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 SPORTSFormula 1’s all-Americas triple-header ends this weekend with the São Paulo Grand Prix at Interlagos in Brazil, one of the sport’s most storied venues.
While both championships are long wrapped up, history is still up for grabs this weekend.
But rather than history that might be etched onto the F1 honour rolls, this is the battle to retain a place in the grand prix story.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSDaniel Ricciardo was surprisingly plucky for a man who’d finished his previous race stone-cold last.
Just days before arriving in Mexico City, Ricciardo had trundled to 15th at the United States Grand Prix, his first race back from a broken hand ending anonymously a lap down from the leaders.
And yet here he was seemingly brimming with confidence for his second crack behind the wheel.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSMax Verstappen is accumulating Formula 1 records so fast that he’s starting to re-break some of his own.
Verstappen’s 16th win of the season eclipses the previous best of 15 set by — you guessed it — himself last season.
Of course you might argue that numbers like these are historically meaningless with so many races in modern F1.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSLando Norris opened the Mexico City Grand Prix weekend by declaring that McLaren wouldn’t be very competitive.
As has often been the case this year, the exact opposite of his pessimistic forecast appears to be coming true.
To be fair to Norris, on paper this track shouldn’t suit the MCL60. It’s mostly slow, fiddly corners of the kind the car hates, even after its massive round of mid-year upgrades. The low-grip conditions are also generally not McLaren territory, nor are the long straights.
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 RACERRed Bull Racing principal Christian Horner has denied reports that he’s attempting to oust Red Bull motorsport adviser Helmut Marko from Formula 1.
Reports in the Brazilian and German media during the week suggested Horner has spent the last year making a play for total control of the energy drink brand’s F1 operations, which include both Red Bull Racing and AlphaTauri.
But Auto Bild has reported that three-time champion Max Verstappen has thrown his weight behind Marko, tying his future at the team to the Austrian retaining his place in the garage.
Continue reading on FOX SPORTSChampion-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 RACER