Tag Archives: McLaren

2026 F1 Grand Prix of Japan — Qualifying results

Mercedes still setting early season pace as Antonelli nails down second consecutive pole, Russell starts P2 at Suzuka; McLaren back in the mix with Piastri P3, Norris P5; Ferrari’s Leclerc P4

Flush with the confidence of his first Formula 1 win two weeks ago in China, Mercedes’ rising young star Kimi Antonelli made it two poles in a row with a superb effort at the always challenging Suzuka Circuit during Saturday Qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix. The 19-year-old was able to get just that much more out of his Silver Arrow than his veteran teammate George Russell, to the tune of nearly three-tenths on their fastest respective laps set midway through Q3. To be fair, Russell seemed to struggle all day with an issue with his rear stability throughout quali and, additionally, the track seemed to deteriorate somewhat toward the end of the final round with regards to overall grip. Nevertheless, the current points leader will be keen to retake the momentum from his precocious Mercedes teammate and beat him off the line come race day.

McLaren showed some tentative signs of regaining their footing after a fairly disastrous opening two rounds, with Oscar Piastri a ways away from the Mercs but still good enough for P3 and the second row and teammate and reigning World Champion Lando Norris just off the Aussie’s pace in P5. The specter of mechanical gremlins still hovers over team Papaya, however, as Norris’s car spent nearly all of Free Practice 3 in the garage with a software/battery communication issue plaguing their new power plant. It will be critical that both McLarens run a full race distance in Sunday’s GP no matter where they end up finishing, lest these initial severe teething problems threaten to derail their 2026 campaign, while Mercedes and Ferrari take the opportunity to bury them.

Speaking of Ferrari, Charles Leclerc looked to be on the ragged edge of adhesion pretty much all race weekend so far. But the Monegasque still managed to wring the neck of his SF-26 to the tune of the fourth fastest time, splitting the McLaren’s on the grid. Scuderia teammate Lewis Hamilton was about a tenth and a half slower and slotted in behind Norris in P6. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly came from seemingly nowhere to post an impressive final time good enough for P7, which bodes well for both driver and team after the Frenchman’s impressive sixth place finish in the previous Chinese GP. Red Bull’s new promotion for this year, Isack Hadjar, earned P8, bettering his more decorated stablemate Max Verstappen, who struggled with an unruly mount on his way to an underwhelming P12 and early exit in Q2. The Dutch Master’s mood about the current state of F1 was certainly not improved after he called his RB22 “undriveable” yet again, his new favorite adjective. On the other hand, Audi’s Gabriel Bortoletto and Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad seemed more than pleased with the new formula, the young guns slotting in at P9 and P10 respectively.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Japanese Grand Prix:

CLA DRIVER # LAPS TIME INTERVAL TYRES KM/H
1 A. AntonelliMercedes 12 15

1’28.778

 S 235.477
2 G. RussellMercedes 63 21

+0.298

1’29.076

 0.298 S 234.689
3 O. PiastriMcLaren 81 20

+0.354

1’29.132

 0.056 S 234.542
4 C. LeclercFerrari 16 18

+0.627

1’29.405

 0.273 S 233.825
5 L. NorrisMcLaren 1 20

+0.631

1’29.409

 0.004 S 233.815
6 L. HamiltonFerrari 44 20

+0.789

1’29.567

 0.158 S 233.402
7 P. GaslyAlpine 10 18

+0.913

1’29.691

 0.124 S 233.080
8 I. HadjarRed Bull Racing 6 17

+1.200

1’29.978

 0.287 S 232.336
9 G. BortoletoAudi 5 20

+1.496

1’30.274

 0.296 S 231.574
10 A. LindbladRacing Bulls 41 21

+1.541

1’30.319

 0.045 S 231.459

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Sunday’s race airs live on Apple TV beginning at 1 AM Eastern here in the States. Can McLaren really get their mojo back and take the fight to mighty Mercedes or can Leclerc and Ferrari pull an epic upset?  Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2026 F1 Grand Prix of China — Qualifying results

Antonelli makes F1 history as youngest ever pole-sitter in Shanghai; Russell overcomes gremlins to grab last-second P2 for early favorites Mercedes; Hamilton P3, Leclerc P4 for next best Ferrari

