Category: Motor Racing

Championship leader Max Verstappen took pole position at his home race, Zandvoort, beating Charles Leclerc by a tiny margin of 0.021 seconds.

Verstappen ended up with pole after reversing Leclerc’s advantage from the opening Q1 runs, with the session interrupted by race fans throwing flares onto the track, causing Q2 to be red flagged.

Leclerc led Verstappen by 0.059 seconds after the first Q3 runs, with the 2022 frontrunners converging on pace after Red Bull’s tricky start to the weekend.

The Ferrari driver set the quickest times in the first and last sectors on his final lap, but being unable to replicate his best time in the middle part of the track cost him dear.

This was because Verstappen set a purple sector and ended up with a best time of one minute, 10.342 seconds, 0.021 seconds quicker than his rival.

Carlos Sainz slotted into third position just before Sergio Perez spun at the end of his final lap – Checo dipping his left-side wheels into the gravel at the exit of the penultimate corner and spearing around to the inside of the banked final turn.

That meant the following Mercedes drivers were obliged to lift off and so Lewis Hamilton ended up fourth with Perez fifth ahead of George Russell.

Lando Norris took seventh ahead of Mick Schumacher and Yuki Tsunoda, while Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll finished tenth after being unable to run in Q3 due a technical issue on his car.

Stroll’s mechanics were spotted inspecting the front damper area of his AMR2022 before Q3 began – the final segment featuring flare smoke blowing from the pit exit but covered by a brief yellow flag ahead of the final runs.

Q2 was suspended shortly after it had begun when another lit flare from the grandstands overlooking the exit of Turn 12 and the last part of the track’s stadium section was thrown on the track.

The FIA, which said the person who threw the flare “identified and removed by event security”, suspended the action until it went out and could be removed.

During the stoppage, the marshals at Turn 7 attempted to clear some pigeons that had settled on the inside of that corner, which Alex Albon had noted as he ran solo at the start of the middle segment before the flare had to be cleared.

The Q2 action resumed after a six-minute delay and when it ended Pierre Gasly ended up as the highest-placed runner eliminated in P11 – despite setting a personal best time on his final flier.

That meant Tsunoda survived to reach Q3, with Esteban Ocon likewise knocked out after producing his best time at the end of Q2.

Fernando Alonso trailed his Alpine teammate in P13, but put the blame for his early exit on encountering Perez going slowly on an in-lap through the Turn 9 double apex right-hander.

Zhou Guanyu finished P14 for Alfa Romeo, with Albon shuffled back from P10 to P15 after completing his final lap well ahead of the rest in the closing Q2 minutes.

In Q1, Gasly’s late improvement knocked out Valtteri Bottas in the other Alfa Romeo, with Kevin Magnussen, initially out in P17 but was soon dropped to P18 as his flirtation with track limits at the Hugenholtz on his final flier went too far and the FIA deleted his effort.

That meant Daniel Ricciardo finished P17 when teammate Norris had got through the opening segment in fifth, while Sebastian Vettel ended up back in P19 after making a major error on his last lap.

Just after he had set a then fastest time in the first sector and his quickest middle sector of Q1, Vettel could not hold an oversteer snap through the penultimate corner and so slid wide and into the gravel trap on the exit.

Nicholas Latifi finished last for Williams.

So after a tricky practice sessions on Friday in which Max Verstappen suffered a gearbox/driveshaft issue and lost valuable track time, the Red Bull driver bounced back in terms of pace to take pole position in qualifying. Can Max score a popular win in front of his home fans? The pressure is on at Zandvoort.

Dutch Grand Prix, qualifying positions:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:10.342
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:10.363
3 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:10.434
4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:10.648
5 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:11.077
6 George Russell Mercedes 1:11.147
7 Lando Norris McLaren 1:11.174
8 Mick Schumacher Haas 1:11.442
9 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:12.556
10 Lance Stroll Aston Martin Mercedes No time
11 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 1:11.512
12 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:11.605
13 Fernando Alonso Alpine 1:11.613
14 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1:11.704
15 Alex Albon Williams 1:11.802
16 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1:11.961
17 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:12.041
18 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 1:12.081
19 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 1:12.391
20 Nicholas Latifi Williams 1:13.353

Championship leader Max Verstappen was in masterclass form despite starting the Belgian Grand Prix in P14 following power unit changes to take victory at Spa-Francorchamps and leading home a Red Bull 1-2 over teammate Sergio Perez.

The defending champion stretched his points lead over Charles Leclerc by taking control of events at Spa, moving into first position as early as lap 12 of 44 before cruising to a 18 seconds win.

With the Red Bull RB18 proving so effective in a straight line to allow Perez to dart past polesitter Carlos Sainz on the long Kemmel Straight, Checo brought home second.

Meanwhile, Sainz completed the podium ahead of George Russell as Lewis Hamilton retired following an opening lap crash with former McLaren team-mate Fernando Alonso.

Despite topping qualifying over Sainz by a might 0.6 seconds, Verstappen was dropped into the pack for exceeding his allocation of power units – but an electrical glitch on the grid for AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly promoted Verstappen to start P13, one spot over Leclerc.

That appeared to leave it up to second-starting Perez to take the fight to Sainz, but he fluffed his launch to drop to fifth into Les Combe behind both Mercedes and Alonso.

With the medium tyre RB18 bogging down, soft-starting Sainz was afforded an easy run through La Source to consolidate first place ahead of the Alpine as Hamilton tucked into Alonso’s tow on the climb up the hill.

But the pair made contact into Les Combe. Alonso appeared to be fully over the inside kerb, but was pinched by the W13 as Hamilton’s rear-right making contact with Alonso’s front-left tyre.

That launched the W13’s back axle into the air and although the seven-time champion initially rejoined, he was very slow and swiftly parked up with a loss of water pressure.

The yellow flags then morphed into a full safety car after Nicholas Latifi and Valtteri Bottas came to blows at the exit of the chicane, with the Alfa Romeo ending up in the gravel.

Starting in P14, Ocon messed up the corner to run over the inside sausage kerb, it appeared to put Latifi off line as he ran wide and kissed the gravel to pitch the Williams into a spin.

Bottas was innocently collected and turned around to retire. However, both this and the Alonso-Hamilton bash passed without penalties after investigation.

However, Hamilton was given with a warning for not visiting the medical centre despite his shunt exceeding the stipulated impact limit.

Sainz lost his initial 2.1 seconds lead over Perez to the safety car as Russell slotted into third ahead of Russell and a flying Sebastian Vettel, the retiring Aston Martin driver rising from ninth.

Leclerc, meanwhile, was forced to pit at the end of lap three after a visor tear-off had lodged itself in his front-right brake duct to cause overheating and reports of smoke.

He was stopped from ninth, one spot behind title rival Verstappen, for mediums.

As the safety car peeled in at the end of lap four, Sainz led a very slow restart and even locked up into the Bus Stop chicane but a fine exit kept him clear of Perez.

The RB18 driver duly locked up into La Source, forcing him to worry about Russell behind as Sainz pulled a 1.2 seconds gap.

Meanwhile, Verstappen picked off Daniel Ricciardo and then used DRS to fly past Alonso for fourth place on the Kemmel Straight with 1.6 seconds to find to the Mercedes ahead. But that only took until lap eight before Verstappen dragged past Russell to get one foot on the podium.

The 2.6 seconds deficit to Perez was soon eviscerated by Verstappen, but he was delayed getting past his team-mate, who didn’t give way as easily as he could have done into Les Combes.

But with an early fastest lap effort under his belt, and having complained about the “silly” amount of time lost, Verstappen closed and slipstreamed past out of Eau Rouge.

