Carlos Sainz claimed victory in the Singapore Grand Prix after a thrilling late Mercedes chase fell short. The Ferrari driver’s triumph ended Red Bull Racing’s undefeated streak for 2023 and the team’s hopes of F1’s first perfect season.
Pole-getter Sainz had nailed his getaway and spent the rest of the evening setting a slow pace around Marina Bay to ensure his preferred one-stop strategy would work.
Charles Leclerc had put himself up to second at the start to act as his teammate’s chief defender against front-row starter George Russell, but an early safety car — for a Logan Sargeant wall-banging incident on lap 19 — dropped the Monegasque down to sixth, leaving Sainz vulnerable to Mercedes.
Continue reading on RACERCarlos Sainz is on pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix after both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez were eliminated in the bottom 10 on a disastrous day for Red Bull Racing.
The conclusion of the shocking qualifying session was delayed by more than half an hour to repair barriers following a high-speed Lance Stroll crash in Q1.
Championship leader Max Verstappen didn’t have the pace to progress to the pole shootout after a scrappy final lap in Q2 left him 11th on the grid and just 0.007s short of the cut-off time. Sergio Perez will start 13th after spinning out over the Turn 2 curb on his final lap.
Continue reading on RACERCarlos Sainz rocketed to top spot in final practice at the Singapore Grand Prix at the end of another difficult session for Red Bull.
Sainz’s session-topping lap of 1m 32.065s was enough to pip Mercedes’s George Russell by just 0.069s. Lando Norris made McLaren the third different team represented inside the top three with a lap 0.169s further back.
Max Verstappen improved in the final minute of the session to take fourth place, but the reigning champion was 0.313s slower than Sainz and looking no more likely to take pole than he was one night earlier.
Continue reading on RACERFerrari completed a Friday clean sweep, with Carlos Sainz besting Charles Leclerc to top spot in second practice for the Singapore Grand Prix.
Championship leader Max Verstappen struggled, with he and Red Bull Racing teammate Sergio Perez languishing in eighth and seventh and more than half a second off the pace.
Ferrari expected a difficult weekend at the slow-speed Marina Bay track, but the scarlet cars were uncatchable on the soft tire during the first night session of the weekend. FP2 is the most important practice session of the weekend, being the only one run under lights and at roughly the same time as qualifying and the race.
Continue reading on RACERCarlos Sainz put a Ferrari on pole position at the Italian Grand Prix after edging out Max Verstappen for the top spot in a thrilling qualifying hour in Monza.
The Scuderia looked down for the count in the earlier qualifying segments, when revised rules mandated drivers use the hard and medium tires on the way to Q3, but the margins closed to practically nothing once the softs broke cover, and the tight picture was resumed.
Ferrari gave the packed grandstands hope after the first runs, with Sainz leading Charles Leclerc for a provisional front-row lockout with Verstappen in third, but the trio was split by just 0.099s — and Verstappen had had his best lap compromised by running marginally wide and onto the gravel exiting the Roggia chicane.
Continue reading on RACERCarlos Sainz pipped Max Verstappen to top spot of final practice at the Italian Grand Prix to set up an intriguing qualifying session in Monza.
The third practice hour was mostly sedate, with teams preserving what ties they have left under Pirelli’s reduced allocation rules, but the session came alive in the final quarter with a flurry of qualifying simulation laps.
Verstappen rocketed to top spot first, but Sainz usurped him atop the order shortly afterwards with a best time of 1m 20.912s, pipping the Dutchman by only 0.086s.
Continue reading on RACERFerrari’s Carlos Sainz edged McLaren’s Lando Norris to top spot of second practice at the Italian Grand Prix after Sergio Perez crashed out of the session with 10 minutes remaining.
Perez was deep into a long run on medium tires when he understeered through Parabolica and dipped his left wheels into the gravel. The stones sucked the car into the run-off area, where the Mexican lost control and was helpless but to brace for contact with the barrier at the far end of the gravel trap, near the exit of the corner.
He made rear-end contact with the barrier, and the speed of his trip through the gravel will likely have caused floor damage too.
Continue reading on RACERCarlos Sainz topped the sole practice session for the Belgian Grand Prix in heavy rain as Formula 1 contemplates potential alternatives to running qualifying on Friday afternoon.
Rain fell constantly and with varying intensity through the sprint weekend’s only hour of practice, making it impossible to draw meaningful comparisons between the teams and drivers. Only 15 drivers were able to set a lap, but most were unrepresentative, with more than 10 seconds covering the spread.
