Category: Motor Racing

This is the new look from Alfa Romeo with the C43, featuring an eye-catching red and carbon black livery and some interesting aerodynamic tweaks as part of 2023 rules.

The C43’s livery has been designed by Alfa Romeo’s main road car styling department, without the white that has been part of the established look since the company first joined forces with Sauber as a sponsor in 2018.

Alfa Romeo’s deal with the Swiss organisation ends this year prior to two transition seasons with Ferrari power before the team becomes the works Audi outfit in 2026.

The new livery marks both Alfa’s final fling in Formula 1 and the switch of title sponsor from Orlen to Stake.

The team unveiled a show car at a launch event in Switzerland, as well as issuing CGI images. The real C43 will be seen for the first time when it undertakes a filming day in Barcelona later this week.

New Sauber CEO Andreas Seidl has opted to keep a low profile for the time being as he begins his main task of building up the organisation ahead of Audi’s arrival.

Alfa Romeo will thus be overseen on race weekends by managing director Alessandro Alunni Bravi, who has been nominated as team representative.

“Bringing a car to life is a long process which touches every department of a racing team, therefore it’s a moment of great pride to see it unveiled today,” said the Italian.

“We chose to do it in front of our fans, close to our home, because the launch of a new car is not only a moment to state your objectives for the season ahead – it’s also a time to give back to the people who have supported you, be it in the grandstands, in front of the TV or back at the factory, and express our gratitude for their passion and their belief in our project.

“Our new car is the results of months of work, but today is just the beginning of a journey. We need to keep working hard, with humility and dedication, to bring performance to the track.

“Everyone in the team is committed to this target and I am confident we will reap the rewards of our work.”

The team describes the C43 as an evolution of its predecessor. However, it features substantial changes at the rear, with a new gearbox, rear suspension and cooling layout, with all the changes designed to address weaknesses that were apparent last year.

The other key focus was reliability after the team suffered a series of problems in 2022.

“I am very proud of what we have achieved over these last months, because creating a new car is always a massive effort from the team,” said technical director Jan Monchaux.

“This car is an evolution of last year, reflecting the new regulations and introducing major changes in the areas where we found improvements to be needed.

“I hope it’s going to be quicker than the successful car we had last year, that’s what matters most, and more reliable as well – we have put a lot of effort in this direction.

“Now, it’s time to get to the track and see how this car performs. I’m happy to get back to racing and I’m confident there will be much more to come from us soon.”

The Williams Racing team has revealed their 2023 car livery, as well as introducing new driver Logan Sargeant alongside Alex Albon.

In a dedicated event organised at its Grove factory, Williams showcased the colour scheme that will eventually be used on the FW45 car the team is currently finishing building.

The 2023 livery bears a considerable resemblance to the colours with which it ended running in the 2022 season, albeit with more of the upper surfaces painted in a new matte finish compared to the largely all-black carbonfibre approach it had to use to help hit Formula 1’s minimum weight requirements last year.

The livery, which was showcased on an FW44 model, does feature prominent new branding afforded to Gulf International as the oil company has been signed as a new partner for 2022 after its deal with McLaren ended at 2022’s conclusion.

Williams described its 2023 livery as an “evolution” of what adorned the FW44 and was “retaining the brand visual cues which features a contrasting diamond shape and flashes of red and blue, embodying the exciting new era of Williams Racing [under Dorilton Capital ownership]”.

Although it did not show the finished FW45, a Williams statement described it overall as “an evolution of the FW44”, although featuring what it calls a “heavily evolved” sidepod concept, with additional “modifications to the front suspension layout as well as the major external aerodynamic surfaces”.

Williams claims its soon-to-be released 2023 challenger is “more aerodynamically efficient than the FW44” with “more overall downforce and improved handling characteristics”.

The FW45’s livery was revealed by Williams board member James Matthews and Gulf CEO Mike Jones, flanked by Albon, Sargeant and 2023 Indy NXT driver Jamie Chadwick, who remains part of the Williams driver academy she joined in 2019 and from which Sargeant graduates this year.

Ex-Mercedes strategy boss James Vowles was recently announced as Williams’ replacement for Jost Capito as team principal but was not present at the livery launch as he will only start working for the squad on 20 February following his release from Mercedes.

Matthew Savage, Williams’ board chairman, said: “As Williams Racing continues its transformation, we’re proud to unveil this year’s livery.

“We are excited about this year’s car, and I cannot thank the entire team at Grove enough for their hard work to get ready for the season. I am delighted to welcome both new and existing partners to our journey.

“With our new team principal James Vowles joining us later this month, as well as our exciting driver line-up of Alex and Logan, Williams Racing will be giving its all in 2023.”

Albon added: “I’m really excited to be starting back for another year with the team. The car looks great and will hit the track at Silverstone.

“The team has worked really hard last year and over the winter to address some key areas in our car, putting in the work to try and maximise what we get out of the car for 2023, so I’m looking forward to seeing what the FW45 can do.

“We also welcome new partners to the team this year, so it’s great to have them onboard.”

Sargeant said he is “really excited for the season to get started after what, for me, feels like a long winter!”

“I’m super motivated and we’ve put a lot of hard work in,” he continued. “The car is looking amazing and it shows the huge effort the team has put in the off-season, so I’m looking forward to getting started at Silverstone before heading out to Bahrain.”