With Ferrari pitting Sainz for a set of mediums at the end of lap 11 before losing time rejoining behind Ricciardo, Verstappen’s initial ascent to first place had been completed.

Such was Verstappen’s prowess that despite running the more delicate soft tyres in warmer temperatures than experienced at any point in the weekend, he was more able to edge life out of them than renowned tyre whisperer Perez on the mediums.

So much so, Red Bull pitted Perez at the end of lap 14 for another set of the yellow-walled tyres while Verstappen stayed out and continued to nurse his C4s.

With Perez effectively keeping Leclerc at bay as he rejoined, the Red Bull squeezing the Ferrari on the outside into Les Combes to the point where the pair made brief contact.

Verstappen eventually came into the pits at the end of lap 15 as his levels of traction deteriorated, Red Bull swapping him into mediums to rejoin in front of Perez.

That left Sainz with a 4.7 seconds cushion to protect the win, the Ferrari’s mediums now four laps old. But Verstappen tore chunks out the gap and on lap 17 was on the F1-75’s rear.

First position and eventual win would effectively be decided when Verstappen powered up Eau Rouge and used DRS to leap Sainz into Les Combes.

Three laps later, Perez was right on the Ferrari and sold Sainz a dummy on the Kemmel Straight to power around the outside for second place and a Red Bull 1-2.

Sainz would pit for his second stop on lap 25, switching to hards as Leclerc was moved onto mediums. Verstappen would make his final visit to the pits of lap 30 for mediums and returned with an 8 seconds lead over Perez.

Lapping consistently seven tenths faster than his stablemate, Verstappen was able to cross the line with fastest lap to claim the spoils by 17.8 seconds and edge closer to a 100-point lead.

With Perez on the hard tyre to cover off Sainz, the Red Bull crossed the line 9 seconds ahead of the lead Ferrari as Russell ran to fourth another 2.2 seconds in arrears.

Leclerc was pitted on the penultimate lap for a switch to softs in a bid to nick the point for fastest lap off Verstappen. But on cool tyres, was released into the path of Alonso.

The Alpine picked off the Ferrari for fifth, and while Leclerc recovered the place on the last lap, he missed the bonus point and was then knocked back to sixth owing to a 5 seconds penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

Ocon crossed the line in seventh, helped by a glorious double overtake on the Kemmel Straight as he picked up a powerful tow from Sebastian Vettel and Pierre Gasly.

Vettel, meanwhile, led Gasly as Alex Albon completed the top ten for Williams.

For much of the second half, Albon kept a train of cars at bay – the queue led by Lance Stroll and then Lando Norris, Yuki Tsunoda, Zhou Guanyu and Danuel Ricciardo.

Kevin Magnussen led team-mate Mick Schumacher for P16 and P17 as Latifi eventually finished in P18.

So a dominant victory for Max Verstappen even with the grid penalty. The pace of the Red Bull RB18 is simply outstanding and gaining more points is vital in terms of the championship. The next race is Max’s home event so big pressure is on as his passionate fans are expecting another top result but given his top form, this is looking very good. So congratulations Max with this P1.

Belgian Grand Prix, race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:25:52.894
2 Sergio Pérez Red Bull +17.841s
3 Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari +26.886s
4 George Russell Mercedes +29.140s
5 Fernando Alonso Alpine +73.256s
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +74.936s
7 Esteban Ocon Alpine +75.640s
8 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin +78.107s
9 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri +92.181s
10 Alexander Albon Williams +101.900s
11 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +103.078s
12 Lando Norris McLaren +104.739s
13 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +105.217s
14 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo +106.252s
15 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren +107.163s
16 Kevin Magnussen Haas +1 lap
17 Mick Schumacher Haas +1 lap
18 Nicholas Latifi Williams +1 lap
– Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo DNF
– Lewis Hamilton Mercedes DNF

Championship leader Max Verstappen dominated qualifying at Spa-Francorchamps but grid penalties mean Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz will line up on pole position.

The Red Bull driver elected not to take part in the final shootout in Q3, knowing he will start from the back of the grid owing to a drop for exceeding his permitted parts count.

Nevertheless, his banker lap was so fast that he topped the session by six tenths of a second as Sainz’s messy final flying lap meant he was unable to improve.

Sergio Perez will join the Scuderia on the front row of the grid, while Leclerc will meet Verstappen as the pair are poised to line up in P13 and P14.

Verstappen was a class apart after the first round of flying laps in the final to qualifying, the defending champopn setting a one minute, 43.665 seconds – the sole sub one minute, 44 seconds lap of the weekend.

That gave him a mighty 0.632 seconds in hand over Sainz, while Perez was third and another two tenths back before his lap was flagged for exceeding track limits at Raidillon.

Leclerc, meanwhile, was fourth, having been initially sent out on a set of scrubbed softs.

While both Alpines, Mercedes, Norris and Albon were also released on used rubber, Ferrari admitted over team radio this was a mistake.

Team boss Mattia Binotto even appeared to intimate pointing a gun to his head on the pit wall after Leclerc crossed the line.

Leclerc then dived back out of the pits after his sole effort to just pick up Sainz out of La Source to tow his teammate down the long Kemmel Straight.

But the tactics proved in vain as Sainz missed his personal best first sector before clipping the gravel through Les Fanges to wind up on a one minute, 44.714 seconds and duly failing to improve.

That left his earlier one minute, 44.297 seconds as his best effort, however the British Grand Prix winner has no penalties to carry over to the grid to line up on first.

Perez similarly failed to improve at his second attempt, while Esteban Ocon (also destined to be sent to the back of the grid) pipped Alpine teammate Fernando Alonso for a team 5-6 result.

Lewis Hamilton led George Russell for seventh and eighth, the W13s running some 1.8 seconds off Verstappen. A massive disadvantage in terms of performance…

Mercedes appears to be on the back foot for what might have been its best shot at a race win in 2022 given Verstappen and Leclerc’s reprimand.

Alex Albon starred in Q3 as Williams made its straight-line speed count in the opening sector (Albon running fastest of everyone), as he clocked ninth and is poised to line up in sixth position.

Lando Norris, meanwhile, opted against a second flying lap and was P10 in Q1, but he too has penalties to serve.

Albon’s late dash over the line in Q2 bumped Daniel Ricciardo out by 0.1 seconds, although the departing McLaren driver is set to start in seventh place with grid penalties considered.

Ricciardo stayed in the garage initially to pin all his hopes on one flying lap. But with teammate Norris destined to start at the back of the grid, Ricciardo was given a tow by his McLaren colleague.

The McLarens worked together for the Kemmel Straight but even still Daniel ran slower than Lando’s likely unaided lap to sit in P10 before Albon improved over the line.

That relegated Ricciardo, where he was joined on the sidelines by AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly, Zhou Guanyu in the Alfa Romeo, Lance Stroll and Mick Schumacher, who ran P15 fastest.

Neither Red Bull required a second bite of the cherry and so remained in the garage, which left the door open for Leclerc to top Q2 late on by 0.15 seconds courtesy of his one minute, 44.551 seconds effort.

However, his banker had been only good enough for sixth – the Ferrari driver have clipped the grass in his “very strange” car before losing the back end through the Bus Stop chicane.

Perez ending Q2 only 0.07 seconds adrift of Verstappen was a little flattered by him running fresh soft Pirellis while the defending champion plied his trade on a scrubbed set of tyres.

Sebastian Vettel was the first driver to miss out on a Q2 appearance, the retiring Aston Martin driver being knocked at in the first 18-minute session yet again.

The four-time champion crossed the line just 0.002 seconds adrift of the cut-off, set by his effective protégé Schumacher in P15 after the Haas driver’s late improvement.

