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2023 F1 Grand Prix of Qatar — Results & aftermath

Verstappen puts exclamation point on third championship with win in Qatar GP; Piastri, Norris P2 & P3 for high flying McLaren; Russell survives opening lap incident with teammate Hamilton, recovers to impressive P4 finish

After clinching his third consecutive Drivers’ World Championship by virtue of his second place finish in Saturday’s Sprint race, Red Bull’s peerless Max Verstappen went out and put a further stamp on his dominant 2023 by winning the Qatar Grand Prix on Sunday. Despite no longer needing the win, the flying Dutchman nevertheless put his head down during hot and humid evening conditions at Lusail International Circuit and held off the best efforts of the massively improved McLarens of Oliver Piastri and Lando Norris. In the end, it was Verstappen’s eye-popping fourteenth win of the season out of seventeen races run. That’s one behind his own record total from last year so, you can be sure he’ll be looking to exceed even that high bar with five more GP still to go. While Verstappen “only” won by 4.8 seconds over the impressive young Piastri, some of that close margin was undoubtedly due to Pirelli and the FIA mandating maximum 18-lap tire stints out of safety concerns for the durability of the rubber while being punished by the harsh curbs of Lusail, making for three to four stops durning the 57-lap contest, many more than a normal F1 race.

 

The dynamic McLaren duo of Piastri and Norris excelled during the race after starting from P6 and P10 respectively. They were aided in their podium pursuit by an opening lap incident between Mercedes teammates George Russell and Lewis Hamilton when the two collided while steaming into Turn 1. Hamilton, who would later accept the blame for  the collision, tried to force his way past Russell on the outside but there wasn’t enough room and Lewis bounced off his junior teammate, ending up beached in the gravel trap and without a rear right tire. While Hamilton was out on the spot, an exceedingly rare DNF for the seven-time champ, Russell was able to limp back to the pits for a new front wing under Safety Car conditions. That put the exasperated Englishman right at the back of the field. But Piastri was able to capitalize on the mayhem to make a passel of passes before the Lap 1 SC emerged and climbed all the way to P2. Norris was also ambitious and pushed himself to P6. With the McLaren pace advantage  now essentially second best in the field behind Red Bull due to their spectacular in season development, Piastri was able to keep a firm hold on P2 and Norris eventually hustled his way up to P3, where the talented young pair finished the race. It was the second consecutive double podium for the papaya-clad cars and also marked Piastri’s best ever F1 finish. It also elevated McLaren to a mere eleven points behind fading Aston Martin for fourth in the Constructors’ points.

With the help of some tough love from team boss Toto Wolff, Russell managed to get the better of his emotions after the unfortunate clash with Hamilton and then ran a really superb recovery race, maximizing the performance of his Hard tire stint in particular before switching to Softs to finish out the contest and securing a rather miraculous P4. Charles Leclerc was the lone Ferrari to start the race after a fuel leak was discovered on Carlos Sainz’s car  without enough time to repair it before the Formation Lap. While the Monegasque didn’t have the speed of the top four,  he kept it clean while others around him racked up track limits penalties in bunches and took P5 when all was said and done. Aston’s Fernando Alonso had an eventful race to say the least, surviving a hairy offtrack excursion on Lap 33 and then escaping with a post-race reprimand for unsafely rejoining the circuit rather than a time penalty. The Spanish two time champion was able to hang onto his unruly mount after that and survive for a decent P6 finish. Alpine’s Esteban Ocon drove well and aggressively to come home P7, while the two Alfa Romeos of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu both finished in the points for the first time this season, in P8 and P9 respectively. Zhou was helped to that result by multiple track limits penalties leading to demotions of his closest rivals, including the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez, who survived a whopping three 5-second penalties for repeatedly going over the white lines to take the last point in P10. It was a sloppy effort by the Mexican, whose season started out looking like a genuine threat to Max’s ambitions but has comprehensively devolved into a distant and not very persuasive second in the Drivers’ points.

Top 10 finishers of the Qatar GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 57 1:27:39.168 26
2 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 57 +4.833s 18
3 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 57 +5.969s 15
4 63 George Russell MERCEDES 57 +34.119s 12
5 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 57 +38.976s 10
6 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 57 +49.032s 8
7 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 57 +62.390s 6
8 77 Valtteri Bottas ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 57 +66.563s 4
9 24 Zhou Guanyu ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 57 +76.127s 2
10 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 57 +80.181s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in a fortnight’s time as Formula 1 returns to the United States for a second time this year — the US Grand Prix from beautiful Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. Can McLaren take the next step and knock Verstappen out of the top spot in a fair fight? Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Singapore — Qualifying results

SINGAPORE SHOCKER: Ferrari’s Sainz bests Mercedes’ Russell to take second consecutive pole, Leclerc P3; Red Bull find their bogey track as Verstappen & Perez knocked out in Q2

Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s Singapore Grand Prix delivered a true shocker, with Red Bull, Formula 1’s dominant team by far in 2023, finally finding their bogey track by suffering unexpectedly poor performance at the tight & treacherous Marina Bay Street Circuit. Struggling with their car’s aero handling at this relatively slow speed but high downforce track since the start of practice on Friday, the team was unable to make the necessary corrections in time and watched in disbelief as first Sergio Perez spun before being able to claw his way out of the bottom five in Q2 and then Max Verstappen, the runaway championship points leader to this point, crossed the line on his final Q2 lap with a time only good enough for P10 and with several runners behind him still on hot laps. The ignominy was complete when AlphaTauri’s Liam Lawson, a raw rookie competing in only his third race weekend while subbing for the injured Daniel Ricciardo, bumped the Dutch Master down to P11 and out of qualifying. It was the first time since 2018 that neither Red Bull had advanced to Q3 and it puts the team’s 15-race winning streak, as well as Verstappen potentially extending his own record streak to 11 victories on the trot, in serious doubt at a confined circuit where passing is none too easy.

