World champion Max Verstappen dominated the Austrian Grand Prix even with the virtual safety car giving a Ferrari the opportunity to shake up the race order. And yet, the Red Bull driver had enough performance to beat Charles Leclerc to take his seventh victory this season.

Verstappen made a great start to head off Leclerc’s run to the inside for the first corner and then dropped him again following an early safety car needed to clear debris from contact between cars back in the pack at Turn 1.

The early phase was Verstappen simply driving clear of Leclerc and Sainz, who was initially told he had to sit behind his teammate and not attack, a radio call he got frustrated with after a few laps.

The race picture was changed when Nico Hulkenberg retired in the Turn 1 run-off after losing power immediately after his lap 13 stop to change the mediums all the top ten runners, bar Fernando Alonso for hards, had started on.

This caused the virtual safety car to be activated, which initially appeared to come just too late for the Ferraris to take advantage of as they were just passing the pit exit, but as it was still in place a lap later they came in when Verstappen did not.

That created an off-set between the two leaders, with Leclerc able to start to close in on Verstappen and then lead the phase approaching half-distance once the Red Bull was brought in to take hards on lap 24.

He immediately used that new rubber to erase Leclerc’s 6.4 seconds lead in just ten laps, with Verstappen getting by at Turn 3 on lap 35 with a move to the inside that appeared to catch the Dutchman out a touch as Leclerc stayed so wide.

From there, Verstappen pulled easily clear once again, opening up a ten seconds lead in the same number of laps as Ferrari considered switching its driver to a three-stopper only to be rebuffed by Leclerc.

He came in again on lap 47 having been 13.3 seconds adrift, taking the hards for the first time.

Red Bull then closed any hope of a strategic battle late on, as Verstappen was brought in to go back to the mediums only two laps later and he subsequently ran smoothly clear.

He had built a 24 seconds lead by the time he demanded a late stop for softs to take the fastest lap away from Perez on the final tour, which he did by over a second on one minute, 07.012 seconds – and this all made his winning margin 5.1 seconds.

Leclerc took second 12 seconds clear of Perez, who put in a battling drive from his P15 starting position, which was aided by several drivers ahead getting five-second time addition penalties for exceeding track limits – the topic becoming a major theme just as it had in both qualifying sessions here.

This included Sainz, who had also returned from his VSC stop behind Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris, who had switched places from their fourth and fifth starting spots when the Mercedes shot ahead on the outside line at the first corner.

Sainz battled by but had to get Norris twice once he had fallen behind while serving his penalty at his second stop – like Leclerc for hards but two laps before the leading Ferrari.

Norris had repassed Hamilton by this stage, the seven-time world champion another to get a track limits abuse penalty while he was vocally unhappy with the race pace of his W14.

Sainz and Norris were soon joined by Perez and after he cleared the McLaren he engaged in a lengthy fight with Sainz, who kept picking up DRS by being ahead of the Turn 3 detection point and then fighting back against the Red Bull to Turn 4.

While Sainz felt Perez was “intimidating” him, there was nothing he could do once Perez finally got DRS out of Turn 4 and shot ahead on the run to the downhill right-hander.

The scrap cost Perez three seconds to Leclerc, who was at this stage with nine laps to go 12.4 seconds clear and the expectation of a final Perez chance never came.

Congratulations to Max Verstappen at the Red Bull Ring – by winning the sprint, scoring pole position, taking the fastest lap and race victory. That was a champion’s performance. Impressive stuff.

Austrian Grand Prix, race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:25:33.607
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +5.155s
3 Sergio Perez Red Bull +17.188s
4 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +21.377s
5 Lando Norris McLaren +26.327s
6 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +30.317s
7 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +39.196s
8 George Russell Mercedes +48.403s
9 Pierre Gasly Alpine +57.667s
10 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +59.043s
11 Alex Albon Williams +69.767s
12 Esteban Ocon Alpine +1 lap
13 Logan Sargeant Williams +1 lap
14 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo +1 lap
15 Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri +1 lap
16 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo +1 lap
17 Oscar Piastri McLaren +1 lap
18 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +1 lap
19 Kevin Magnussen Haas +1 lap
Nico Hulkenberg Haas DNF

Max Verstappen resisted his teammate Sergio Perez on the opening lap to take victory in the sprint race at the Red Bull Ring. Carlos Sainz finished in third for Ferrari.

The Red Bull drivers appeared to push each other off-track, which allowed Nico Hulkenberg to play an early starring role for Haas before he had to complete a late charge on slicks as his starting intermediates faded.

At the start of this wet condition sprint event, Perez made a slightly better getaway compared to polesitter Verstappen and then shot to the inside alongside the pitwall as the pair raced to Turn 1.

Perez forced his way ahead of Verstappen and then cut him off so forcefully on the run up the hill through the Turn 2 kink Verstappen briefly had to put his right-side wheels on the grass.

Then at Turn 3, Verstappen sent his car back up Perez’s inside from a long way back and the Checo had to take to the run-off, from where he rejoined behind Verstappen.

Their tangle held up Lando Norris, who fell from third into the final places in the top ten, while Hulkenberg got such a good run he was able to benefit when the Red Bulls fought again in Turn 4.

Perez was again on the outside and lost momentum as Verstappen saw him off, with Hulkenberg getting such a better run out of the long downhill right-hander and through Turn 5 he was able to surge ahead on the next downhill corner, the fast left of Turn 6.

That left Verstappen clear to ease ahead, taking chunks of time from Hulkenberg over the opening phase of the 24-lap sprint race.

Hulkenberg initially kept Perez at bay, with Sainz following the second Red Bull closely as the pack behind fell away, but by half distance and with Verstappen nearly ten seconds clear Perez was able to mount an attack.