With Verstappen sitting pretty by 0.5 seconds at the top of the leaderboard over Sainz after their banker laps, neither Red Bull nor Ferrari drivers opted for a second flying lap as they occupied the top four positions.

The remaining 15 cars, with Ocon then fifth, headed out with three minutes and 30 seconds to go and felt the benefit of track evolution as all those in the bottom five place began to improve.

Yuki Tsunoda had been P15 at the time and the first driver at risk, and the AlphaTauri driver did his chances no favour when he locked up massively into the Bus Stop chicane to abort the corner and left himself prey. He was duly bumped to P19.

He was only faster than Valtteri Bottas, but the Alfa Romeo driver was already destined to start near the back of the grid owing to a 20-place penalty for component changes – much like Norris, Schumacher, Ocon, Zhou, Leclerc, and Verstappen.

As a result, it appears likely that despite his mistake, Tsunoda will start the race in P13.

Kevin Magnussen was only P18 fastest, behind Nicholas Latifi in P17 – while Williams team-mate Albon using the low-downforce FW44 to smash the fast-opening sector to climb to sixth in Q1.

The start of qualifying had been delayed by 25 minutes, announced a quarter of an hour before the session began, owing to Les Fagnes barrier repairs prompted by a Porsche Supercup shunt.

So a mixed up grid positions for the Belgian Grand Prix following a raft of grid penalties due to a exceeding parts of the power unit. This will certainly make the Spa-Francorchamps race exciting.

Belgian Grand Prix starting grid after penalties are applied:
1 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:44.297
2 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:44.462
3 Fernando Alonso Alpine 1:45.368
4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:45.503
5 George Russell Mercedes 1:45.776
6 Alex Albon Williams 1:45.837
7 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 1:45.767
8 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 1:45.827
9 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:46.611
10 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 1:46.344
11 Nicholas Latifi Williams 1:46.401
12 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:46.557
13 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:46.692
14 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1:47.866
15 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:43.665
16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1;44.553
17 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:45.180
18 Lando Norris McLaren 1:46.178
19 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1:46.085
20 Mick Schumacher Haas 1:47.718

Following a disappointing qualifying session, Max Verstappen came through from P10 on the grid to score a remarkable victory in the Hungarian Grand Prix. Finishing ahead of both Mercedes as Ferrari threw away a win with further questionable strategy decisions.

The defending world champion overcame his qualifying power loss and a spin thanks to expert tyre management to complete his rise from P10 to victory to extend his points lead.

Lewis Hamilton headed a Mercedes 2-3 over maiden polesitter George Russell, who had led for 30 laps, as front-row starter Carlos Sainz slid to fifth position over Red Bull’s recovering Sergio Perez.

Meanwhile, early leader Charles Leclerc was the only frontrunner to make three stops to be passed on track twice by Verstappen and ultimately fall to sixth position.

Russell was put on a set of used softs to launch on a dry track, the spots of rain that had been landing in the build-up to the race failing to develop into a full-blown shower initially.

Thanks to the grippier rubber, the Mercedes launched strongly to pull across and eventually cover off the medium-Pirelli shod Ferrari threat into Turn 1 and duly consolidated first position.

Sainz had tried to bully it around the outside of the right-hander before the W13 cut back at the apex, with the Scuderia then keeping in formation with Leclerc slotting into third place.

Hamilton, meanwhile, nailed his getaway to pounce past both Alpines for fifth behind soft-shod Lando Norris, as Verstappen propelled his RB18 around the outside of Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo to rapidly hit eighth place after his qualifying power loss late in Q3.

Russell crossed the line at the end of the opening lap with 1.6 seconds in hand over Sainz.

After a quick virtual safety car for Sebastian Vettel being nipped with Alex Albon, Russell added another second over the chasing F1-75 next time around, with Leclerc 1.5 seconds adrift.

It took until lap 14 for the red-walled C4 Pirellis to show the first signs of degrading for the W13 as Sainz tore a 0.6 seconds chunk out of Russell, the lead Ferrari having to shown enough pace to prevent the pitwall from swapping the order under pressure to intervene by Leclerc.

With the red cars nose-to-tail, it looked as though they would be split when Sainz was told to box at the end of lap 16 but he stayed out as Russell then came in for his first stop.

The polesitter was slowly swapped onto a set of mediums after a front-right delay to emerge side by side with Fernando Alonso, cutting back through Turns 2 and 3 to seal sixth.

One tour later Ferrari responded. Sainz was called in to release Leclerc, but the Spaniard too was delayed in a 3.7 seconds medium change to crucially come out behind Alonso’s Alpine machine.

That left Leclerc to lead by 11 seconds over Hamilton before the Mercedes was called in on lap 20.

Russell was therefore released into second position but with a 19 seconds gap to the leading Leclerc.

As the lap counter hit the high teens, Leclerc’s pace was declining. He was subsequently stopped at the end of lap 21 for a set of mediums in 2.9 seconds to promote Russell into the lead.

The maiden polesitter had 2.6 seconds in hand over to chaser as Sainz sat a further 1s in arrears while champion Verstappen occupied fourth place another 3.5 seconds further adrift.

With the Ferrari well suited to the tight Hungaroring all weekend, Leclerc soon gained the DRS overtaking aid to bring the gap down and weld himself to the Mercedes gearbox.

Russell was forced to defend, squeezing the F1-75 to the outside line wherever possible to maximise the distance Leclerc had to travel at the difficult-to-pass Budapest venue.

Then on lap 31, Leclerc made it stick. Russell moved to the inside line into Turn 1 early to cover off the Ferrari but with DRS it tightly squeezed by into the braking zone for first.

Leclerc immediately pulled seven tenths on the Mercedes and doubled that gap over the rest of the lap, the advantage climbing to 2.8 seconds with Russel in third and Verstappen fourth.

Verstappen made a crucial stop on lap 39 for mediums and despite sparks flying from the right-rear corner, he was serviced in a rapid 2.4 seconds – encouraged with the radio message that “there’s still a long way to go”.

Verstappen came out in sixth as Russel made a second stop for mediums next time around, Leclerc then visiting the garage for an ill-fated set of the hardest-available C2 Pirelli tyre.

The Red Bulls having jumped Russell, the Ferrari returned in third behind Hamilton and Sainz on the slowest compound and struggled to generate temperature to leave him vulnerable.

Verstappen had DRS on Leclerc into Turn 1 to depose the Ferrari, the Dutch ace shrewdly opening his steering a fraction at the apex to force Leclerc to compromise his line further.

Getting back on the power, the Ferrari stepped out of line to let Verstappen romp away.

But Leclerc was given a second chance, despite blasting the state of the tyres. Verstappen tried to pick the power out of the penultimate Turn 13 but span the rears and rotated.

He caught the Red Bull in 360 degrees but not before the Ferrari had streaked back past, even if Perez limited the damage by blocking Russell and staying behind his teammate.

But come lap 43, Verstappen was back within a second of chief championship rival Leclerc and he cut his RB18 back through Turns 2 to retake the position down the hill into Turn 3.

Ferrari called Sainz in three laps later to relinquish the lead and a fumbled rear-left change onto softs meant he was held for a slow 4.6 seconds to give Hamilton a 6.4 seconds margin to Verstappen.

Hamilton finally made his second stop on the end of lap 51 for a switch to softs and came out in fifth, ten seconds down on Sainz as Russell usurped Leclerc – still struggling on the hard tyres.

The Ferrari broke loose through the final corner to give Russell an easy run for second over the line as Ferrari eventually aborted its strategy and was forced into an additional stop.