Red Bull’s first real speed bump of the season redounded to Ferrari’s success. Carlos Sainz was on his game all day, setting the pace throughout Q3 and then laying down a final last lap that withstood a very game challenge from Mercedes’ George Russell to secure pole by a whisper thin 0.072 seconds. It was the Spaniard’s second pole in a row after thrilling the fans in Monza two weeks ago. He will surely be hoping that Verstappen’s famed powers of recovery and miracle wins will be stymied come race day when the Dutchman has to fight his way up from P11 in what does not appear to be the fastest car on then track for once. Russell’s amazing final lap was obviously still good enough to secure an impressive P2 and a grid spot across from Sainz for tomorrow and the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, who had a few slight bobbles on his final effort that cost him, settled for P3. Ferrari have a real shot at the win tomorrow, which would be their first since 2019 when Sebastian Vettel led home Leclerc for a 1-2. The fact that long ago last win also came at Marina Bay Street Circuit will certainly buoy the team’s confidence, though they have got to avoid the sorts of unforced strategic, driver and pit execution errors that have plagued them for several years now.

McLaren’s Lando Norris, running upgrades on his car alone this weekend, was quite quick and able to secure P4 on the grid. Teammate Oscar Piastri’s quali effort were cut short by unluckily finding himself behind Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll when the Canadian driver crashed into the barriers quiet violently and brought out the Red Flag at the end of Q1. Stroll seemed OK, though his head appeared to take a wicked amount of lateral Gs on impact, but Piastri will now have to fight his way back to the points from down in P17 come tomorrow. Lewis Hamilton trailed his Silver Arrow teammate by quite a bit back in P5, while Kevin Magnussen had a spectacular effort for Hass, not only bettering teammate Nico Hulkenberg for the first time this year, P6 to P9, but also out-qualifying Aston ace Fernando Alonso. The veteran two-time champ could only muster the seventh best time in Q3, putting the team in a tough spot since Stroll will certainly struggle to score starting either last on the grid or from the pits (if in fact his car can even be rebuilt in time for the Grand Prix and he himself is healthy enough to go).

Rounding out the Top 10, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon took a decent P8, encouraging enough after the team were nowhere in Monza two weeks ago. And Liam Lawson was content to have the tenth fastest time in Q3, having already been the driver to knock out mighty Max Verstappen earlier, which certainly put the young Kiwi’s name front and center in the driver sweepstakes for next year.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Singapore GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:32.339 1:31.439 1:30.984 20
2 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:32.331 1:31.743 1:31.056 17
3 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:32.406 1:32.012 1:31.063 21
4 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:32.483 1:31.951 1:31.270 20
5 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:32.651 1:32.019 1:31.485 16
6 20 Kevin Magnussen HAAS FERRARI 1:32.242 1:31.892 1:31.575 21
7 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:32.584 1:31.835 1:31.615 17
8 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 1:32.369 1:32.089 1:31.673 18
9 27 Nico Hulkenberg HAAS FERRARI 1:32.100 1:31.994 1:31.808 21
10 40 Liam Lawson ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT 1:32.215 1:32.166 1:32.268 21

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN & ESPN+ beginning at 8AM Eastern here in the States. The Singapore night race is one of the most visually spectacular on the calendar and this jumbled up grid could also make it one of the most dramatic. Hope to see you then to find out if Ferrari can end their victory drought of if Verstappen and team Red Bull have a miracle up their sleeves to keep their streaks going!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Belgium — Results & aftermath

Unstoppable Verstappen cruises to easy win at Spa despite starting sixth; Red Bull teammate Perez a solid second, Leclerc holds off Hamilton for P3

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen continued his rampage this past Sunday at legendary Spa-Francorchamps, effortlessly moving up from a gearbox penalty-induced P6 start to take an easy victory in the Belgian Grand Prix over 22-seconds ahead of his closest pursuer and teammate Sergio Perez. On a typically changeable weekend in the hills and valleys of the Ardennes that saw occasionally heavy rains leading to tricky track conditions during Friday qualifying and the Saturday Sprint spectacular, the Grand Prix itself was almost entirely dry, leading to a rather straightforward race and, with Verstappen’s incredible run of form in 2023, a seemingly predetermined outcome. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc inherited pole after Verstappen’s gearbox change penalty and he lead away Perez when the lights went out. But the lead Red Bull of the Mexican made easy work of the Prancing Horse on the opening lap and charged into the lead, albeit one that was destined to be short lived. Verstappen meanwhile set about his relentless march to the front with typical aplomb, nimbly working his way through the McLaren of Oscar Piastri and the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz, who clashed going into Turn 1 and fatally damaged both of their cars in the process. By Lap 9, the Dutch master had disposed of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes and was on the gearbox of Leclerc, making the decisive move to take P2 away while cruising into Les Combes. After their first round of pit stops to doff their opening set of Soft Pirrellis in favor of the more durable Mediums, on Lap 14 for Perez and the following circuit  for Verstappen, the two Red Bulls drew inexorably closer. Perez was no match for Verstappen’s pace and the runaway championship points leader overtook him without breaking a sweat easily on Lap 17, grabbing the lead for the remainder of this 44-lap contest and breezing into the summer break the undisputed top dog in F1.