In a dramatic final session of Saturday qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix, newly mighty Mercedes needed to deploy all of their technical and strategic expertise to both salvage their veteran driver’s Sunday starting position and maximize their junior driver’s best efforts. With what is clearly the virgin season’s best car, last week’s race winner George Russell, who was also victorious in the Sprint race earlier in the day, faced Q3 gremlins that threatened to put him at the bottom of the Top 10. But the team brilliantly got him out of the garage and back onto the track with just enough time for one flying lap. Meanwhile, teammate Kimi Antonelli had already laid down a blistering benchmark provisional pole lap immediately prior to Russell emerging from the pits at Shanghai International Circuit, daring his teammate and any other challengers to better it. While Russell couldn’t catch his Silver Arrows stablemate with his last desperate attempt, he did manage a fantastic nail-biting flier that vaulted him from “No Time” to P2 for Sunday’s grid. Meanwhile, Antonelli hung on in the face of Ferrari’s and McLaren’s best efforts to become Formula 1’s youngest ever pole-sitter, the 19-year, 6-month-old Italian besting the great Sebastian Vettel’s previous record of 21-years and two-months set at Monza back in 2008. The acid test for Antonelli, though, will be a clean getaway from that historic pole when the lights go out on Sunday. The young star has struggled mightily in both race starts under the new format, with another extremely slow start in the Sprint, where he started from second but finished in P6 as a direct result of bogging down again.

Despite looking feisty all race weekend, Ferrari found themselves in the familiar for 2026 runners up role to the Mercs, with Lewis Hamilton besting teammate Charles Leclerc P3 to P4. McLaren have clearly been working very hard and showed improvement since the opener in Melbourne, closing the gap even while still trailing the top two teams. Oscar Piastri claimed P5 on the grid for the Papayas ahead of P6 Lando Norris. The Alpine of Pierre Gasly made his own statement by bettering both Red Bulls and slotting into P7, an impressive effort that relegated Max Verstappen to P8 and Isack Hadjar to P9. Those lowly quali positions show that the Red Bull braintrust have a lot of improvements to unlock to get to terms with both this new car and their new Ford engines. Haas’s Oliver Bearman took P10 with a fine effort for the competitive American midfield team.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Chinese GP:

Driver Grid Qual time
A.K. Antonelli
Mercedes

·

#12
1
1:32.064
G. Russell
Mercedes

·

#63
2
1:32.286
L. Hamilton
Ferrari

·

#44
3
1:32.415
C. Leclerc
Ferrari

·

#16
4
1:32.428
O. Piastri
McLaren

·

#81
5
1:32.550
L. Norris
McLaren

·

#1
6
1:32.608
P. Gasly
Alpine

·

#10
7
1:32.873
M. Verstappen
Red Bull

·

#3
8
1:33.002
I. Hadjar
Red Bull

·

#6
9
1:33.121
O. Bearman
Haas

·

#87
10
1:33.292

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Sunday’s race airs live beginning at 1 AM  Eastern exclusively on Apple TV here in the States. Whether you pull the all-nighter or catch up with the race with an Apple TV replay on demand after a good night’s sleep, Round 2 of Formula 1’s new era will surely be worth a watch to see how the teams are improving and getting to grips with these very tricky and brand new hybrid machines. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2026 F1 Grand Prix of Australia — Results & aftermath

Russell surges to victory Down Under, Antonelli recovers from awful start to take P2 as Mercedes claim first blood of new era; Ferrari impress with Leclerc in P3, Hamilton P4; Norris holds off Verstappen for P5 but Piastri bins it on reconnaissance lap

The Mercedes factory team laid down the first marker of Formula1’s new era at Round 1 of the 2026 season, with George Russell excelling to a dominant win at Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix in his new W17, and teammate Kimi Antonelli rallying from a terrible start to take P2 after making a slew of passes to get back to the front. It was fast and frantic action from Down Under in Melbourne, with the new 50-50 internal combustion-battery power unit providing a host of technical complications for the drivers, not least of which being where within the lap to harvest power for the battery. The answer appeared to be by slowing a bit prematurely when entering the corners and even down certain straightaways, with the resulting yo-yoing effect creating a lot of nose-to-tail action throughout the field. Additionally, for all their evident raw pace, Mercedes struggled to get away solidly when the lights went out to begin the contest. The pole-sitting Russell found himself quickly overtaken by the absolutely flying Prancing Horse of Charles Leclerc, who steamed by not only Russell but also the Red Bull of Isack Hadjar and the second Merc of Antonelli en route to the point. Antonelli, meanwhile, had a terrible getaway and plunged like a stone from his P2 grid position all the way down to P7. As Leclerc and Russell went at it hammer and tongs at the front for the honor of leading the race, Antonelli showed the Silver Arrows superior race pace by easily picking off those he had initially lost positions to, elevating himself to a respectable P4 by Lap 6.