The soft tyres were bolted on but having led, he returned over 30s behind Verstappen.

With Verstappen managing the mediums to the flag, including a late VSC for Bottas stopping with power loss aboard his Alfa Romeo at turn 12, he streaked to an unlikely victory by 7.8 seconds.

The Mercedes were the next fastest cars in the final phase of the race, with soft-shod Hamilton able to depose Sainz on older tyres and then teammate Russell for second place.

Despite complaining his tyres had dropped off, Russell too had the legs on Sainz to nail consecutive 2-3 finishes for Mercedes as Perez inflicted more pain on Ferrari in fifth place.

Leclerc’s extra pitstop consigned him to sixth ahead of Norris, who switched to hard tyres to keep ahead of the one-stopping Alpines of Alonso and Ocon.

Vettel recovered from the early contact with Albon to score the final point in the updated Aston Martin ahead of teammate Lance Stroll, the Aston Martin having been turned around after contact with Ricciardo – the McLaren driver got a 5 seconds time penalty.

Pierre Gasly crossed the line in P12 from a pitlane start after exceeding the engine allocation limit with a Saturday night power unit change.

Zhou Guanyu led Mick Schumacher and the reprimanded Ricciardo, while Kevin Magnussen was left on a hiding to nothing in the sole upgraded Haas after an early switch to hards before stopping twice more.

Albon landed P17 ahead of FP3 pacesetter and Williams teammate Nicholas Latifi.

Yuki Tsunoda completed the finishers after spinning from P17 to the back through the turn 6-7 chicane, as Bottas was the sole driver to retire in the final race ahead of the summer break.

So yet again Ferrari were unable to take advantage despite a higher grid positions. The strategy call made by the Scuderia was awful especially running the hard compound for Charles Leclerc. Red Bull took this opportunity to come through from P10 and win thanks to superior race pace and Max Verstappen. The season now takes a summer break but will be back at the beautiful Spa-Francorchamps track next month.

Hungarian Grand Prix, race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:39:35.912
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +7.834
3 George Russell Mercedes +12.337
4 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +14.579
5 Sergio Perez Red Bull +15.688
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +16.047
7 Lando Norris McLaren +78.300s
8 Fernando Alonso Alpine +1 lap
9 Esteban Ocon Alpine +1 lap
10 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin +1 lap
11 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +1 lap
12 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri +1 lap
13 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo +1 lap
14 Mick Schumacher Haas +1 lap
15 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren +1 lap
16 Kevin Magnussen Haas +1 lap
17 Alexander Albon Williams +1 lap
18 Nicholas Latifi Williams +1 lap
19 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +2 laps
20 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo DNF

George Russell achieved his first pole position for the Hungarian Grand Prix by beating both Ferraris while championship leader Max Verstappen was taken out of contention by a power issue.

The Mercedes driver was an unlikely contender to top qualifying after the struggles in the W13 all season, not least during both dry and wet running at the Hungaroring so far this weekend.

But despite not taking a fastest sector on his critical lap, his combined runs sailed George to the top over Carlos Sainz, who had the advantage on his teammate Charles Leclerc.

But it was a session to forget for Red Bull, with Verstappen only poised to line up P10 as Sergio Perez was eliminated in Q2.

The day-long downpour that was widely predicted held off to allow qualifying to take place as scheduled on Saturday afternoon in Budapest.

It was Sainz who ended the first part of the 12-minute Q3 run on top, his first flying lap placing him half a second clear of Russell after Leclerc had messed up straight away with a snap in his F1-75 at Turn 1 as he struggled with the tyres.

With Verstappen combatting understeer to run off track at Turn 2, he ended the first run-out only seventh fastest.

The ten fastest cars then emerged with three minutes, 40 seconds to run, but Verstappen was soon complaining of no power aboard his RB18 – cycling through sensor modes not enough to remedy the problem.

With the defending champion, who leads Leclerc in the standings by 63 points, out of the picture, Sainz cycled to the top with the fastest first sector of anyone (pipping Nicholas Latifi).

That gave the British Grand Prix polesitter the bragging rights initially as Leclerc slotted in 0.15 seconds adrift, but then three personal best sectors at the death for Russell gave him an unlikely pole.

His one minute, 17.377 seconds effort pipping Sainz’s one minute, 17.421 seconds best, while Leclerc managed to keep ahead of the McLaren of Lando Norris – the MCL36 impressing in dry qualifying and race simulations during FP2 on Friday.

Esteban Ocon managed to reverse the recent run of form to pip Fernando Alonso in the intra-team Alpine scrap, while Lewis Hamilton’s DRS failed to activate on his final lap to knock him to seventh.

Valtteri Bottas claimed eighth ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, as Verstappen had to make do with a one minute, 18.823 seconds that left him 10ths and 1.5s adrift of the Mercedes benchmark.

Perez was the major casualty from Q2 in a strange session for the driver, his Red Bull being knocked out by a slender 0.05 seconds courtesy of the late improvements from Ocon and Bottas.

Checo complained that Kevin Magnussen’s line through the Turn 3 left-hander had ultimately cost him a place inside the top ten.

Perez had his first lap in Q2 scrubbed off for exceeding track limits at Turn 5, but it seemed a marginal call as replays showed not all four wheels crossed fully over the white lines.

Seven minutes after the fact, the lap was therefore reinstated to put him eighth. The reports of spots of rain plus a dip in track temperatures might have kept him safe enough.

But as the showers held off, the late climbs from the Alfa Romeo and Alpine dropped Perez to 11th ahead of Zhou Guanyu and Magnussen.

K-Mag aborted his final lap after missing his personal bests in sectors ones and two.

Lance Stroll, meanwhile, will start P14 ahead of the second Haas of Mick Schumacher.

Perez had already been at risk in P14 in Q1 as the chequered flag came out, but he was given respite when Pierre Gasly had his improved lap time deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 5.

That dropped the AlphaTauri to P19, with his teammate Yuki Tsunoda also eliminated in the first part of qualifying – the Japanese driver similarly crossing the white lines earlier in the session at the same protracted right-hand bend to have to start all over again.

With Tsunoda’s final, compliant effort not enough to progress as he landed 16th, Stroll had secured his slot in Q2 by 0.35 seconds. Meanwhile, Alex Albon ran for P17 ahead of the hastily repaired Aston Martin of Sebastian Vettel.

In the two-hour break between sessions, Seb had helped his crew repair the AMR22 machine following his shunt into the barriers late in FP3 that resulted in a brief red flag.

The retiring four-time champion, who appeared to struggle for balance through the final corner, ultimately landed only P18.

Latifi, the unlikely pacesetter in a slippery final practice, might have progressed into the Q2 fight when yet again he mastered the first sector to set a purple run late on.

He combined this with a personal best sector two only to suffer a spike of oversteer in the final right-hander to cost him 0.7 seconds and leave him last in qualifying – much to his frustration over team radio.

So congratulations to George Russell in scoring his first Formula 1 pole position. Carlos Sainz’s lap was great and yet Mr Saturday’s performance was just epic. What a result for Mercedes after struggling all season. This pole is much needed to boost morale.

Hungarian Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 George Russell Mercedes 1:17.377
2 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:17.421
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:17.567
4 Lando Norris McLaren 1:17.769
5 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:18.018
6 Fernando Alonso Alpine 1:18.078
7 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:18.142
8 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1:18.157
9 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 1:18.379
10 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:18.823
11 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:18.516
12 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1:18.573
13 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:18.825
14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:19.137
15 Mick Schumacher Haas 1:19.202
16 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTaur 1:19.240
17 Alex Albon Williams 1:19.256
18 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 1:19.273
19 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 1:19.527
20 Nicholas Latifi Williams 1:19.570

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen extended his championship lead with race victory at the French Grand Prix at the Circuit Paul Ricard, as Charles Leclerc crashed his Ferrari while leading the race.