Perez retook second on lap 12 with a better exit compared to Hulkenberg coming out of Turn 4, with Sainz also getting the Haas the next lap with a better exit from Turn 3 as Hulkenberg began to struggle for tyre life left on his intermediates.

George Russell and Lewis Hamilton had made good progress from their sprint shootout qualifying to run just outside the top 10 when Russell became the first driver to switch to slicks on lap 15.

His pace on the softs encouraged nine others to switch to slicks, although not the Red Bulls or Sainz, who ran untroubled to the finish in their established order to the finish, with Verstappen winning by 21 seconds over Perez.

Sainz was a further two seconds adrift by the finish, while behind the similarly inters-shod Aston Martins battled to the finish, with Lance Stroll holding off Fernando Alonso in fourth and fifth.

Hulkenberg ended up as the top slicks finisher as Haas opted to pit him for mediums on lap 17 having spotted Russell flying on the softs in the pack behind.

He had to make a last-lap pass on Esteban Ocon at Turn 1, but Hulkenberg was able to recover back to sixth by the finish.

Russell nearly got Ocon too having shot up the order with his early decision to change tyres paying off, finishing in a near dead-heat with the Alpine as they flashed down the start-finish line.

Norris took ninth ahead of Hamilton, the McLaren driver having engaged in an early race battle with Ocon and Charles Leclerc, who ended up P12 after a late battle with Alex Albon and Oscar Piastri, who were all passed by Hamilton during the second Mercedes driver’s charge on slicks after he had come in two laps after Russell.

So a frantic sprint race at the Red Bull Ring and yet the winner is the current world champion Max Verstappen. Can the Red Bull driver score maximum points in Sunday’s race? Judging by the speed and aggressiveness when racing, it seems Max is looking very strong in the Austrian Grand Prix.

Austrian Grand Prix, sprint race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 30:26.730
2 Sergio Perez Red Bull +21.048s
3 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +23.088s
4 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +29.703s
5 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +30.109s
6 Nico Hulkenberg Haas +31.297s
7 Esteban Ocon Alpine +36.602s
8 George Russell Mercedes +36.611s
9 Lando Norris McLaren +38.608s
10 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +46.375s
11 Oscar Piastri McLaren +49.807s
12 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +50.789s
13 Alex Albon Williams +52.848s
14 Kevin Magnussen Haas +56.593s
15 Pierre Gasly Alpine +57.652s
16 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +64.822s
17 Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri +65.617s
18 Logan Sargeant Williams +66.059s
19 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo +70.825s
20 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo +76.435s

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen edged out Sergio Perez and Lando Norris to top Formula 1’s second sprint shootout qualifying, as Mercedes suffered Q1 and Q2 nightmare.

The day started in rainy conditions at the Red Bull Ring and sprint qualifying being declared wet meant the strict slick tyre requirements for the compacted session were suspended and drivers could use whatever compound they wanted throughout.

In the end, other than the Williams completing early Q1 laps on intermediates, the drivers ran slicks throughout.

Verstappen made full use of the new softs he had saved progressing smoothly in Friday qualifying to lead the way on the first runs in Q3 with a one minute, 04.613 seconds ahead of Norris and Perez, with Carlos Sainz fourth and at that stage running new mediums because of his lack of new softs.

Several drivers switched compounds for the final Q3 runs, where Charles Leclerc led the charge having not headed out immediately in Q3 to save his single set of new softs.

But these were not enough to make an impression on the leaders, as he could not replicate his Friday evening near pole-clinching pace and at that stage could not even beat his teammate’s time on the harder compound.

Verstappen then again went even faster to set the quickest time in all three sectors to claim pole for the sprint race, going quicker by 0.173 seconds to post a one minute, 04.440 seconds.

Perez slotted into second while Norris was shuffled down to third and Nico Hulkenberg brilliantly shot into fourth despite running the mediums at the end.

Sainz switched to new softs for his second Q3 go and although he improved could only manage fifth, with Leclerc completing a second run on the same set of softs that was a personal best but only quick enough for sixth.

Then came Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, who also found time switching to the mediums for the final Q3 runs.

Esteban Ocon and Kevin Magnussen completed the top ten for Alpine and Haas respectively.

In Q2, which Verstappen topped, Leclerc faced a late battle to progress while just running used softs as he ran P11 ahead of the final times, but he did enough to progress – unlike Alex Albon, Pierre Gasly, Yuki Tsunoda and Nyck de Vries.

Like Leclerc, Gasly and Tsunoda produced their best right in the final moments, but could not climb into the top ten.

Tsunoda lost an earlier time that was even faster to a track limits violation, but it was not quick enough to get into Q3 ahead of Hulkenberg in any case.

George Russell was also eliminated at his stage as he suffered a hydraulic failure at the end of Q1 and, despite Mercedes mechanics being spotted working on his car during the middle segment, he did not take to the track.

In Q1, both the Ferrari drivers had contrasting fortunes as Sainz spent most of the shortened 12-minute segment in the pits as his team had to solve a brake-by-wire problem on the rear of his car that left him with only the mechanical system working and so the rear brakes heated up and began smoking.

Sainz emerged with one minute, 40 seconds remaining on the clock and then brilliantly blasted to the top of the pile in the opening segment.

Leclerc was able to circulate and made a late change trip to the pits, after which he struggled to build tyre temperature compared to those that stayed out.

He improved on his last effort enough to jump clear of the drop zone but as the flurry of final improvements came in, he was shuffled back down the order and only progressed by 0.001 seconds – quicker by a fraction ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu.

