Max Verstappen says he would be open to partnering Daniel Ricciardo at Red Bull Racing next season as speculation over Sergio Pérez’s place at the team continues to simmer.
Pérez has come under increasing pressure since Max Verstappen zeroed in on his third world championship. With the Dutchman having accumulated enough points to secure the constructors title all on his own, focus has turned on Pérez to secure Red Bull Racing’s first one-two finish in the drivers championship.
But the Mexican has struggled to reboot himself after a long slog of poor form in the middle of the season. His performances in Japan and Qatar ranked among his worst of the season, and Lewis Hamilton has since closed to within 20 points of second on the title table.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSMax Verstappen topped a drizzly FP2 to sweep Friday practice at the Mexico City Grand Prix.
Light rain arrived in time for the start of the session and intensified in the last sector in the last 15 minutes, but it was never hard enough to suspend running or force drivers onto wet-weather tires.
The cooler track conditions appeared to bring the field closer together, with seven manufacturers represented in the top eight, which was spread over just 0.391s.
Continue reading on RACERMax Verstappen has pipped Alex Albon to top spot in first practice at the Mexico City Grand Prix.
Verstappen set the benchmark at 1m 19.718s on a sole run on fresh softs, though he subsequently had to cut short his stint on the red-marked tire after reporting something loose in the footwell.
Albon was his closest challenger, the Williams car propelling him to a time just 0.095s further back thanks to a purple first sector.
Continue reading on RACERMerc’s missed victory chance before DSQ; silver lining to dual Aussie disasters: F1 talking points
The United States Grand Prix was going to be all about Mercedes’s late-season renaissance, with upgrades brought to Austin powering Lewis Hamilton to within a couple of seconds of Max Verstappen and an unlikely victory.
Then Hamilton was disqualified.
Both Hamilton and pole-getter Charles Leclerc were thrown out of the race for failing post-race technical inspections. Neither driver was at fault and the breaches will have had a limited effect on performance, but there’s zero tolerance when it comes to the technical rules.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSMax Verstappen has won the United States Grand Prix, his 50th victory, after a strategic duel with Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris.
The Dutchman started sixth on the grid behind polesitter Charles Leclerc, but it was Norris who got the best start, capitalizing on second on the grid being on the inside line into Turn 1 to easily seize the lead. The McLaren driver flexed his muscle early, sprinting to a 1.9s advantage at the end of the first lap.
Sainz moved up to third behind Leclerc, with Hamilton and Verstappen trailing, but it was clear early that the Ferrari drivers didn’t have the pace for the podium battle.
Continue reading on RACERMax Verstappen will start the United States Grand Prix sprint from P1 after edging out Charles Leclerc for the top spot.
Leclerc, who nabbed pole during Friday qualifying for Sunday’s grand prix, was just 0.055s short of doing the qualifying double.
Verstappen’s performance wasn’t perfect, with a spin through the dirt exiting Turn 9 almost putting him into the barriers during SQ2, but a clean single lap in SQ3 was enough to see off the competition.
Continue reading on RACERMax Verstappen took a comfortable victory in the United States Grand Prix sprint ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.
The Red Bull stalwart got a good launch to take the racing line into the first turn, though Leclerc, starting from the often-favorable second spot on the grid, had a look down the Dutchman’s inside before backing out of the move.
Leclerc checking up allowed Lewis Hamilton to sweep around the Ferrari’s outside, though he completed the move running wide over the curbs on exit. The stewards considered it fair game in the melee of the first lap, and the Briton was allowed to keep the place.
Continue reading on RACERCharles Leclerc beat Lando Norris to pole position for Sunday’s United States Grand Prix after Max Verstappen had his fastest time deleted for exceeding track limits.
Red Bull Racing’s pace advantage was reduced by the mixed demands of Circuit of The Americas and its rapidly evolving grip levels, turning the battle for pole into a genuine four-way contest between Verstappen, Leclerc, Norris and Lewis Hamilton.
Leclerc took provisional pole at the end of the first laps, in part thanks to Verstappen arriving at the last corner immediately behind teammate Sergio Perez, understeering through the left-hander in the Mexican’s dirty air.
Continue reading on RACERMax Verstappen led the sole practice session at the Circuit of The Americas ahead of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton heading into qualifying this afternoon for the United States Grand Prix.
The sprint weekend format meant the single hour of free practice was busy on track, with teams attempting to cram a usual weekend’s 180 minutes of practice into a single session.
All three tire compounds featured over the 60 minutes, but it wasn’t until the final 10 minutes that most drivers switched to soft rubber for qualifying simulation laps just a few hours out from the grid-setting session.
Continue reading on RACERChampion-elect Max Verstappen romped to a straightforward victory at a tire-compromised Qatar Grand Prix ahead of another podium performance for McLaren.
Verstappen’s only risk came off the line, when George Russell attempted to press him onto the Turn 1 apex to take position.