After that, it was mainly a matter of where the rest of the top ten would finish, as Verstappen ran away en route to his eight consecutive victory and the Red Bull team’s unprecedented thirteenth in a row, including all twelve races run so far this year. For good measure, Verstappen also won the Saturday Sprint race for an extra 8 points, although on this day it would be Hamilton who nabbed tho bonus point for the race’s fastest lap. Perez had to settle for second but, combined with his P3 last weekend in Hungary, it still marked a solid return to form for him after some bleak outcomes following the high of his last win in Azerbaijan way back in Round 4. While Leclerc couldn’t match the pace of either Red Bull, his was still fast enough to hold off the Merc of Hamilton, the Monegasque netting the final podium position while Hamilton could never really mount a real charge and so finished in P4.

Those results were still far better than their teammates, with Sainz being forced to retire his damaged Ferrari on Lap 25 after steadily going in reverse after his opening lap contretemps with Piastri. And Hamilton’s stablemate George Russell also had a dispiriting day at Spa, losing a ton of positions on Lap 1 but then at least gamely fighting his way from P11 back to a respectable finish in P6. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso drove steadily and smoothly all race long, maximizing the car’s performance to the tune of a P5 finish ahead of Russell after starting from P9 on the grid, while his wingman Lance Stroll could only improve his starting spot by one and came home P9. After his McLaren teammate Piastri’s race came to an abrupt halt on Lap 2 due to his tangle with Sainz, it was left to Lando Norris to fly the papaya flag. With the McLaren MCL60 seemingly carrying excessive downforce which served them well in the mixed wet conditions on Friday and Saturday but led to a draggy car during this dry race, Norris struggled to a P7 result. That made for a bit of a disappointment after the team had been so solid in recent race weekends and throughout quali and the Sprint events this weekend, Piastri having finished runner up to Verstappen in the rain-shortened Sprint race. Esteban Ocon ended his points drought with a P8 finish, a small ray of hope on a weekend that saw Alpine fire most of their team’s top officials. And Yuki Tsunoda scored the last point in P10 in his AlphaTauri, acing out the second Alpine of Pierre Gasly for the final point paying position.

Top 10 finishers of the Belgian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 44 1:22:30.450 25
2 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 44 +22.305s 18
3 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 44 +32.259s 15
4 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 44 +49.671s 13
5 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 44 +56.184s 10
6 63 George Russell MERCEDES 44 +63.101s 8
7 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 44 +73.719s 6
8 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 44 +74.719s 4
9 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 44 +79.340s 2
10 22 Yuki Tsunoda ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT 44 +80.221s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The August recess is upon us and the next race weekend is not until August 25-27 amidst the dunes of Zandvoort in the Netherlands, Verstappen’s veritable back yard. Enjoy your summer recess and I’ll look forward to seeing you when the on track action resumes!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Belgium — Qualifying results

Verstappen fastest in Friday qualifying but denied pole due to gearbox penalty, will start P6; P2 Leclerc promoted to pole, P3 Perez second on grid

On the last race weekend before the long summer break, qualifying for Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix took place on Friday due to this being another of Formula 1’s periodic, somewhat gimmicky Sprint Race weekends. But with the first race held at legendary Spa-Francorchamps in July instead of the traditional late August second half opener, Red Bull’s magnificent Max Verstappen was once again definitively the fastest man on track. Pulling an epic final flier out of the bag on the rapidly drying but still damp 4.35-mile circuit in the heart of the Ardennes after a typical period of deluge earlier in the day, Verstappen whipped up the pace to the tune of a whopping 8-tenths advantage over Ferrari man Charles Leclerc’s formerly fastest lap of 1:46.988. Unfortunately for Verstappen, however, that superlative effort did not result in pole position because Red Bull chose this race to take their sixth gearbox change of the season on Max’s car, resulting in a 5-place gird drop for the Dutch master. While that forces the current runaway championship leader to start from only P6 on the grid come Sunday a week after having his pole streak snapped by Lewis Hamilton in Hungary, you’d have to be braver man than I to bet against Verstappen charging all the way back to the front and contesting for the win.

Due to that penalty, Leclerc was elevated to pole for the GP, the Monegasque being truly quick all day long and definitely in contention for a podium, if not the win itself, with what looks to be an improved Prancing Horse, at least on a long, flowing track like this one. Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez qualified P3 but will now start alongside Leclerc in P2. Lewis Hamilton was fourth fastest but his Mercedes teammate George Russell could do no better than P8 in these tricky conditions. Likewise, Leclerc’s teammate Carlos Sainz lagged behind him in P5, trailed by the greatly improved McLarens of Oliver Piastri in P6 and Lando Norris in P7. Aston Martin rounded out the Top 10 qualifiers, with Fernando Alonso once again out-qualifying Lance Stroll, P9 to P10. After their gangbusters first third of 2023, Aston appear to have lost ground when their most recent “upgrade” made the car slower rather than faster and even at a favorable long, high speed circuit like Spa they couldn’t match the pace of Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes, much less Red Bull .

Top 10 qualifiers for the Belgian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:58.515 1:52.784 1:46.168 22
2 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:58.300 1:52.017 1:46.988 23
3 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:58.899 1:52.353 1:47.045 22
4 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:58.563 1:52.345 1:47.087 24
5 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:58.688 1:51.711 1:47.152 23
6 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:58.872 1:51.534 1:47.365 23
7 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:59.981 1:52.252 1:47.669 21
8 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:59.035 1:52.605 1:47.805 24
9 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:58.834 1:52.751 1:47.843 22
10 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:59.663 1:52.193 1:48.841 22

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Adjusted starting grid after Verstappen’s penalty is here.