The race’s first break in the action happened when young Hadjar’s new Ford-manufactured engine blew up on Lap 11, resulting in a Virtual Safety Car to retrieve the stricken Red Bull. McLaren’s Lando Norris, the reigning World Champion, was first to dart into the pits a lap later, doffing his opening set of Mediums in favor of the more durable Hards in anticipation of running to the finish of the 58-lap tilt on a one-stopper. Russell and Antonelli came in the next lap for the same switch but Ferrari elected to have both cars stay out, with Leclerc maintaining the lead and Hamilton now promoted to P2. Hamilton forcefully argued that one of them should have come in to split the strategy, and in hindsight he may have been right, but the die was cast, as the short VSC ended on lap 14. Just four laps later, there was another VSC when the Valtteri Bottas’s Cadillac, making its F1 debut, came to a halt on track. Racing resumed on Lap 20, with Leclerc still leading and Hamilton still in P2 but Russell and Antonelli in hot pursuit on fresher rubber. Indeed, Ferrari conceded the point and made the call on Lap 25 to call Leclerc in for his first stop, the Monegasque pitting from P1 for the preferred Medium to Hard Pirelli switch and emerging in P4. Hamilton inherited the lead and managed to keep it for a few laps longer but Russell blew by him on Lap 28 as Hamilton headed to the pits for his own new set of Hards with which to finish out the race. From there it was smooth sailing for the Briton, with teammate Antonelli comfortably behind by around 4 seconds as the laps wound down and the Ferraris unable to close up and take the fight to the Silver Arrows.

The battle for best of the rest, and indeed one of the best battles in the closing stanza of the Grand Prix, was between Norris’s McLaren and Max Verstappen’s Red Bull. Verstappen had the most impressive drive of the day, starting as he did from way down in 20th on the grid after a  crash in the first session of qualifying on Saturday. The Dutch Master put in a vintage effort, making a multitude of passes all race long  that finally saw him right on the gearbox of Norris and a fight for fifth place after a second pit stop for new Hards on Lap 42. But Norris, who had made the same  rare second stop for new Hards on Lap 35 right after a third, very short VSC for debris, was able to hold off the best efforts of the four-time champ to retain that valuable P5.  McLaren clearly lacked the outright pace of either the Mercedes or the Ferraris and to make matters worse for the reigning Constructors’ Champions, second driver Oscar Piastri scored zero points and failed to even take the green flag after locking up the rear axel on the reconnaissance lap and completely binning his new MCL40. It was an embarrassing end to the young Aussie’s day at his home race to say the least. Piastri was the first of five retirements in Australia, not entirely a surprise as the teams come to grips with the new regulations and the reliability and drivability issues that go along with them.

Top 10 finishers of the Australian GP:

POS DRIVER TEAM RACE TIME LAPS PITS FASTEST LAPS
1

George Russell

 Mercedes 1:23:06.801 58 1 —
2

Kimi Antonelli

 Mercedes +2.974 58 1 —
3

Charles Leclerc

 Ferrari +15.519 58 1 —
4

Lewis Hamilton

 Ferrari +16.144 58 1 —
5

Lando Norris

 McLaren +51.741 58 2 —
6

Max Verstappen

 Red Bull +54.617 58 2 1:22.091 (43)
7

Oliver Bearman

 Haas +1 Lap 57 1 —
8

Arvid Lindblad

 Racing Bulls +1 Lap 57 1 —
9

Gabriel Bortoleto

 Audi +1 Lap 57 2 —
10

Pierre Gasly

 Alpine +1 Lap 57 1 —

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in but a week’s time, as the teams take what they learned from Melbourne, pack it up and head directly to Shanghai for the Chinese Grand Prix. With a somewhat similar long straights/difficult to recharge layout as the temporary Albert Park Circuit, the purpose built Shanghai International Circuit could also favor Mercedes’ strengths. But Ferrari’s race pace will still be worth keeping an eye on, especially if the Silver Arrows struggle off the line again at the start. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2026 F1 Grand Prix of Australia — Qualifying results

Russell inaugurates Formula 1’s new era with pole in Melbourne, Antonelli P2 as Mercedes’ lock out front row for Round 1; Hadjar surges to P3 on Red Bull debut but Verstappen crashes out in Q1

Formula 1’s new era debuted in earnest when the expanded 22-car grid lined up for qualifying hot laps on Saturday at Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne, Australia to kick off the 2026 season and set the grid for the Round 1 Australian Grand Prix. With entirely new regulations leading to shorter, lighter cars, as well as a 50-50 split between the internal combustion unit and battery power forcing drivers to alter their driving styles by lifting into corners to recharge, the Mercedes factory team claimed the early lead in getting to grips with the new formula. After looking like a three-way battle between the Silver Arrows, reigning champs McLaren and the very hungry Scuderia Ferrari squad, Mercedes dusted the competition on one-lap pace, with senior driver George Russell claiming pole in the opening salvo of the quest for his first World Championship and teammate and second year man Kimi Antonelli recovering from a big shunt in Free Practice 3 to slot into P2 on the grid. The young Italian pilot owes a huge debt of gratitude to his mechanics who rebuilt his shattered Merc in time to qualify, as well as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who shockingly crashed out in Q1 when his rear axel locked up. The four-time champ spun through a gravel trap exiting Turn 1 at a high rate of knots and came to a hard stop against the barriers sidewise, catching his hands in the snapping steering wheel for good measure. The Dutch Master will have to fight his way from P20 on the grid come race day with the ignominy of seeing the two brand new Cadillacs actually lined up in front of him.

