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:28.222
12 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:28.324
13 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:28.371
14 Alex Albon Williams 1:28.413
15 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:28.427
16 Valtteri Bottas Sauber 1:28.463
17 Logan Sargeant Williams 1:28.487
18 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:28.619
19 Zhou Guanyu Sauber 1:28.824
20 Daniel Ricciardo RB 1:28.617*
*Three-place grid penalty for overtaking under the safety car in the Chinese Grand Prix

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen won the second sprint of the season beating Charles Leclerc in the Miami Grand Prix.

At the start, Leclerc appeared to gain well against Verstappen before the polesitter went left and made sure of the lead into Turn 1, where Leclerc saw off Sergio Perez’s attentions and that allowed Daniel Ricciardo to get ahead into third as they raced away.

Lando Norris never got that far as he was taken out on Turn 1’s outside line – the McLaren an innocent victim of a chain of events involving Hamilton braking very late on the inside and hitting Fernando Alonso, who was also close to Lance Stroll and they collided, which collected into Norris.

As the McLaren was left stranded on the inside – with Stroll later retiring in the pits the next time by – the safety car was called out before the restart of lap four of 19.

Verstappen aced the restart and immediately pulled out of DRS threat to Leclerc for when the system was finally activated for the first time on lap 5, during which Perez easily got back by Ricciardo with a DRS run down the back straight.

Perez could not then get quickly after Leclerc, who stuck close to Verstappen as they lapped in the low one minute, 31 second gap no one else could reach.

By the halfway stage, Verstappen led Leclerc by 2.2 seconds, with Perez finally starting to edge closer back towards Leclerc as Ricciardo held off Carlos Sainz.

Verstappen then reported his car balance and degradation were “terrible” with “zero rear grip, like quali”, at which point on lap ten Leclerc closed back in on the lead to bring the lead back under two seconds.

The gap was swinging between the two, but Verstappen eventually pulled away to win by 3.3 seconds, with Perez reducing Leclerc’s advantage through the race’s final third to finish 1.7 seconds further behind in third.

Ricciardo held off Sainz’s race-long attentions in fourth and fifth, with Oscar Piastri also less than a second back in their three-car train adrift of the leaders.

Nico Hulkenberg took seventh for Haas ahead of Hamilton, who had the most dramatic race following the Turn 1 close for which the race stewards deciding no blame – most of his action involving Kevin Magnussen in the other Haas.

Hamilton was handed a post-race 20-second penalty for speeding in the pitlane during the early safety car period, which dropped him to P16 in the final results.

Hamilton struggled to get by Magnussen when DRS was activated, complaining about a lack of top speed in his Mercedes.

On lap eight, Magnussen cut the chicane ahead of Hamilton, while three laps later they collided through the long Turn 12 right-hander after the back straight, where Magnussen had been coming back from leaving the track.

On lap 14, Hamilton attacked Magnussen on the outside run to Turn 11 but Magnussen braked so late on the inside they both went off and Yuki Tsunoda took the opportunity to get ahead of the Mercedes.

Magnussen, who by this time had been handed a 10-second penalty for cutting the chicane, then let Tsunoda and Hamilton by before he was handed three more penalties for the other incidents involving Hamilton, who repassed Tsunoda’s RB on the final lap.

These included a five-second time addition for track limits abuse, which meant the Haas driver finished last in the standings, behind Alonso, who had dropped to the rear of the field following the Turn 1 contact and later fought Esteban Ocon’s Alpine before the Aston Martin made a late pitstop.

Ocon ended up P15 having served a 10-second stop-go penalty during the safety car for hitting Leclerc on the laps to the grid and breaking his own front wing.

Hamilton’s post-race penalty was given for speeding in the pitlane, which occurred on one of the occasions the whole field twice touring through the pits behind the safety car as the lap one crash debris and Norris’s McLaren were cleared away.

Norris faces an investigation now the sprint has concluded for walking across the track back to the pits following the early accident.

So congratulations to Max Verstappen in winning the Miami sprint. These extra points will do nicely for the championship. Good to see RB scoring double points with Daniel Ricciardo taking P4 with Yuki Tsunoda finishing in P8. Qualifying will be next.