Click here for Sprint Shootout Qualifying and Sprint Race results.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 9AM Eastern here in the States. This is Leclerc’s and Perez’s best opportunity in some time to make up at least a little ground on Verstappen  — let’s see if they take advantage of it. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Hungary — Results & aftermath

Verstappen rockets to record Red Bull victory as Hamilton fails to launch; Norris second consecutive P2; Perez fights back from P9 to podium

The mouthwatering prospect of a mano a mano tilt between Red Bull’s championship leading Max Verstappen and his old nemesis, Mercedes’ ace Lewis Hamilton, fizzled right at the start of Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix. After just nipping the Dutch master for pole on Saturday, Hamilton’s Silver Arrow failed to get away swiftly at the start of the race under hot conditions at the Hungaroring, one of the the English seven-time champion’s favorite circuits. Instead, Hamilton found himself bested not only by the P2 Verstappen as they steamed into Turn 1 off the line but also swamped by the two trailing McLaren’s of Lando Norris and Oliver Piastri. First, Piastri got by Hamilton and then, by Turn 2, Norris had also dusted the Silver Arrow. As Verstappen scampered away into the distance, Hamilton could only meekly apologize to the team for letting them down on what had seemed to be a more auspicious day. Of course, Verstappen simply dominated after that, his RB19 peerless in his hands in race trim and never even seeming to be in any jeopardy throughout this 70-lap contest. As he crossed the line at the conclusion nearly 34-seconds to the good of his nearest pursuer, Max the magnificent made it seven consecutive wins for himself and a record breaking twelve consecutive F1 victories for the Red Bull team, breaking a tie with McLaren from back in the Prost-Senna days in 1988. All those telling statistics added up to the fact that no matter how well Hamilton had gotten away on Lap 1 there was no stopping the Verstappen-Red Bull juggernaut on this day and perhaps only rarely again this season.

The real competition turned out to be for positions two through six on the day and the on track arguments over who would claim them. McLaren had another eye openingly good day after their stunner in Austria a fortnight ago. After starting the season in no man’s land amongst the latter third of the teams, Piastri and Norris had the pace in their massively upgraded MCL60 to make their early moves pay dividends. Although it was only Norris who podiumed with an impressive second consecutive P2 behind Verstappen, having benefitted from an undercut of one lap on his teammate on their first stops, and Piastri was eventually caught and passed by both Hamilton and the hard charging second Red Bull of Sergio Perez en route to a P5 finish, it was a truly impressive points haul by a team that was barely scratching at the top ten just four races ago. And while Hamilton seemed to struggle on full fuel load, his Silver Arrow seemed to come alive as the petrol burned off and the car got lighter. Despite a late second pit stop for fresh Medium Pirelli tires that dropped him back to P5, Hamilton was able to easily overtake Piatri for his rightful P4 position to finish up the race on a slightly less disappointing note. Even more positive for the team, George Russell was able to recover from some botched strategy in quali that led to him starting a lowly P18 up to an impressive P6 finish due to his masterfully patient driving and the pitfalls clever strategy. So, a good if not great result for mighty Mercedes on a day when they and Hamilton were certainly dreaming of bigger things.

Nearly as good a comeback drive as Russell’s was Perez’s recovery fight from a P9 start all the way back to taking the final podium position in P3. With seemingly renewed confidence, the veteran Mexican pilot played the long game by starting on Hard tires and deployed his usual skill in tire management to run them all the way to Lap 25. He then went on a rampage on the fresh Mediums after jumping Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in the pits, quickly passing the latter’s Scuderia stablemate Carlos Sainz for P6 on Lap 27 and then the game Russell for P5. Already free of his tire requirements, Perez then went Medium to Medium tire on his second stop on Lap  43 and then ran down Piastri for P4 which turned into that morale boosting podium after Hamilton’s pit cycle. While no one is likely to catch Verstappen, some renewed competition in the same equipment by his teammate would be a welcome development in the final third of the season. Perez just needs to qualify better to make that really happen.

Ferrari had another frustrating day, especially in light of McLaren’s massive performance gains and Mercedes’ steady improvement in form. While Carlos Sainz was able to maximize a risky strategy of starting on Soft tires to make up ground after poor qualifying saw him start P11 on the grid, Charles Leclerc could not do much to improve his starting position of P6. In fact, the painfully recurring sloppiness in execution by the Scuderia cost Leclerc whatever opportunities for advancement he may have had. First, the team botched his tire change on Lap 18 due to a jammed wheel gun at the left rear, resulting in a painfully slow 9.4 seconds spent stationary. To make matters worse for the Monegasque, he then picked up a 5-second penalty for entering the pits too hot en route to his second stop on Lap  44. While Sainz had no such dramas and was able to make his way into the points and a P8 finish, Leclerc lost out on P6 to Russell due to the penalty and had to settle for an unsatisfying P7. That at least put the two Prancing Horses ahead of the Aston Martin duo of Fernando Alonso in P9 and Lance Stroll in P10. With the next race only a week away at long and flowing Spa-Francorchamps after two very short circuits in Austria and Hungary, it’s worth taking a look in Belgium if it’s only been the previous two tracks that haven’t suited Aston or if they’re truly losing out to McLaren and Mercedes on the pace of development after such a surprisingly strong start.