The defending world champions Red Bull Racing has unveiled their 2023 livery at a New York launch event.

Red Bull opted to hold its season launch in the Big Apple in front of its American title sponsor Oracle, revealing a look similar to its previous colour schemes on a show car.

Oracle continues to occupy the prime sponsor slots on the car. Its actual 2023 challenger, the RB19, is still kept tightly under wraps.

The Red Bull launch was accompanied by the news that Ford will return to Formula 1 as the team’s engine partner from the 2026 season onwards.

The Blue Oval returns after a 22-year hiatus when it last badged the Cosworth engines used by the Jaguar Racing team.

Red Bull is already far down the line with its own engine design for the new 2026 power unit regulations at its Red Bull Powertrains division, but had been open to an OEM partnership after the collapse of a potential deal with Porsche.

Until then the Milton Keynes outfit will continue to work with Honda, which has an increased presence on the car just 15 months after officially withdrawing from Formula 1.

Drivers Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez are aiming to replicate Red Bull’s unprecedented 2022 season in which it finally broke Mercedes’s eight-year streak to win the constructors’ championship, its first teams’ title since 2013.

Verstappen wrapped up his second drivers’ world title in Japan, with four rounds to go, as Perez lost out to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by three points in the battle for second position.

The Red Bull driver also set an all-time record with his haul of 15 Grand Prix wins in a single season, breaking a record previously shared by Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher.

For 2023, Red Bull is expecting fierce competition from both Ferrari and a resurgent Mercedes.

Its challenge is hampered by a ten percent reduction in wind tunnel time as part of its punishment for breaching 2021’s cost cap.

That reduction is compounded by Red Bull having the smallest wind tunnel allotment out of all teams as part of Formula 1’s Aerodynamic Testing Restrictions, a success penalty for being the reigning world champion.

Haas Formula 1 team became the first Grand Prix outfit to unveil their 2023 car with a set of digital renderings of the new livery that will be run on the VF-23 this season.

The white, red and black look echoes the logos of new Haas title sponsor MoneyGram, whose involvement was announced at last year’s United States Grand Prix.

The revised livery is broadly similar to last season’s at the front, but with a much-extended area of black on the sidepods, engine cover and rear wing.

The new car will be shaken down at a filming day at Silverstone on February 11 prior to the start of official testing in Bahrain on February 23.

The team has yet to reveal whether Kevin Magnussen or new recruit Nico Hulkenberg will complete the shakedown.

Hulkenberg, who returns this year after three years without a full-time race seat, had his first opportunity to drive for the team at the Abu Dhabi test in November.

“I obviously share everyone’s enthusiasm around the livery unveil,” said team principal Gunther Steiner.

“Not least as it’s a checkpoint in the pre-season calendar which means we’re another step closer to doing the thing we actually want to be doing – and that’s go racing.

“I like the livery, it’s undoubtedly a more elevated and modernised look which is fitting as we move into a new era alongside MoneyGram as our title partner.

“It’s an exciting time of year for F1 and it’s great that we’re first out the gate to showcase our livery but our attention is firmly on getting the VF-23 on track and preparing for the season ahead. We really have something to build on following last year’s performances.

“The whole organisation has been working hard to reach this point, and obviously in Kevin and Nico we have two proven points-scoring talents locked in behind the wheel. I can’t wait to get started.”

Team owner Gene Haas made it clear that the target is to finish in the points more regularly this season.

“I was very pleased to welcome MoneyGram as title partner for the 2023 season and beyond, and it’s exciting to see our first livery unveiled together as MoneyGram Haas F1 team,” said Haas.

“We head into a new season buoyed by some strong team performances last year and a return to points-paying finishes.

“The aim for the 2023 season is naturally to do that more consistently and with Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg I certainly believe we’ve got an experienced driver pairing more than capable of delivering those points on a Sunday.”

Hopefully the upcoming season will move Haas up the competitive order with consistent point scoring. The team did achieve a pole position at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix late last year.

Two-time world champion Max Verstappen signs off this 2022 season with his 15th victory, a new record in Formula 1, at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The Red Bull driver dominated the season finale up front after making a solid start, while behind Charles Leclerc held off Sergio Perez to seal second place in the drivers’ championship.

With Verstappen in command up front and the two Mercedes cars lacking race pace, the main interest focused on a strategy off-set between the one-stopping Leclerc and the two-stopping Perez in a tense final stint.

At the start, Perez launched well off the line to have a look down the inside of polesitter Verstappen at Turn 1 but was never a serious threat, while Leclerc held his third place starting spot and Lewis Hamilton beat Carlos Sainz into fourth.

Leclerc had a small look at attacking Perez into the Turn 5 hairpin further around the opening lap, but the initial action then became Sainz reattacking Hamilton into Turn 6 at the end of the Yas Marina track’s main back straight.

The Ferrari got alongside under braking at the left-hander and he edged Hamilton off over the kerbs, where, like against Verstappen in 2021, the Mercedes scampered over the runoff after briefly getting airborne and held fourth.

As the Red Bull duo eased away from Leclerc, who was then being hounded by Hamilton, the stewards cleared Sainz of forcing Hamilton off and instead looked at whether the Mercedes driver had gained by cutting the Turn 7 runoff.