Lewis Hamilton, starting third, got a better launch with his soft tires and tried to sweep around both, but he turned in too early and clipped his teammate, sending himself and Russell spinning off track.
Continue reading on RACERMax Verstappen has won the 2023 Formula 1 world championship after finishing the Qatar sprint second behind first-time winner Oscar Piastri.
Verstappen started third on the grid but needed only to prevent teammate Sergio Perez from outscoring him by six points to seal the deal in the 62-mile sprint.
Polesitter Piastri took the lead thanks to a sizzling start, with soft-tire gambler George Russell slotting into second ahead of Ferrari teammates Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.
Continue reading on RACERMax Verstappen has taken pole position for Sunday’s Qatar Grand Prix after dominating qualifying at the Losail International Circuit.
Verstappen needed only one lap to storm to his 10th pole of the season, though a snap of oversteer owing to the low-grip conditions forced him to abandon what could have been a better time with his second tour.
But his first time of 1m 23.778s was more than quick enough to seal top spot, with the Dutchman 0.441s faster than the rest of the field.
Continue reading on RACERMax Verstappen won the Japanese Grand Prix at a canter to claim Red Bull’s second consecutive Constructors’ championship.
It was an easy afternoon for Verstappen, whose only brief scare came off the line when both McLaren drivers took him side by side into the first turn. Oscar Piastri, starting from the front row, had to yield from the inside line, but Lando Norris swept from third around the outside and threatened to take the lead. Verstappen, however, positioned his car perfectly to force Norris to slot behind him through Turn 2, from where he was uninhibited to build an insurmountable margin.
A brief safety car to clear first-lap debris was only a momentary interruption, with the Dutchman charging to a formidable 19.3s victory. With Ferrari and Mercedes scoring only minor points, Red Bull Racing comfortably secured its sixth teams championship with six rounds remaining for the season.
Continue reading on RACERMax Verstappen dominated the fight for pole position at the Japanese Grand Prix ahead of rookie Oscar Piastri, who took his first grand prix front-row start at Suzuka.
Verstappen steamrolled the competition on his way to an advantage of more than half a second at the end of the hour to put his Red Bull team on track to win the constructors championship on Sunday.
The only wrinkle in an otherwise easy day for the Dutchman came in Q1, when Williams rookie Logan Sargeant crashed out of the session without a time, causing an almost 15-minute suspension.
Continue reading on RACERMax Verstappen completed a practice clean sweep of the Japanese Grand Prix but with a reduced margin to Lando Norris in second.
Verstappen left it late to set his final flying lap, logging a 1m30.267s, the fastest time of the weekend so far. But Norris and McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri were within striking distance in second and third with newfound performance gains the long first sector.
Norris was 0.24s off Verstappen’s pace, with Piastri just 0.048s further back.
Continue reading on RACERMax Verstappen topped second practice at the Japanese Grand Prix with a reduced margin ahead of Charles Leclerc after a clumsy Pierre Gasly crash ended practice early.
Gasly was following teammate Esteban Ocon through the second Degner corner where he understeered off track and through the gravel, where he dragged his left-front wheel along the barriers and snapped his suspension. With less than two minutes left on the clock, the session ended with the flying of red flag to collect the stricken Alpine.
The shortened session was of no consequence to Verstappen, who ended Friday on top with an ultimate time of 1m30.688s, heading Leclerc and the rest of the field by 0.32s.
Continue reading on RACERMax Verstappen set a foreboding pace in an overcast first practice session for the Japanese Grand Prix. The Dutchman fired early, taking top spot just minutes into the hour-long session and improving his time with every stint on fresh tires.
The Red Bull driver started on the hards, switched to Pirelli’s experimental medium tire and concluded with a blistering time on the softs. His final time of 1m31.647s blitzed Ferrari’s Singapore Grand Prix winner Carlos Sainz by 0.626s, the world champion fastest in every sector in part thanks to a brand-new Honda power unit bolted to the back of his car.
Lando Norris was third quickest for McLaren, 0.745s behind Verstappen after a late lap on fresh softs but 0.182s quicker that Charles Leclerc, who was 0.927s adrift.
Continue reading on RACERMax Verstappen cruised to a record-breaking 10th consecutive victory after seizing the lead from pole-getter Carlos Sainz after 15 laps.
Verstappen had been confident ahead of the race that his Red Bull Racing car had the better race pace, and by lap 4 of the grand prix he was already noting that the leading Ferrari car was struggling with its tires.
On lap 6, Verstappen was testing Sainz’s defenses with an attempted move around the outside into the first turn, though the Spaniard rebuffed him easily by closing the door through the chicane. But what seemed like only a matter of time suddenly started to appear in doubt. Charles Leclerc, who had held third off the line, closed in on the battling duo and threatened to turn the race into a brawl.
Continue reading on RACER