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

Triple world champion Max Verstappen dominated the Japanese Grand Prix, leading a Red Bull Racing 1-2 with Sergio Perez finishing a solid podium.

Melbourne winner Carlos Sainz completed the podium ahead of his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc, who popped up in Perez’s race and gained several positions from his mid-pack grid spot by completing a rare Suzuka one-stop strategy.

At the first start, polesitter Verstappen easily led Perez away from the line, with the action occurring far back in the pack as the medium-starting RB cars got overtaken by soft-running rivals.

When they raced into Turn 3, Daniel Ricciardo moved over on Alex Albon – unsighted that the Williams was on his right-hand side – and the pair making contact and straight into the barriers at the start of the Esses.

The race was immediately stopped and a near 30-minute delay took place as the tyre wall was repaired.

In the second standing start, Verstappen again maintained his lead away from pole, this time moving aggressively across his teammate on the approach to the opening corners.

Perez managed to stay within a second for when DRS was activated on lap four of 57, but slipped back slightly until on lap six he ran wide out of Degner two and lost nearly a second.

The gap between the leaders continued extending until Perez stopped first for more mediums – the Red Bull duo having stayed on the mediums they had used at the initial start for the second attempt – on lap 15, where he trailed by nearly five seconds.

Verstappen was called in the next time around, but when he emerged he had a new chaser – Lando Norris, who had been the first of the frontrunners to pit on lap 11, where he took hards.

At this stage Leclerc led for Ferrari, as he stayed out longest from the leading pack – except the Mercedes cars that moved from mediums to hards during the red flag – having started down in eighth.

But by the end of lap 21 Verstappen was back to the front – after he had used DRS to easily move ahead of Leclerc on the outside line into Turn 1, and he had a 4.3 seconds lead over Norris in third, with Perez a further 1.2 seconds back.

But on the next lap, Perez dived by Norris at the chicane and so he started lap 23 with a 6.5 seconds gap to his teammate.

Over the rest of the second stint, Verstappen moved clear to an 11 seconds lead over Perez, who took several laps to catch and pass Leclerc, getting by when one-stopping Ferrari slipped off the road at Degner two on lap 26.

Checo again stopped first of the two leaders for the final pitstops, where both Red Bulls took the hards, on lap 33, with Verstappen coming in the next time by.

In the final stint, the leading duo were again initially separated by Leclerc, who had pitted for the first time at the end of the lap he slid off in front of Perez, with McLaren bringing Norris in at the same time to prevent Russell’s undercut threat in the pack behind.

Leclerc was able to run clear of Norris and cycled back to becoming a factor for Red Bull given he was not set to stop again, but the second time around, Perez was quickly by the Ferrari with a DRS run to Turn 1’s inside.

The final 15 laps kicked off with Verstappen’s lead reduced to eight seconds due to the undercuts powerful effect, but Max brought this back up to 12.5 seconds by the flag.

In the fight for the final podium position, Leclerc maintained his lead over Norris for the duration of his second stint and the McLaren’s third, but both were passed by Sainz in the closing stages after the Ferrari driver built a notable tyre offset life advantage in the middle stint of his two-stopper.

Norris finished three seconds behind Leclerc in fourth, ahead of Fernando Alonso, who appeared to be adapting his pace late on to give the chasing Oscar Piastri DRS in his own last-gasp fight with Russell.

The pair clashed at the chicane with four laps to go, the same place where Piastri locked up on the penultimate lap and Russell was able to charge down the pit straight and gain seventh at Turn 1 at the start of the final lap.

Lewis Hamilton ended up in ninth position – his race notable for offering to allow Russell by during the initial phase after the restart – which Mercedes then enacted as it tried to replicate Leclerc’s one-stop tactic before switching its cars back to a two-stopper.

To the delight of the Japanese fans, Yuki Tsunoda secured the final point in P10, including two thrilling overtakes through the Esses complex.

The race’s other retirement was Zhou Guanyu, who stopped with a gearbox issue aboard his Sauber on lap 13.

So congratulations to Max Verstappen in winning the Japanese Grand Prix. Just like last year’s Suzuka race, Carlos Sainz won the previous race and immediately the Red Bull driver strike back to be triumph. The next event is the Chinese Grand Prix and it has been four years since we last raced in Shanghai. Hopefully we get another exciting racing action.