Mercedes therefore ordered him to give Sainz the place back, which gave Leclerc breathing room.

He nevertheless dropped back from the leading pair across the first phase of the race, before Verstappen began to drop Perez and Leclerc homed back in.

Perez became the first driver to stop on lap 15 of 58 to go from mediums to hards, while Verstappen and Leclerc stayed out for five and six further laps respectively to do likewise, which gave them a tyre life advantage over the Mexican for the second stint, Perez also having lost time battling with the one-stopping Sebastian Vettel with a Turn 6 lock-up and off on his outlap.

Leclerc had emerged from his stop just ahead of Sainz – another early stopper – and he then began to reel in Perez with a series of strong laps.

The Ferrari’s pace was so strong that he got to just 1.5 seconds behind Perez and was ordered to “box opposite” the Red Bull on lap 33 – the undercut being very powerful and leading Perez’s team to pit him on that tour.

Ferrari then asked Leclerc if he could sustain his pace and tyre life to the finish on a “Plan C” one-stopper, which he reckoned he could just about manage.

Leclerc’s charge to reach Perez had brought him to around five seconds back from Verstappen by the time Perez stopped, but the leader, by now set on the same one-stopper, eased away over the rest of the race to win by 8.7 seconds – offering Perez advice on how his hards were holding up on a much longer stint and indicating he could push flatout to the end.

Perez’s task was to close a 20 seconds gap to Leclerc in 25 laps, with Sainz and George Russell, who had passed Hamilton in the first stint when the seven-time world champion struggled for pace and suggesting his floor had been damaged in his lap one off, pitting out of his way as they took the two-stopper.

Perez therefore just had to clear Hamilton and various backmarkers, with the Red Bull catching the back of the Mercedes on lap 45.

As the raced down the straight into Turn 6, Perez attacked Hamilton by locked up here again and went deep, which helped the Mercedes pass back by into the Turn 9 hairpin – in scenes reminiscent by reversed from their battle in this race a year ago that so helped seal Verstappen’s first title.

Perez did not attack at Turn 6 on the next time by but instead waited for a second helping of DRS before diving down the inside of the Mercedes – which retired late on after Hamilton’s gears stopped working in a suspected hydraulics failure aboard his W13 – at Turn 9

By this stage, Perez had 9.6 seconds gap to close to Leclerc in 12 laps and both Red Bull and Ferrari initially believed he would make the catch.

But Leclerc was able to eeke out impressive life from his aging hards and Perez’s pace also back to drop from lap to lap – his passage also not helped being held up by Pierre Gasly at Turn 6 on lap 56 as the AlphaTauri chased Alex Albon’s Williams, which earned Gasly an angry gesture for his soon-to-be former stablemate.

It was close, by Leclerc held on to keep second by 1.3 seconds over Perez, with Sainz fourth and Russell fifth – a potential battle between this pair headed off by the Mercedes needing to serve a five-second penalty at its second stop after being released into Lando Norris’s path at its first after a slow left-rear tyre change.

Norris, who had passed Russell on lap one before being overcome again in the early stages, held off a late-charging Esteban Ocon to seal sixth by 1.0 seconds.

Lance Stroll gained late on with the extra grip afforded by the two-stopper, while Vettel just ran out of laps to reel in fellow one-stopper Daniel Ricciardo – the German finishing 0.6 seconds and having been frustrated by his strategy meaning running longest of all in the first stint and so being passed by a string of rivals.

The only other incident of note was Mick Schumacher clipping Nicholas Latifi at Turn 5 on lap 40 and spinning the Haas into the outside barriers, from which both were able to drive away.

Williams ordered Latifi to retire on the final lap with an unspecified problem, joining Fernando Alonso as the other DNF runner – the Alpine stopping on lap 28 due to a suspected water leak.

So congratulations to Max Verstappen in setting a new achievement in Formula 1 with the most wins. What a remarkable winning performance by Red Bull and yet this Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will be remember as the final goodbye to Sebastian Vettel, the previous Red Bull champion who is retiring from the sport. Danke Seb and thanks for the memories.

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:27:45.914
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +8.771s
3 Sergio Pérez Red Bull +10.093s
4 Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari +24.892s
5 George Russell Mercedes +35.888s
6 Lando Norris McLaren +56.234s
7 Esteban Ocon Alpine +57.240s
8 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +76.931s
9 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren +83.268s
10 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin +83.898s
11 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +89.371s
12 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo +1 lap
13 Alexander Albon Williams +1 lap
14 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri +1 lap
15 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo +1 lap
16 Mick Schumacher Haas +1 lap
17 Kevin Magnussen Haas +1 lap
18 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes DNF
19 Nicholas Latifi Williams DNF
– Fernando Alonso Alpine DNF

The 2022 constructors’ champions achieved a front row lock out in the season finale at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix as Max Verstappen takes pole position from Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez.

The two-time champion improved on his last lap to run to a one minute, 23.824 seconds effort, pipping Perez by 0.22 seconds. Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc is set to lead a Ferrari second row on race day over the Mercedes contenders.

Purportedly, Q1 pacesetter Verstappen’s RB18 suffered a start-up problem to delay his entry into the final session. Perez did query this partner’s initial absence – a faulty steering wheel switch was said to be the cause.