Zhou had spun early in Q1 clipping the still wet inside kerbs at Turn 9 and was eventually eliminated ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who will go to see the stewards now sprint qualifying as ended as he appeared to be impeded by Leclerc at Turn 9 as the Ferrari made its late dive into the pits.

Hamilton was Q1’s major casualty as he ran too wide at the exit of Turn 10 and lost a time that would have got in through amongst the leading times in the opening segment.

He then found himself in traffic and in a bizarre clash with Verstappen running down the pit straight and the Briton could not get a final effort in, leaving him stranded in 18th.

Also eliminated in Q1 were Valtteri Bottas and Logan Sargeant.

So a fantastic Red Bull effort with this front row from both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. It’s the sprint race so bonus points is available but the main event is still the Austrian Grand Prix. Hopefully Mercedes will do better in Sunday’s race.

Austrian Grand Prix, sprint shootout results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:04.440
2 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:04.933
3 Lando Norris McLaren 1:05.010
4 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:05.084
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:05.136
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:05.245
7 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:05.258
8 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:05.347
9 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:05.366
10 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:05.912
11 Alex Albon Williams 1:06.152
12 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:06.360
13 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:06.369
14 Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri 1:06.593
15 George Russell Mercedes No time
16 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1:07.062
17 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:07.106
18 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:07.282
19 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1:07.291
20 Logan Sargeant Williams 1:07.426

Max Verstappen achieved his fourth consecutive pole position at the Red Bull Ring, despite track limits at play. The Red Bull driver just managed to edge out Charles Leclerc to take P1 for the Austrian Grand Prix by just 0.048 seconds, with Sergio Perez missing Q3 for a fourth successive race.

Under cloudy skies and in stronger winds compared to the earlier practice session, the drivers found themselves incurring multiple track limits penalties, particularly in Q2.

Verstappen led the way in all three segments and after the first runs in Q3, where Leclerc trailed by 0.206 seconds behind the world champion for Ferrari.

On the second and final Q3 goes, Verstappen led the pack around and recorded the purple sectors in the first and third sectors, which improved the quickest time to a one minute, 04.391 seconds.

Behind, Leclerc improved to edge out teammate Carlos Sainz, setting the fastest time in the middle sector as he pushed Verstappen hard for pole.

Leclerc threw caution to the wind in the final turns on his last Q3 lap, going very close to the track limits through the double right-hander and as he did so his left rear stepped out a touch and as he shot to the line he found himself beaten and Verstappen’s Grand Prix pole secured by less than half a tenth.

Lando Norris trailed Sainz in the only updated McLaren, with Lewis Hamilton fifth in the lead Mercedes.

Then came Lance Stroll, who headed team-mate Fernando Alonso in qualifying for only the second time this season despite having to recover from losing his opening Q3 run to a track limits violation at the final corner.

Nico Hulkenberg took eighth for Haas ahead of Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon, who lost his best time in Q3 – and off-set second lap run before the other nine drivers put their final laps in – but in any case, it would not have been enough to get him any higher on the grid.

In Q2, the track limits issue really began to heat up as both Red Bull drivers lost their opening times for running too wide out of the final corner.

While Verstappen was able to go through with his second effort, Perez lost his second attempt, this time for being too wide on the approach to the last corner, running wide out of the penultimate corner.

He then jumped to second ahead of the flurry of final times in the middle segment but again was dropped back for running too wide out of Turn 10.

That left him without a representative lap time and out in P15, where he was joined in being knocked out by George Russell, Esteban Ocon, Oscar Piastri and Valtteri Bottas.

Russell’s personal best came ahead of the final fliers but he was shuffled back, while Ocon appeared to have secured progression before he too lost his time for going too wide in the final corner on his last lap.

Bottas also lost a lap that would have had him ahead of Piastri for the same infraction as Perez and Ocon.

Q1 was interrupted with one-third of the 18 minutes completed when Bottas lost the rear of his car following the slow-moving Perez through the first corner.

When Bottas’s left rear corner touched the big yellow sausage kerb on the exit of the sharply uphill right-hander, the Alfa Romeo speared right and spun off backwards, coming to rest with its right-front wheel remaining on the track and the rest on the grass on the inside.

As Bottas initially struggled to find neutral and then get going again, the session was red-flagged for six minutes, during which time he was able to turn around and head back to the pits.

When the action resumed in the opening segment, Bottas’s last-gasp improvement knocked out Yuki Tsunoda in P16.

Zhou Guanyu then set a personal best in the other Alfa Romeo but it was not enough to save him from being eliminated in P17, with the same true for Williams driver Logan Sargeant, who was left feeling angry after leaving too much margin to the heavily-policed final corner on his last lap.

Kevin Magnussen was knocked out in P19 complaining about a downshifts problem at Turn 3, with Nyck de Vries finishing last in the other AlphaTauri – another driver to set a personal best with their final Q1 lap.

So congratulations to Max Verstappen in scoring his fourth pole in a row but as this is a sprint weekend, there’s another opportunity for the other drivers to set a fast lap in sprint qualifying.

Austrian Grand Prix, grid positions:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:04.391
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:04.439
3 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:04.581
4 Lando Norris McLaren 1:04.658
5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:04.819
6 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:04.893
7 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:04.911
8 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:05.090
9 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:05.170
10 Alex Albon Williams 1:05.823
11 George Russell Mercedes 1:05.428
12 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:05.453
13 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:05.605
14 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1:05.680
15 Sergio Perez Red Bull 2:06.688
16 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:05.784
17 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1:05.818
18 Logan Sargeant Williams 1:05.948
19 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:05.971
20 Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri 1:05.974

Max Verstappen recorded Red Bull Racing’s 100th victory in Formula 1 with a lights-to-flag victory at the Canadian Grand Prix.