But all was not completely grim for team Red Bull. Their second driver, the impressive Frenchman Isack Hadjar, who is  making the jump to the big team after an excellent rookie season with the junior Racing Bulls last year, laid down an impressive final lap that was good enough for P3. That bumped Ferarri’s Charles Leclerc to P4 but the Prancing Horses do look ready to run for wins this year after a barren 2025, although Lewis Hamilton’s quali struggles continued, as the seven-time champ could only muster a P7 time . The McLaren duo of Oscar Piastri and reigning title holder Lando Norris split the Ferraris but have been a bit off the elite pace so far throughout the race weekend, with Piastri only claiming P5 at his home event and Norris just P6. The Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson and impressive rookie Arvid Lindblad were good enough for P8 and P9 respectively, and while the Audi (formerly Sauber) of Gabriel Bortoleto didn’t run in Q3 due to an engine issue, he still earned P10 based on his Q2 performance, with teammate Nico Hulkenberg slotting in just behind in P11, an impressive first result for the Audi Factory effort.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Australian GP:

CLA DRIVER # TIME TYRES KM/H
1 G. Russell – Mercedes 63

1’18.518

 241.992
2 A. Antonelli – Mercedes 12

+0.293

1’18.811

 241.093
3 I. Hadjar – Red Bull Racing 6

+0.785

1’19.303

 239.597
4 C. Leclerc – Ferrari 16

+0.809

1’19.327

 239.525
5 O. Piastri – McLaren 81

+0.862

1’19.380

 239.365
6 L. Norris – McLaren 1

+0.957

1’19.475

 239.078
7 L. Hamilton – Ferrari 44

+0.960

1’19.478

 239.069
8 L. Lawson – Racing Bulls 30

+1.476

1’19.994

 237.527
9 A. Lindblad – Racing Bulls 41

+2.729

1’21.247

 233.864
10 G. Bortoleto – Audi 5

 

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

The Australian Grand Prix airs live at 11pm Eastern exclusively on AppleTV here in the States. So set that DVR or brew a fresh pot of coffee because the 2026 F1 season has finally arrived and things are bound to get interesting with these new and very tricky cars. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2025 F1 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi — Results & aftermath

Verstappen wins in Abu Dhabi but Norris earns first F1 Championship by two points after coming home P3; Piastri finishes second in epic season for McLaren

The 2025 Forula 1 season came to a nail-bitingly tense close in Abu Dhabi on Sunday, as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen came just two points shy of securing his fifth consecutive title despite winning at Yas Marina Circuit and McLaren’s Lando Norris completed a dream season for him and the team by earning his first Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship with a steady but by no means drama-free third place finish. With Verstappen starting from the pole and Norris lined up alongside him to begin the 58-lap season finale, Norris was immediately put on the back foot by his teammate Oscar Piastri, who started third and on the Hard Pirrelli tires, the only driver in the top ten to do so, but easily passed Norris on the opening lap to nab P2 and drop Norris into the clutches of the very rapid Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. But, as Verstappen and Piastri sailed away, Norris was able to fend off Leclerc’s best efforts and maintain his crucial third-place spot until his first pit stop for fresh tires on Lap 17. Norris then doffed his opening set of Medium tires and bolted on his own Hard Pirellis to try to run a long second stint, perhaps even to the end. Leclerc came in on the same lap and made the same tire switch and then both came out P9 and P10 respectively behind a lot of midfield runners. Norris quickly and decisively set about making a series of overtakes to get him back up into the crucial podium position he would need need to guarantee his World Championship even should Verstappen go on to win the race, as now seemed the probable outcome.

After whipping his way back up to P4 by lap 23, Norris was confronted by the second Red Bull of Yuki Tsunoda, who was told in no uncertain terms by his race engineer to make like difficult for the McLaren man in an effort to boost Verstappen’s chances at snatching the title. But Tsunoda took things a bit too far on Lap 23  by weaving across the track heading into the high speed Turn 6/7 complex and then forcing Norris into the tight runoff area on the straight and off of the track itself before the championship aspirant could finalize his committed pass for P3. Ominously for both drivers, the Stewards announced an investigation of both Tsunoda for forcing Norris off and Norris for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. The authorities quickly decided that only Tsunoda would be penalized, with Norris only judged to have been taking evasive action despite having all four wheels off track. That was really the crucial moment, as not only did Norris escape a penalty that may or may not  have been significant to his overall result but, more importantly, he didn’t damage his car despite Tsunoda’s shenanigans.

