Motorsport journalist and podcaster
Max Verstappen claimed victory in the Australian Grand Prix after a farcical late-race red-flag restart generated mass carnage through the field.
Verstappen had been cruising to a dominant second win of the season when Kevin Magnussen lost his rear-right tire after tapping the outside barrier at Turn 2 on lap 53, triggering a brief safety car and then the second red flag of the afternoon.
After a 15-minute delay the cars lined up on the grid for a restart, with Verstappen on pole alongside Lewis Hamilton, for a two-lap dash to the finish.
Continue reading on RACERMax Verstappen gets pole eventually on a scrappy day for Red Bull Racing as Mercedes aims for an unlikely win.
Max Verstappen will start the Australian Grand Prix on pole after a last-gasp flying lap from the Red Bull driver rescued top spot from Mercedes.
Verstappen was sixth after making a mistake at the penultimate corner on his first lap, and though a second push lap on the same set of tires put him on provisional pole, it was with a tenuous margin of only 0.009s over the field.
And with the soft compound struggling to come up to temperature on a cool, overcast day in Melbourne, the Dutchman was on the back foot without the time to complete the two preparation laps the tire needed to be in its optimum window.
Continue reading on RACERMax Verstappen has topped final practice at the Australian Grand Prix as Red Bull Racing teammate Sergio Perez struggled with apparent car issues.
Verstappen saved his soft-tire run until late, setting a best time of 1m17.565s to pip Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso by 0.162s. Esteban Ocon completed the top three for Alpine, a further 0.211s adrift.
Teammate Perez endured a nightmare session with car problems that have left him underdone ahead of qualifying.
Continue reading on RACERA washed-out second practice leaves the competitive order unclear ahead of qualifying in Melbourne, while the relationship between Red Bull Racing’s drivers comes further under the microscope.