Sparks fly behind Max Verstappen navy Red Bull Racing car

Max Verstappen has led a Red Bull Racing front-row lockout ahead of teammate Sergio Perez for the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen took the first pole position of the season at the Bahrain Grand Prix after Charles Leclerc abandoned his shot at a final lap.

Verstappen led Leclerc by 0.103s after their first laps, but Ferrari opted to save Leclerc’s set of soft tires for the race rather than burn them in a pole attempt, handing the Dutchman an open goal.

The reigning champion didn’t need to be asked twice, improving his time to cement top spot for the first pole of the year ahead of teammate Sergio Perez.

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Martin Brundle says Max Verstappen could be the greatest driver in Formula 1 history and has likened the Dutchman to Brazilian icon Ayrton Senna.

Verstappen is preparing for his second world title defence, and claiming category honours again this season would see him draw level with Senna on three championships.

And at just 25 years old — barely older than Senna was in his first grand prix in 1984 — but in his eighth campaign, Verstappen’s powers are continuing to grow along with the improving form of his Red Bull Racing team.

Max Verstappen prepares to drive

For the second season in a row there’s only question worth asking in Formula 1: can anyone catch Max Verstappen?

As a rare Formula 1 world champion, Max Verstappen has guaranteed himself an entry in the F1 history books.

But the greats are never truly satisfied with just an entry.

Verstappen has been a record-breaker and trend-setter from the moment he got behind the wheel of a Toro Rosso in free practice at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix.

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Points decide championships, but they never tell the whole story.

That’s particularly the case in Formula 1, where the points-paying positions are dominated by select few teams, leaving the rest to scrap for minor placings to stave off the obscurity of the midfield.

While it’s true the best drivers tend to find themselves in the best teams, there are more victory-calibre competitors than there are race-winning cars. Sometimes the best drives don’t come from those contending for a spot on the podium.

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After 246 days, the 2022 Formula 1 season reached its conclusion with an Abu Dhabi Grand Prix full of small intrigues and big farewells.

Sebastian Vettel dominated Yas Marina off track on the final weekend of his Formula 1 career, but on the circuit it was Max Verstappen resumed regular programming after his Brazil blip.

The non-existent battle for first wasn’t the story of the race, however. That minor accolade belonged to the fight for second on the road and in the drivers standings between Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc.

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Max Verstappen took a comfortable victory at the grand prix of the season in Abu Dhabi ahead of a nail-biting battle for second place between Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.

Verstappen controlled the race from pole with ease, managing his tires to perfection to make it to the checkered flag with a single pit stop when he’d originally intended to make two.

It was the Dutchman’s 35th career victory and extended his record for most wins in a season to 15.

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The 2022 season is at its close, but before the sun sets literally and metaphorically on the campaign, there’s some unfinished business needing addressing.

The top three teams are arranged in pairs on the grid in championship order, but after a year of development, they’re all roughly within striking distance of one another. And given all three teams — and of course Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez in particular — have title skin in the game, this will be no simple dead-rubber fixture to end the year.

The same goes for the entire grid in fact. Only first and last in the constructors championship are set in stone, with all other places up for grabs.

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Max Verstappen lead Sergio Perez in a Red Bull front-row lockout for the Abu Dhabi grand prix.

Red Bull’s qualifying supremacy never looked in doubt throughout the hour-long session, the only hiccup in Verstappen’s run plan was his car suddenly switching itself off at the beginning of Q3, delaying him joining the session.

But the interruption didn’t perturb the Dutchman, who was in sparkling form in the final pole shootout of the season.

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Anyone hoping for a repeat of the unpredictable São Paulo Grand Prix ought to reset their expectations.

With a regular grand prix weekend format at a well-manicured circuit with stable and predictable weather, Red Bull Racing was back at its best ahead of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in both single-lap pace and during the race simulations at the end of second practice.

Max Verstappen, despite missing first practice to give rookie Liam Lawson a run, was right on the pace from the moment he jumped in the car for the twilight session, sweeping from minds the memory of Mercedes’s one-two finish in first practice — and the team’s strong result one week ago in Brazil.

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Max Verstappen has ended Friday practice at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with he fastest time after rocketing to top spot in FP2 in Yas Marina.

Verstappen took control of the time sheet a quarter of the way through the session on his first soft tire run but improved that time twice more, including with another fresh set of tires, to secure top spot with a time of 1m 25.146s.

It gave him a 0.341s buffer over George Russell’s Mercedes, which was suffering significant cuts in engine power down the straights before switching to race runs in the second half of the session.

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A Formula 1 team comprises two drivers, but you sometimes get the sense that Red Bull Racing would do just fine with one.

For one, Max Verstappen has been so dominant this year that his points alone would be enough for third in the constructors championship, less than 100 points behind Ferrari.

But after all we’ve seen from the five-time constructors championship-winning team, having just the one driver would also save it a great deal of internal turmoil and embarrassment.

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Max Verstappen dominated old rival Lewis Hamilton to win the Mexico City Grand Prix and break the record for most wins in a season.

The Dutchman got the perfect start from pole to hold the lead through the first three turns from George Russell and Hamilton, who started second and third but squabbled between themselves in the Red Bull’s slipstream.

Hamilton passed Russell, who was then demoted to fourth by Sergio Perez, leaving Verstappen to establish a 1.3s gap by the end of the lap. Hamilton kept him honest without threatening a pass, keeping him within 2.5s.

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Max Verstappen will start the Mexico City Grand Prix from pole position alongside George Russell after a strong afternoon for Mercedes.

The German marque had topped the first two qualifying segments, but Verstappen unleashed in Q3 to put 0.132s on the rest of the field led by Russell. Lewis Hamilton slotted into a close third but had his lap deleted for cutting Turn 3, forcing him into a one-run session at the death.

Verstappen was first out among the top three for the second runs and immediately slammed on a faster time, lowering the benchmark by 0.172s to 1m17.947s.

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Max Verstappen beat Lewis Hamilton to victory at the United States Grand Prix despite a slow pit stop costing him the lead just after half-distance.

Victory meant Red Bull Racing also secured the constructors’ championship over Ferrari for the first time since 2013.

Verstappen had snatched first place from pole sitter Carlos Sainz off the line with a great start from second on the grid to claim the Turn 1 apex. Sainz was set to follow him out of the corner, but George Russell, starting from fourth, was attempting to slice down the inside of teammate Hamilton and went in too hot.

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Max Verstappen dominated the wet-weather Japanese Grand Prix to win his second world title after Charles Leclerc dropped from second to third with a post-race penalty.

The heavens opened over the track in the hour before the race started, and lights went out as scheduled with the field on intermediate tires.

But the grand prix was neutralized halfway around the lap when Carlos Sainz aquaplaned into the barrier exiting the hairpin, with Gasly collecting an advertising hoarding that tore free from the wall in the impact.

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Max Verstappen has put himself in the perfect position to claim his second world championship on Sunday by beating Charles Leclerc to pole position at the Japanese Grand Prix.

But the Dutchman was sweating on a post-session stewards investigation into a bizarre incident with Lando Norris during the top-10 shootout.

Verstappen was preparing for his first flying lap off-line at the rapid 130R when Norris, who was on a much faster out-lap, closed behind him.

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