Five drivers, including championship leader Max Verstappen, failed to set a time, with only a pair of installation laps to his name.
Continue reading on RACERCarlos Sainz edged Fernando Alonso to top spot in first practice at the Monaco Grand Prix as the Red Bull Racing drivers struggled for composure around the serpentine street track.
With medium tires bolted on, Sainz and Alonso spent the final 15 minutes trading fastest laps, gradually separating themselves from the chasing pack. But with around five minutes to go Sainz set a sizzling final time of 1m13.372s to put top spot beyond reach of the Aston Martin driver, the margin 0.338s.
Despite setting the quickest time in the first split, Alonso lost the opportunity to respond when Alex Albon put his Williams in the barriers at Sainte Devote, bringing out red flags with four minutes remaining.
Continue reading on RACERIn a preseason of so far underwhelming or even downright misleading car launches, Ferrari’s spectacular debut of its 2023 title challenger was a breath of the kind of fresh air you can only get in central Italy.
Into the temporary grandstand at the team’s famous Fiorano test track packed 500 famously passionate tifosi, allowed to gather in person for a launch for the first time in three years.
In attendance were drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz and new team principal Frédéric Vasseur.
In the garage was the car the team hopes will banish the sour memories of last season and bring the championship home to Maranello, the SF-23.
In an age of launches becoming increasingly about digital renders of paint jobs and endless marketing guff from sponsor bigwigs, this was proper old-school Formula 1.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSCarlos Sainz led Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc to the top of the time sheet in first practice for the Mexico City Grand Prix.
Sainz, pole-getter last weekend in the USGP at Circuit of The Americas, set a best time of 1m20.707s to best Leclerc by just 0.046s in a largely trouble-free session for the works team.
The same couldn’t be said for the Ferrari power unit, however, which failed in the back of Pietro Fittipaldi’s Haas car after just nine laps in a plume of smoke down the front straight.
Continue reading on RACERCarlos 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 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 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 RACERCarlos Sainz topped second practice at the Italian Grand Prix despite incurring an additional grid penalty for Sunday’s race.
The Spaniard went quickest with fresh softs after a brief red-flag suspension at the half-hour mark to collect Mick Schumacher’s stopped Haas, which was parked by the side of the road at the Roggia chicane with an engine problem. The Spaniard’s best time, a 1m21.664s, was 0.143s quicker than Max Verstappen’s fastest effort, the Dutchman’s top time coming shortly before the suspension.
Both drivers will take penalties, with Sainz being sent to the back of the grid thanks to a new control electronics system installed between practice sessions, while Verstappen will lose just five places, as has already been confirmed.
Continue reading on RACERCarlos Sainz bested Charles Leclerc to the top spot in a damp first practice session at the Belgian Grand Prix, that was overshadowed by six drivers being confirmed as having back-of-grid starts for Sunday.
Just 0.069s split the Ferrari teammates, with title leader Max Verstappen 0.2s adrift in third for Red Bull. The hour-long session started on a damp and drying track but ended with sudden heavy showers in the final 10 minutes.
Leclerc, however, won’t be contending for pole, having taken new power unit parts and a new gearbox, sending him to the back of the grid. Verstappen, who holds an 80-point advantage over the Monegasque, will join him at the back with several new engine parts of his own.
Continue reading on RACERCarlos Sainz topped a busy first practice for Ferrari at the Hungarian Grand Prix ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen.
Ferrari’s SF-75 is expected to be the strongest car at the downforce-sensitive Hungaroring given its season-long cornering and acceleration advantage over the field, and Sainz put it to good use for a time of 1m 18.750s, beating Verstappen’s best effort by 0.13s. It was Sainz’s second hot lap on the one set of soft tires, hinting at greater reserves of pace.
Charles Leclerc was third and 0.289s slower than his teammate.
Continue reading on RACERMax Verstappen dominated qualifying at the Belgian Grand Prix but Carlos Sainz will start from pole after an intriguing Saturday afternoon at Spa-Francorchamps.
Verstappen, title rival Charles Leclerc and five other drivers started qualifying carrying heavy grid penalties for power unit changes that will send them to the back of the grid.
The battle for pole therefore came down to a fight between Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez, but neither was on Verstappen’s level. The Dutchman beat his would-be rivals by 0.6s with his first lap. It was a large enough margin that he didn’t bother to set a second time.
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