Charles Leclerc will start the Monaco Grand Prix from pole position after a Sergio Perez crash ended qualifying early.
Perez was pursing the dominant Leclerc for pole when he lit up his rear tires at Portier, spinning his car and rear-ending the barrier. His broken car came to rest blocking the track, triggering the red flags that brought qualifying to a premature close.
But Leclerc already had the session well in hand. Not only had he put 0.225s on the field after the first flying laps, but he opened his final attempt with a purple first sector that put him another 0.2s up on everyone else before the red flags flew and called off the session.
Continue reading on RACERMax Verstappen hits back with a crushing victory at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix after Charles Leclerc spins himself off the podium late. Featuring Thomas Maher from Racing News 365.
Max Verstappen led a dominant Red Bull one-two at a wet-dry Emilia Romagna Grand Prix after Ferrari imploded on home soil.
Leclerc was running third entering the final 11 laps of the race when Ferrari rolled the dice on a late pit stop to try to apply pressure to leaders Verstappen and Sergio Perez, who had controlled the race from the first lap.
Perez and then Verstappen followed him into the pits on the following two laps, but with an extra lap of temperature in his tires, the Monegasque was suddenly on Perez’s gearbox and attempting to find a way through. But the title leader over-committed through Variante Alta, clambering over the first set of curbs and spinning backwards and into the barriers on exit, damaging his front wing.
Continue reading on RACERMichael and Rob review the Emilia-Romagna Big Prize and Meat Tray Raffle. Our People’s Anorak returns, as does the super-rare Formula 1 reference ‘Budgie Nine’.
Max Verstappen won the first sprint race of the season after passing Charles Leclerc for the lead with two laps to go.
The reigning champion started from pole but launched poorly, gifting Leclerc the lead and allowing him to control much of the race.
But the 21-lap sprint was at the upper range of endurance for the soft-compound tire, and the Ferrari struggled more than the Red Bull machine in the final five laps.
Continue reading on RACERGeorge Russell has topped a dry final practice at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix ahead of the first sprint race of the season.
The Briton put his Mercedes 0.081s ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Perez, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc completing the top three, 0.283s adrift.
It was the first dry session of the grand prix weekend after both practice and qualifying on Friday were heavily affected by rain, but despite the change in climatic conditions, parc fermé rules remained from Friday night according to sprint weekend rules.
Continue reading on RACERMax Verstappen snatched pole position for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix from Charles Leclerc in a chaotic qualifying session that featured five red flags and several bands of rain.
The Dutchman had just snatched to spot in Q3 with a time of 1m27.999s when the penultimate of those red flags was thrown, for Valtteri Bottas’s stopped Alfa Romeo car at Variante Alta with just under three minutes remaining.
The suspension proved decisive. Drivers had been needing multiple push laps to generate tire temperature on a track that was struggling to reach 60 degrees F, and a new band of rain arrived just minutes before Q3 was set to resume.
Continue reading on RACERCharles Leclerc led teammate Carlos Sainz to a dominant Ferrari one-two in a wet first practice for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.
The Scuderia was almost 1.5s quicker than any other team around the tricky wet track, with Max Verstappen next best in third. It’s a potential portent for the rest of the weekend given first practice is the only session not run to parc ferme conditions according to the sprint weekend format, with qualifying coming later today.
Rain had lashed the Imola circuit all night, and cold conditions this afternoon ensured the surface remained wet and treacherously low in grip throughout the hour.
Continue reading on RACERHey Hey it’s Saturday celebrates the 100th year since it first went to air in 1971. Michael and Rob discuss a variety of words they think should be spelt differently. No-one has time to say the full name of this weekend’s race.
Featuring Phil Horton from Autoweek. Charles Leclerc dominates the Australian Grand Prix to stretch his championship advantage after Max Verstappen retires for the second time in three races.
After the record-breaking return of the Australian Grand Prix to Melbourne, hosts Matt Clayton and Michael Lamonato wrap up Charles Leclerc’s crushing win for Ferrari and Daniel Ricciardo’s promising showing for McLaren, while we hear from a host of big-name guests who joined us on In The Fast Lane Live from Albert Park including Sir Jackie Stewart, Oscar Piastri, Alex Albon, Guenther Steiner, Andreas Seidl and Ted Kravitz.
Pure’s F1 fanatics, Matt Oostveen and Mark Jobbins, are joined by Former F1 driver, Alex Yoong and F1 journalist, Michael Lamonato to dissect all the action on the track and in the pit during the Australian GP and what it all means for the championship.
We get absolutely amongst it at the first Australian Grand Prix in three years, allegedly the greatest race of Fernando Alonso’s career.
Michael Lamonato joined the show from Albert Park to preview the Australian Grand Prix.
Charles Leclerc dominated the Australian Grand Prix after Max Verstappen retired with another apparent power unit problem.
The poleman was cleanly away from the grid and kept Verstappen at bay in the early laps, but it soon became clear the Dutchman was struggling. He reported severe graining on his left-front medium tire and locked up several times in the tricky final sector, dropping a lot of time to the leading Ferrari.
Things only got worse from there. Having made no inroads during the pit stops, Verstappen’s car lost power down the front straight on lap 38, forcing him to park by the side of the road and retire from the race.
Continue reading on RACERCharles Leclerc will start the Australian Grand Prix from pole position after beating Max Verstappen to top spot in an unpredictable qualifying session.
Verstappen had seized the momentum in the disrupted final segment, which had been red flagged halfway through for a Fernando Alonso smash, and held provisional pole when the checkered flag fell. But Leclerc was last on the road and purple first and last sectors blew away Verstappen’s best time to take pole by a comfortable 0.286s.
“It felt good,” he said. “This weekend we really worked hard.”
Continue reading on RACERLando Norris took a shock P1 in Friday practice for McLaren, ending Ferrari’s stranglehold on Albert Park ahead of qualifying.
Norris’ hot lap couldn’t be beaten after Lance Stroll understeered into the barrier on the outside of Turn 11 and broke his front wing and left-front corner, causing a red flag and ending the session with less than five minutes still to run.
It compounded a difficult day at an increasingly painful weekend for Aston Martin. Sebastian Vettel also crashed just 20 minutes into the hour, losing control of his car through the fast Turn 9-10 at around 160mph. He skidded sideways through the gravel on the far side of the track, making heavy contact with the barriers and ripping off his right-front wheel.
Continue reading on RACERMercedes is in need of a steadying weekend at the Australian Grand Prix after a humbling first two rounds of the 2022 season.