At the start, Leclerc easily lead away from pole ahead of Verstappen, who initially looked like he would have to defend against Lewis Hamilton into Turn 1 as the Mercedes driver had launched straight past Sergio Perez up ahead and starting third.

But Verstappen hit the brakes latest of the top three and ran to Leclerc’s outside, but the Ferrari was under no real pressure on the racing line.

The top ten immediately pulled clear of Hamilton – exchanging fastest laps as they did so.

As soon as DRS was activated on lap three, Verstappen – who was already able to catch Leclerc on every straight with his lower drag, skinnier rear wing – really began to pressure his rival, who appeared to be struggling for rear tyre grip.

Verstappen closed the gap to a minimum of 0.5 seconds at the start of lap eight of 53 as he twice got so close running into Le Beausset he looked to attack on Leclerc’s outside.

But the Ferrari’s higher downforce, larger rear wing meant Leclerc was able to pull away through the technical sections at the start and end of the laps and a tense stalemate developed with Verstappen falling back towards one-second adrift over the next few laps.

The defending world champion was now the one seemingly struggling for grip as at one stage he slipped off the road at Turn 6, so picking up his first track limits violation, and by lap 14 he had had fallen out of DRS range as Leclerc began to increase his pace back towards where he had been lapping in the early stages.

Leclerc’s lead was heading up towards 1.5 seconds when Red Bull called Verstappen in at the end of lap 16 to switch to the hard tyres.

Ferrari, which had told Leclerc it was considering a “Plan B” strategy and that the harder tyres team-mate Carlos Sainz was running down the order after his engine-change grid penalty were still suffering from thermal degradation, did not move to immediately cover Verstappen’s stop.

But just after it had warned Leclerc to look after his mediums, the race was turned on its head when Leclerc crashed out at Le Beausset – losing the rear of his F1-75 in a mistake while running close to the edge of the track deep into the high-speed hairpin on his stressed tyre.

He rapidly spun around and went straight on into the barriers, where he fumed “I cannot go on throttle” before screaming “Nooooo!” in realisation that he was out of the race.

The incident was covered by a safety car, where Hamilton, who had seen off Perez’s early attentions to run well clear of the second Red Bull before Leclerc’s crash, led a mass visit to the pits.

He rejoined behind Verstappen and still ahead of Perez, with George Russell, Fernando Alonso and the two McLarens following in the queue ahead of Sainz.

He had risen up the order from his back row start in the early stages, but picked up a five-second penalty after his slow safety car stop ended when was released into the path of Alex Albon’s approaching Williams.

At the restart on lap 21, Verstappen easily raced clear of Hamilton and was soon in complete command up from, while the Mercedes again pulled away from Perez.

The main action in the pack was Sainz’s continued recovery drive, as he jumped by Daniel Ricciardo at Turn 1 at the restart and got Lando Norris into the Mistral straight chicane further around the lap.

On the next lap he got ahead of compatriot Alonso and then set off after Russell, who then frustrated the remaining Ferrari’s progress for several laps before the Briton’s defence at the Turns 8/9 chicane meant Sainz got a better run up the hill to Signes, where he thrilling got ahead with an around-the-outside pass.

Up front, Verstappen continued to pull clear of Hamilton and his lead had reached four-seconds by lap 32, before it soon shot up to nearly seven – mainly thanks to his pursuer subsequently having to catch an oversteer snap through the second corner and ran off the track.

From there, Verstappen was untroubled to the finish and came home with a 10.5 seconds margin of victory ahead of Hamilton, who was likewise unthreatened in second – this was despite a brief moment of worry for the leaders when Zhou Guanyu stopped in the Turn 6 runoff and triggered a brief virtual safety car.

Their advantage up front was because after his Signes pass on Russell, Sainz had closed in on Perez and pressured the Mexican driver hard for several laps as Ferrari dithered over whether to bring him in for a second time – knowing If it did he would his penalty applied tyres could be changed.

Both team and driver changed their minds on whether to come in our not, but Sainz was still out by lap 41 and he was running right behind Perez – attacking at Signes and then staying close enough to dive ahead at the final corner.

Ferrari had called him in mid-way through their scrap, but Sainz dismissed the call and shot clear – having pulled Russell along in his wake so the Mercedes was then in position to attack the grip-less Perez.

On lap 42, Russell made a late move to the inside of the Turn 8 part of the Mistral chicane and when Perez turned in the pair came close to crashing before the Red Bull scampered across Turn 9 and stayed ahead – to Russell’s frustration but with the stewards’ quickly deciding the incident did not merit investigation.

But straight after this, Ferrari then ultimately did bring Sainz in for a second stop and he re-joined ninth and with a near 30 seconds gap to try and recover – as well as repass the Norris and Alonso.

He did so quickly and showed searing pace on his way to setting the race’s fastest lap, but came home a frustrated fifth.

That was behind Perez, who lost out to Russell after the Mercedes driver jumped ahead of the Red Bull when the VSC ended as they approached the final corner and then soaked up pressure over the final three laps to seal third.

Sainz ended up 11.5 seconds behind Perez, but well clear of Alonso and Norris, with Esteban Ocon eighth after hitting Yuki Tsunoda at the Mistral straight chicane on lap one and getting a five-second penalty he served at his safety car stop for spinning the AlphaTauri around.

Ricciardo took ninth and Lance Stroll got the final point, despite Sebastian Vettel getting very close to nipping ahead on the last lap – with the chasing Aston Martin appearing to nearly hit the other when it was slow getting off the final corner’s apex.

The other non-finishers were Nicholas Latifi and Kevin Magnussen who retired in the pits shortly after they clashed at Turn 2 in the closing stages, just after the Williams had attacked the Haas at the preceding Turn 1 in an incident that will be investigated now the race has finished.

Tsunoda stopped on the same lap as Leclerc’s crash as a result of the floor damage he had picked up in the lap one clash with Ocon that had dropped him to the rear of the pack.

So congratulations to Max Verstappen in winning the French Grand Prix. This result increases his championship points lead. Feel sorry for Charles Leclerc as he was leading the race and was looking good for a race victory. But a big mistake occurred and the Ferrari ended in the wall. As for the Scuderia’s strategy with Carlos Sainz, what is going on? Not looking at the bigger picture and even with time penalty, lost some crucial points.

French Grand Prix, race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:30:02.112
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +10.587
3 George Russell Mercedes +16.495
4 Sergio Perez Red Bull +17.310
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +28.872
6 Fernando Alonso Alpine +42.879
7 Lando Norris McLaren +52.026
8 Esteban Ocon Alpine +56.959
9 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren +60.372
10 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +62.549
11 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin +64.494
12 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri +65.448
13 Alex Albon Williams +68.565
14 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo +76.666
15 Mick Schumacher Haas +80.394s
– Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo DNF
– Nicholas Latifi Williams +6 laps
– Kevin Magnussen Haas DNF
– Charles Leclerc Ferrari DNF
– Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri DNF

Charles Leclerc beat championship rival Max Verstappen to take pole position for the French Grand Prix as Ferrari used slipstream tactics with Carlos Sainz to help capture P1.

Sergio Perez completed the top three for Red Bull as Sainz’s running on used tyres meant he qualifying ninth but will drop to the back of the grid thanks to Ferrari fitting a fresh power unit for this event after his Austria DNF.

Leclerc led after the first runs in Q3, but only by 0.008 seconds over Verstappen as the Ferraris ran line astern to try and negate Red Bull’s top speed advantage with its potent Honda engine and lower-drag rear wing.