Miami Grand Prix, sprint results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 31:31.383
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +3.371s
3 Sergio Perez Red Bull +5.095s
4 Daniel Ricciardo RB +14.971s
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +15.222s
6 Oscar Piastri McLaren +15.750s
7 Nico Hulkenberg Haas +22.054s
8 Yuki Tsunoda RB +29.816s
9 Pierre Gasly Alpine +31.880s
10 Logan Sargeant Williams +34.355s
11 Zhou Guanyu Sauber +35.078s
12 George Russell Mercedes +35.755s
13 Alexander Albon Williams +36.086s
14 Valtteri Bottas Sauber +36.892s
15 Esteban Ocon Alpine +37.740s
16 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +49.347s
17 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +59.409s
18 Kevin Magnussen Haas +66.303s
Lance Stroll Aston Martin DNF
Lando Norris McLaren DNF

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen will start the Miami Grand Prix sprint race on pole position edging out Charles Leclerc, who missed out on practice following a spin. While Lando Norris was unable to repeat his SQ1 and SQ2 performance.

Norris had led SQ1 and SQ2, with a time in the middle segment that would have been good enough to top SQ3, but on the switch to the soft compound for the final segment he fell out of contention – the McLaren driver particularly paying for losing 0.8 seconds compared to Verstappen in the opening sector.

Verstappen’s sprint race pole-clinching lap was not perfect as he had to wrestle his RB20 through the tight chicane at the end of the final sector, and yet posted a one minute, 27.641 seconds that was good enough to take the top spot.

Leclerc slotted into second just over 0.1 seconds adrift in second position – an impressive turnaround after he missed most of practice following his early spin and clutch issue.

Sergio Perez finished in third ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, who escaped hitting the Turn 16 exit wall in SQ2, to take a solid P4 in the RB.

This was something Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso had done in the opening segment, before he finished the session down in eighth behind Carlos Sainz, Oscar Piastri and Lance Stroll.

In the end, Norris was only able to beat Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg, despite sealing the quickest times in the final two sectors in qualifying – his gap from the first sector enough to keep him from Verstappen.

In SQ2, which like SQ1 had the drivers circulating on the medium tyres throughout, Mercedes had both its cars taking an exit, with George Russell heading Lewis Hamilton in P11 and P12 – the latter striking the wall exiting Turn 16 onto the main straight on his final lap.

Behind came Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, Haas driver Kevin Magnussen and Yuki Tsunoda in the RB, who along with Verstappen and Norris only completed one flying lap in the middle segment.

In SQ1, Alex Albon’s last-gasp improvement was not enough to get him out of the elimination zone, before it was revealed his rise from last place to P16 was deleted due to cutting the chicane.

Albon duly had his time removed and will start last in the sprint, behind Pierre Gasly, Zhou Guanyu, Valtteri Bottas and Logan Sargeant, who therefore led the way in a qualifying session for the first time as Albon’s Williams teammate.

Bottas faces a post-session investigation for nearly colliding with Piastri at Turn 1 towards the end of SQ1, with the Sauber driver unaware of the McLaren’s fast approach to the right-hander when on a slow lap while Piastri was on a flying lap.

Hamilton will also have a post-session stewards hearing due to a possible Mercedes pits infringement during SQ2, while a series of drivers are under investigation for apparently not following the race director’s instruction regarding going too slowly on outlaps, which usually results in no sanctions being dished out.

So congratulations to Max Verstappen with this sprint pole. The defending champion even admitted he was surprise to get the quickest time despite a messy section in the chicane, with a bit of oversteer in the RB20. And yet it was enough to be in P1.