The championship leader was unstoppable in his bid to secure the team’s landmark achievement, as the outfit becomes the fifth constructor in the sport to score 100 victories.

He beat Fernando Alonso with a winning margin of 9.5 seconds, as the Aston Martin driver overcame a fast-starting Lewis Hamilton to secure the runner-up position in the race.

Verstappen was able to lead away from the start line, as a lightning start from Hamilton carried the Mercedes driver above Alonso for the opening stages of laps.

The early battle among the front-running trio was joined by George Russell, but the Mercedes hit the Turn 9 exit wall on lap 12 and knocked his right-rear tyre off the rim. The debris clean-up required a full safety car, and Russell was able to rejoin the back of the field having limped back to the pits.

This did not deter Verstappen, who rocketed off into the lead on the lap 17 restart and soon began to put enough distance between himself and Hamilton, despite complaining that he was less comfortable with the hard tyre compared to the medium he had kicked off the race with.

The bulk of the field had pitted under the safety car and Alonso’s pace on the hard tyre appeared to be stronger than that of Hamilton, allowing him to close in on Hamilton.

On lap 22, Alonso mounted his charge having got within DRS range, and blasted past Hamilton ahead of the final corner to reclaim second place.

Alonso subsequently had to maintain enough pace to ward off Hamilton on a softer set of tyre, while also trying to lift and coast to manage his brake temperatures.

This allowed Verstappen to start creaking open the gap to his fellow two-time champion, taking it to over six seconds with 20 laps remaining in the race.

The gap expanded to eight seconds as Alonso’s braking issues came to light over Hamilton’s radio, and the seven-time champion began to home in on his former team-mate, but Alonso started to pick up the pace to extend his lead over the Mercedes.

Although there was a brief chance that Alonso could start catching Verstappen over the final 10 laps of the race, with the gap coming down to 7.7 seconds, the world champion shrugged off a small mistake and started opening the gap even more.

Alonso had to maintain enough pace to ward off Hamilton, who had moved onto a softer compound of tyre amid the second round of stops. The seven-time champion began to home in on his former team-mate, taking the buffer down to 1.4 seconds, but Alonso started to pick up the pace to extend his lead over the Mercedes.

Hamilton completed the podium, 4.5 seconds down on Alonso, to claim Mercedes’ sole batch of points as Russell eventually retired from the after-effects of his early wall-bang.

The Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz claimed fourth and fifth as the team executed a strong one-stop strategy, having stretched out the medium-tyre stint at the start and resisting the temptation to pit under the safety car to ensure the cars had track position.

The two switched to hard tyres at around half-distance, and the drivers tacitly agreed not to fight between themselves to get points on the board.

Sergio Perez recovered to sixth with his own long opening stint on hards, only making it a two-stop to fit soft tyres close to the end and snatch the fastest lap point – which he duly did so.

Alex Albon produced a measured defensive drive on a one-stop strategy to claim seventh place for Williams, holding firm from Russell and then Esteban Ocon when the Mercedes team retired the car.

Ocon could not make inroads into Albon with DRS, while a wobbling rear wing threatened to derail any progress towards the end and thankfully remained intact.

The Alpine driver came under attack from Lando Norris towards the end, who copped a five-second penalty for slowing down too much under the safety car to try and make room for a McLaren double-stack in the pitlane.

This dumped the McLaren out of the points, with Lance Stroll and Valtteri Bottas completing the top ten.

So congratulations to Max Verstappen in achieving the team’s 100th victory in the sport and this is his sixth win this season. It’s looking good for the championship.

Canadian Grand Prix, race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:33:58.348
2 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +9.570s
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +14.168s
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +18.648s
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +21.540s
6 Sergio Perez Red Bull +51.028s
7 Alex Albon Williams +60.813s
8 Esteban Ocon Alpine +61.692s
9 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +64.402s
10 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo +64.432s
11 Oscar Piastri McLaren +65.101s
12 Pierre Gasly Alpine +65.249s
13 Lando Norris McLaren +68.363s
14 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +73.423s
15 Nico Hulkenberg Haas +1 lap
16 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo +1 lap
17 Kevin Magnussen Haas +1 lap
18 Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri +1 lap
George Russell Mercedes DNF
Logan Sargeant Williams DNF

Max Verstappen took his 25th career pole position in Formula 1 in a tricky wet qualifying session at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.

Although a drying line had emerged by the start of Q2, offering drivers to take a chance on running with soft tyres, the conditions had worsened by the start of the final part of qualifying and the rain picked up in intensity.

Using the intermediate rubber, Verstappen recorded a lap time of one minute, 27.059 seconds with his first lap of the session, as Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso got to within 0.25 seconds of the championship leader’s opener in their respective opening gambits.

But although rain continued to fall, Verstappen found enough tyre temperature to produce a one minute, 25.858 seconds, although Alonso had eclipsed the defending champion’s second sector in his follow-up effort.

But the session was red-flagged, as Oscar Piastri took too much throttle on the exit of Turn 7 and backed his car into the wall, breaking the right-rear corner of his McLaren.

Nico Hulkenberg managed to put in a time good enough for second moments before the red flag emerged, but Alonso was unable to complete his lap and had to retreat to the pits.

The session resumed with seven minutes left, but the continued rainfall dampened any chances that the drivers could improve in the final half of the session.

Alonso claimed the third-fastest time having been denied another shot to beat Verstappen, and starts on the second row alongside Lewis Hamilton.

George Russell and Esteban Ocon completed the third row, ahead of Lando Norris in seventh.