On the second runs, Sainz again ran ahead of Leclerc in the pack, the latter dropping back ahead of the final corners on their out-laps to avoid dirty air from his teammate disrupting his progress through the opening turns.

But, as he had done on the first Q3 fliers, Sainz slowed exiting the chicane midway down the Mistral straight and then towed his teammate down the rest of the straight, through the rapid Signes right before pulling over just before Le Beausset.

Leclerc then rocketed to the fastest time in the third sector, having already beaten his previous session-leading time in sector one, to put in a one minute, 30.872 seconds.

That ended up being 0.304 seconds clear of Verstappen after the world champion could not reproduce his best times in the opening two sectors.

Behind Perez came Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris, with George Russell sixth for Mercedes.

Then came Fernando Alonso and Yuki Tsunoda, with Sainz finishing ahead of Kevin Magnussen, who did not run in Q3 as he too will drop to the back of the grid having likewise taken a new engine this weekend.

In Q2, topped by Sainz with a one minute, 31.081 seconds, Daniel Ricciardo’s personal best at the last was not enough to get into the top ten, with all of the eliminated drivers doing likewise having run ahead of the Australian, who was the last to cross the line.

Esteban Ocon had led the pack around for the final laps and did leap up the order having been in the drop zone after the first Q2 runs, but he was shuffled back to P12 ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Sebastian Vettel.

Alex Albon finished P15 for Williams – having got through to Q2 after Mick Schumacher lost his final Q1 lap to a track limits violation.

Albon had been unable to set a final Q1 time after he lost the rear of his car exiting the Turn 8 part of the chicane that breaks up the Mistral straight and spun.

In Q1, which Leclerc topped with the fastest lap of the weekend at that stage on his first flier, Pierre Gasly was knocked out in P16 ahead of Lance Stroll, who set an identical lap time right at the end of the segment but lost out because he did it second, the Aston Martin driver ruing catching traffic in the final turns.

Zhou Guanyu ended up P18 having led the pack to the chequered flag, but failed to set a personal best on his final lap after catching a wild oversteer snap through the long, fast Turn 6 right that feeds in the Turn 7 kink on the Mistral straight.

Zhou said he “nearly spun” catching the moment, with his previous personal best good enough for P18 ahead of Schumacher and Nicholas Latifi, who both set their quickest times at the end of Q1.

Schumacher’s one minute, 33.114 seconds jumped him the order and put Albon temporarily into 16th, but running too far over the white line on the inside of Turn 3 meant his effort was deleted and he had to exit the session despite Haas’s protestations about the marginal call with the FIA.

Ricciardo and Tsunoda also had their final Q1 laps deleted for track limits infractions at Turns 6 and 3 respectively, but their previous best times were enough to see them through.

So excellent team play with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc in using the tow effort and helping Leclerc to take pole position. Sainz has grid penalties due to power unit changes but did a perfect job in scoring a result for Scuderia Ferrari in qualifying.

French Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:30.872
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:31.176
3 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:31.335
4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:31.765
5 Lando Norris McLaren 1:32.032
6 George Russell Mercedes 1:32.131
7 Fernando Alonso Alpine 1:32.552
8 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:32.780
9 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 1:32.922
10 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:33.048
11 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1:33.052
12 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 1:33.276
13 Alex Albon Williams 1:33.307
14 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 1:33.439
15 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:33.439
16 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1:33.674
17 Mick Schumacher Haas 1:33.701
18 Nicholas Latifi Williams 1:33.794
19 Carlos Sainz Ferrari No time*
20 Kevin Magnussen Haas No time*
*Grid penalty for changing power unit

Charles Leclerc held off local crowd favourite Max Verstappen despite throttle issues to win the Austrian Grand Prix, although the Scuderia was denied a 1-2 finish following a scary fire for Carlos Sainz.

Leclerc, who had not been on the podium since Miami, passed Verstappen three times on track as the Ferrari and Red Bull drivers were placed on different strategies.

A late throttle pedal worry did threaten to derail Leclerc, but he held on for his third victory of the 2022 Formula 1 season.

However, he was not joined on the podium with his teammate Sainz, who showed similar speed and was set to follow Leclerc over the finishing line but was eliminated by a late engine fire to hand Lewis Hamilton third position.

Verstappen led a fast formation lap in a bid to generate tyre temperature and on the medium tyres, enjoyed a tidy launch to hold the middle line and consolidate the lead into Turn 1.

Leclerc maintained position in second as third-starting Sainz was squeezed on the outside to rejoin side-by-side with George Russell, before he fought back past on the inside into Turn 3.

Sergio Perez, from fifth, could then have a sniff at the Mercedes with a drag race out of the right-hander, which left him on the outside for the Turn 4 left.

But Russell made contact with the right-rear of Perez’s Red Bull with his front-left to send the RB18 spinning into the gravel, albeit he rejoined by finding the asphalt run off by the barrier.

Ahead, Verstappen found a 0.985 seconds over Leclerc at the end of lap one of 71, with Sainz a further one second back while Perez eventually recovered to the pits for hards although would retire on lap 17.

Unlike the sprint race Verstappen won, the defending champion was not able to break away in the early laps as Leclerc within the one second window to keep hold of DRS.

On the sprint out of Turn 1 to Turn 3, the gap fell to as little as 0.5 seconds and with Perez heading for an early exit, Ferrari had the potential to splits its strategy to jump Verstappen.

Leclerc had his first tentative look up the inside of Verstappen into Turn 3 on lap 8 but thought better of it for the next three laps.

Then on lap 11, Leclerc made his move – diving down the inside into Turn 3. Verstappen, slower in the opening phase, gave his title rival room and barely put up a fight.

Verstappen tried to offer an attack on the outside of Turn 4 but locked up to fall behind.

Despite a big moment of oversteer and then a couple of lock ups for Leclerc, setting the fastest lap of the race at that stage allowed Charles to break free of DRS.

That prompted Verstappen to put for a set of hard tyres at the end of lap 13 but he was delayed with a 3.2 seconds stop courtesy of a slow front-left change to emerge in traffic.

That left Leclerc to lead over Sainz by 2.5 seconds as Verstappen had to carve his way past Mick Schumacher for fifth around the outside of the Turn 2 kink before demoting 2021 arch-rival Hamilton with relative ease by cutting back to get a good exit from Turn 3.

The Ferraris kept pounding round without stopping, Leclerc holding a 4 seconds advantage over Sainz before the race leader hit the pits at the end of lap 26 for a slick 2.6 seconds switch to hards.

Sainz immediately pitted the lap after for hards, the Scuderia duo returning to the track behind Verstappen but with the upper hand on race pace – Leclerc setting a new fastest lap.

On lap 33, Leclerc closed within DRS range of Verstappen before another cleanly decided move for first position at Turn 3. An early pass allowed Verstappen to fall back and gain DRS for the run to Turn 4 but he opted against a proper retaliation to confirm second place.

With Verstappen complaining of unpredictable grip levels, Red Bull pitted him again on lap 37 for another set of hards, which afforded Ferrari room for another stop 12 tours later.

Leclerc and Sainz both enjoyed quick changes to another set of hards but again faced the prospect of demoting Verstappen, the Dutch racer 2.5 seconds ahead with 20 laps left to play.

Again, Leclerc was quickly into a rhythm on the white-wall rubber to only two laps later gain DRS on Verstappen, the Ferrari moving to the outside for the run to Turn 3.

Leclerc smartly left Verstappen have the apex but turned sharper to jump on the throttle sooner and nail the exit to power back into the lead for the final time.