Miami Grand Prix, sprint qualifying:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:27.641
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:27.749
3 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:27.876
4 Daniel Ricciardo RB 1:28.044
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:28.103
6 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:28.161
7 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:28.375
8 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:28.419
9 Lando Norris McLaren 1:28.472
10 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:28.476
11 George Russell Mercedes 1:28.343
12 Lewis Hamilton Mercedds 1:28.371
13 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:28.379
14 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:28.614
15 Yuki Tsunoda RB No time
16 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:29.185
17 Zhou Guanyu Sauber 1:29.267
18 Valtteri Bottas Sauber 1:29.360
19 Logan Sargeant Williams 1:29.551
20 Alex Albon Williams 1:29.858

This was a simply lovely weekend for the current Formula 1 world champion as Max Verstappen is victorious at the Chinese Grand Prix, following on his sprint victory and pole position in the qualifying. The Red Bull driver finished ahead of Lando Norris and Sergio Perez.

On the back of scoring Red Bull Racing’s 100th pole position, Verstappen was never threatened throughout the first race in Shanghai since 2019 and effortlessly overcame two safety car restarts in the middle period of the this eventful race.

After leading the pack away without any real threat from behind, Verstappen pushed a 1.6-second gap at the end of the first lap over Fernando Alonso, who had opened his race with a great move around the outside of Sergio Perez into the first corner.

The usual Verstappen break-build that contemporary Formula 1 fans have come to expect ended up being eradicated by a safety car on lap 20, as the Sauber of Valtteri Bottas came to a halt at Turn 11 with an engine problem – which prompted an eventual virtual safety car prior to the emergence of the Mercedes-AMG GT.

On the restart, a push on Yuki Tsunoda from Kevin Magnussen put the RB driver out, causing another safety car period to stop the progress that Verstappen was able to make.

Additional, there was a hit from the back on Daniel Ricciardo as Lance Stroll misjudge the safety car restart. This caused damage on the RB and Daniel was forced to retire for the second time while Lance received a ten-second time penalty.

Tasked with leading the field away on both restarts, Verstappen opened the throttle on the exit of Turn 14 to hold his position and, when the second safety car period came to an end on lap 32, he resumed his progress at the front of the pack.

He was now leading from Lando Norris, who took his single stop of the race under the virtual safety car, and the decision from Red Bull to put both Verstappen and Perez under the full safety car a few laps later ensured that the McLaren driver moved out in second.

Initially keeping Verstappen in his sights, Norris could not maintain the same level of pace as the lead Red Bull and instead focused on preserving the runner-up spot over Perez – who also dropped behind Charles Leclerc after his pitstop.

As such, Verstappen maintained his level of race pace and crossed the line with 13.7 seconds in hand over Norris. The McLaren driver put together an expertly managed second stint despite his team’s reservations about its pace in China, while Perez could not made any real impression, the gap between the other podium finishers stood at 5.3 seconds.

Leclerc and Carlos Sainz finished fourth and fifth after finding a way to make a one-stop – designated Plan D over the radio – work – although Leclerc was able to extend his first stint and managed to secure a stop under the VSC on lap 21, Sainz had pitted four laps before and had a tougher challenge to drag his efforts on the hard tyre to the end.

Sainz had also been able to resist a brief period of pressure from George Russell, who looked almost certain to catch the Ferrari driver until eventually having to back off to save his tyres – preserving sixth in the process for Mercedes.

The two had moved up a position when Fernando Alonso enacted a late stop as Aston Martin gambled on a set of soft tyres during the safety car. This gave Alonso the momentum to move up to fifth, having lost positions as a result of stopping on lap 11 and giving track position to those who benefitted from the safety car period to make scheduled stops.

But Alonso needed to stop again as the softs wouldn’t make it to the end, and thus switched to mediums for the final 12 laps. Fernando fell out of the top ten, but he managed to put together a string of moves to take advantage of those on worn hard tyres to break into seventh.

Oscar Piastri held off Lewis Hamilton for eighth despite damage to his diffuser. On the first safety car restart, Alonso outbraked himself and caused both Russell and Piastri to check up. Daniel Ricciardo then nudged the back of Oscar’s car, but was in turn hit from behind by Lance Stroll. The resulting diffuser damage caused Ricciardo to retire.

Nico Hulkenberg thus picked up the final point as a result of that chaos, finishing 2.3 seconds clear of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon to secure a vital point for the Haas team.