Checo, who was fastest in Q2 responded with a personal best first sector, then ran purple in the middle part of the lap. Although he struggled for traction and slid out of the final corner set a time of one minute, 24.281 seconds.

But Verstappen’s peerless run through the last part of the lap on his first Q3 go moved him to a one minute, 23.988 seconds. That put him 0.328 seconds ahead of Perez as Sainz split the Red Bull duo.

Leclerc notched fourth position ahead of the Mercedes, with Lewis Hamilton leading the batting over George Russell.

For the climax, Leclerc ran early and turned up the wick as he improved on his personal best first and second sectors and then flashed purple in the final part of the lap. That guided him to second place but he was still down by 0.14 seconds compared to Verstappen’s pacesetting first lap from the top ten shootout.

Carlos Sainz ran slower in sector one so, despite lowering his time eventually, he was only fourth to tee up the Red Bull duel for the final pole.

Verstappen improved in all three sectors to be the only driver to break into the one minute, 23 seconds, with his 0.824 seconds effort pulling 0.228 seconds over Perez – who was best of all in the middle sector.

Despite Hamilton topping sector one, he was nearly 0.7 seconds down in fifth as Russell chalked sixth over Lando Norris and Esteban Ocon.

Sebastian Vettel had his complaints over the Red Bulls blocking him in the final corner in Q1 and Q2 to cost a tenth, but he nevertheless snared ninth ahead of his last grand prix. Daniel Ricciardo, meanwhile, completed the top ten.

Fernando Alonso was the notable casualty in Q2, with the two-time champion eventually shuffled back to P11 and he duly missed the shootout for pole to Ricciardo by only three hundredths.

The two-time champion left himself at risk when he climbed to only ninth after his last flying attempt.

As Norris and Leclerc left it late to improve while Alonso did not run again with 20 seconds to go, he was shuffled back to head Yuki Tsunoda and departing Haas driver Mick Schumacher in P13.

Lance Stroll came up short for Aston Martin to take only P14 as Zhou Guanyu was P15.

Alonso had already flirted with elimination. He sat P16 when the Q1 flag was waved. But, despite missing his personal best in the first two sectors, he scraped P14 with his next lap.

That became P15 when Tsunoda gained on his final flier, and the Alpine was ultimately spared by 0.052 seconds as shock Brazil polesitter Kevin Magnussen was knocked out in P16.

The Haas driver did at least trump out-going AlphaTauri racer Pierre Gasly, while Valtteri Bottas failed to progress into Q2 for the second time in as many races – the Alfa Romeo only P18 after struggling to heat its tyres for the beginning of the lap owing to a traffic queue.

Alex Albon pipped Nicholas Latifi by 0.03 seconds as the Williams teammates ran slowest of all.

So congratulations to Max Verstappen with pole position in the final race of the 2022 season. It will be fascinating if the leading Red Bull driver will be a team player to help Sergio Perez secure the runner-up position in the drivers’ standing by helping his colleague in the race.

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:23.824
2 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:24.052
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:24.092
4 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:24.242
5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:24.508
6 George Russell Mercedes 1:24.511
7 Lando Norris McLaren 1:24.769
8 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:24.830
9 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 1:24.961
10 Fernando Alonso Alpine 1:25.096
11 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:25.219
12 Mick Schumacher Haas 1:25.225
13 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 1:25.045
14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:25.359
15 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1:25.408
16 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:25.834
17 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 1:25.859
18 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1:25.892
19 Alexander Albon Williams 1:26.028
20 Nicholas Latifi Williams 1’26.054

Mercedes finally ended its winless Formula 1 run as George Russell scored an awesome team result with 1-2 in the 2022 Sao Paulo Grand Prix after Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen collided.

Polesitter Russell powered clear at two safety restarts to avoid a battle with his teammate, who he was free to race, as Hamilton recovered from his fall to eighth position after tagging with 2021 rival Verstappen in what was an action-packed penultimate round of the campaign at Interlagos.

With Red Bull’s day getting worse when Sergio Perez was stuck on the wrong tyre for the final stint, Ferrari could capitalise to take third and fourth – Carlos Sainz heading Charles Leclerc despite the Austrian Grand Prix winner wanting team orders to secure second in the championship.

Similarly, despite instructions to do so, Verstappen did not hand back position to Perez on the final lap to head a Red Bull 6-7.

At the start, the Mercedes launched strongly to hold the lead as both Red Bulls came under considerable threat from Lando Norris, who launched past medium-tyre starter Charles Leclerc for fifth position.

Sergio Perez ultimately had the McLaren covered as Russell ran well clear of his teammate, who in turn had plenty of breathing space over Verstappen before a first-lap safety car.

Sensational qualifying topper Kevin Magnussen, who had fallen to eighth in the sprint race, appeared slow off Turn 7 and contact was made in the right-rear by the chasing Daniel Ricciardo.

That pitched his Haas machine into a spin and as Magnussen rolled back, he thumped into the honey badger – who is without a front-line drive for 2023 – to pitch him into the tyre barriers.

After the protracted clean-up, green flags returned at the end of lap six of 71 but Russell held the restart until he was level with the pit entry and then floored it clear of his teammate.

The Red Bulls reacted well to give Verstappen an opportunity to take second on the outside of Turn 1 but as the track snaked right, he made contact with bitter 2021 title rival Hamilton.