Sainz was then about to demote Verstappen for a Ferrari 1-2 but on the run to Turn 4, running in the Red Bull’s wake, a wisp of smoke started to waft out of his engine cover.

The Ferrari’s engine then failed spectacularly, with Sainz trying to pull up on the exit as flames burst but the slope of escape rolled meant he struggled to stop the car and jump out.

As flames crept towards the cockpit, Sainz was eventually able to hop out as the virtual safety car was triggered, Leclerc then holding 5.4 seconds over Verstappen.

At the end of lap 58, Leclerc used the slower conditions to stop for mediums and was followed by Verstappen for the run to the line.

Leclerc then complained about as throttle issue, the pedal not retracting fully to make the run through Turn 3 particularly challenging as the margin at the front came down.

A 4.1 seconds lead when the VSC ended began to fall, but Leclerc would hold on to seal the victory – his first since the Australian Grand Prix – by 1.5 seconds over Verstappen to chip away six points.

Hamilton was a distant third, crossing the line 40 seconds behind the top two. But he was placed on a two-stop strategy rather than three and delivered a remarkable surge up the order from ninth. The Mercedes driver’s race was notable for an entertaining battle with both Haas cars and then a DRS pass on Esteban Ocon.

Russell landed fourth ahead of Ocon, while Schumacher completed back-to-back points finishes in sixth after surging past McLaren’s Lando Norris and teammate Kevin Magnussen.

Daniel Ricciardo ran to ninth while Fernando Alonso completed the top ten, having survived a squeeze onto the grass by Yuki Tsunoda that prompted the two-time champion to wag his finger out the cockpit as he continued to fight for position.

Valtteri Bottas landed P11 for Alfa Romeo over Alex Albon, Lance Stroll and Zhou Guanyu.

A difficult weekend for Pierre Gasly ended with P15, the AlphaTauri again in the wars – this time gaining a 5 seconds penalty for catch Sebastian Vettel at Turn 4 and spinning the Aston Martin into the gravel. Vettel too was reprimanded by 5 seconds due to exceeding track limits.

Seb finished in P17, behind Tsunoda, to only head retirees Sainz, Nicholas Latifi and Perez.

So another Ferrari victory in the space of two weeks. The Scuderia beat rival Red Bull at their home track and it was a brilliant drive by Charles Leclerc despite throttle issues. Three overtakes on Max Verstappen reveal the extreme pace and strategy which sealed this win. Roll on the next Formula 1 racing event.

Austrian Grand Prix, race results:
1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:24:24.312
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1.532
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 41.217
4 George Russell Mercedes 58.972
5 Esteban Ocon Alpine 68.436
6 Mick Schumacher Haas +1 lap
7 Lando Norris McLaren +1 lap
8 Kevin Magnussen Haas +1 lap
9 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren +1 lap
10 Fernando Alonso Alpine +1 lap
11 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo +1 lap
12 Alex Albon Williams +1 lap
13 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +1 lap
14 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo +1 lap
15 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri +1 lap
16 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +1 lap
17 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin +1 lap
– Carlos Sainz Ferrari DNF
– Nicholas Latifi Williams DNF
– Sergio Perez Red Bull DNF

Local crowd favourite Max Verstappen claimed victory in the sprint race ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix as Charles Leclerc eventually holding off his Ferrari teammate for second position.

The Red Bull Racing driver needed to defend into Turn 1 and 3 against an initially strong Scuderia threat, but as Leclerc and Carlos Sainz went wheel-to-wheel, the defending champion was able to march away to a relatively smooth triumph.

The start was delayed and an extra formation lap called when Zhou Guanyu momentarily lost drive out of the final corner on his way to the grid when his engine briefly switched off.

The Alfa Romeo was able to find drive and pull away, but not before one lap had been struck off the 24.

This came after Fernando Alonso – due to line up in eighth position – required a pitlane start when his Alpine would not fire on the grid for a technical issue that the team is still to identify.

The regulations permitting that the car cannot be touched with three minutes to go meant Alonso was left on the trolley and with the tyre blankets on. Despite the possibility of a pitlane start, the two-time champion would not take part at all in the sprint race.

After the disruption, it was Leclerc who enjoyed the marginally better launch to force Verstappen to pull to the inside line and squeeze the Ferrari closer to the pit wall.

The Red Bull’s defensive work duly paid off as Verstappen swept into the Turn 1 right-hander in the lead, but a compromised line allowed third-starting Sainz to threaten.

With Leclerc battling Verstappen, Sainz was given room to dive ahead into the first corner and a strong exit enabled the Silverstone winner to move his Ferrari to the outside and attempt a pass.

He put his nose in front of Verstappen in the braking zone of Turn 3 but on the outside and off the racing line, he ran wide and then the subsequent oversteer on the less grippy asphalt allowed Leclerc to accelerate away faster and reclaim second position with a run into Turn 4.

The Ferrari battle allowed Verstappen to initially break away to the tune of half a second, an advantage the reigning champion then doubled at the end of the opening lap.

The Ferraris continued to fight, with Sainz seemingly carrying an early pace advantage to try and leapfrog Leclerc on the outside of Turn 3 into 4, with the red car appears to rub.

With the Ferrari pair allowed to battle for track position, that left Sainz, who had locked up, to virtually stop as he was squeezed towards the gravel trap, in turn gifting Verstappen breathing space of 2 seconds.

Verstappen was able to stretch the legs of his RB18 to take the gap up towards 3 seconds but in the final few laps, Leclerc could lap a tenth or two faster to gradually chip away at the margin.

Verstappen would complain about his struggles on the medium tyres, but the pace swing was not enough to offer a threat as the defending title winner eventually crossed the line 1.6 seconds clear to extend his championship lead to 44 points – Leclerc having taken the bonus point for fastest lap.

Sainz completed the podium another 3.9 seconds adrift of his Ferrari teammate while George Russell converted fourth on the grid in a lonely afternoon, his Mercedes W13 having received extensive repairs following his final-corner shunt late in Q3.

Sergio Perez, who had started P13 after his Q3 times were deleted for a late Q2 track limits violation that initially went undetected, recovered to fifth position.

His impressive climb was aided by a first-corner collision that involved Pierre Gasly’s AlphaTauri being lifted into the air and spun around.

The AlphaTauri racer, starting P10, had moved gradually to the left as he lined up the first right-hander, but in doing so left Lewis Hamilton pinched with the Williams of Alex Albon.

The lack of room left Hamilton’s front-right to make contact with Gasly’s rear left, prompting his car to hop into the air and spin down to an eventual P15.

Perez had also made rapid moves on the two Haas cars before demoting Esteban Ocon, the sole remaining Alpine securing sixth ahead of Kevin Magnussen.

Magnussen narrowly had the measure of stablemate Mick Schumacher, which left Mick to ask his team for K-Mag to check his pace and offer DRS assistance.

This came as Hamilton welded himself to the rear of Schumacher’s car and stuck his nose alongside at Turn 3 repeatedly, at one stage appearing to touch the Haas’ right-rear wheel, as he fought to claim eighth position.

The Mercedes was still unable to pass with DRS assistance owing to the Haas’ straight line credentials, but Hamilton eventually passed with good drive out of Turn 3.

Schumacher just left enough room to the grass for the W13 to take the position into Turn 3.

Valtteri Bottas used the dice to close but was not truly in the fight and settled in P10 spot.

Despite Daniel Ricciardo asking to be let past, Lando Norris headed a McLaren P11 and P12.

Lance Stroll (top soft tyre runner), Zhou and Gasly completed the top 15 ahead of Alex Albon, who was demoted to P16 with a five-second penalty for squeezing Lando Norris out of room on the exit of Turn 3.