Carlos Sainz could only manage eighth, but will likely have to visit the race stewards having impeded Pierre Gasly in Q1 in a session where the Ferrari seemed to be of constant irritation to other drivers.

Piastri’s time prior to his crash was good enough for ninth, as Alex Albon’s Q3 effort was chalked off due to a track limits violation.

Albon had been the first to risk the soft tyres at the start of Q2 as a drying line began to appear, and it was a gamble that paid off once the Anglo-Thai driver collected enough tyre temperature.

The Williams driver fired his way to the top of the timing board and, although then eclipsed by Alonso on the intermediate compound, Albon posted a one minute, 18.725 seconds to book his place into Q3.

This prompted everyone to try slicks, although Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez discarded their sets of softs without having set a competitive time on them.

The Red Bull driver bolted on intermediates again as rain returned to the circuit, but was left in the drop zone and was one of the two high-profile eliminations from the session.

Leclerc was one position ahead, having been dumped into the drop zone as Hulkenberg broke into the top ten on his own soft-tyre lap.

Home hero Lance Stroll recovered from a spectacular spin on the exit of Turn 5 and narrowly missed the wall, but could only set a time good enough for P13 – beating Kevin Magnussen and Valtteri Bottas.

Q1 was red flagged after just three minutes as Zhou Guanyu lost drive and had to park up on the exit of Turn 7, although the Alfa Romeo driver was able to perform a reset to get the car back to the garage.

The drying nature of the circuit in Q1 gave the drivers to opportunity to set faster lap times, and the session resembled musical chairs as the midfielders battled against the drop zone.

But both Yuki Tsunoda and Gasly encountered a slow moving Sainz at the chicane, and neither made it through into Q2 – Gasly venting his fury over the radio to suggest that the Ferrari driver “should be banned”.

Tsunoda missed out on the cut having been 0.016 seconds shy of Hulkenberg in P15, who felt the AlphaTauri driver had impeded him during the session.

Nyck de Vries could not improve upon P18 on his final lap, as Logan Sargeant joined Zhou on the final row of the grid as the Alfa Romeo driver was able to return to the circuit – despite an issue earlier.

So congratulations to Max Verstappen in scoring pole position and yet the highlight of the Canadian Grand Prix is Nico Hulkenberg scoring a solid P2 for Haas.

Canadian Grand Prix, qualifying positions:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:25.858
2 Nico Hülkenberg Haas 1:27.102
3 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:27.286
4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:27.627
5 George Russell Mercedes 1:27.893
6 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:27.945
7 Lando Norris McLaren 1:28.046
8 Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari 1:29.294
9 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:31.349
10 Alexander Albon Williams No time
11 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:20.615
12 Sergio Pérez Red Bull 1:20.959
13 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:21.484
14 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:21.678
15 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1:21.821
16 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:22.746
17 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:22.886
18 Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri 1:23.137
19 Logan Sargeant Williams 1:23.337
20 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1:23.342

World champion Max Verstappen dominated Formula 1’s 2023 Spanish Grand Prix to win in front of the Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.

At the start, polesitter Verstappen moved right after leaving the line to cut off the momentum of fellow front-row starter Carlos Sainz, but the Ferrari – on soft tyres versus the mediums on the Red Bull – got a slipstream and attacked on the outside line at Turn 1.

Verstappen was therefore forced to run very deep as he defended hard from the inside line but kept enough of his car on the track to stay within the rules in what was the only moment he was under serious pressure all day.

Sainz had to check up coming through Turn 2, which slowed Hamilton behind, the Mercedes driver having dived past Lando Norris at Turn 1.

Hamilton slowing appeared to catch Norris off guard and they made contact, which broke the McLaren’s front wing and meant he needed to pit for repairs at the end of lap one, his race ruined and eventually coming home P17 in an event where no cars failed to finish.

Verstappen disappeared up front, escaping Sainz’s DRS threat immediately, while Lance Stroll demoted Hamilton to fourth at Turn 5 on the opening lap.

But it soon became clear that Mercedes had the best non-Red Bull pace and he hunted down and repassed the Aston on lap eight with a move on the outside line into Turn 1.

Hamilton then reached Sainz’s rear by lap 15, by which point Verstappen was seven seconds clear in the lead, and Ferrari stopped at this point to switch softs for mediums.

Mercedes, though, left Hamilton running for nine further laps before he came in to take the mediums too and on lap 28 the seven-time champion used his fresher rubber to claim Sainz’s second place with an easy DRS-assisted move on the run down the main straight.

Perez had briefly run second on his rise from a shock Q2 exit as others pitted ahead, the Red Bull driver putting in a series of passes at Turn 1 after not making any progress at the start.

Like Verstappen, he was started on the mediums and the Red Bull pair were serviced with a lap of each other – on lap 26 and 27 once all their rivals on the soft tyres had already come in.

The middle phase of the race became about Russell catching Sainz has Hamilton shot clear of the Ferrari and Perez’s continuing progress through the field.

Russell had survived an investigation into his driving at the opening corners, as he went through the Turn 2 escape road having been briefly going three-wide in the pack after launching past Perez from his P12 grid spot.

The race stewards looked to see if Russell had gained an advantage by leaving the track but determined he had not and so he was free to charge on his starting softs, the red-walled rubber holding up much better than expected in cooler, overcast conditions.

Russell made a series of further passes after his lap 25 stop, during which he feared rain was falling at Turn 5 but later diagnosed the issue as sweat making its way onto his visor in the humid conditions.

By lap 34 Russell was only 1.1 seconds behind Sainz’s third position and with Perez gunning for both from the pack behind, such was his pace.

The next time by, Russell made a neat late Turn 1 dive on Sainz work and he ran clear as Red Bull then worked out to best get Perez close to the podium.