Both took to the run-off. Verstappen came off worse with front wing damage and pitted for mediums, while Hamilton stayed out but suspected floor damage as he dropped to eighth.

The stewards deemed Verstappen to be more at fault and awarded him a five-second penalty.

Then Leclerc was in the wars when, attempting to pass Norris through Turn 7, the McLaren MCL36 understeered into the side of the Ferrari to send it spinning into the outside barrier.

Leclerc was able to resume to prevent a second swift safety car and stopped for mediums, while the stewards also handed Norris a five-second penalty in a much less debatable call.

All this drama left Russell to lead Perez by 1.6 seconds as Sainz was a further 3 seconds in arrears ahead of Norris, ninth-starting Sebastian Vettel, Gasly and the remaining Haas of Mick Schumacher.

Hamilton was on the move again, picking off Vettel through the middle sector and then using DRS to demote Norris into Turn 1 for fifth, which became fourth when Sainz was forced to pit on lap 18 for soft tyres after a visor tear-off caused his right-rear brake duct to catch fire.

Russell, meanwhile, was content on his C4 softs and instructed the pitwall to leave him out as he built a 3.5 seconds gap to Perez while Hamilton was closing on the Mexican by 0.4 seconds per lap.

Red Bull responded with a lightning 2 seconds pitstop for Perez as he was swapped to mediums but re-joined behind Valtteri Bottas and was hugely delayed by the Alfa for the rest of the lap.

Mercedes reacted by calling in leader Russell next time around on lap 25 for his switch to mediums, which placed Hamilton on his starting soft tyres into the lead by just over 10 seconds.

But with the seven-time champion a second per lap slower than Russell, he was pitted on lap 30 for a 3.3 seconds change to mediums. Hamilton resumed in fourth, 8 seconds in arrears of Sainz’s F1-75.

As the temperatures dropped, the Mercedes pair seemed to come alive on the medium tyre. Once Sainz pitted again for mediums to undercut Perez, Russell was lapping 0.6 seconds faster than the Red Bull (to lead by 8 seconds) and Hamilton 0.8 seconds quicker to close to within 2 seconds come lap 40.

A sterling run through the first sequence gave Hamilton a run at Perez into Turn 4 on lap 44. Perez had him covered initially but then equipped with DRS and a slipstream, the Silver Arrows racer could out-drag the Red Bull up the main straight to reclaim second position.

Red Bull pitted Perez for mediums on lap 48 and although he resumed in fourth, the powerful undercut forced the Mercedes team into action as both stopped for softs for the final stint.

Hamilton notably protested the call before pitting and lost out to Sainz, whose mediums were now 12 laps old, as Russell rejoined a slender 1.1 seconds before a virtual safety car period.

McLaren recorded a double DNF when Norris parked up, which created a window for Sainz to come in for a cheaper pitstop and take on a set of scrubbed softs for the closing 17 laps.

Then the full safety car was deployed to close the field and, as per both Mercedes drivers’ comments pre-race, no team orders were imposed to leave Hamilton clear to race Russell.

Russell repeated his earlier work at the second restart by delaying his launch until level with the pit entry, with both W13s pulling clear of Perez, who had to robustly defend against Sainz until the DRS was reactivated and he passed for third on lap 63 down the back straight.

With the Red Bull preoccupied, Russell led his teammate Hamilton home by 1.5 seconds to secure his first grand prix victory as Mercedes finally got off the mark in 2022 with a 1-2 result.

Leclerc was able to demote Perez further with DRS to give Ferrari a somewhat flattering 3-4, while Fernando Alonso – rapid in the final stint to pass his feuding stablemate Esteban Ocon, Bottas and Vettel – added to the Red Bull pain as he snared fifth six laps from the finish line.

On his inferior mediums, Perez did not fight Verstappen into Turn 1 as the RB18 pair walked away with sixth and seventh ahead of Ocon, Bottas, Lance Stroll and Vettel – the retiring four-time champion also suffering late on when shod with the unfavoured medium tyres.

Crikey! George Russell is a winner in Formula 1. The sprint win was a nice bonus but to take a proper Grand Prix victory was well deserved thanks to a great drive out front in the Mercedes. To lead a team 1-2 is a superb effort.

Sao Paulo Grand Prix, race results:
1 George Russell Mercedes 1:38:34.044
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +1.529s
3 Carlos Sainz . Ferrari +4.051
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +8.441
5 Fernando Alonso Alpine +9.561
6 Max Verstappen Red Bull +10.056
7 Sergio Perez Red Bull +14.080
8 Esteban Ocon Alpine +18.690
9 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo +22.552
10 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +23.552
11 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin +26.183
12 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri +26.867
13 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo +29.325
14 Mick Schumacher Haas +29.899
15 Alexander Albon Williams +36.016
16 Nicholas Latifi Williams +37.038
17 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +1 lap
– Lando Norris McLaren DNF
– Daniel Ricciardo McLaren DNF
– Kevin Magnussen Haas DNF

Finally! Mercedes has won a race. Yes, this was a sprint event but George Russell was able to challenge and overtake the new world champion Max Verstappen to win the Sao Paulo Grand Prix sprint.

The Mercedes driver battled fiercely with the two-time champion – the pair dicing wheel-to-wheel for three laps before eventually the W13 driver seized first position and ran away to victory.