Behind Yuki Tsunoda and Nicholas Latifi, Sebastian Vettel joined Alonso as a retiree.

The Aston Martin was called into the pits on the last lap with damage, Vettel having spun when he collided as he battled around the outside of Turn 7.

So a straightforward sprint victory for Max Verstappen. Who was running up that hill to escape from the Ferraris. Sunday’s race could be much closer especially in terms of race pace and strategy. But the orange army are expecting another Super Max performance. Roll on the main race.

Austrian Grand Prix, sprint race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 26:30.059
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1.675
3 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 5.644
4 George Russell Mercedes 13.429
5 Sergio Perez Red Bull 18.302
6 Esteban Ocon Alpine 31.032
7 Kevin Magnussen Haas 34.539
8 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 35.447
9 Mick Schumacher Haas 37.163
10 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 37.557
11 Lando Norris McLaren 38.580
12 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 39.738
13 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 48.241
14 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 50.753
15 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 52.125
16 Alex Albon Williams 52.412
17 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 54.556
18 Nicholas Latifi Williams 68.694
19 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin DNF
– Fernando Alonso Alpine DNS

Max Verstappen scored an important pole position from Formula 1 rival Charles Leclerc by snatching pole position in the final few moments of qualifying at the Red Bull Ring.

The defending champion and local favourite looked to have been beaten by a last-second Ferrari threat that peaked after two red flags in Q3 that were caused by Lewis Hamilton then George Russell crashing.

With the Red Bull driver dropping time during the first half of the lap on his final dash, Leclerc might have seized top position when he ran over the line to move into first place.

But Verstappen pulled it out of the bag by recovering the lost ground through the final sector to score what might have been an unlikely pole. He was the only driver to dip into the 64 seconds mark.

Effectively, qualifying had boiled down to the final two minutes, 30 seconds following the Mercedes crashes.

Verstappen’s Q3 banker had him provisionally fastest as he left the Red Bull Ring pits behind both Ferraris.

Leclerc was first across the line to begin his final thrust for pole, only to drop a tenth in the first sector to Verstappen.

But he recovered that with a fastest overall final sector, while Verstappen was seemingly off the pace.

Leclerc therefore leapt to the top of the leaderboard on a one minute, 05.013 seconds effort.

Sainz was a little adrift with a one minute, 05.066 seconds, completed with three personal best sectors, that appeared to have confirmed pole for Leclerc.

But then Verstappen pulled out a personal best final sector that was enough to offset the damage earlier in the lap and he recorded an impressive one minute, 04.984 seconds which means he will start at the front of the pack in the sprint race.

Sainz will be joined on the second row of the grid by Sergio Perez as Russell’s pre-crash effort was suffice for fifth ahead of Esteban Ocon.

But Perez will be moved back several positions after race control found that the Red Bull driver took track limits.

Kevin Magnussen had the advantage on his Haas teammate Mick Schumacher to end a close-run intra-team fight in seventh, while Fernando Alonso was ninth.

Hamilton, meanwhile, was shuffled down to P10 as a legacy of his incident that occurred inside the first half of the final ten minutes part of qualifying.

In the first of the Mercedes shunts, Hamilton had brought out the red flags in Q3 with five minutes, 29 seconds to go after shunting into the barrier at Turn 7.

The seven-time world champion, who had just oversteered out of Turn 6, was marginally wide of the apex, which caused the rear of his Mercedes W13 to snap out of control.

Hamilton was quick to correct it but as the car gripped, the steering lock applied projected him off the road and across the gravel.

He slammed sideways into the wall and breaking parts of his car.

The shunt was met by cheers from the Dutch-heavy crowd, Hamilton having been a credible front-row threat after leading the times for much of Q2 as he whittled his time down to a one minute, 05.475 seconds before being shuffled to third behind Leclerc and Verstappen.

After the 11-minute interruption, Russell followed Alonso out of the pits to enjoy the clean air as he sought to improve on his fifth-fastest effort.

But despite the unhindered run, he ran slower than his personal best in the first sector to sit 0.42 seconds adrift of Verstappen’s benchmark before flashing a green second sector.

Then not unlike his teammate, Russell lost the rear through final corner as it too snapped violently to flick Russell towards the outside tyre wall, eventually damaging his rear wing.

Russell remains under investigation for entering the track without permission at Turn 10 as he walked across the track under the red flag to return to the Mercedes garage.

He then progressed into the final part of qualifying at his last attempt, finishing Q2 in sixth, only to then be noted for running over the white lines at the left-right transition through the Turn 7-8 open chicane after the session had ended and positions 11-15 decided.

Norris had been the major casualty of Q2, having ended the first part of qualifying in eighth, despite running off road at Turn 3, to massively put teammate Ricciardo in the shade.

But the driver who caused the first of two red flags in FP1 after reporting smoke under his seat then ended up last in Q2, the Briton off the boil having been “scared to hit the brakes”.

The McLaren driver started the 15-minute dice by oversteering at Turn 3 before enduring masses of understeer at Turn 4 to clip the gravel and have his lap time deleted.

At his next attempt, he ran well deep at Turn 1 and had to abort the corner.

That left him last and without a time as he then messed up three of the seven defined corners, albeit the FIA recognises 10 turns.

He locked up at Turn 3 and Turn 4 before again tagging the kitty litter on the exit of Turn 6.

Norris had one final attempt possible but pitted to end the session 15th.

Further ahead thanks to setting a one minute, 06.160 seconds, Pierre Gasly had been the first driver to miss out on Q3.

He toured round 0.11 seconds slower than Schumacher to set the P11 ahead of the rapid upgraded Williams FW44 of Alex Albon and the Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas.

Yuki Tsunoda ran P14, having ruined his final attempt by sliding off at Turn 1 – which was greeted by anger over team radio by the AlphaTauri racer.

Ricciardo’s difficult season and uninspiring form from Silverstone lingered on as he became the first person to miss out on Q2, the honey badger missing the cut off by 0.024 seconds.

As teammate Norris ended the first 18-minute part of qualifying in eighth, despite running off road at Turn 3, Ricciardo managed only P16 to lose out to the AlphaTauri of Gasly.

Meanwhile, Lance Stroll had appeared on the cusp of progressing into the second part of qualifying, running inside the top 15 for much of the opening gambit, only to slip to P17.

Stroll was a multiple track limits offender, running wide at Turn 10 – the final corner – to have his current and next lap scrubbed off before he then pushed his luck at Turn 1.

He still kept ahead of the Alfa Romeo of Zhou Guanyu, while Nicholas Latifi took the old-spec Williams to P19 ahead of four-time champion Sebastian Vettel.

The Aston Martin driver had initially lapped quicker than his teammate only to be sent to the bottom of the times when he exceeded track limits at Turn 10 to have his time deleted.

So a very close qualifying battle between the Ferraris and yet the local hero Max Verstappen rise to the challenge and scored an important pole position. The sprint race is going to be interesting and it is going to be a long race at the Red Bull Ring. Bring it on!

Austrian Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:04.984
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:05.013
3 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:05.066
4 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:05.404*
5 George Russell Mercedes 1:05.431
6 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:05.726
7 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:05.879
8 Mick Schumacher Haas 1:06.011
9 Fernando Alonso Alpine 1:06.103
10 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:13.151
11 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri 1:06.160
12 Alex Albon Williams 1:06.230
13 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:06.851
14 Lando Norris McLaren 1:25.847
15 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren 1:06.613
16 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:06.847
17 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1:06.901
18 Nicholas Latifi Williams 1:07.003
19 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin 1:07.083
20 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1:06.319

*Lap time deleted due to track limited. Perez will start the sprint race in P13.