Max Verstappen has dominated Austria’s sole practice session for Red Bull Racing ahead of qualifying later today.
Verstappen left his fastest lap until the final seconds of the hour-long session, setting a time of 1m05.742s to beat Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz by 0.241s.
The Dutchman set his time on the medium tire, whereas most of the rest of the field, including Sainz, used a set of softs in the closing stages of the session. The gap between the soft and medium compounds was around 0.4s at this circuit last season. If that difference in performance were to be replicated this weekend, it would suggest Verstappen has a formidable 0.6s advantage over the rest of the grid.
Continue reading on RACERFerrari brings more upgrades in an attempt to catch Red Bull Racing, while rain threatens to upend the season’s second sprint weekend.
Helmut Marko gets loose with the Austrians and Ryan Reynolds continues his rivalry with Saudi Arabia over sports team acquisitions.
It’s another Max Verstappen victory in Canada, but Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton are bullish about having run the Dutchman close in the podium battle. Featuring F1 journalist Claire Cottingham.
Formula 1 drivers should be suspended more often and for more trivial matters. We anoint the new people’s champion.
Max Verstappen converts from pole for his 41st career victory, drawing him level with Ayrton Senna.
Max Verstappen claimed Red Bull Racing’s 100th victory in emphatic style at the Canadian Grand Prix to extend his championship advantage to 69 points.
Verstappen led every lap from pole position, though the advantage of his Red Bull Racing car was much reduced at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. His lead hovered around five seconds for most of the two-stop battle for the podium and never stretched beyond 10 seconds, the Dutchman putting the reduced pace down to difficulty keeping the tires in the temperature window on the cold and green track.
But it was never close enough for pursuers Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton to have a genuine shot at the lead on pace or strategy and ultimately amounted to another straightforward win.
Continue reading on RACERHeavy rain isn’t enough to trip up Max Verstappen in qualifying, but Fernando Alonso is hopeful of challenging for victory on Sunday.
Max Verstappen sailed to pole position in a mixed-conditions qualifying hour ahead of shock front-row starter Nico Hulkenberg.
The Dutchman had set a formidable benchmark early in a frenetic Q3 as heavier rain began to fall at the circuit with a lap of 1m25.858s.
Conditions were temporarily improving with all 10 cars on track despite the rain, and the identity of the second-quickest driver was changing rapidly. Esteban Ocon had the place first, followed by Fernando Alonso and then Hulkenberg, who clocked in 1.244s behind Verstappen.
Continue reading on RACERMax Verstappen was fastest on a soaking-wet final Saturday practice session ahead of qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix, after Carlos Sainz crashed his Ferrari at the first turn.
The hour started with the track under significant amount of standings water and with drivers requiring the full-wet tire just to make it around the lap. But the rain had eased by the time the pit lane opened, and it took only 10 minutes of cars circulating for the Aston Martin drivers to be the first to sample the intermediates.
The green-marked rubber was faster around most parts of the lap, but puddles in the braking zone for the hairpin and the final chicane prevented Fernando Alonso from taking top spot immediately, the Spaniard repeatedly running off-track in the final sector. By the time he’d strung a lap together, most of the rest of the field had switched to intermediates too, and top spot rotated rapidly between several drivers.
Continue reading on RACERLewis Hamilton tops practice in an unusual Friday of cancelled sessions and late torrential rain.
Mercedes teammates Lewis Hamilton and George Russell have topped the mostly dry second practice at the Canadian Grand Prix.
Dark clouds descended on Montreal, but rain held off until the final five minutes of the 90-minute session, allowing teams to complete dry qualifying and race simulations uninterrupted.
The track was declared wet in the final 10 minutes in anticipation of the thunderstorm crawling towards the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, leading to the bizarre scenes of most of the field fitting intermediate tires but lapping a still-dry track.
Continue reading on RACERFirst practice at the Canadian Grand Prix has been called off after less than five minutes of running due to a local closed-circuit television failure.
The CCTV system is used by race control for safety and stewarding purposes but failed shortly after the start of FP1. The failure coincided with a red flag caused by Pierre Gasly stopping on track between Turns 7 and 8 with a clutch problem that left him without drive.
The Frenchman’s stopped car was recovered quickly (pictured above), but the session resumption was delayed and subsequently abandoned due to the TV failure.
Continue reading on RACERMax Verstappen is on a roll, but could three days of wild weather blow Red Bull Racing off track?
We reminisce about our days watching Eurosport cutting randomly to advertisements during Le Mans and try to avoid talking about F1.
Max Verstappen takes a dominant grand-slam victory in Barcelona ahead of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell taking Mercedes’s first steps towards recovery. Featuring Luke Smith from the Athletic.
The Mercedes car finally hits puberty, while Max Verstappen wins the championship for the third race in a row.
Max Verstappen takes a Barcelona grand slam, winning the race from pole having led every lap and setting the fastest lap of the race.