Top 10 finishers of the Hungarian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 70 1:38:08.634 26
2 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 70 +33.731s 18
3 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 70 +37.603s 15
4 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 70 +39.134s 12
5 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 70 +62.572s 10
6 63 George Russell MERCEDES 70 +65.825s 8
7 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 70 +70.317s 6
8 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 70 +71.073s 4
9 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 70 +75.709s 2
10 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 69 +1 lap 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in but a week’s time — the venerable Belgian Grand Prix form legendary Spar-Francorchamps. Hope to se you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Austria — Results & aftermath

CRUISE CONTROL: Verstappen caps off dominant Sprint weekend at Red Bull Ring with untouchable GP win; Perez makes outstanding recovery drive to take P3, Leclerc a solid second, Sainz P6 for improved Ferrari; Mercedes falter

Red Bull’s peerless Max Verstappen continued his relentless march to a third consecutive Formula 1 Drivers’ Title with a dominant victory on Sunday at the team’s namesake track in Spielberg, Austria. Verstappen capped off his imperious race weekend after winning the Sprint race on Saturday by cheekily going for the fastest lap point with a swap to Soft Pirellis with only two laps remaining in the 71-lap contest. While that erased much of his over 20-second advantage to the second place Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, the pit crew executed a perfect tire swap and Verstappen still took the checkers 5-seconds to the good, as well as the fast lap bonus point. At the end of the busy weekend in Austria, the haul was a maximum 34 championship points for marvelous Max and a stunning five wins on the trot. Now carrying an 81-point points bulge over his nearest rival, teammate Sergio Perez, Verstappen’s run to the title is looking more and more like a coronation and potentially one of the most dominant seasons by a driver in F1 history. And such is the quality of Red Bull’s superb RB19 that one of their drivers has won all nine races run this year. It would seem there is not enough time for Ferrari, Mercedes or Aston Martin to catch up with Red Bull’s pace advantage, particularly its supernatural speed when using DRS, and all will have to be satisfied with scrapping for the crumbs from Max’s table.

Perez had a much needed and outstanding recovery drive after qualifying in P15 on Friday due to track limits violations scrubbing his best times (this was to be a recurring theme for many drivers during the race, as well). The veteran Mexican steadily worked his way into contention with patient but decisive overtaking maneuvers and, thanks also to his team’s flawless pit strategy and execution, found himself in P5 by Lap 51. He then steadily closed on the McLaren of Lando Norris, capitalizing on a lockup to make his way by the English driver on Lap 56. That put Carlos Sainz’s Ferrai in his sights and the two engaged in a ding dong battle for multiple laps of a knife’s edge pas de deux. Sainz was able to cleverly survive the onslaught for a time thanks in part to catching the DRS zone just right after Perez appeared to make the overtake. But the duel came to a decisive end on Lap 62 when Perez finally made the pass that stuck to grab P3 and a satisfying podium after a series of lackluster efforts since his last podium result in Miami back in Round 5. Crucially, Perez also avoided the track limits penalties that rained down upon so many other contenders to preserve his P3 finishing time.

Despite Sainz’s thrilling defense, it was the other Ferrari of Charles Leclerc that earned the biggest plaudits for the Scuderia on this day. Leclerc finished second by a deceptively small 5-second margin — it would have been well over 20-seconds had Verstappen not gambled and won on the late stop to take a run at fastest lap — but it was still a solid effort by the Monegasque, as he was able to covert his P2 place on the grid into and equal finishing result and gain ground on his teammate in the standings. Sainz’s once encouraging day came to a bitter end, as the Spaniard was assessed 10-seconds worth of penalties for track limits post race, plummeting him down the order into P6 after crossing the line in P4. Still, it was a good day for Ferrari, which have seen steady performance gains over the last several races. Sainz’s demotion resulted in Norris being promoted to P4 and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso being elevated to P5 despite a relatively unexceptional performance by the two-time champion. Likewise, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton wracked up 10-seconds of post race penalties for track limits, demoting him to P8 and elevating teammate George Russell to P7. In truth, Mercedes lacked pace this weekend and can only be hoping that is a Red Bull Ring-specific issue and not an indicator that their recent progress was actually a mirage.

The second Aston of Lance Stroll also scored in P9 and the Alpine of Pierre Gasly took the final point in P10 when all the penalties were sorted.

Top 10 finishers of the Austrian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 71 1:25:33.607 26
2 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 71 +5.155s 18
3 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 71 +17.188s 15
4 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 71 +26.327s 12
5 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 71 +30.317s 10
6 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 71 +31.377s 8
7 63 George Russell MERCEDES 71 +48.403s 6
8 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 71 +49.196s 4
9 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 71 +59.043s 2
10 10 Pierre Gasly ALPINE RENAULT 71 +67.667s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is already fast approaching — the British Grand Prix at the venerable Silverstone Circuit. Can anyone balk Max’s seemingly unstoppable momentum — perhaps the improved Ferraris will finally break through or maybe Hamilton will find the magic of previous years at his favorite track? Hope to see you then to find out!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Austria — Qualifying results

Verstappen barely bests Leclerc to notch fourth consecutive pole as track limits penalties wreak havoc; Sainz backs up Ferrari teammate in P3 but Perez’s fast lap deleted in Q2

With another of Formula 1’s fairly gimmicky Sprint Races looming on Saturday, qualifying for Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix took place on Friday after only one Practice session. Perhaps that lack of track time showed, because nearly every driver in the field had laps deleted at some point throughout the three quali rounds here at the short and fast Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria. That even included the peerless Max Verstappen, who still managed to settle in and set a lap good enough for pole despite having to be slightly more conservative than he would have wished. The Dutch master pipped the very game and hard charging Ferrari of Charles Leclerc by a razor thin 0.048 seconds. Carlos Sainz backed up his Scuderia stablemate in P3, perhaps providing a measure of optimism that the SF-23 might finally be finding the pace to challenge for wins again. But it has been race pace that has been Ferrari’s problem this season, not to mention race strategy, so it remains to be seen on Sunday if the fabled team from Maranello have genuinely conquered the issues holding back their long run performance.

Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez was the most prominent driver to lose his time due to track limits violations. The Mexican veteran came a cropper in Q2 when he had his only fast time of the session deleted with not enough time remaining to make amends. So, while Verstappen earned his fourth consecutive pole, Perez failed to reach Q3 for the fourth race weekend in a row. Starting from a lowly P15 come race day, Perez’s Round 4 win in Azerbaijan seems a century ago and his once optimistic championship hopes are holding on by a thread. McLaren’s Lando Norris was quick all day here in Spielberg at a track he loves and set the fourth fastest time in Q3, besting the P5 Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton. Similarly to Perez, Hamilton’s teammate George Russell also lost his best lap in Q2 for track limits infringements and will be relegated to starting from P11 on the grid. Lance Stroll out-qualified his Aston Martin teammate Fernando Alonso for the first time this year, while Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg in P8, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly in P9 and Alex Albon’s Williams in P10 all benefitted from keeping their cars between the white lines while other, perhaps faster drivers went a little too far over the edge for the stewards’ liking.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Austrian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 24
2 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 26
3 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 25
4 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 23
5 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 25
6 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 25
7 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 27
8 27 Nico Hulkenberg HAAS FERRARI 24
9 10 Pierre Gasly ALPINE RENAULT 21
10 23 Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES 21

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

The Sprint Race is tomorrow but Sunday’s GP airs live on ESPN beginning at 9AM Eastern here in the States. Can Leclerc and Ferrari finally step up and challenge Verstappen for victory in Red Bull’s own back yard? I have my doubts but hope to se you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Canada — Results & aftermath

Supreme Verstappen romps to victory in Canada; Alonso outduels Hamilton for second

With no sign of the rainy weather that shook things up during Saturday qualifying, there was a decided lack of drama concerning who would win Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles-Villenuve. As has become a recurring theme this season, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen once again set the ultimate pace and no other car or competitor could come close to catching him. Verstappen led the field from pole and cruised to another dominant victory, earning the Red Bull team’s 100th overall victory, as well as equalling the late, great Ayrton Senna with 41 personal wins. It was also Verstappen’s sixth win from eight races run and his teammate Sergio Perez won the other two, making for a 100% success rate for the RB19 in 2023. Verstappen held his lead despite a Safety Car period that began when Mercedes’ George Russell hit the barriers of this temporary Albert Park circuit. This compressed the field back up after the pursuing Merc of Lewis Hamilton and the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso followed Verstappen into the pits for the cheap stop and first change off of the Medium Pirelli ties and onto the durable Hards. But the Flying Dutchman simply darted away when the race restarted and quickly gapped Hamilton and Alonso, as he had done at the very start of the GP. It was drama free from there on out and Verstappen took the checkers nearly 10-seconds ahead of his closest pursuer. Yes, we are not even halfway through this year’s World Chamipnhip calendar but it is certainly looking like one of those years in F1 where a dominant driver and a dominant car merge seamlessly into an unstoppable, untouchable force. Short of some major shock event, beating Verstappen now looks like a nigh impossibility, even for his previously more competitive teammate Perez.

While Max was in a league of his own in Canada, the battles behind him were fierce and well fought. Hamilton was able to overtake Alonso for P2 going into Turn 1 after the lights went out to start the race but was only able to keep that position until Lap 22. The Spaniard and his Aston still had the legs on the Silver Arrow and, after several patient laps setting up Lewis, Alonso was able to grab his P2 spot back and then gap him. While Hamilton was later able to again come close to Alonso, he could never quite get within DRS range and find a way by and the seven-time champ had to be content with a solid P3 finish. Hamilton’s teammate Russell, while able to carry on after his fairy heavy contact on Lap 12, was eventually forced to retire the car on Lap 53 of this 70-lap contest with break issues undoubtedly caused by his shunt, costing the team what should have been a good double-points day. On the other hand, Alonso’s teammate Lance Stroll hardly set the home fans on fire with his P9 finish, especially in relation to his far quicker stablemate, but at least he did earn those two points for the team. Aston Martin is now only thirteen points behind mighty Mercedes in the Contractors’ standings, so that error and subsequent DNF by Russell could loom large down the road.

Ferrari had another kissing your sister kind of day, with Charles Leclerc able to come home in P4 and Carlos Sainz in P5. That made for good points for the Scuderia, obviously, but it is becoming clear that the SF-23 has failed to develop as a race car to this point and Ferrari are actually the fourth best team on the grid at present rather than being a credible threat to Red Bull’s dominance. While the team and drivers struck an optimistic tone post-race, particularly regarding tire degradation, their key bugaboo, the cars still look hard to handle at times and not all that fast in race trim, not to mention Mercedes and Aston Martin are not exactly standing still regarding their own upgrades. The second Red Bull of Perez was able to recover somewhat from a yet another poor qualifying effort and a P12 start to secure P6 by race’s end. But that felt more like damage limitation rather than any kind of inspiring comeback. If Perez cannot qualify either first or second in tandem with Verstappen, he has no real shot challenging his teammate for wins, much less the increasingly out of reach title.

