Charles Leclerc has taken a popular pole position at the head of a jumbled grid at the Italian Grand Prix.

Ferrari had the single-lap pace on both laps, with Carlos Sainz taking provisional top spot ahead of Leclerc at the end of the first runs despite carrying a back-of-grid penalty for the race.

Max Verstappen rebounded in his second run to put himself within striking distance of pole with a fastest middle sector.

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Charles Leclerc led a Ferrari top-two sweep in first practice at the Italian Grand Prix as several drivers had grid penalties confirmed for taking new engine parts, including title leader Max Verstappen.

Leclerc’s fastest lap of 1m 22.410s was enough to edge Carlos Sainz by just 0.077s on their respective fresh soft-tire runs. For Sainz, however, the weekend program will fast change to long-run setup, with the Spaniard due to serve a penalty of at least 20 grid places for taking some new engine parts and a fresh gearbox.

Sainz also drew the ire of George Russell — who was third in the order and 0.279s off the pace — when he appeared to slow down through the Roggia chicane with the Briton closing at rapid speed from behind him, although they avoided contact.

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Charles Leclerc edged teammate Carlos Sainz to record a Ferrari one-two in second practice for the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort. Home hero Max Verstappen struggled to eighth on a difficult day for Red Bull Racing in front of the Dutchman’s home crowd.

Leclerc started his qualifying simulation a lap later than most of the rest of the field to pip Sainz, hitherto at the top of the table, by just 0.004s before embarking on his high-fuel runs.

Ferrari is expecting to perform strongly at Zandvoort, where the twisting, undulating circuit will boost its car’s downforce strengths and the lack of long straights will ameliorate its efficiency weakness.

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Charles Leclerc beat Lando Norris to the top spot in second practice at the Hungarian Grand Prix. Leclerc guided his Ferrari to the top of the order with a best time of 1m18.445s with a fresh set of softs, pipping Norris by 0.217s.

The Monegasque’s only blip for the day was an engine complaint that forced him back to his garage late in the hour, but he was released without problem shortly afterwards — albeit after striking a jack while trying to leave his garage.

Norris’s best time had come slightly earlier in the session, the Briton being one of the first to lap on low fuel, and the lap proved quick enough to split the Ferrari drivers when time expired on the session, with Carlos Sainz a further 0.014s down in third.

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Charles Leclerc will start the French Grand Prix from pole after beating Max Verstappen to top spot at Circuit Paul Ricard.

Leclerc had the benefit of teammate Carlos Sainz providing a slipstream down the back straight to minimize Ferrari’s weekend-long top-speed disadvantage, allowing the Monegasque’s strong first and final sectors to make the difference.

Sainz will start from the back of the grid with a penalty for using too many power unit parts; the Spaniard progressed through qualifying only to benefit his teammate.

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Charles Leclerc topped first practice from title leader Max Verstappen at the French Grand Prix.

Leclerc’s Ferrari, equipped with a new floor along with its low-drag rear wing, looked most at home on the sizzling-hot Circuit Paul Ricard, where track temperatures soared to 140 degrees F. His best lap of 1m 33.930s was quick enough to pip Verstappen by 0.091s despite a slow middle sector — which is defined by the long back straight and chicane — losing him a couple of tenths.

Verstappen, however, appeared to have considerably more pace available to him. His fastest lap of soft tires comprised the fastest times through the first two sectors before he made a mistake in the final sector. The Dutchman’s Red Bull RB18, which was struggling with understeer all session, drifted wide at the long Turn 11, which probably cost him in the vicinity of 0.3s.

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Charles Leclerc scored a crucial victory over Max Verstappen at the Austrian Grand Prix to spark new life in his title campaign.

Ferrari enjoyed a dominant afternoon and was on track for a decisive one-two finish, but Carlos Sainz retired with a spectacularly exploding power unit 11 laps from the finish.

Sainz’s fiery retirement came as he attempted to pass Verstappen for second place and secure the team a much-needed reprieve from a run of bumbling performances. Instead his burnt-out wreckage in the run-off zone at Turn 4 triggered a virtual safety car that enlivened what had looked like a commanding Leclerc victory.

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Charles Leclerc has called for Ferrari to ensure its double DNF in Azerbaijan isn’t repeated this season after taking a massive hit to his title campaign.

Leclerc’s power unit blew in a plume of smoke on the front straight on lap 20, forcing his retirement. Teammate Carlos Sainz had stopped with an engine hydraulics leak just 11 laps early, cementing a shocking day at the office for the Italian team.

The double retirement facilitated an easy Red Bull Racing one-two finish with Max Verstappen in the lead, consolidating a 21-point title lead ahead of teammate Sergio Perez. Red Bull Racing also widened its lead over Ferrari in the constructors standings to 80 points.

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Charles Leclerc claimed his fourth pole position in a row by dominating qualifying at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Ferrari held a provisional front-row lockout, but with Carlos Sainz leading a slightly scrappy Leclerc, the drivers battling with grip on a cooling track fast approaching sunset.

Sainz was first out among the front-runners for the second runs, but it was the Spaniard’s turn to struggle, and after some snaps of oversteer in the first few corners, his pole challenge was as good as over at the end of the first split.