Japanese Grand Prix, race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:54:23.566
2 Sergio Perez Red Bull +12.535s
3 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +20.866s
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +26.522s
5 Lando Norris McLaren +29.700s
6 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +44.272s
7 George Russell Mercedes +45.951s
8 Oscar Piastri McLaren +47.525s
9 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +48.626s
10 Yuki Tsunoda RB +1 lap
11 Nico Hulkenberg Haas +1 lap
12 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +1 lap
13 Kevin Magnussen Haas +1 lap
14 Valtteri Bottas Sauber +1 lap
15 Esteban Ocon Alpine +1 lap
16 Pierre Gasly Alpine +1 lap
17 Logan Sargeant Williams +1 lap
Zhou Guanyu Sauber DNF
Daniel Ricciardo RB DNF
Alexander Albon Williams DNF

Triple world champion Max Verstappen leads his Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez by just a tiny margin of 0.066 seconds to top qualifying at the 2024 Japanese Grand Prix, with Lando Norris taking a solid third for McLaren.

The Red Bull drivers were amongst just a handful of drivers to gain lap time on the second runs in Q3, where Ferrari’s challenge was unable to materialise and the Mercedes drivers ended up behind Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.

Verstappen led the way with a time of one minute, 28.240 seconds on the first Q3 run, where Norris was his closest rival after producing a then session-best opening sector.

But he could not replicate that on the second attempt, where Perez – leading Verstappen on the track – just got ahead of the McLaren, while the world champion in the other RB20 flew to a pole-securing one minute, 28.197 seconds – largely thanks to a fast first sector.

Behind the top trio came Carlos Sainz for Ferrari, ahead of Alonso and Oscar Piastri.

Lewis Hamilton looked to be getting close to Red Bull with his pace late in Q2 but faded to just seventh for Mercedes, with Charles Leclerc was eighth.

The Ferrari driver had a unique Q3 in producing just a single flying lap ahead of the rest going for a second attempt, as he had to use a second set of tyres to escape Q1 earlier in qualifying.

Leclerc ended up over half a second down on Verstappen’s time, but did edge out George Russell and home fan hero Yuki Tsunoda.

In Q2, Tsunoda’s improvement on his second go in the middle segment knocked out his RB teammate Daniel Ricciardo, to the delight of the Japanese crowd.

Nico Hulkenberg ended up in P12 for Haas having lost his first Q2 run to going too wide between the two parts of Spoon Curve, with Valtteri Bottas out in P13 after sitting tenth following the first attempts.

Alex Albon only completed one run in Q2 for Williams at the end of the segment and took P14 ahead of Alpine driver Esteban Ocon, who escaped Q1 for the second race in a row.

In the opening segment, running offset ahead of the rest for the final runs boosted Albon to progressing in P15, while Bottas’s last-minute improvement knocked Lance Stroll out of Q1 in P16 when Alonso was second at that stage.

Behind came Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, who matched Leclerc in the first sector on their last laps in Q1 – the Ferrari driver having to use an extra set of new softs here after initially ending up in the congested mid-pack after a poor opening sector on his Q1 first run – Haas driver Kevin Magnussen, Logan Sargeant’s Williams and Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu.

Albon, Russell and Piastri face post-qualifying investigations – Albon for possibly going too slowly at one stage late in Q1, with the latter pair for an incident when Russell’s car was released into Piastri’s path when they exited the pits at the start of the session.

So a close session between the Red Bull drivers and yet Max Verstappen came out on top. Sergio Perez produced a fine effort to get a front row spot while Lando Norris takes a solid third for McLaren.

Japanese Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:28.197
2 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:28.263
3 Lando Norris McLaren 1:28.489
4 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:28.682
5 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:28.686
6 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:28.760
7 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:28.766
8 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:28.786
9 George Russell Mercedes 1:29.008
10 Yuki Tsunoda RB 1:29.413
11 Daniel Ricciardo RB 1:29.472
12 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:29.494
13 Valtteri Bottas Sauber 1:29.593
14 Alexander Albon Williams 1:29.714
15 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:29.816
16 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:30.024
17 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:30.119
18 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:30.131
19 Logan Sargeant Williams 1:30.139
20 Zhou Guanyu Sauber 1:30.143

Carlos Sainz achieved his third career victory in Formula 1 following a dramatic Australian Grand Prix in which Max Verstappen was forced to retire with brake issue.

After Sainz took the lead from Verstappen on the second lap with a pass around the outside at Turn 10, the Ferrari driver maintained the lead throughout the entirety of the race – and his victory in the 58-lap race was secured a lap early when George Russell crashed out at Turn 6 to produce a virtual safety car.

Just two weeks after having his appendix removed which caused him to miss the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Sainz returned to the top step of the podium, following his victory in the Singapore Grand Prix last year.

Although Verstappen had preserved the lead off pole, waving away with a move from Sainz in the opening lap, the championship leader was unable to break out of DRS range after the first lap and thus gave the chasing Ferrari momentum.

Complaining that he had ‘lost the car’ for a moment on the second lap alongside the Lakeside Drive section of the circuit, Sainz was able to drive past the Red Bull with DRS open and went into the lead.