Meanwhile, Verstappen decided to pit from the lead on Lap 24, making the move from Mediums to Hards, while Piastri kept running his Hards after inheriting the lead. For a fleeting few laps, Piastri had a pit stop’s advantage on Verstappen of over the 21-second delta here at Yas Marina, but the team chose not to take the risk in order to insure Piastri was in play to aid Norris in the closing stanza, if needed. Verstappen steadily chipped away at Piastri’s advantage and then overtook the young Aussie to regain the race lead on Lap 41. Piastri dove into the pits for his first stop a lap later, making the contrarian Hard-to-Medium switch to finish out the race. He still had enough of a lead over his teammate to come out in P2, well ahead of Norris, and well over 22-seconds adrift of Verstappen. Red Bull also declined to roll the dice and pit Verstappen a second time for fresh rubber, instead hoping against hope that Leclerc, who had forced Norris to make a second stop on Lap 41 for fresh Hard after the Monegasque had tried a two-stop undercut on Lap 40,  might pull off a late overtake on Norris due to that Scuderia strategy call. But the Ferrari faded down the stretch and, while Verstappen claimed victory when the checkers flew and Piastri maintained his second place, it was Norris who claimed his first F1 crown and snapped Verstappen’s Championship streak at four by a scant two points.

Top 10 finishers of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix:

CLA DRIVER # LAPS TIME INTERVAL KM/H PITS POINTS
1 M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1 58

–

 1 25
2 O. Piastri McLaren 81 58

+12.594

12.594

 12.594 1 18
3 L. Norris McLaren 4 58

+16.572

16.572

 3.978 2 15
4 C. Leclerc Ferrari 16 58

+23.279

23.279

 6.707 2 12
5 G. Russell Mercedes 63 58

+48.563

48.563

 25.284 1 10
6 F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing 14 58

+1’07.562

1’07.562

 18.999 1 8
7 E. Ocon Haas F1 Team 31 58

+1’09.876

1’09.876

 2.314 1 6
8 L. Hamilton Ferrari 44 58

+1’12.670

1’12.670

 2.794 2 4
9 L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing 18 58

+1’14.523

1’14.523

 1.853 1 2
10 O. Bearman Haas F1 Team 87 58

+1’16.166

1’16.166

 1.643

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

Final 2025 Drivers Standings:

PTS
1Lando Norris
 423
2Max Verstappen
 421
3Oscar Piastri
 410
4George Russell
 319
5Charles Leclerc
 242
6Lewis Hamilton
 156
7Kimi Antonelli
 150
8Alexander Albon
 73
9Carlos Sainz
 64
10Fernando Alonso
 56
11Nico Hülkenberg
 51
12Isack Hadjar
 51
13Oliver Bearman
 41
14Liam Lawson
 38
15Esteban Ocon
 38
16Lance Stroll
 33
17Yuki Tsunoda
 33
18Pierre Gasly
 22
19Gabriel Bortoleto
 19
20Franco Colapinto
 0
21Jack Doohan
 0
Final 2025 Constructors Standings:
PTS
1 McLaren
 833
2 Mercedes
 469
3 Red Bull
 451
4 Ferrari
 398
5 Williams
 137
6 Racing Bulls
 92
7 Aston Martin
 89
8 Haas
 79
9 Sauber
 70
10 Alpine
 22

2025 F1 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi — Qualifying results

Last race showdown set as Verstappen nabs pole at Yas Marina ahead of P2 Norris, P3 Piastri

Red Bull’s peerless ace Max Verstappen kept his come from behind quest for a fifth consecutive Drivers’ Championship very much alive by taking a dominant pole during Saturday Qualifying for Sunday’s season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Mastering the high speed twists and turns of the beautifully lit Yas Marina Circuit with aplomb, Verstappen bettered the points-leading McLaren of Lando Norris by two-tenths. Crucially for Norris, however, he was able to keep Oscar Piastri, his teammate and next closest pursuer after Verstappen, behind him when the young Aussie aspirant was unable to improve on a P3 time. Norris “only” needs a third place finish on Sunday to claim his first F1 crown. But it will be crucial that he and Verstappen keep it clean steaming down to Turn 1 when the lights go out and during the early laps in general, while Norris must also not completely abandon his aggression and cede potions to potentially  fall back into the clutches not only of his teammate and rival Piastri but also the Mercedes of George Russell, who lurks in P4 with more pace than his final flying laps in Q3 might indicate. If Verstappen wins and Norris finishes off the podium, it will be a bitter offseason as he watches Verstappen walk away with a fifth championship after looking like having zero shot after Round 14 in Hungary. For Verstappen, it would be an epic comeback that would only add to his still growing legend as one of the Formual 1 all-time greats. And for Piastri, the harsh reality of his once dominant season is that he  needs not only to win the race but then hope a series of misfortunes befalls the top two that sees him outscore Norris by 17 points and Verstappen by 5. Sunday’s GP has all the makings of a true nail biter and one the tensest F1 finales in recent memory, not to mention must watch TV — don’t miss it!