Rounding out the Top 10, Alexander Albon converted the Williams team’s excellent Saturday strategy decisions to get him into Q3 and a P10 start into an even more impressive P7 finish, besting the Alpine of Esteban Ocon in equal conditions in the process. And the Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas took the last point in P10 with a very savvy veteran drive to clear other midfield runners after starting down in P14.

Top 10

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 70 1:33:58.348 25
2 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 70 +9.570s 18
3 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 70 +14.168s 15
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 70 +18.648s 12
5 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 70 +21.540s 10
6 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 70 +51.028s 9
7 23 Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES 70 +60.813s 6
8 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 70 +61.692s 4
9 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 70 +64.402s 2
10 77 Valtteri Bottas ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 70 +64.432s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is is a fortnight’s time — the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg. With seemingly unstoppable momentum going in, look for Verstapppen to hunt down his team’s one hundred and first win on their eponymous home track. Hope to see you then to find out how it all skies out!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan — Results & aftermath

Perez cruises to victory with help from timely Safety Car, Verstappen P2 as Red Bulls run away in Baku; pole-sitter Leclerc P3 for first Ferrari podium of season

Confirming on Sunday what has been abundantly clear since Round 1 this season, the Drivers’ championship hunt is a two-man, intra-team Red Bull battle, with ostensible number two driver Sergio Perez surging to within 6 points of leader Max Verstappen after an absolutely dominant weekend in Azerbaijan. Making the most of the first Sprint race of the season, Perez won that 17-lap affair in fine fashion on Saturday to take the 8 points on offer. The veteran Mexican then powered his way from a P3 starting grid spot to another impressive victory in Sunday’s full length Grand Prix on the very tricky and treacherous Baku City Street Circuit. Perez took advantage of a slight strategic error by Verstappen’s side of the pit wall when they called the Dutchman in on Lap 10, when AlphaTauri rookie Nyck De Vries came to a stop on track after clipping a barrier. With Verstappen leading the race after an early Lap 4 pass on the pole-sitting Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, his strategists gambled on a momentary local yellow flag  or Virtual Safety Car period to make the switch off the opening-stint Medium Pirellis and onto the Hard compound to execute the preferred one-stopper. But De Vries was unable to restart, necessitating a Safety Car, which then allowed the rest of the main contenders to get ultra-cheap 11-second pit stops and allowed the second place Perez to emerge as the leader and Leclerc now also ahead of Verstappen in P2. When the race resumed on the very end of Lap 13, Perez scampered away deftly, while Verstappen showed the pace advantage inherent in the Red Bull chassis by dusting off Leclerc for that second position without delay and without need of the not yet reenabled DRS. While Verstappen could occasioanally close the gap to his teammate, the longer the 51-lap contest went on, the more Checo inched away from his grasp, in the end coming home over two-seconds ahead of his two-time champion teammate. That made it a massive 33 point haul for Perez over the race weekend to Verstappen’s 24. With no other cars able to challenge Red Bull to this point, it also signaled game on for what could be the best intra-team battle since Hamilton vs. Rosberg in 2016.

While Ferrari’s Leclerc earned pole in both the Sprint and the GP, the Monegasque was unable to convert either of those into victory due to the obvious limitations of the SF-23 in race conditions. In fact, Lecerc has technically won four poles in a row in Azerbaijan if this year’s Sprint is included but has yet to take a victory in Baku. Nevertheless, the Monegasque drove efficiently and held off a hard charging Fernando Alonso for the latter part of the contest to take P3 and earn the Scuderia’s first podium of the season. As things stand now in relation to the peerless Red Bulls, that’s probably about the best result Ferrari can expect barring reliability issues for their rivals. While Alonso didn’t quite have the pace on old Hard tires to hunt down Leclerc he did score another impressive result for the massively improved Aston Martin team, crossing the line in P4 as the checkers flew. Teammate Lance Stroll, who suffered with grip more than Alonso, nearly losing it going into Turn 1 at one point, was able to come home safely in P7, shoring up the team’s improbable P2 in the Constructors’ standings. The second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz drove well enough to keep the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton at bay and finish P5, while Hamilton recovered from a poorly timed pre-Safety Car pit stop to take P6, overtaking Stroll on Lap 20 for that position after the Canadian made an error going into Turn 16. On a weekend when Mercedes were pretty clearly the fourth best team, the second Silver Arrow of George Russell had a fairly lackluster time of it in Baku and had to settle for P8, though the young Briton did set the fastest lap for an extra point after a late switch to Soft Pirellis on the penultimate lap. McLaren’s Lando Norris and AlfaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda rounded out the Top 10 finishers in Azerbaijan coming home in P9 and P10 respectively.

Top 10 finishers of the Azerbaijan GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 51 1:32:42.436 25
2 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 51 +2.137s 18
3 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 51 +21.217s 15
4 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 51 +22.024s 12
5 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 51 +45.491s 10
6 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 51 +46.145s 8
7 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 51 +51.617s 6
8 63 George Russell MERCEDES 51 +74.240s 5
9 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 51 +80.376s 2
10 22 Yuki Tsunoda ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT 51 +83.862s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in but a week’s time — the Miami Grand Prix, the first of three United States-hosted contests this year. With Perez full of confidence and a master of the street race, look for the Mexican to be right on pace with teammate Verstappen and up for the increasingly intriguing championship fight. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Australia — Results & aftermath

Verstappen prevails is chaotic, incident-filled Aussie GP; Hamilton runs to a clean P2, Alonso survives late-race carnage & rulings for P3