As Verstappen continuined to tumble before sustaining damage on his front wing, Lewis Hamilton completed a double Mercedes podium behind Carlos Sainz, while shock polesitter Kevin Magnnusen claimed eighth.

Verstappen and Nicholas Latifi were the only drivers to start on the medium tyres as everyone else favoured the quicker but less durable, red-walled soft compound.

With more grip from the off, Magnussen launched strongly to hold the lead into the downhill Turn 1 and pulled half a second on his front-row rival Verstappen, who had to heat his tyres.

With Russell’s rubber immediately up to temperature, he was able to stick the nose of his Mercedes alongside the Red Bull to challenge for second position before the RB18’s superior straight-line speed made itself known and he eked away from the W13.

The punch of the Honda engine then allowed Verstappen to tuck into the tow of Magnussen, with him eventually relegating the compliant Haas driver under braking into Turn 1.

Russell followed suit with DRS to pass around the outside of the Dane over the start line. Before long, Carlos Sainz lunged up the inside of Magnussen to knock him off the podium.

Verstappen looked strong as he pulled 1.1 seconds clear of the chasing Silver Arrow but Russell kept his quicker soft tyres alive to reel in the leader and gain DRS from lap 10.

With the overtaking aid again activated, he tried to pass around the outside into Turn 4 but Verstappen held his nerve under braking to sure up the position through the middle sector.

There was almost a carbon copy of that dice next time around on lap 14, with Verstappen then getting better drive off the exit to keep hold of the lead for another lap of Interlagos.

But then, on lap 15, Russell nailed his exit onto the back straight to gain the tow and DRS once more to pulled clear of Verstappen into the braking zone and definitively nick first.

The W13 then came on song in clear air, with Russell marching 1.6 seconds clear as Verstappen came under threat from Sainz, with the Ferrari driver robustly passing at the start of lap 19.

The British Grand Prix victor threw his F1-75 up the inside of Turn 1 with the pair bashing wheels and as Sainz came back across the racing line, he caught the front wing of the Red Bull.

That damaged endplate and a compromised line for Verstappen then meant, after running over debris, he was under threat from Hamilton. But the Dutch racer squeezed his bitter 2021 championship rival through Turn 6 to hold on to third position for the time being.

But as lap 18 came to a close, Hamilton gained DRS to sail past over the line and cement third before chasing after Sainz – now complaining that he was losing the soft tyres.

He managed to hold on by less than half a second from Hamilton, however, as Russell bagged the spoils nigh on four seconds clear to score Mercedes its first win of the year.

Verstappen continued to fourth but was 6s down on Hamilton, as Sergio Perez recovered from ninth to fifth ahead of Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris, while Magnussen’s anticipated fade ended with eighth position.

Sebastian Vettel bagged ninth after surviving a trip over the grass while attempting to pass his uber-defensive teammate Lance Stoll, and Pierre Galsy completed the top ten.

Stroll dropped to P17 with a 10-second penalty for his moves on Vettel – two places down on Fernando Alonso, who was forced to pit for a new front wing after colliding with fellow Alpine driver Esteban Ocon.

Ocon dropped to P18 ahead of only Latifi and Alex Albon, who retired on lap four.

So congratulations to George Russell in winning his first race for Mercedes. With Carlos Sainz’s grid penalty for changing a power unit, Lewis Hamilton will start alongside his teammate to form a Mercedes front row. It’s going to be fascinating if the W13 can take victory outright in the ‘real’ race at Interlagos.

Sao Paulo Grand Prix, sprint results:
1 George Russell Mercedes 30:11.307
2 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +3.995s
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +4.492s
4 Max Verstappen Red Bull +10.494s
5 Sergio Perez Red Bull +11.855s
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +13.133s
7 Lando Norris McLaren +25.624s
8 Kevin Magnussen Haas +28.768s
9 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin +30.218s
10 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri +34.170s
11 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren +39.395s
12 Mick Schumacher Haas +41.159s
13 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo +41.763s
14 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo +42.338s
15 Fernando Alonso Alpine +48.985s
16 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +50.306s
17 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +50.700s
18 Esteban Ocon Alpine +51.756s
19 Nicholas Latifi Williams +76.850s
20 Alex Albon Williams DNF

Achievement unlocked for Kevin Magnussen as he scored his first-ever Formula 1 pole position, for the Haas team, ahead of the sprint race at Interlagos.

The Dane, who was recalled to the team for this season after the ousting of Russian driver Nikita Mazepin, remarkably landed top spot when a red flag in a murky Q3 allowed conditions to deteriorate.

That meant no one could improve in the final minutes of qualifying to leave the American outfit to watch the clock until it was assured of its maiden pole and the celebrations erupted.

The drama of Q3 began when Ferrari took a major gamble by sending Leclerc out on a set of intermediate tyres to pre-empt the return of rain – qualifying having started damp before drying up.

The nine other contenders, meanwhile, emerged on slick Pirelli tyres.

The Scuderia appeared to be hoping that the showers would arrive in time to catch out the dry runners while its driver would be on the right compound at the optimum time before the conditions got worse.

However, Leclerc soon realised he was the odd on out and was venting his anger, even waving to the pit wall as he passed to begin his flying lap.

He ran slowest of all through the first sector, was struggling for grip and holding up the pursuing Sergio Perez before aborting the run and diving into the pitlane for a shot on slicks.