Verstappen reported further issues with his Red Bull, in which smoke was appearing from the back, which intensified around the rear-right corner of his car.

He then began to slow significantly as it became apparent that his brakes had caught fire, and he returned back to the pits as the hub started to shed debris to retire.

This ends Verstappen’s impressive race results and Red Bull’s reliability. Despite this setback, Max still leads the championship.

Following this retirement, the race was up for grabs. Although Sainz had already taken the initiative and started to build up a gap over Lando Norris to ensure he had breathing space when it came to the opening pitstop stage.

Norris had been under fire from Leclerc but, as the Ferrari driver stopped at the end of the ninth lap, focused on retaining tyre life and hung it out on the mediums until the end of lap 14.

This gave Leclerc the undercut, putting the Ferraris in the top two positions – Sainz pitted at the end of lap 16 to ensure he maintained the lead over his rapidly chasing teammate.

A virtual safety car shortly after Sainz’s stop, produced for a slowing Hamilton as the Mercedes driver suffered an engine problem, brought Leclerc close to Sainz and at striking distance at the restart, but Carlos kept him in situate before restoring his advantage.

Sainz got his lead up to 8.7 seconds before Leclerc stopped for a second time on lap 34 as Norris had started to close on Charles, but the leader waited until the end of lap 41 to make his own switch to a second set of hards.

Leclerc had got the lead down to five seconds, but Sainz stabilised and added half a second on over the following laps to create another buffer. Although he complained that his tyres did not “feel great” with three laps to go, Sainz had enough in reserve to close the lead out – helped by Russell’s race-ending crash as he was battling Fernando Alonso.

Norris was unable to resume his chase over Leclerc, having lost two positions after his opening stop – Leclerc and Oscar Piastri both got ahead through the first-stint undercut, but McLaren decided to swap Norris and Piastri around to give the McLaren driver a chance to chase second position.

But Leclerc put in a series of strong laps towards the end to fend off the threat of the third-placed Norris, as Piastri collected fourth to delight the fans in his home race.

Sergio Perez was some way behind in fifth after a disappointing race, where he lost a place at the start to Russell and then slipped down the order again after his first stop. This forced the Red Bull driver to make ground with the use of DRS, although came up against Alonso in the second half of the race.

Alonso had taken the initiative to pit under the first virtual safety car when Hamilton stopped, which put him ahead of Perez – although the Red Bull driver got past, he was unable to shake Fernando before the final round of stops.

Russell was chasing Alonso for sixth on the final lap when he suffered a big crash at Turns 6-7, with his Mercedes turning over after smashing the barriers.

With Russell retiring in spectacular fashion, Alonso initially took sixth under VSC conditions. However, post-race the race stewards have decided that the incident involved George Russell meant Fernando Alonso was given a twenty-second time penalty plus three penalty points on his FIA superlicense.

Lance Stroll finished in sixth, moving up a position thanks to Russell’s crash, while Yuki Tsunoda scored some points for RB with a quiet race. At least he was much faster than teammate Daniel Ricciardo.

Nico Hulkenberg added more points for Haas after successfully overcutting Alex Albon during the second pit phase, as Kevin Magnussen had also dispatched the Williams to ensure he made the points when Russell retired.

Albon was just outside of the points in P11 after taking over Logan Sargeant’s car for the rest of the weekend after his FP1 crash, with Daniel Ricciardo finishing in P12.

Despite receiving a five-second penalty for crossing the pit exit line too early, Pierre Gasly finished P13 over the Sauber duo of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu, who both suffered slow pitstops once again.

A three-stopping Esteban Ocon completed the finishers, dropping to back after a rear-right brake fire was addressed in the pitstops – a tear-off proved to be the culprit.

So a dramatic Australian Grand Prix with two champions eliminated with technical issues and yet it was a fantastic result for Scuderia Ferrari. Finishing first and second is a good news story for Formula 1. Congratulations to Carlos Sainz in winning and it will be fascinating if this will lead to a new drive for the 2025 season.

Australian Grand Prix, race results:
1 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:20:26.843
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +2.366s
3 Lando Norris McLaren +5.904s
4 Oscar Piastri McLaren +35.770s
5 Sergio Perez Red Bull +56.309s
6 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +93.222s
7 Yuki Tsunoda RB +95.601s
8 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +100.992s*
9 Nico Hulkenberg Haas +104.553
10 Kevin Magnussen Haas +1 lap
11 Alexander Albon Williams +1 lap
12 Daniel Ricciardo RB +1 lap
13 Pierre Gasly Alpine +1 lap
14 Valtteri Bottas Sauber +1 lap
15 Zhou Guanyu Sauber +1 lap
16 Esteban Ocon Alpine +1 lap
17 George Russell Mercedes DNF
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes DNF
Max Verstappen Red Bull DNF

*Twenty-second penalty for “potentially dangerous” driving involving George Russell

Three-time world champion Max Verstappen beat Carlos Sainz to take pole position for the Australian Grand Prix with a lap time of one minute, 15.915 seconds on his final run of Q3.