The only predictable thing in Sunday’s absolutely bonkers Australian Grand Prix at the tricky Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne was Red Bull’s Max Verstappen taking victory. The rest of the race was pure chaos that featured a record three Red Flag periods for debris clean up, followed by nail-biting two standing restarts from the grid, and, not coincidentally, a whopping eight retirements. With the race already having been effected by the first Red Flag on Lap 9 after Williams’s Alexander Albon lost control and crashed out at Turn 7, spewing gravel all over the track that necessitated a lengthy cleanup, it seemed that the results would come down simply to long run tire management by the top 3 of Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. But right after Verstappen seemed to show a hint of vulnerability on Lap 54 of this 58-lap contest by running off track and through the grass after locking up on his aging Hard Pirellis, the real drama began in earnest. On that same lap, Haas’s Kevin Magnussen misjudged his exit coming out of Turn 2 and bashed his rear right into the concrete barrier. That knocked the rubber off the rim as well as shattering Magnussen’s suspension and a second Red Flag was thrown on Lap 55 to clean up the debris field & haul away the stricken Haas, as well as preserve a few precious final racing laps and not end under yellow. The stewards then made the momentous decision to restart the race from the grid once again, rather than a more conventional rolling start behind the Safety Car, thereby turning the Down Under GP into a 2-lap shootout.

This backfired rather spectacularly when the cars sped off in anger again, as first the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz got into Alonso’s Aston Martin, spinning his fellow Spaniard around amidst a pack of snarling F1 cars. Directly or indirectly, that had the knock-on effect of forcing the Alpine of Pierre Gasly across the road and into the front left tire of his teammate Esteban Ocon, wrecking both of their cars in the process and robbing the team of a certain double-points finish. As a result of all that mayhem, another Red Flag was thrown with no chance of any more competitive laps being left to run. Now the debate within the FIA race directors and rules experts was on how to classify the field for the final ceremonial restart. After another long delay, it was decided that the order would be determined by the positions upon the prior restart, as the field had not even completed one sector before the last Red Flag had come out. That was great news for Alonso and Aston teammate Lance Stroll, the latter having also lost a ton of spots outbreaking himself amidst the mayhem. And while it seemed to be good news for the lone surviving Ferrari of Carlos Sainz in P4, that joy was extremely short lived when the stewards handed down a 5-second penalty to Sainz for the earlier contact with Alonso. With the twelve cars surviving to take the checkered flag all bunched together behind the Safety Car and no racing on the final lap, that saw the disconsolate Sainz dropped out of the points to dead last of the runners in P12. It made for a miserable, pointless day for the fabled Scuderia, which also suffered the ignominy of seeing their other pilot, Charles Leclerc, crash out and beach himself on the very first lap while  going into Turn 1 after contact with Stroll. To say Ferrari and their drivers are seriously in trouble in their championship pursuits after just three rounds would be an understatement.

Possibly lost in all that drama and incident was Verstappen’s first win in Australia and second of the season. And while it didn’t look as if Hamilton or Alonso really had anything for the Dutch points leader, particularly in the face of the Red Bull’s seemingly invincible advantage while using DRS, it was still an excellent race for both veterans, who joined Verstappen on the podium to make it three World Champions taking home trophies when the GP finally ended. Hamilton withstood Alonso’s best efforts and kept it clean to maintain a solid P2, even briefly taking the lead from Verstappen early in the race. That gives some hope and momentum to the Silver Arrows in their quest to creep closer to the imperious Red Bulls. It was also doubly important that Hamilton scored big points on the day because teammate George Russell was forced to retire on Lap 18 when something in his engine caught on fire. For Alonso, who looked like he had been punted out of the points by Sainz, it was another sweet day on what is turning out to be a 2023 renaissance. With his P3 restored after the collision with Sainz and teammate Stroll promoted back up to P4 after Sainz’s penalty, it was also a banner day for Aston Martin, which have made themselves a genuine fourth powerhouse team in F1. Spare a kind word for Sergio Perez, as well. The second Red Bull had to start from the pits after a disastrous qualifying and some engine tweaks while in parc fermé. But the talented Mexican, who excels at driving through the field, patiently worked his way up to P7 at the time of the penultimate Red Flag. And, while he went dirt tracking through the mayhem on that fateful final proper restart, losing several spots in the process, between the ruling on the actual race positions reverting to prior to that start, the double DNF of the Alpines and the penalty to Sainz, that pulled Checo all the way up to a very respectable and hard-earned P5.

If Alpine had a disaster with their late race shunt between teammates and subsequent double DNF, team McLaren finally caught a break after a dismal zero-points start to this year’s campaign. Lando Norris was able to finish in P6 and rookie teammate & Melbourne native Oscar Piastri got a fairy tale P8 in his literal hometown Grand Prix.  Alfa Romero’s Zho Guanyu and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda also capitalized on the carnage to come home safely in P9 and P10 respectively.

Top 10 finishers of the Australian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 58 2:32:38.371 25
2 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 58 +0.179s 18
3 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 58 +0.769s 15
4 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 58 +3.082s 12
5 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 58 +3.320s 11
6 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 58 +3.701s 8
7 27 Nico Hulkenberg HAAS FERRARI 58 +4.939s 6
8 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 58 +5.382s 4
9 24 Zhou Guanyu ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 58 +5.713s 2
10 22 Yuki Tsunoda ALPHATAURI HONDA RBPT 58 +6.052s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

Somewhat suitably after this epic, bizarre and frankly exhausting contest in Australia, the next race is in three weeks time — the equally unpredictable Azerbaijan Grand Prix on the perilous streets if Baku. So rest up and I’ll hope to see you then for what should be even more crazy F1 action!