Top 10 qualifiers for the Abu Dhabi GP:

CLA DRIVER # LAPS TIME INTERVAL TYRES KM/H
1 M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing 1 6

1’22.207

 S 231.264
2 L. Norris McLaren 4 6

+0.201

1’22.408

 0.201 S 230.700
3 O. Piastri McLaren 81 6

+0.230

1’22.437

 0.029 S 230.619
4 G. Russel lMercedes 63 6

+0.438

1’22.645

 0.208 S 230.039
5 C. Leclerc Ferrari 16 6

+0.523

1’22.730

 0.085 S 229.802
6 F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing 14 6

+0.695

1’22.902

 0.172 S 229.326
7 G. Bortoleto Sauber 5 6

+0.697

1’22.904

 0.002 S 229.320
8 E. Ocon Haas F1 Team 31 6

+0.706

1’22.913

 0.009 S 229.295
9 I. Hadjar Racing Bulls 6 6

+0.865

1’23.072

 0.159 S 228.856
10 Y. TsunodaRed Bull Racing 22 5

 

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s season-ending, Championship-crowning race airs live on ESPN beginning at 8AM Eastern here in the States. It’s white knuckle time for Norris, as Verstappen and Piastri have nothing to lose by giving it full gas to go for the win in Abu Dhabi, while Norris will have to balance aggression with his need to only survive to a third place finish for his first title. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2025 F1 Grand Prix of Qatar — Results & aftermath

DOWN TO THE WIRE: Verstappen leapfrogs Piastri, closes to within 12 of Norris with win in Qatar after McLaren’s Safety Car strategy backfires; Piastri second, Norris finishes fourth; Sainz captures last podium spot in P3

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen continued his improbable come-from-behind quest for a fifth consecutive Drivers’ Championship by taking advantage of team McLaren’s timidity during an early race Safety Car period and then parlaying his team’s decision to pit him into a win at Lusail International Circuit in Sunday’s Qatar Grand Prix. After starting from P3 start and with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris lined up in front of him in P1 and P2 respectively, Verstappen passed Norris almost as soon as the lights went out, steaming by the points leader while heading down to Turn 1. Meanwhile, Piastri kept his lead easily, looking like the man to beat on the night and seeking to creep even closer to Norris after already bagging 8 points with his Saturday Sprint Race win. But the racing gods had other plans for the Aussie when Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg crashed out on Lap 7 while tangling with the Apline of Pierre Gasly during an attempted overtake. With Hulkenberg stranded and debris littering the circuit, a Safety Car was quickly deployed. This opened up the first key strategy decisions of the race. Normally, this would have been too early in the race for the frontrunners to dive to the pits for fresh rubber, the entire top ten starting on the reasonably durable Medium tires. However, due to the high lateral loads that clockwise Lusail sends through the left front tires, Pirelli mandated a 25-lap maximum limit for their tires for the Qatari race. That put Piastri and McLaren in a bind and the team’s braintrust decided to not only keep the race-leading Aussie out but also not to split their strategy and call Norris in for fresh rubber under the SC. This proved to be a mistake, as pretty much the entire field, and most significantly Verstappen, opted to come in for a cheap stop for new tires under the greatly reduced Safety Car speed on Lap 8, and knowing that they’d all be forced to change on Lap 25 regardless. This also meant the early stoppers could now run until Lap 32 before the next tire mandate needed to be met.

While Norris was promoted to second when Verstappen boxed for a new set of Mediums, the Papaya duo were now locked into stopping on Lap 25 and then again later in the race, both out of sequence with the rest of the field and with Verstappen lurking right behind them. Sure enough, when first Piastri pitted on Lap 24 and then Norris a lap later, both also opting for another stint on Mediums, Verstappen inherited the lead. While the Dutch Master would relinquish that P1 position once again for his own mandatory second charge onto the Hard Pirellis on Lap 32, Verstappen had now satisfied all his tire requirements for the remainder of the 57-lap contest and both McLaren’s would have to come in for one more change. Piastri talked the team into pitting a bit earlier than required on Lap 42, hoping that he would be able to use the new Hard boots to take the fight to Verstappen’s 10-lap older tires. He duly came out in third behind Verstappen, with Norris leading the race momentarily. But Norris made his mandatory second stop two laps later and Verstappen retook the race lead. Worse still for the points leader, Norris emerged in P5 when Williams’ Carlos Sainz and Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli passed him before he could get out of the pits. Despite his best efforts, Piastri was never able to get close enough to Verstappen to even threaten a pass for the win. The Dutchman sailed to victory nearly 8-seconds in front of the P2 Piastri. While Norris was able to make a late pass on Antonelli to secure P4, the final results still saw Verstappen leapfrog Piastri for second in the Drivers’ and he now trails Norris by a mere 12 points heading into the season finale in Abu Dhabi next week. Piastri, now in third, trails by 16. Any of the three could win the Championship at the Yes Marina Circuit next Sunday. Tune in next week to find out who will wear the crown — it’ll be must watch TV!

