Carlos Sainz took his third career pole position with top spot at the United States Grand Prix.
The Spaniard dueled exclusively for pole with Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc, who had taken provisional pole after the first laps, while both Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen threatened from third and fourth.
Leclerc improved with his second lap, but not enough to fend off Sainz, who bested him by 0.065s. It’s Ferrari’s first pole at the Circuit of The Americas, but Sainz said it wasn’t enough to make his team favorite for victory.
Continue reading on RACERCharles Leclerc topped an unrepresentative second practice session at the United States Grand Prix ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo.
The extended 90-minute practice session was entirely co-opted by Pirelli for an in-season tire test given the dearth of opportunities for private testing during the packed 23-race season, making the times close to opaque for comparison purposes for this weekend’s race.
However, any driver who was replaced by a reserve or rookie driver in FP1 was exempt for the first 30 minutes to undertake regular set-up work, which meant Leclerc, Bottas and Ricciardo were eligible to run regular tires before switching to tire testing.
Continue reading on RACERCarlos Sainz bested Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton for the top spot in first practice for the United States Grand Prix at Austin’s Circuit of The Americas.
The Ferrari driver was the first among the front-runners to set a time on the soft tire and immediately rocketed to top spot with a 1m36.857s in warm and blustery conditions, with the ambient temperature 86 degrees F and the circuit peaking at 104 degrees F.
Hamilton responded for Mercedes in his upgraded W13, but the Briton was almost half a second off the pace, slipping to 0.475s adrift of the benchmark.
Continue reading on RACERCharles Leclerc has already lost the drivers championship, and short of a dramatic reversal of form, Red Bull Racing will beat Ferrari to the constructors title at this weekend’s United States Grand Prix.
Mercedes and Ferrari will be hoping to win some pride off freshly minted double world champion Max Verstappen when they return to the modern classic that is the Circuit of the Americas for the 2022 United States Grand Prix.
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.
Continue reading on RACERMax 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.
Continue reading on RACERMax Verstappen comfortably beat both Ferrari drivers in a busy final practice session at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Verstappen, who can guarantee himself a second championship this weekend if he wins the grand prix with the fastest lap, left his best lap until the final five minutes of the chaotic hour of track running. His best time of 1m 30.671s beat Carlos Sainz, who had previously controlled the top of the time sheet, by 0.294s.
The Dutchman was quickest relative to Ferrari in the more downforce-dependent first sector, but the two cars were more evenly matched for the rest of the lap. He was also quicker at the speed trap.
Continue reading on RACERMercedes teammates George Russell and Lewis Hamilton dominated wet second practice at the Japanese Grand Prix.
Russell and Hamilton were among the most prolific lap-setters in what was otherwise — like the first practice earlier in the day –a low-mileage session in conditions not expected to be replicated on Saturday or Sunday. They set 45 laps between them, around two-thirds the number that would be expected to be set in second practice around Suzuka.
The number is particularly low considering the session was extended by 30 minutes to allow for time to test Pirelli’s 2023-spec tires. However, as only the dry compounds were set to be sampled, the test was cancelled, albeit without shortening the track program.
Continue reading on RACERFernando Alonso topped a soaking-wet first practice session at the Japanese Grand Prix that ended with a heavy Mick Schumacher crash at the esses.
Suzuka had been drenched by showers from early in the morning, and less than half the field completed more than 10 laps in the sopping 60-minute session.
Kevin Magnussen was the first out after five minutes along with local favorite Yuki Tsunoda, but drivers were slow to brave the full-wet conditions. Only as the rain began to ease did a gaggle of cars join the circuit, in turn helping to disperse the worst of the standing water.
Continue reading on RACERIt used to be that the Japanese Grand Prix was a Mercedes stronghold. Between 2014 and 2019, the last race at Suzuka before the pandemic, the German marque won six grands prix, including four alone for Lewis Hamilton.
Max Verstappen will attempt to claim his second drivers championship on Honda’s home turf at the returning Japanese Grand Prix, but he’ll need to bounce back from an uncharacteristically scrappy Singapore Grand Prix to seal the deal.
Sergio Perez won the Singapore Grand Prix ahead of Charles Leclerc to delay Max Verstappen’s title coronation in an attritional wet-weather race that featured two safety cars, three virtual cautions and six retirements.
After waiting through an hour-long rain delay, Perez jumped poleman Leclerc off the line but had to absorb significant pressure for almost the entire race, which timed out after 59 of the 61 scheduled laps owing to the number of interruptions and the slow pace of the race in slippery conditions.
His mission was hampered by an engine drivability problem under braking and on power, but a lock-up by Leclerc broke the Monegasque’s charge and freed Perez to build some rhythm. In the final nine laps, he was able to grow his 1.5s advantage into 7.5s at the checkered flag.
Continue reading on RACERCharles Leclerc has taken his ninth pole position of the season after title leader Max Verstappen was forced to abort his final flying lap by the team
The qualifying hour started wet enough for intermediate tires after heavy rain earlier in the day, but ended will all 10 drivers in the pole shootout on slicks despite some standing water still on track, particularly in the final sector beneath the grandstands.
Rather than plan for two separate runs, most drivers were fueled for one long stint to build tire temperature, meaning provisional pole constantly changed hands as grip ramped up.
Continue reading on RACERCharles Leclerc topped the final practice session at the Singapore Grand Prix after heavy rain reduced running to less than 30 minutes.
The session officially started on time, but race control kept pit lane closed for the first 30 minutes given the circuit was waterlogged after two hours of torrential downpour.
The safety car lapped in the first 10 minutes of the suspension, after which marshals entered the track to sweep away some excess standing water.
Continue reading on RACERCarlos Sainz led Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc in the second practice session at the Singapore Grand Prix, but the results were inconclusive as both Red Bull Racing drivers struggled for mileage.
After some early trading of quick times, Sainz took control of the session once the soft-tire runs started with a time of 1m42.587s. Leclerc joined the session late after his Ferrari team changed his floor, leaving him almost 10 laps down on Sainz by the end of the hour and without a representative long-run simulation.
After a short stint on mediums, the Monegasque switched to a set of softs in the final six months, but he struggled to get the best from them, improving his fastest lap by less than 0.1s He ended the hour 0.208s adrift of the sister car.
Continue reading on RACERLewis Hamilton pipped Max Verstappen to the top spot in twilight first practice at the Singapore Grand Prix, with Charles Leclerc in third.
Mercedes driver Hamilton waited until the final five minutes to set his best time on soft tires, his best lap of 1m43.033s topping Verstappen’s Red Bull by just 0.084s.
Track evolution is usually very high around the Singapore street circuit as the track rubbers in and the sun begins to set, which played into the Briton’s hands given his lap came around 15 minutes after Verstappen’s best effort.
Continue reading on RACERMax Verstappen romped to an easy victory at the Italian Grand Prix after Ferrari gambled away Charles Leclerc’s lead on a two-stop strategy.
Leclerc had got away from pole position easily to control the first part of the race while Verstappen worked to recover from seventh on the grid. The Dutchman dispatched the task rapidly, rising to third after two laps and second on lap 5, but he couldn’t close down Leclerc for the lead. Both drivers were on the soft tire, on which their cars were equally suited.
The pit window was expected to open at around lap 18 for an early one-stop strategy, but on lap 12 Sebastian Vettel’s Aston Martin expired in a puff of smoke, forcing the German to park by the side of the road.
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