With the intermediates now clearly the wrong option, slick-runner Magnussen was able to bolt to a one minute, 11.674 seconds lap to take top spot away from Red Bull’s Verstappen by some two tenths.

Then George Russell – who had just ran to third place – dropped his Mercedes W13 into the gravel on the exit of Turn 4 to bring out the red flags.

The Mercedes driver appeared to lock the front-right into the left-hander and the rear clipped the slippery white line to pitch him off. As he tried to spin to recover, he ditched the rear axle into the gravel.

While Russell initially kept the rear wheels spinning and signalled to the marshals to perform a live recovery of his car, he eventually retired from the session.

But with the threat of rain having already loomed large, the delay was long enough to allow the wet weather to return and no one could find time despite more than five minutes remaining.

In the knowledge that they would not improve, the drivers started to exit their cars to cue the Haas celebrations.

Russel would therefore keep third place despite his shunt, while Lando Norris clocked fourth for McLaren ahead of Carlos Sainz – although the Ferrari driver to poised to start in tenth owing to a five-place grid penalty for a change of internal combustion engine.

Esteban Ocon ran to sixth ahead of Alpine team-mate Fernando Alonso, while Perez – having been delayed by Leclerc – clocked only ninth position.

Ocon had scrapped into the top ten by a slender 0.045 seconds at the expense of Alex Albon, while Pierre Gasly ran to P12 ahead of Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo and Lance Stroll.

The dying second of Q2 were something of a damp squib as the at-risk Mercedes improved.

They appeared to be under threat when some drivers reported that more rain was arriving late on, the Silver Arrows having by then only lapped on used softs to run outside the top ten.

But as the Aston Martins notably struggled to improve, Russell eventually climbed to third with five minutes to run. Hamilton slotted directly behind in fourth but was shuffled to ninth.

Sainz also comfortably climbed to second in Q2 in the end, the British GP winner having sat tenth and only 0.008 seconds clear of the drop zone but he moved clear of the danger zone by running to a one minute, 10.890 seconds to best Leclerc by 0.06 seconds and run just 0.009 seconds shy of pacesetter Verstappen.

Ferrari had already been forced to survive a considerable Q1 scare when the initially damp conditions improved sufficiently to allow for a switch to the softs after slick-tyre guinea pig Gasly began setting the fastest sectors.

Gasly was struggling for grip initially, sliding well wide through the final corner, but next time around the Alpine-bound racer ran fastest by 0.6s and then improved by another one seconds.

To respond, the Scuderia crew jacked up Leclerc’s car but only had a scrubbed set on hand, so a delay ensued while new boots were finally retrieved as Sainz was held in a double stack.

Then Leclerc was forced to abort his first flying lap on the red-walled rubber when he was held up by Yuki Tsunoda through the final sector, in turn delaying his chasing team-mate.

While Sainz still managed to improve, Leclerc had it all to do on his final run but did enough to make it to 12th and survive the late flurry, as Nicholas Latifi just missed the cut-off for Q2.

The departing Williams driver had topped the session only moments earlier after he bolted on the dry tyres but was rapidly shuffled down to miss the threshold by 0.16 seconds to Ricciardo.

In a session to forget for the Alfa Romeo team-mates, Zhou Guanyu ranked only P17 ahead of Valtteri Bottas as AlphaTauri’s Tsunoda and Mick Schumacher lapped slowest of all.

Congratulations to K-Mag with this fine achievement. To have a Haas on pole position is just epic and such a feel good story for Formula 1. The sprint race is going to be fascinating to see if Magnussen can hold off Verstappen to score the ‘proper’ pole.

Sao Paulo Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:11.674
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:11.877
3 George Russell Mercedes 1:12.059
4 Lando Norris McLaren 1:12.263
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:12.357
6 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:12.425
7 Fernando Alonso Alpine 1:12.504
8 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:12.611
9 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:15.601
10 Charles Leclerc Ferrari No time
11 Alex Albon Williams 1:11.631
12 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 1:11.675
13 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 1:11.678
14 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 1:12.140
15 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:12.210
16 Nicholas Latifi Williams 1:15.095
17 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1:15.197
18 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1:15.486
19 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:16.264
20 Mick Schumacher Haas 1:16.361

Two-time world champion Max Verstappen continues to impress this season by winning the Mexico Grand Prix with ease and achieving a record-breaking 14th victory.

After acing the start from pole and once it became clear well ahead of the final laps that his medium tyres would hold on, Verstappen dominated to take victory and set a new record for single-season wins.

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton had to settle for second position as the team tried an aggressive strategy but wasn’t fast enough to challenge or beat Verstappen.

Home hero Sergio Perez finished third position ahead of George Russell, with the Ferrari drivers a minute behind by the finish in fifth and sixth.

At the start, Verstappen launched well in front of Russell and swung right in front of the Mercedes on the very long run down to the first corner – with Russell gaining from the Red Bull’s slipstream to run ahead of Hamilton and Perez.

Just before they braked for Turn 1, Russell moved left to the outside line but ended up just following Verstappen through the right-hander and deep towards the grass runoff on the outside.

As Verstappen scampered through unopposed, Russell bounced over the kerbs at Turn 2, with Hamilton by this top alongside his teammate and getting ahead with better drive out of Turn 3.