The Red Bull driver had not headlined a single session across the Alvert Park weekend so far, but dialled in his pace throughout the qualifying segments and found a quarter-second advantage at the very end to deny Ferrari a chance at pole.

Sainz had been fastest in both Q1 and Q2 and looked set to challenge for pole on his return to Formula 1 after missing the Saudi Arabia event with appendicitis, but it was a challenge from Verstappen in the top ten shootout.

In the initial Q3 runs, Verstappen set a time of one minute, 16.048 seconds which neither of the Ferrari drivers could get near, and followed that up with an impressive one minute, 15.915 seconds to set a high benchmark.

Although Sainz found pace over Verstappen in the opening sector, he was unable to use Ferrari’s pace in the final sector and had to be settle with second on the grid.

Sergio Perez collected third position, less than half a tenth clear of Lando Norris as the McLaren driver sought to demonstrate his dominance over teammate Oscar Piastri, as the crowd favourite had been impressive thus far during the sessions at his home race.

However, post qualifying the race stewards have applied a three-place grid penalty for Perez due to the Red Bull driver impending Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas. This promotes Lando Norris to P3 for McLaren.

The McLarens were split by Charles Leclerc, who had a slide out of Turn 12 and abandoned his final lap of the session to take fifth on the grid – ending his streak of front-row starts.

George Russell was the remaining Mercedes in Q3 and collected seventh on the grid, ahead of Yuki Tsunoda. Lance Stroll had just one run and finished ninth-fastest, despite a snap of oversteer at Turn 10, ahead of Aston Martin teammate Fernando Alonso.

Alonso aborted his first run of the session after skipping across the gravel at Turn 6, and couldn’t find much in the way of pace in his final run.

Stroll had relegated Lewis Hamilton to a shocking Q2 exit as the Mercedes driver failed to find any improvements on his final flying lap of qualifying. This was a disappointing qualifying result for the seven-time champion.

Tsunoda had been able to shuffle Stroll below the line with a strong final Q2 lap under pressure, but Stroll responded on his final effort to reclaim a top ten position at the expense of Hamilton.

Alex Albon, who was controversially given Logan Sargeant’s car for the rest of the Melbourne weekend after crashing his own in FP1, was P12 after failing to break out of the bottom five after his final run of the session.

Despite that, the Williams driver still finished ahead of Valtteri Bottas, who was P13 from Kevin Magnussen.

Esteban Ocon survived an early Q1 wall-bang at Turn 14 to progress into the intermediate phase of qualifying, but could go no faster than P15 having been almost 0.3 seconds shy of Magnussen’s time ahead.

Daniel Ricciardo was elimated in Q1 after losing his best lap in the session to a track limits violation in Turn 5, which promoted Magnussen into a Q2 appearance.

The honey badger had put himself up to P12 with his last effort of the opening phase of qualifying, but the deletion of his time resigned him to an early exit having dropped to P18.

Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg had both dropped into the bottom four – the elimination zone consisting of only a quartet of cars as Sargeant is not participating – but the Haas driver was spared through Ricciardo’s drop.

Hulkenberg dropped into the elimination zone in a fraught session, as he was held up by Sergio Perez in his earlier runs, and could only manage P16 ahead of Pierre Gasly. The Alpine driver is under investigation for crossing the pit exit line too early, as is Perez for impeding Hulkenberg.

Zhou Guanyu will start last on the grid after his front wing appeared to shed its elements, which left him unable to progress from the first part of qualifying.

So congratulations to Max Verstappen in taking pole position at Albert Park. The championship leader is looking to continue his impressive winning form in the early stages of this season with another race victory. Can Carlos Sainz do anything in the Ferrari? Let’s find out on race day.

Australian Grand Prix, qualifying positions:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:15.915
2 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:16.185
3 Lando Norris McLaren 1:16.315
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:16.435
5 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:16.572
6 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:16.274*
7 George Russell Mercedes 1:16.724
8 Yuki Tsunoda RB 1:16.788
9 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:17.072
10 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:17.552
11 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:16.960
12 Alexander Albon Williams 1:17.167
13 Valtteri Bottas Sauber 1:17.340
14 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:17.427
15 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:17.697
16 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:17.976
17 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:17.982
18 Daniel Ricciardo RB 1:18.085
19 Zhou Guanyu Sauber 1:18.188

*Three-place grid penalty for impending Nico Hulkenberg