So an eventful Chinese Grand Prix thanks to the safety car and yet it was inevitable that Max Verstappen winng. The speed of the current champion is impressive and the strategy calls by Red Bull is excellent. So it will be interesting if the others can challenge when we go to Miami next and yet another sprint weekend.

Chinese Grand Prix, race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:40:52.554
2 Lando Norris McLaren +13.773s
3 Sergio Perez Red Bull +19.160s
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +23.623s
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +33.983s
6 George Russell Mercedes +38.724s
7 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +43.414s
8 Oscar Piastri McLaren +56.198s
9 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +57.986s
10 Nico Hulkenberg Haas +60.476s
11 Esteban Ocon Alpine +62.812s
12 Alexander Albon Williams +65.506s
13 Pierre Gasly Alpine +69.223s
14 Zhou Guanyu Sauber +71.689s
15 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +82.786s
16 Kevin Magnussen Haas +87.533s
17 Logan Sargeant Williams +95.110s
Daniel Ricciardo RB DNF
Yuki Tsunoda RB 26 DNF
Valtteri Bottas Sauber DNF

Triple champion Max Verstappen achieved Red Bull Racing’s 100th pole position at the Chinese Grand Prix. His lap time of one minute, 33.660 seconds was three tenths clear of teammate Sergio Perez

The title leader had rarely looked beatable throughout the session and set out in pursuit of pole position, particularly as no other driver had been able to beat his opening one minute, 33.977 seconds effort – let alone his ultimate pole lap.

This set up a thrilling battle to join him on the front row, however, and a series of contenders all bid their claim to start at the front. Fernando Alonso ended the first runs with the second-best laptime, but the second Q3 run provided further improvements.

Carlos Sainz, who recovered from a Q2 crash, initially popped up onto the front row, but was beaten by Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc. Oscar Piastri beat them in turn before Lando Norris relegated his teammate, but Alonso then briefly reclaimed his earlier position.

But Perez broke into the one minute, 33 seconds to seal a Red Bull 1-2, knocking Alonso down to the second row of the grid – where he starts alongside Norris.

Piastri starts fifth alongside Leclerc, while Sainz joins George Russell on the fourth row as he was Mercedes’ sole representative in the top half of the field.

Nico Hulkenberg broke into Q3 and starts Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix race from ninth, with Valtteri Bottas completing the top ten.

Q2 was interrupted by a red flag as Sainz clipped the gravel with his rear tyres on the exit of the final corner and spun, ending up in the wall on the opposite end of the track. It looked as though the Ferrari driver was going to be unable to fire his car up again, but he recovered his car out of its resting place and made it back into the pits.

Sainz managed to not only get back on track, but escaped the Q2 drop zone with a significant margin to book his slot into the final stage of qualifying.

Lance Stroll was eliminated out in the final moments as Bottas shrugged off his place in the drop zone with a time good enough for P10, while Daniel Ricciardo’s place in the top ten had been brief as Leclerc put the RB driver back into the drop zone, where he shook out in P12.

Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly both sandwiched Alex Albon, as neither Alpine nor the remaining Williams could break out of Q2.

Lewis Hamilton proved to be the biggest elimination in Q1 in a frantic end due to track evolution, although the seven-time champion could not benefit after a lock-up at Turn 14.

Having sought to break out of the drop zone, his final lap left Hamilton looking precarious at best ahead of a final runs in P12, but further improvements enforced his drop out.

Pierre Gasly ultimately tipped Hamilton into the bottom five with his own escape from the drop, and both local hero Zhou Guanyu and Kevin Magnussen also fell into the elimination zone despite briefly finding safety in an ever-changing session – Zhou also snatching at the front wheels into Turn 14 on the brakes.

Yuki Tsunoda faced a brief DRS issue and, although this was fixed, the RB driver could not break out of Q1 despite feeling his lap was good. Logan Sargeant suffered a spin and will start last for the main race.

So it’s been a brilliant day for Max Verstappen. Winner in the sprint race earlier and now in P1 for the main race and achieving the team’s 100th pole in the sport. Simply lovely.