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Charles Leclerc took top spot in second practice for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix ahead of Sergio Perez. The Monegasque trailed the Mexican in the first hour but snatched top spot in the late afternoon with a 0.248s margin.

Leclerc’s Ferrari was running with a much skinnier wing compared to FP1, and it showed in the sector times. Whereas earlier on Friday he was dominated in the first sector, by the end of the day he was quickest of all in that split — and without sacrificing performance in the slow and twisty middle sector, where his advantage was at its largest. In fact he was quicker than Perez’s Red Bull through all three splits by the end of the afternoon as well as at the speed trap.

But the day wasn’t flawless for Leclerc, who in the final five minutes complained this his engine was losing power, though the team radioed back that it was nothing to be worried about.

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Charles Leclerc swept Friday practice by leading a Ferrari one-two in second practice at the Monaco Grand Prix.

The home favorite set a time of 1m12.656s to edge teammate Carlos Sainz by just 0.44s. His best effort was also less than a second slower than last year’s FP2-topping time, suggesting this year’s new-generation car isn’t as maladapted as feared.

The two Ferrari drivers were in a class of their own on single-lap pace, with Sergio Perez 0.379s off the pace as the next quickest driver. The Mexican bested Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen by just 0.68s.

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Charles Leclerc narrowly beat Sergio Perez to the top spot in opening practice for the Monaco Grand Prix. The Monegasque’s best lap of 1m14.531s was just 0.039s quicker than the Mexican, with both setting their times on the medium compound in the final 10 minutes of the session.

Carlos Sainz completed a tightly knit top three, just 0.07s behind his Ferrari teammate, but the Spaniard left time on the table. He was set for the fastest lap, complete with purple sectors at the first two splits, when he encountered traffic exiting Swimming Pool and had to abandon the effort, leaving him fractionally adrift.

Both Ferrari drivers complained of bouncing early in the session, but some setup changes halfway through seemed to improve matters, with Leclerc’s floor coming off the car for a time for further configuration work.

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Charles Leclerc swept the first two practice sessions at the Spanish Grand Prix ahead of George Russell on another potentially promising practice day for Mercedes.

Leclerc’s soft-tire run came in at 1m19.670s, which was just 0.117s quicker than Russell’s best effort and 0.2s quicker than Lewis Hamilton. It’s the second consecutive round Mercedes has looked competitive during Friday practice, after Russell topped FP2 in Miami two weeks ago, albeit before the car mysteriously fell away from Saturday onwards.

More promising this weekend at least is that the W13 was fastest in the speed trap, the team having struggled with straight-line performance for much of the year to date. Russell also said the car felt improved compared to Miami, another sign of potential light at the end of the tunnel.

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Charles Leclerc led Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz to the top of the time sheet in first practice at the Spanish Grand Prix.

Title leader Leclerc’s best time of 1m19.828s was 0.079s quicker than his teammate’s fastest attempt despite the Monegasque complaining of light traffic on his flying lap on softs.

Both Ferrari cars are running in heavily upgraded configuration for the first time this season, with the floor being the principal area of focus as the team seeks to close its estimated 0.2s gap to Red Bull Racing.

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Charles Leclerc will lead Ferrari’s first front-row lockout in more than two years, beating teammate Carlos Sainz to pole position for the Miami Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen had taken provisional pole with his first lap of Q3 but the Dutchman left the door open with a mistake at Turn 5, his car snapping from underneath him and sending him wide across Turn 6.

The Ferrari drivers didn’t need the invitation. Sainz had just set a purple first sector and Leclerc took the second split to put the pair about level at the final split.

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Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc beat Mercedes man George Russell to top spot in the first timed session at the brand-new Miami International Autodrome for the Miami Grand Prix.

The championship leader emerged at the head of the pack after a flurry of late laps on the soft compound as the track began to cool slightly, having been heated to a scorching 127 degrees F at the start of the hour.

Dropping more than 10 degrees at the end of the session, Leclerc logged a time of 1m31.098s to pip Russell by 0.071s in a promising first test of Mercedes’ car upgrades designed to turn around its shocking start to the season.

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Charles Leclerc will start the Monaco Grand Prix from pole position after a Sergio Perez crash ended qualifying early.

Perez was pursing the dominant Leclerc for pole when he lit up his rear tires at Portier, spinning his car and rear-ending the barrier. His broken car came to rest blocking the track, triggering the red flags that brought qualifying to a premature close.

But Leclerc already had the session well in hand. Not only had he put 0.225s on the field after the first flying laps, but he opened his final attempt with a purple first sector that put him another 0.2s up on everyone else before the red flags flew and called off the session.

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Charles Leclerc led teammate Carlos Sainz to a dominant Ferrari one-two in a wet first practice for the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.

The Scuderia was almost 1.5s quicker than any other team around the tricky wet track, with Max Verstappen next best in third. It’s a potential portent for the rest of the weekend given first practice is the only session not run to parc ferme conditions according to the sprint weekend format, with qualifying coming later today.

Rain had lashed the Imola circuit all night, and cold conditions this afternoon ensured the surface remained wet and treacherously low in grip throughout the hour.

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