Ferrari stopped Sainz for hards on lap 41, after which Mercedes opted to bring Russell in too and give him softs for a final stint charge, in the anticipation that Red Bull would leave Perez out on a one-stopper.

Russell was roaring back to Perez when he was instead pitted for a set of softs having taken hards for his second stint, mirroring Verstappen’s strategy up front, the leader’s advantage by the time his team-mate stopped for a second time up to 16.2 seconds.

Verstappen was brought in for a final time on lap 52 and used these to seal the fastest lap bonus point in addition to his final winning margin of 24.0 seconds, with his only issue in the closing laps being repeated warnings for abusing track limits and was eventually given a black-and-white flag final warning.

Perez used his softs to successfully close in a move ahead of Sainz with an easy move into Turn 1’s inside the lap after his Verstappen’s final stop and the suddenly reversed chase of Russell was established.

But this did not come off as Russell lifted his enough so that the 11 seconds lead he had had over Perez when he rejoined from his final stop was only down to 3.4 seconds at the flag, with Hamilton cruising home 8.2 seconds behind Hamilton.

Sainz finished fifth ahead of Stroll and Fernando Alonso in the second Aston Martin, the Spaniard getting close to his team-mate by the flag but assuring Aston he would not pass and he completed the final lap waving to his home crowd.

Esteban Ocon took eighth, with Yuki Tsunoda dropped from finishing ninth on the road to P12 in the final results thanks to a five-second penalty time addition for forcing Zhou Guanyu off at Turn 1 during their late battle.

Zhou, therefore, rose to ninth post-flag, with Pierre Gasly recovering from a slow second stop to take P10 and stave off the attentions of Charles Leclerc, who could not rise from the pitlane to the points despite making a series of passes at the first corner.

So not the most thrilling Spanish Grand Prix despite a change in the final sector in removing the chicane. Max Verstappen was way too fast in the race and won with a commanding lead over his rivals.

Spanish Grand Prix, race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:27:57.940
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +24.090s
3 George Russell Mercedes +32.389s
4 Sergio Perez Red Bull +35.812s
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +45.698s
6 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +63.320s
7 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +64.127s
8 Esteban Ocon Alpine +69.242s
9 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo +71.878s
10 Pierre Gasly Alpine +73.530s
11 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +74.419s
12 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +75.416s
13 Oscar Piastri McLaren +1 lap
14 Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri +1 lap
15 Nico Hulkenberg Haas V +1 lap
16 Alex Albon Williams +1 lap
17 Lando Norris McLaren +1 lap
18 Kevin Magnussen Haas +1 lap
19 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo +1 lap
20 Logan Sargeant Williams +1 lap

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen achieved pole position in a weather-effected Spanish Grand Prix qualifying.

Spots of rain falling ahead of Q1 led to that segment featuring many offs and a red flag, with Fernando Alonso picking up damage in an incident that meant he was not a pole threat.

In the other Red Bull, Sergio Perez was knocked out in Q2 after he too went off the circuit in what were tricky conditions throughout the session.

In a fully dry Q3, Verstappen was the remaining runner to take new softs for the first runs and set a provisional pole time of one minute, 12.272 seconds.

This ended up being the pole time as the defending champion’s rivals – running ahead on the road – could not threaten even with new tyres.

Home hero Carlos Sainz shot onto the front row with a final lap that featured personal bests in all three sectors, edging out his former team-mate Lando Norris, who took third for McLaren.

Then came Pierre Gasly, who faces two post-qualifying investigations for appearing to impede Sainz and Verstappen in separate incidents in the busy Q1.

Lewis Hamilton had looked to be Verstappen’s main threat for pole after he sat second after his first Q3 run on used tyres, but the Mercedes driver paid the price for not improving enough in the final sector and he could only score fifth with his best lap of the final segment.

Lance Stroll finished sixth as the lead Aston Martin, ahead of Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg, who completed just one Q3 run – offset from the rest and set a few minutes before the final fliers.

Alonso led the pack for these as Aston used the most time they could to work on his damaged floor, but he never appeared to be in the fight for the top positions as a result and so only beat Oscar Piastri to P10.

Running at the rear of the pack for the final runs, Verstappen, with his pole already secured by the lack of improvement from the rest, was ordered to abandon his final flier in the pits.

Q2 was dry throughout but there were big casualties, as Perez paid the price for going off into the gravel at Turn 5 having touched the slippery painted kerbs on the outside line going into the downhill long left ahead of his final flier.

He had enough time to set another time, and was running just inside the top ten at the time, but others improving meant he was at serious risk of being knocked out.

Perez blazed to personal bests in all three sectors but could not beat Hulkenberg’s time and so was knocked out in P11 by 0.051 seconds.

That final lap had been completed in George Russell’s wake, the Mercedes driver finishing P12 but also in the wars, having moved over on team-mate Hamilton ahead of their final Q2 runs.

While Hamilton went through despite not setting a last time and having his right-side front wing endplate knocked off in the contact, Russell was knocked out as his last effort was compromised – the incident also involving Russell passing Sainz on his inside on a cool-down lap and Hamilton getting a big tow to close in on the other Mercedes.

The incident will be investigated after the session, with Russell also complaining throughout Q2 that his tyres were not working as expected – George saving a big snap out of Turn 11, where Nyck de Vries had spun twice in Q1.

Zhou Guanyu and the AlphaTauri pair were eliminated behind Russell – Zhou and de Vries setting personal bests on their last Q2 laps, with Yuki Tsunoda ending up 15th behind.

Q1 started with many cars waiting at the end of the pitlane to head out early in anticipation of rain impacting proceedings as clouds had built up to the south of the track as the time for qualifying action began.

