Sergio Perez has won a dramatic Azerbaijan Grand Prix after one of Max Verstappen’s tyres blew up from the lead of the race with five laps to go.
Sergio Perez claimed his second career grand prix victory and first for Red Bull Racing after teammate Max Verstappen suffered an explosive tire failure from the lead with five laps to go.
Verstappen’s left-rear tire punctured at 195mph halfway down the start-finish straight while cruising with a four-second advantage over Perez and title rival Lewis Hamilton. It was the second tire failure of the afternoon, with Lance Stroll suffering a near identical crash at speed on the same hard compound after 31 laps. Verstappen’s tires were 33 laps old.
Pirelli will analyze the remains of the stricken tires before ascribing a cause for the failures.
Continue reading on RACERCharles Leclerc is on pole for the second straight weekend, and though he’ll almost certainly make the start of the race in Baku, his odds of winning the grand prix are slim.
Charles Leclerc has taken his ninth career pole for Ferrari in a dramatic end to qualifying at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Charles Leclerc has taken back-to-back pole positions after red flags brought a chaotic qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix to an early end.
Leclerc had taken provisional pole with his first flying lap — in no small part thanks to a substantial slipstream from Lewis Hamilton — to set up what should have been a tight conclusion with the second runs. But the shootout was halted with just a second remaining on the clock when Yuki Tsunoda smacked his AlphaTauri into the barrier at Turn 3, partially blocking the track. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, immediately behind him on the track, tried to take avoiding action but locked up, spinning himself into the wall in the run-off zone.
Red flags were waved for the fourth time of the afternoon and the session was abandoned, handing Leclerc a second consecutive pole.
Continue reading on RACERPierre Gasly topped final practice at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after pole favorite Max Verstappen crashed out of the session less than halfway through.
Verstappen was only five laps into his program on the hard tire when he carried too much speed into Turn 15 on the fast run down the hill, coming to a halt with his right-front tire in the barrier.
Unable to engage reverse and anyway with a broken track rod, the devastated Dutchman left his car in situ, prompting a red flag. TV cameras caught him slumped and collecting his thoughts on a concrete block before returning to pit lane.
Continue reading on RACERChampionship leader Max Verstappen topped both Ferrari drivers to put Red Bull Racing at the head of first practice at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Verstappen’s lap came late in the session, having run the harder compounds early when the street track was at its dirtiest, but his time of 1m43.184s beat Charles Leclerc by just 0.043s.
The Dutchman was comfortably quickest in the first sector but lost time to the Ferrari driver at the second split, which comprises mostly slow-speed corners around the castle section of the track. He lost a little time to his personal best out of the final corner for not having a car to slipstream over the line.
Continue reading on RACERSergio Perez and Max Verstappen led the way in second practice for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on an afternoon neither Mercedes finished inside the top 10.
Perez topped teammate Verstappen by just 0.101s to complete a Red Bull Racing Friday practice sweep, while Lewis Hamilton was just 11th and 1.041s off the pace.
“I don’t really know where all the time is,” lamented the Briton after his flying lap, though tire temperature management appeared to be a problem, as it had been in Monaco. His teammate, Valtteri Bottas, fared even worse, stuck in 16th and a further second adrift.
Continue reading on RACERDaniel Ricciardo arrived as McLaren’s 2021 star signing, but the race-winning Australian is at a loss to explain his thrashing at the hands of his junior teammate.
Max Verstappen leads the drivers championship for the first time in his F1 career to finally make good on Red Bull Racing’s early-season pace.
Max Verstappen is in control of the championship for the first time in his Formula 1 career after a cruise to victory in Monaco, but title rival Lewis Hamilton was left fuming after a series of team mistakes left him languishing in seventh.
Max Verstappen has broken his Monaco podium hoodoo with a dominant victory on the streets of the principality to take the championship lead over a hapless Lewis Hamilton.
Max Verstappen has taken the lead of the Formula 1 World Championship for the first time in his career after dominating the Monaco Grand Prix while title rival Lewis Hamilton struggled to a seventh-place finish.
Red Bull Racing’s Verstappen qualified second behind Charles Leclerc but gained a place before the race even started when Ferrari withdrew the Monegasque from the grand prix with a driveshaft problem related to his Q3 crash the night before.
The Dutchman aced his getaway from de facto pole to claim the lead, slicing defensively to the right to block the fast-starting Valtteri Bottas on the way to the first turn, and controlled the race thereafter, leading every lap of the grand prix in an imperious reassertion of his championship credentials with a four-point lead.
Continue reading on RACERCharles Leclerc was the shock pole-getter for Ferrari on F1’s return to Monaco, where taking pole his to go halfway to victory.
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz elevated Ferrari to an unlikely session-topping performance in Friday afternoon practice at the Monaco Grand Prix.
Monaco native Leclerc was among the last to set his fastest time, his best effort coming with 20 minutes remaining, to set a fastest time of 1m11.684s. It was a strong rebound result for the 23-year-old, who retired from first practice with a gearbox problem after only four laps.
Teammate Sainz consolidated on his second place from the morning to finish second again the afternoon, the Spaniard looking thoroughly comfortable around the city streets. After running a long 14-lap stint on the hard tire in the morning — he was the only driver to try that compound in the afternoon — he set a time 0.112s shy of his teammate.
Continue reading on RACERRed Bull Racing needs a win to keep up with Mercedes in the title fight, and the streets of Monte Carlo present the perfect opportunity.
Max Verstappen has skills and the machinery to contend for the championship but lacks the on-track backup to seal the deal.
Lewis Hamilton has pulled off a daring dash to pinch victory from Max Verstappen and extend his championship lead.