Sunday at the Dutch Grand Prix is set up with the stuff of Formula 1 dreams: the two title protagonists sharing the front row with cars of differing strengths around a roller-coaster of a classic circuit before throngs of passionate fans.
Max Verstappen has pipped championship rival Lewis Hamilton to pole position for the Dutch Grand Prix in a thrilling finish to qualifying.
Max Verstappen snatched pole for the first Dutch Grand Prix in 36 years by less than a tenth of a second from title rival Lewis Hamilton in a tense qualifying finish at Zandvoort.
Verstappen looked comfortably in control atop the standings for the first two segments of qualifying and after the first laps of the pole shootout held a three-tenths margin over both Mercedes drivers. So good was the Dutchman’s lap that he could squeeze only 0.038s of improvement with his second attempt.
Hamilton, on the other hand, had left plenty on the table to gain with his second attempt, correcting several snaps of oversteer in the key traction zones to run Verstappen close.
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Max Verstappen made a claim to pole favorite for the Dutch Grand Prix with the fastest time of final practice at Zandvoort, comfortably ahead of both Mercedes drivers.
The Dutchman was quickest in every sector to set a time of 1m09.623s, gaining a little time thanks to a slipstream from teammate Sergio Perez out of the final banked corner.
Valtteri Bottas was next best, but the Finn was 0.556s adrift of Red Bull Racing’s benchmark, with Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton a further 0.2s behind.
Continue reading on RACERFerrari teammates Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz topped a twice-suspended second free practice session at the Dutch Grand Prix from which Lewis Hamilton withdrew early with engine problems.
Leclerc topped the time sheet with a lap of 1m10.902s, beating Sainz by 0.194s. Home favorite Max Verstappen was fifth, the Red Bull driver having lost his best time to one of the session’s two red flags.
Hamilton was the cause of the first, the championship leader having completed just three laps when his Mercedes’ power unit gave up the ghost. The Briton eased off the power through the first turn and cruised through to Turn 8, where he was instructed to park the car and switch off the motor.
Continue reading on RACERLewis Hamilton snatched top spot from home hero Max Verstappen by less than a tenth of a second in F1’s first timed session at Zandvoort for the Dutch Grand Prix.
The Briton set his best time, a 1m11.500s, late in the hour after most of the session was lost to a protracted stopped to recover Sebastian Vettel’s broken Aston Martin car.
Vettel had reported an MGU-K problem on his first foray around the track and promptly returned to pit lane for a check-up, but when he was deployed to the circuit little more than 10 minutes later his car lasted barely another lap before its Mercedes power unit failed on the start-finish straight, trailing fluid before griding to a halt at pit exit.
Continue reading on RACERThe Belgian Grand Prix will be remembered as the shortest race in F1 history, declared after only two laps in torrential rain, but for George Russell it was the first podium finish of what is sure to be many more.
The Belgian Grand Prix has been called off and Max Verstappen classified the winner after heavy rain prevented the race from getting underway in the first place.
The 2021 Belgian Grand Prix has been abandoned and Max Verstappen declared the winner amid torrential rain at Spa-Francorchamps.
Half points were awarded to the drivers in qualifying order — less Sergio Perez, who dropped to last thanks to a crash on the reconnaissance lap — after two laps were completed behind the safety car to satisfy the regulations to produce a classification, short of the 75 percent required to award full points.
Rain had lashed Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps all day and intensified in the lead-up to the race. By the time pit lane opened grip was so low that Sergio Perez slid off the road at Les Combes and embedded himself in the barrier, leaving him unable to make it to the grid.
Continue reading on RACERMax Verstappen denied George Russell pole position in an unpredictable qualifying shootout in Belgium, but predicting the race outcome will be as difficult as forecasting the weather.
Max Verstappen will start alongside Williams driver George Russell in a shock front row for the Belgian Grand Prix after a marathon wet-weather qualifying session delayed for a monster crash by Lando Norris.
Max Verstappen narrowly edged a sensational George Russell to take pole for the Belgian Grand Prix after Q3 was suspended for a high-speed Lando Norris crash at Eau Rouge.
The pole shootout started after minutes of heavy rain lashed the circuit, turning parts of the track treacherous for the volume of standing water.
Norris was just beginning his first flying lap when he lost control of his McLaren at Eau Rouge, and his attempted correction sent him slamming against the left-hand barrier as he crested through Radillon, which spat him across the track.
Continue reading on RACERMax Verstappen edged Red Bull Racing teammate Sergio Perez for the fastest time of final practice at the Belgian Grand Prix. The hour-long session was wet throughout, despite the rain that lashed the track during the morning abating in time for pit lane to open.
Drivers took to the track to embrace the first genuine wet running of the weekend with the forecast of heavy rain for the race in mind, and a greasy dry line emerged as the session progressed.
It was as the track improved that Verstappen — running an even skinnier, lower-downforce rear wing than yesterday despite the wet forecast — rocketed to the top of the time sheet with a lap of 1m56.924s.
Continue reading on RACERMax Verstappen set the fastest time but put his car in the wall in a twice suspended second practice session at the Belgian Grand Prix.
The Dutchman was undertaking a race simulation when he lost control of his Red Bull Racing machine exiting Turn 7, losing control over the gravel and spinning backwards into the far barrier, spitting stones onto the track.
The damage was not visually severe, but the car was stopped in the rearward impact, so the session was called off with three minutes left on the clock.
Continue reading on RACERValtteri Bottas put Mercedes on top in first practice for the Belgian Grand Prix ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen.
The Finn was 0.164s quicker than the Dutchman, while title leader Lewis Hamilton languished in 18th after abandoning his flying lap in traffic.
The Briton had set a Verstappen-matching time up to the Bus Stop chicane, where he encountered Nicholas Latifi’s Williams. He attempted to pass around the outside assuming the Canadian would make way, but Latifi took the outside line apparently unaware of the other car, forcing Hamilton to back out and ruining the lap.
Continue reading on RACERThere are just 15 weeks to go until F1 crowns its champion for 2021, but there’s plenty more to work through between now and the grand finale.
Less than half the 2021 Formula 1 season has been completed, but where the remaining 12 rounds will be raced is as much a mystery as who will win the title in December.
Esteban Ocon won his maiden grand prix, but an exhausted Lewis Hamilton left Hungary happiest, having turned a once massive title deficit into a slender lead.