Drops of rain were falling in the pitlane when the session started, but the action only lasted a few minutes as the greasy conditions caused several drivers to have off-track moments.

Alonso shot through the gravel at the exit of the final corner and picked up his floor damage, while Valtteri Bottas spun at Turn 12 having lost the rear of his Alfa in the proceeding Turn 11 right kink – a few minutes after de Vries had done likewise.

With Albon off in the gravel at Turn 5 and stones strewn across the track at multiple points, Q1 was red-flagged.

When it resumed after a nearly 10-minute delay, there was much focus on Ferrari, which had not sent its cars out to join the first pitlane queue and they were amongst a big gaggle lacking a time on the board by the time of the stoppage.

Leclerc and Sainz immediately registered times on their first fliers, but the former’s was much slower and he struggled for pace from there – complaining “there’s something wrong with my rears”.

He escaped the drop zone with a flier set just before the chequered flag dropped at the end of Q1, but with the rain no longer a problem and rubber being laid down ever more, Leclerc was shuffled back and dumped out in P19, with only Logan Sargeant behind.

Also eliminated in the late flurry of personal best times were Bottas, Kevin Magnussen and Albon, who all slotted in ahead of Leclerc.

So congratulations to Max Verstappen in the flying Red Bull. The defending champion is in the zone and with this major rivals suffering in this qualifying session and will start the race in not ideal conditions, Super Max is looking good for the race.

Spanish Grand Prix, qualifying positions:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:12.272
2 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:12.734
3 Lando Norris McLaren 1:12.792
4 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:12.816
5 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:12.818
6 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:12.994
7 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:13.083
8 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:13.229
9 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:13.507
10 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:13.682
11 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:13.334
12 George Russell Mercedes 1:13.447
13 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1:13.521
14 Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri 1:14.083
15 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:14.477
16 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1:13.977
17 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:14.042
18 Alex Albon Williams 1:14.063
19 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:14.079
20 Logan Sargeant Williams 1:14.699

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen survives a mid-race rain shower to take victory at the most famous street race on the Formula 1 calendar, the Monaco Grand Prix.

The double world champion converted pole position successfully despite having to contend with the wet weather among the final third of the race, extending his stint on the medium tyres to cover off the looming threat of rain.

With a dry start to proceedings, the medium-shod Verstappen covered off any threat of a pass from Fernando Alonso on the hards at the start, and immediately began to cement his lead early on with a strong opening salvo of laps to build a buffer.

Alonso was unable to match his fellow two-time champion’s laptimes in the first phase of the race, as worries over a puncture suggested that the Aston Martin was not handling correctly – although his team informed him that all was well when checking tyre pressures.

The lead reached 11.8 seconds by lap 25, although this had shrunk slightly by the 30th lap, with the gap 10.6 seconds over Alonso. At this moment had begun to close in on traffic as he was angling to lap the backmarkers – including teammate Sergio Perez.

This allowed Alonso to cut into Verstappen’s gap in an attempt to barge his way through the rearguard action, despite Perez doing his best to make his fellow Red Bull driver’s life easier.

The gap shrunk to 5.6 seconds, but then began to grow once more as Alonso was now firmly ensconced in the tailback as Verstappen had largely cleared it.

Radio reports over the severity of rain began to intensify, and Red Bull elected to hold off pitting Verstappen to ensure he was well placed to take advantage of a well-timed pitstop.

As light showers grew into heavier rainfall, particularly in the middle sector, which prompted a number of backmarkers to bolt on the intermediate compound.

Alonso then pitted on the lap 54, but Aston Martin made a decision to use mediums onto the Aston Martin just as the rain continued to fall.

This prompted him to pit again on the following lap, along with Verstappen, to collect the intermediates – but the gap was well over 20 seconds at this point.

Despite Alonso’s best efforts to close the gap over the remaining 20 laps, getting it down to 17.8 seconds at one point as Verstappen could not switch on his intermediate Pirellis as swiftly, the Red Bull driver grew in strength and continued to build his advantage.

Alonso’s arrears continued to increase and he eventually had to concede, finishing almost 28 seconds behind at the chequered flag.

Esteban Ocon converted his third position start into a third Formula 1 podium, despite coming under heavy pressure from Carlos Sainz in the early stages.

Sainz and Ferrari had been attempting to goad Alpine into pitting Ocon early to gain track position, but the team did not bite. On the lap 52, Sainz had his best shot at passing Ocon as the rain had emerged, but went off at the Nouvelle Chicane and had to give way.

Ocon then came under attack from Lewis Hamilton during the rain-hit phase of the race as the Mercedes duo had undercut the Ferraris, but the Alpine driver held firm to keep hold of a podium place.

Hamilton finished fourth ahead of team-mate George Russell, who copped a five-second penalty for rejoining the circuit unsafely at Mirabeau; having slid off, he reversed and went into the path of a hapless Sergio Perez, who made contact with the Mercedes.

Nonetheless, Russell’s advantage over Charles Leclerc ensured he kept fifth, as the home hero overtook team-mate Sainz as they were scrabbling around on medium tyres prior to their pitstop – and a double-stack to swiftly bring the SF-23s onto intermediates hurt Sainz further.

This put the Ferrari driver behind Pierre Gasly, whom he could not pass despite lingering behind his gearbox.

Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri completed the points, the McLaren duo making carbon-copy Turn 1 passes on Yuki Tsunoda on consecutive laps as the AlphaTauri driver struggled with his brakes.

Verstappen opened his championship lead to 39 points over Perez following a miserable race, where he pitted five times having started last, and ultimately finished P16. Not a good day for last year’s winner.

