Charles Leclerc dominated the Australian Grand Prix after Max Verstappen retired with another apparent power unit problem.
The poleman was cleanly away from the grid and kept Verstappen at bay in the early laps, but it soon became clear the Dutchman was struggling. He reported severe graining on his left-front medium tire and locked up several times in the tricky final sector, dropping a lot of time to the leading Ferrari.
Things only got worse from there. Having made no inroads during the pit stops, Verstappen’s car lost power down the front straight on lap 38, forcing him to park by the side of the road and retire from the race.
Continue reading on RACERCharles Leclerc will start the Australian Grand Prix from pole position after beating Max Verstappen to top spot in an unpredictable qualifying session.
Verstappen had seized the momentum in the disrupted final segment, which had been red flagged halfway through for a Fernando Alonso smash, and held provisional pole when the checkered flag fell. But Leclerc was last on the road and purple first and last sectors blew away Verstappen’s best time to take pole by a comfortable 0.286s.
“It felt good,” he said. “This weekend we really worked hard.”
Continue reading on RACERCharles Lecler kept Ferrari on top in second practice for the Australian Grand Prix, beating Max Verstappen to the top spot by a quarter of a second.
Ferrari had things all its own way for much of the session, the red cars looking clearly more comfortable around the revised circuit layout as Leclerc lowered the day’s benchmark to 1m18.978s.
The one problem in an otherwise clear hour of running came late, when fuel tanks were filled, with Leclerc enduring significant bouncing near the end of the front straight and in particular the long flat-out run between Turn 6 and Turn 9.
Continue reading on RACERCharles Leclerc completed a sweep of practice sessions at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, once again leading Max Verstappen.
The Monegasque improved his time at the last moment with blistering pace through the first sector before losing time to the Dutchman over the balance of the lap to edge the Red Bull Racing car by just 0.033s.
But Verstappen will feel comfortable knowing there was more pace in his car but for a mistake on his last flying lap that sent him clattering over the curbs at Turn 22.
Continue reading on RACERCharles Leclerc set the fastest time of second practice of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix… shortly before crashing out of the session.
Leclerc set the hour session’s quickest time despite encountering traffic in the final sector, which prevented him from setting even a personal best time at the split. Regardless, his lap of 1m30.074s went unbeaten through the hour, with Max Verstappen slipping into second and 0.140s off the pace.
But after switching to long-run simulation Leclerc made moderate contact with the barrier at the apex of Turn 4 and broke his left steering arm. He was able to crawl back to pit lane, but his session was over.
Continue reading on RACERharles Leclerc beat Max Verstappen to the top spot of the late-afternoon opening practice session at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
The Ferrari driver took top spot on the second push lap of a new set of soft tires as the session clock expired, pipping Verstappen by 0.116s — though the Dutchman used a set of hard tires for his best lap, distorting the gap.
The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is run at night, so track conditions during first and third practice in the afternoon are not representative of qualifying and the race. The track surface was also very dusty at the beginning of the session, particularly off line and in the pit lane, and drivers struggled with gusty conditions around the seaside circuit.
Continue reading on RACERCharles Leclerc claimed a commanding victory at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix after preseason favorites Red Bull Racing had both cars retire from the race with engine problems.
Carlos Sainz followed the Monegasque home to complete Ferrari’s first 1-2 finish in more than two years, while Lewis Hamilton was a late beneficiary from Red Bull’s misfortune to claim an unlikely podium finish.
Poleman Leclerc started the race strongly, sweeping across the track at launch to cover the apex ahead of Max Verstappen, who started alongside him on the front row.
Continue reading on RACERCharles Leclerc has flipped the script on reigning champion Max Verstappen to snatch pole from the Dutchman at the death in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Verstappen had been in a commanding position throughout the weekend, including the early stages of qualifying, but Ferrari had a little extra in hand for Q3, with Carlos Sainz leading Leclerc to a provisional front-row lockout.
Leclerc found time with his second lap, but Sainz couldn’t squeeze any more from a fresh set of tires, gifting his teammate top spot.
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 RACERCharles 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 RACERCharles 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 RACERLewis Hamilton won his fifth race of the season to extend his championship lead to nearly two clear race victories at the Belgian Grand Prix, but the biggest story of this staid Sunday came at the back of the field and well out of the points.
Ferrari, motorsport’s most famous and best-funded team, lumbered home to its worst result in a decade in a hellish weekend at Spa-Francorchamps.
Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc crawled to 13th and 14th, beaten by Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen and only five seconds ahead of Williams rookie Nicholas Latifi in its lowest meritorious double finish since 2010.
Never has the Formula One paddock been more intensely pressurised than in this most unusual 2020 season.
We’re two rounds into an unprecedented run of 10 races in 13 weeks, and with the full schedule of events still undetermined, every grand prix threatens to make or break a championship.
The pressure has never been higher. Fortunately Lewis Hamilton thrives on it.
Charles Leclerc beat Lewis Hamilton to a surprise pole position for Ferrari at the Singapore Grand Prix.
Continue reading on RACER