Top 10 finishers of the Qatar GP:

ResultsFinal
Pos Driver Time Pts
1
M. Verstappen
Red Bull

·

#1
1:24:38.241
25
2
O. Piastri
McLaren

·

#81
+7.995s
18
3
C. Sainz Jr.
Williams

·

#55
+22.665s
15
4
L. Norris
McLaren

·

#4
+23.315s
12
5
A.K. Antonelli
Mercedes

·

#12
+28.317s
10
6
G. Russell
Mercedes

·

#63
+48.599s
8
7
F. Alonso
Aston Martin

·

#14
+54.045s
6
8
C. Leclerc
Ferrari

·

#16
+56.785s
4
9
L. Lawson
RB

·

#30
+60.073s
2
10
Y. Tsunoda
Red Bull

·

#22
+61.77s
1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

Top 3 Driver Standings with one race remaining:

PTS
1Lando Norris
 408
2Max Verstappen
 396
3Oscar Piastri
 392

The season ending finale is in but a week’s time when the three-way title hunt comes to a climax in Abu Dhabi. Nerves will be on edge in the McLaren camp, particularly on Norris’s side of the garage, as they feel Verstappen’s hot breath on their necks and the Dutchman’s ruthless pursuit of a fifth consecutive championship filling up their rearview mirrors. Hope to see you then to find out how the 2025 season comes to a close and who will be wearing the F1 crown when it does!

2025 F1 Grand Prix of Qatar — Qualifying results

Resurgent Piastri nabs pole at Lusail after dominant Sprint win, looks to keep title hopes alive against McLaren teammate, P2 Norris; Verstappen lines up in P3

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who seemed a favorite for his first Drivers’ Championship until a steep drop in performance following his last win in the Netherlands at the end of August, regained some of his mojo in Qatar this weekend. Seeking to keep the pressure on his points-leading teammate Lando Norris with only two race remaining, Piastri dominated the Saturday Sprint race from the pole and then set the fastest lap in Qualifying later in the day to also take the pole for Sunday’s Grand Prix. Norris was still second fastest, trailing his Aussie stablemate by about a tenth, and will line up alongside Piastri in P2 on the grid. After outscoring Norris 8 to 6 points in the Sprint, Piastri now trails by 22 and will be looking to score the maximum from the weekend to keep his title aspirations alive heading into the finale in Abu Dhabi two weeks from now, while also perhaps hoping that Norris experiences some sort of mechanical misfortune that limits his own points possibilities. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who is third in the title hunt and got a big boost to his long shot bid for a fifth consecutive crown after McLaren’s double DQ in and his own victory in Vegas last week, will line up on the second row in P3. The Dutchman will be rooting for more mayhem to befall the two McLaren’s ahead as they battle with one another, as he trails Norris by 25 points, exactly one race win.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Qatar GP:

Driver Grid Qual time
O. Piastri
McLaren

·

#81
1
1:19.387
L. Norris
McLaren

·

#4
2
1:19.495
M. Verstappen
Red Bull

·

#1
3
1:19.651
G. Russell
Mercedes

·

#63
4
1:19.662
A.K. Antonelli
Mercedes

·

#12
5
1:19.846
I. Hadjar
RB

·

#6
6
1:20.114
C. Sainz Jr.
Williams

·

#55
7
1:20.287
F. Alonso
Aston Martin

·

#14
8
1:20.418
P. Gasly
Alpine

·

#10
9
1:20.477
C. Leclerc
Ferrari

·

#16
10
1:20.561

Complete quali results available via Formula1.com.

Sunday’s race airs live beginning at 11 AM Eastern on ESPN2 here in the States. Can Norris overtake his teammate and chief pursuer or will Piastri keep the pressure on until Abu Dhabi by sweeping the weekend? And Can Verstappen pull another miracle out of the bag to keep his long shot title hopes alive until the final round? Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2025 F1 Grand Prix of Las Vegas — Results & aftermath

Verstappen comes up aces in Vegas with race win, while McLaren crap out with double DQ due to technical violations; Game on in championship hunt, as Verstappen gets level with Piastri, trails Norris by only 24 with two races to go