So congratulation to Max Verstappen in winning and becoming the most successful Red Bull driver with 39 race victories, one more than Sebastian Vettel. An impressive achievement in Formula 1.

Monaco Grand Prix, race results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:48:51.980
2 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +27.921s
3 Esteban Ocon Alpine +36.990s
4 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +39.062s
5 George Russell Mercedes +56.284s
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +61.890s
7 Pierre Gasly Alpine +62.362s
8 Carlos Sainz Ferrari +63.391s
9 Lando Norris McLaren +1 lap
10 Oscar Piastri McLaren +1 lap
11 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo +1 lap
12 Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri +1 lap
13 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo +1 lap
14 Alex Albon Williams +1 lap
15 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri +2 laps
16 Sergio Perez Red Bull +2 laps
17 Nico Hulkenberg Haas +2 laps
18 Logan Sargeant Williams +2 laps
Kevin Magnussen Haas DNF
Lance Stroll Aston Martin DNF

Max Verstappen achieved pole position for the Monaco Grand Prx in a thrilling battle between Fernando Alonso and Charles Leclerc.

The double world champion overcame a two-tenth disadvantage to Alonso in the final sector to make a last-gasp swoop for the fastest time, his resulting time of one minute, 11.365 seconds meant his first pole position in qualifying at the Monte Carlo street circuit.

Verstappen had set a banker with a one minute, 12.102 seconds at the start of the session, but the lap was immediately outclassed by Alonso, who grabbed a one minute, 11.706 seconds to raise the bar considerably – and felt that he’d “pushed like an animal” to take provisional pole.

The Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were unable to beat Alonso’s time, but moved ahead of Verstappen in the order as the Red Bull driver was forced to abandon his initial riposte.

Verstappen had another crack on his initial set of tyres and fell slightly short of Alonso in the opening sectors, but nailed the Rascasse and Antony Noghes corners to move to the top with a one minute, 11.654 seconds.

Esteban Ocon made a surprise charge to the top with a one minute, 11.553 seconds as the second round of runs began, until Leclerc put his Ferrari above him with a one minute, 11.471 seconds.

Alonso then charged to provisional pole with a one minute, 11.449 seconds, sending his Aston Martin mechanics into raptures, but all eyes were on Verstappen as he was set to close out the session.

Verstappen was over a tenth shy in the opening sector and his arrears grew to over two tenths, but he found three tenths over Alonso to dampen Aston Martin’s spirits.

Leclerc’s lap was good enough to start on the second row, alongside Ocon after the Alpine driver’s surprisingly strong effort was enough for fourth.

Sainz joined Lewis Hamilton on the third row, as the Mercedes driver scraped through into Q3, as Gasly and Russell filled out the fourth row. Yuki Tsunoda and Lando Norris completed the top ten, the latter able to return to the circuit after tagging the wall at Tabac in Q2.

The McLaren driver damaged the right-hand side of his car, forcing him to abandon the lap that he was on. Nonetheless, his earlier lap was enough to keep him on the right side of the elimination zone.

Norris also appeared to be impeded by Leclerc, which hindered his progress beyond P10.

Hamilton was also on the brink of elimination having been stranded in the drop zone with time for one more lap, and despite reporting that his tyres weren’t ready, the seven-time champion’s improvisation was enough to book him a spot into the top ten at the expense of Oscar Piastri.

Nyck de Vries bagged P12 on the grid ahead of Alex Albon, while Lance Stroll was hamstrung by confusion over his attendance at the weighbridge. The Canadian missed his call to get the car weighed, requiring the Aston Martin mechanics to roll his car back for the FIA to take his cornerweights. Valtteri Bottas will start the race P15, having been in the top ten after the initial foray of Q2 runs.

Sergio Perez was the biggest scalp of Q1 after his clash with the wall at Sainte Devote, which brought out the red flag with 11 minutes left on the clock.

The Red Bull driver carried too much speed into the opening corner and, as a result, the rear end of his Red Bull RB19 stepped out. The momentum pushed him towards the exit wall, hitting the Tecpro barrier with his rear-left wheel and causing heavy damage to his rear suspension.

Amid rapid track evolution when the session resumed, Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton were significantly at risk and languished in the drop zone as the Q1 session trickled towards its closing stages. Sainz had aborted laps, while Hamilton suffered a slip on his penultimate flying lap at the Nouvelle Chicane and rapidly had to regroup for one final push.

Under the pressure, both drivers delivered and managed to progress out of the bottom five, at the expense of the Haas duo as Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg were dumped out at the opening stage.

Logan Sargeant leapfrogged the pair of Haas cars while Perez starts last following his crash, alongside Zhou Guanyu.

So an exciting qualifying session with the drivers pushing to the limits. The ending to Q3 was thrilling and yet the world champion produced the result to score his first Monaco Grand Prix pole. With Fernando Alonso alongside him, the race is going to be epic. Roll on the Monaco Grand Prix!

Monaco Grand Prix, qualifying positions:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:11.365
2 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:11.449
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:11.471
4 Esteban Ocon Alpine 1:11.553
5 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 1:11.630
6 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:11.725
7 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:11.933
8 George Russell Mercedes 1:11.964
9 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri 1:12.082
10 Lando Norris McLaren 1:12.254
11 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:12.395
12 Nyck de Vries AlphaTauri 1:12.428
13 Alexander Albon Williams 1:12.527
14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:12.623
15 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo 1:12.625
16 Logan Sargeant Williams 1:13.113
17 Kevin Magnussen Haas 1:13.270
18 Nico Hulkenberg Haas 1:13.279
19 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo 1:13.523
20 Sergio Perez Red Bull 1:13.850