Chinese Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:33.660
2 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:33.982
3 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:34.148
4 Lando Norris McLaren 1:34.165
5 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:34.273
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:34.289
7 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:34.297
8 George Russell Mercedes 1:34.433
9 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:34.604
10 Valtteri Bottas Sauber 1:34.665
11 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:34.838
12 Daniel Ricciardo RB 1:34.934
13 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:35.223
14 Alexander Albon Williams 1:35.241
15 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:35.463
16 Zhou Guanyu Sauber
17 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:35.516
18 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:35.573
19 Yuki Tsunoda RB 1:35.746
20 Logan Sargeant Williams 1:36.358

Triple champion Max Verstappen came through from P4 on the starting grid to win the Chinese Grand Prix sprint race after passing old title rival Lewis Hamilton on lap nine.

The Red Bull driver appeared out of sorts in the opening series of laps as he struggled to charge his battery with the selected hybrid settings, but a series of adjustments on his steering wheel appeared to solve the issue.

With greater forward momentum, Verstappen pulled himself out of third with a simple DRS overtake on the second-placed Fernando Alonso, and then attack on a Turn 14 lock-up from Hamilton to close in for victory.

Polesitter Lando Norris had suffered a poorer start in comparison to Hamilton and, once the first corner began to approach, the Mercedes driver was level alongside the McLaren.

Norris attempted to hang his car around the outside, but Hamilton kept his car in the middle of the track at the switching point to the left-handed Turn 3. This left Norris out of road, where he ultimately dropped to seventh position.

After emerging with the lead, Hamilton started to gap Alonso and built a healthy 1.4-second buffer by the time the Aston Martin came under attack from a Verstappen.

Verstappen got by the Aston Martin driver who did not fight following a simple DRS pass, and a lap later Hamilton snatched at his left-front tyre at Turn 14 to lose time.

This gave Verstappen a great opportunity to pass for the lead on the ninth lap, which he took and disappeared off into the distance by gapping Hamilton at the rate of more than a second per lap. At the flag, Verstappen claimed the sprint victory by 13 seconds.

Hamilton remained unchallenged for second, while Sergio Perez snatched third after winning out in a thrilling scrap between himself, Alonso, and the Ferraris. This battle was the only highlight in the sprint as most of the time, it was a DRS train of cars remained in position.

Alonso had started to drop back after initially clinging on to Hamilton, slowly looming larger in Carlos Sainz’s vision as the Ferrari driver had the edge on pace over the second half. The pressure started to move up between the two and Sainz started to attack Alonso, but the Aston Martin remained in front.

Perez and Charles Leclerc also joined in and, when Alonso and Sainz went wheel to wheel through Turns 7 and 8 with contact, Perez took full advantage of the situation and went past at the following corner.

Third place was sealed when the Ferraris fought with each other rather than attempt to re-pass Perez, with Leclerc taking the position from his teammate. In the meantime, Alonso had dropped out of the race with a puncture after his contact with Sainz.

Norris, after his first-lap wide moment, was in touching distance with the pack in contention for third but could not work his way into the thick of that battle, but at least was well ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri in seventh place. George Russell completed the top eight with a gamble on soft tyres, finishing 6.2 seconds clear of home hero Zhou Guanyu to collect the final point on offer.

So not the most exciting sprint and yet it was a disappointing that Lando Norris was unable to take victory after starting from pole. Lewis Hamilton leading some laps was a highlight and yet the speed of Max Verstappen was unstoppable. Qualifying for the race comes next.

Chinese Grand Prix, sprint results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 32:04.660
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +13.043s
3 Serio Perez McLaren +15.258s
4 Chalres Leclerc Ferrari +17.486s
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +20.696s
6 Lando Norris McLaren +22.088s
7 Oscar Piastri McLaren +24.713s
8 George Russell Mercedes +25.696s
9 Guanyu Zhou Sauber +31.951s
10 Kevin Magnussen Haas +37.398s
11 Daniel Ricciardo RB +37.840s
12 Valtteri Bottas Sauber +38.295s
13 Esteban Ocon Alpine +39.841s
14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +40.299s
15 Pierre Gasly Alpine +40.838s
16 Yuki Tsunoda RB +41.870s
17 Alex Albon Williams +42.998s
18 Logan Sargeant Williams +46.352s
19 Nico Hulkenberg Haas +49.630s
Fernando Alonso Aston Martin DNF

McLaren’s Lando Norris came through the mayhem to take pole position for the Chinese Grand Prix sprint race. His initial time was deleted but got reinstated to beat Lewis Hamilton.