There, Russell came along Hamilton but ran out of room and had to climb over the kerbs, therefore losing momentum and being jumped the quickly arriving Perez into Turn 4 at the end of the second straight.

Verstappen immediately moved out of DRS threat at the end of lap one of 71, with Hamilton giving chase having started on the medium tyres, as did Russell, compared to the used softs fitted to the two Red Bulls.

Over the next phase of the race, the gap between the leaders fluctuated slightly, but generally held around 1.5 seconds as Perez and Russell ran a few seconds further adrift and falling further behind over the course of the first stint.

Approaching the end of the race’s first quarter, Verstappen upped his pace in a bid to break the tow to the Mercedes, but Hamilton was able to hang on just over two seconds behind before the leader’s softs began to give up.

From a maximum of 2.4 seconds, Verstappen’s advantage was down to 1.6 seconds by the time he came in at the end of lap 25 – one lap after Perez had pitted and suffered a slow left-rear change that left him stationary for 5.0 seconds.

Running the more durable tyre, Mercedes left Hamilton out – his mediums showing none of the dark wear patches that had been evident on Verstappen’s left-front soft before he stopped.

But Hamilton only remained out for another four laps before he was brought in to switch to the hard tyres, with Mercedes instead leaving Russell out to complete a much longer first stint.

He therefore led until the end of lap 34, Verstappen cycling back into the lead at half-distance with a near seven-second lead and Hamilton under more pressure from Perez running closely behind – Checo having cleared the off-the-pace Ferrari pair after his slow stop.

Hamilton suggested the hards were not performing as well as the mediums he had given up, with Mercedes in turn implying performance drop-off logged at the end of his first stint might give him a chance to catch Verstappen late on.

That looked a mighty ask 15 laps into Hamilton’s second as he faced a near 10 seconds gap to the dominant leader, but at least able to keep Perez at arm’s length just a few seconds behind.

Indeed, the status quo continued to hold, with Hamilton questioning whether his hard tyre set was the right compound to be on and Mercedes insisting it was due to its added durability on a one-stopper.

But with Verstappen continuing to edge away by a few tenths each lap as the leaders made their way through traffic, with 15 laps left he had a lead of 12.1 seconds.

As it turned out, the Mercedes team’s hoped-for dramatic pace drop off for Red Bull never happened and Verstappen romped home to win by 15.1 seconds having completed a massive 46-lap final stint on the mediums.

A late race stoppage for Fernando Alonso, who had been running comfortably in seventh before an engine issue caused him to lose pace and eventually stop in the Turn 1 runoff, did not cause much of a disruption other than a short virtual safety car activation on laps 65-66 as the Alpine was quickly moved behind the barriers.

Perez ended up 2.9s behind Hamilton having fallen further behind shortly before the VSC, with Russell fourth and also vocally frustrated about having to run the hards in his second stint.

That ended up only being his middle stint as Mercedes pitted Russell to take the softs for a final lap shot at the fastest lap bonus point, which he duly secured with a one minute, 20.153 seconds.

Carlos Sainz led Charles Leclerc home in an anonymous race for Ferrari – the Spaniard ending up 58.8 seconds adrift of Verstappen and the only action for the pair involving Perez’s post-stop passing and Sainz doing likewise to Alonso after his own service to go from softs to mediums.

Leclerc the last car on the lead lap and 10 seconds behind his teammate, the drama to the finish concerned McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo.

He had produced the second-longest opening stint on the mediums in staying out until lap 45, after which he was rapid on the softs but made a bad error hitting Yuki Tsunoda at Turn 6 a few laps after his pitstop.

With the AlphaTauri retiring in the pits, Ricciardo was handed a 10s-time addition penalty, which he overcame with a sterling drive up the field after being waved by teammate Lando Norris, who was completing the medium-hard strategy.

Ricciardo produced pass after pass – including being part of a double move on Alonso into Turn 1 shortly before the Spaniard retired, with his teammate Esteban Ocon going by ahead of Ricciardo into Turn 1 before in turn being caught and passed by the honey badger.

In clear air from there, Ricciardo charged and eventually finished 12.1 sconds ahead of Ocon to negate his penalty.

Norris and Valtteri Bottas, who had dropped back on lap one after his fine qualifying and then battled the Alpines in the first and middle phases of the race before falling back, completing the top ten.

Tsunoda and Alonso were the race’s only retirements.

So not the most thrilling Mexico Grand Prix as Verstappen was in a different league compared to his rivals. To achieve 14 wins this season is unbelievable. Max is on fire this season with his winning form. Just two races left in this season of Formula 1 racing.

Mexico Grand Prix, race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:38:36.729
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +15.186s
3 Sergio Perez Red Bull +18.097s
4 George Russell Mercedes +49.431s
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +58.123s
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +68.774s
7 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren +1 lap
8 Esteban Ocon Alpine +1 lap
9 Lando Norris McLaren +1 lap
10 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo +1 lap
11 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri +1 lap
12 Alex Albon Williams +1 lap
13 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo +1 lap
14 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin +1 lap
15 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +1 lap
16 Mick Schumacher Haas +1 lap
17 Kevin Magnussen Haas +1 lap
18 Nicholas Latifi Williams +2 laps
– Fernando Alonso Alpine DNF
– Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri DNF