By the time the last of the neon soaked 50-laps of Saturday night’s Las Vegas Grand Prix were completed, McLaren’s Lando Norris thought he had done enough to maintain his dominating lead in the Drivers’ Championship with only two more races left to run on the 2025 calendar. Despite a rather overenthusiastic start from the pole that saw him steam off the circuit at Turn 1, allowing Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to take the lead and then hold it until the end of the contest, Norris nursed tires and a potential low fuel issue well enough to earn second place when the checkers flew. Even with Verstappen’s 25-point victory, that was only a net gain of seven on Norris’s points bulge, which stood at 49 at that moment in time. Meanwhile, McLaren teammate and chief rival Oscar Piastri continued to sputter down the stretch and could only muster a fourth place result after a difficult weekend of limited running and very changeable track conditions. But it was after the race that it all began to unravel in Papayaland, when both Norris and Piastri were disqualified form the results due to the skid wear on both their cars coming in under the minimum thickness as per the technical regulations. With that astonishing transgression in Sin City, both McLaren men scored precisely zero on the evening, with Verstappen surging in his improbable comeback bid for a fifth consecutive title by now tying Piastri for second place with 366 points and both pursuers trailing Norris by a mere 24 points. With Verstappen’s deficit under just a race win heading into the penultimate race in Qatar next weekend, things just got a whole lot more nerve jangling for Norris and the McLaren braintrust, as the young Englishman desperately tries to keep his increasingly fraught grip on what would be his first F1 title.

Top 12 finishers of the Las Vegas GP (includes DQ’s Norris & Piastri, who scored zero):

CLA DRIVER # LAPS TIME INTERVAL KM/H PITS POINTS
1 M. VerstappenRed Bull Racing 1 50

1:21’08.429

 229.201 1 25
dq L. NorrisMcLaren 4 50

+20.741

1:21’29.170

 20.741 228.228 1
2 G. RussellMercedes 63 50

+23.546

1:21’31.975

 2.805 228.097 1 18
dq O. PiastriMcLaren 81 50

+27.650

1:21’36.079

 4.104 227.906 1
3 A. AntonelliMercedes 12 50

+30.488

1:21’38.917

 2.838 227.774 1 15
4 C. LeclercFerrari 16 50

+30.678

1:21’39.107

 0.190 227.765 1 12
5 C. SainzWilliams 55 50

+34.924

1:21’43.353

 4.246 227.568 1 10
6 I. HadjarRacing Bulls 6 50

+45.257

1:21’53.686

 10.333 227.089 1 8
7 N. HulkenbergSauber 27 50

+51.134

1:21’59.563

 5.877 226.818 1 6
8 L. HamiltonFerrari 44 50

+59.369

1:22’07.798

 8.235 226.439 1 4
9 E. OconHaas F1 Team 31 50

+1’00.635

1:22’09.064

 1.266 226.381 1 2
10 O. BearmanHaas F1 Team 87 50

+1’10.549

1:22’18.978

 9.914 225.927 1 1
11 F. AlonsoAston Martin Racing 14 50

+1’25.308

1:22’33.737

 14.759 225.253 1
12 Y. TsunodaRed Bull Racing 22 50

+1’26.974

1:22’35.403

 1.666 225.178 2

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race, the penultimate of the season, is in but a week’s time — the Qatar Grand Prix at the Lusail International Circuit. Norris, Piastri and team McLaren as a whole will have a short turnaround to try to shake off this weekends’ stunning developments in las Vegas, while Verstappen will be keen to keep applying the pressure and continue his quest to pull off one of the most improbably comebacks in F1 history. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2025 F1 Grand Prix of Las Vegas — Qualifying results

Norris bests Verstappen for pole in bizarre wild & wet Vegas qualifying; Sainz impresses to nab P3; Piastri spins his way to P5 late in the going, damaging title hopes

Top- 10 qualifiers for the Las Vegas GP:

CLA DRIVER # LAPS TIME INTERVAL TYRES KM/H
1 L. NorrisMcLaren 4 8

1’47.934

 I 206.826
2 M. VerstappenRed Bull Racing 1 7

+0.323

1’48.257

 0.323 I 206.209
3 C. SainzWilliams 55 7

+0.362

1’48.296

 0.039 I 206.135
4 G. RussellMercedes 63 7

+0.869

1’48.803

 0.507 I 205.174
5 O. PiastriMcLaren 81 7

+1.027

1’48.961

 0.158 I 204.876
6 L. LawsonRacing Bulls 30 7

+1.128

1’49.062

 0.101 I 204.687
7 F. AlonsoAston Martin Racing 14 7

+1.532

1’49.466

 0.404 I 203.931
8 I. HadjarRacing Bulls 6 7

+1.620

1’49.554

 0.088 I 203.768
9 C. LeclercFerrari 16 7

+1.938

1’49.872

 0.318 I 203.178
10 P. GaslyAlpine 10 6

+3.606

1’51.540

 1.668

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Saturday night’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 11PM Eastern on ESPN here in the States. Hope to see you the to see if Mother Nature has any more ironic twists up her sleeves for this glitzy night affair in the supposed desert!