Rain emerged at the end of the SQ2 segment and continued meaning the use of intermediate tyres for the final stage of qualifying to decide pole.

Track conditions were evidently very slippery, as a number of drivers over-extended beyond the circuit’s limits and had to recover from the run-off. Charles Leclerc hit the wall after spinning on the exit of Turn 8, but was able to continue in his Ferrari and stopped for a new front wing and warmer, fresher intermediates.

Oscar Piastri got the session off with a lap above the two-minute mark, which was beaten by Sergio Perez, as the Red Bull driver led the line to begin with.

Fernando Alonso then beat the Red Bull driver, to ensure he could factor in the fight for pole, but this was subsequently beaten by the first sub-120 second lap from Lewis Hamilton, who claimed a one minute, 59.321 seconds.

Norris had gone off on the lap prior to a mighty one minute, 57.940 seconds, which had put the McLaren driver into provisional pole, but this was then subject to an unexplained deletion.

Hamilton thus looked in line for pole with a time of one minute, 59.201 seconds follow-up appeared to confirm that, but Lando’s time was reinstated and ensured an all-British front row for Saturday’s sprint race.

Alonso was third quickest over Max Verstappen, who suffered a number of moments before finally stitching a clean lap together with his final effort of the session.

Carlos Sainz and Perez locked out the third row ahead of Leclerc, who recovered enough to set a time, while Piastri could only manage eighth. The Saubers of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu completed the top ten.

The start of SQ2 faced a minor delay as, like FP1, the grass lining the circuit bust into flames and needed to be extinguished. With rain due, the drivers all rushed to the pit exit and fighting for track position, although neither Red Bull fancied joining in.

George Russell dropped to P11 when the times had shaken out and, despite opting to go for another lap, the rain finally emerged and affected his time in the opening sector.

He was six tenths adrift of Zhou’s cut-off benchmark and had to abandon his effort as the Chinese driver make it through – sending the home crowd into fever.

Kevin Magnussen outqualified teammate Nico Hulkenberg as the Haas drivers took P12 and P13 on the sprint race grid, as Daniel Ricciardo and free practice leader Lance Stroll also fell short on their single flying laps.

Russell staged a late escape from the elimination zone in SQ1 having dropped to the bottom of the order, finding three tenths in the final sector over the cut-off time from Pierre Gasly to make it through into the next round.

This pushed Gasly into the bottom five, ensuring that he joined Alpine teammate Esteban Ocon in being eliminated in the opening stage of the session.

Alex Albon dropped out in P18, as the two Williams drivers split by Yuki Tsunoda as Logan Sargeant was last at the chequered flag.

Tsunoda had not been able to set a somewhat representative time until his final run, but could not find enough to join RB teammate Ricciardo into SQ2 as he struggled with a lap of grip.

So a crazy end to sprint qualifying with the wet conditions and yet Lando Norris came through to take pole position for McLaren. With Lewis Hamilton on the front row with Fernando Alonso and Max Verstappen next up, the sprint race is going to be exciting.

Chinese Grand Prix, sprint qualifying:
1 Lando Norris McLaren 1:57.940
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:59.201
3 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:59.915
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull 2:00.028
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 2:00.214
6 Sergio Perez Red Bull 2:00.375
7 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 2:00.566
8 Oscar Piastri McLaren 2:00.990
9 Valtteri Bottas Sauber 2:01.044
10 Zhou Guanyu Sauber 2:03.537
11 George Russell Mercedes 1:36.345
12 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:36.473
13 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:36.478
14 Daniel Ricciardo RB 1:36.553
15 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:36.677
16 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:37.632
17 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:37.720
18 Alexander Albon Williams 1:37.812
19 Yuki Tsunoda RB 1:37.892
20 Logan Sargeant Williams 1:37.923