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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 — Results & aftermath

Antonelli scores first F1 win with perfect drive in Shanghai, Russell P2 as Mercedes extend early season dominance; Hamilton earns first Ferrari podium besting P4 teammate Leclerc; Disaster for McLaren as neither Norris or Piastri are able to start

Mercedes’ second-year driver Kimi Antonelli converted his record-setting effort as F1’s youngest ever driver to take pole in a Grand Prix into the fulfillment of all his professional dreams. Antonelli handily won Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix, thereby becoming the second youngest driver to earn a win behind the then 18-year-old Max Verstappen, as well as the first Italian national to claim victory in twenty years. Avoiding the unacceptably slow starts that have cost the 19-year-old Italian in both Round 1 in Australia and Saturday’s Sprint race here at Shanghai International Circuit, Antonelli quickly recovered after losing a position to the hard charging Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton on the opening lap. Keeping his cool, Antonelli quickly took back the position from the Prancing Horse of the seven-time champ on Lap 2. From there on out, he, deftly held off the best efforts of not only his senior Silver Arrows teammate, George Russell, but also the veteran Ferrari duo of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.  Antonelli was able to control the race from the front like a veteran to keep the Ferraris and Russell behind him with relative ease until the checkers flew after Lap 56, notching his first F1 win in a new car that, at this early date, seems capable of winning the majority of races this year.  With this maiden victory, Antonelli proved that Mercedes’ faith in the minimally experienced teenager to replace Hamilton was well founded and he now has the skill and confidence to go toe to toe with the best at this level, including the person who could be his main rival for the 2026 title, the supremely talented and very hungry for the crown Russell.

Top 10 finishers of the Chinese GP:

Pos Driver Time Pts
1
A.K. Antonelli
Mercedes

·

#12
1:33:15.607
25
2
G. Russell
Mercedes

·

#63
+5.515s
18
3
L. Hamilton
Ferrari

·

#44
+25.267s
15
4
C. Leclerc
Ferrari

·

#16
+28.894s
12
5
O. Bearman
Haas

·

#87
+57.268s
10
6
P. Gasly
Alpine

·

#10
+59.647s
8
7
L. Lawson
RB

·

#30
+80.588s
6
8
I. Hadjar
Red Bull

·

#6
+87.247s
4
9
C. Sainz Jr.
Williams

·

#55
+1 Lap
2
10
F. Colapinto
Alpine

·

#43
+1 Lap
1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in two week’s time, as the teams head to Japan’s famous Suzuka Circuit. Anotnelli will have an extra week to savor his first F1 win but no doubt the young Italian is raring too get back onto the track and repeat the feat. Likewise, teammate George Russell and the dueling Ferraris of Hamilton and Leclerc will be eager to fight for the top step themselves. 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 Sao Paulo — Results & aftermath

Norris sails to victory in Sao Paulo, extends points lead with weekend sweep; Antonelli scores career-best P2 finish; Verstappen rallies from pit lane start to podium with otherworldly P3 effort; Ferrari face double DNF in incident-packed race

McLaren’s Lando Norris did his Championship aspirations a world of good in Sao Paulo, capping off a dominant Round 21 weekend by handily winning Sunday’s Grand Prix after also taking victory in Saturday’s Sprint Race. The young Briton, who will turn 26 in a few days, expanded his lead over top rival and teammate Oscar Piastri to 24 points by taking a maximum of 33 in Brazil. Untoubled in the race after starting from pole, Norris easily led the majority of the 71-laps at Interlagos and was never really pressured by any of the other top competitors, even after early Safety Car and Virtual Safety Car periods due to incidents behind him. Piastri, meanwhile, showed signs of feeling the pressure of his teammate’s superior form since Round 16 in Italy, when his hit own lead began slipping away. The Aussie contender crashed out of the Saturday Sprint and then qualified P4 for the GP. Eager to advance his position and close the gap to Norris up at the point, Piastri tried a bit of dive-bomb move on the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli steaming ump the inside of Turn 1 on Lap 6. However, the Aussie overcooked it, locked up and wound up tagging the Silver Arrow. Antonelli was then shunted into the second place Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, instantly ending the Monegasque’s race with a broken wheel. After taking their time to assign blame, the stewards came down on Piastri to the tune of a ten-second penalty that effectively ended his hopes of a podium finish. Despite his best efforts and leading the race briefly on pit stop cycle, Piastri ended up where he started in fourth, keeping his deficit to Norris to under one victory’s points value at 24. But with only three rounds now remaining in the 2025 season, the advantage for the coveted F1 Drivers’ Title lies strongly with Norris, while Piastri’s stumbles down the stretch make it seem highly unlikely that he can catch him.

Antonelli survived the contact with Piastri and went on to thrive to the tune of a career-best P2 finish. More impressive for the Italian rookie, he had to fight of the otherworldly efforts of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in the closing stages of the race. In one of the more astonishing drives in a career already full of them, Verstappen started from the pit lane but stormed all the way back to a P3 podium finish by the time the checkers flew. Not only did the Dutch Master put in a sublime performance behind the wheel, but the team gave him the tools he needed to fight after qualifying a lowly P16. The Red Bull braintrust cleverly opted to give Verstappen a fresh engine, thereby not only requiring a pit lane start but also breaking parc fermé and enabling them to undue the disastrous set-up changes that led to their qualifying woes. Between the powerful new power unit and the savvy tweaks to the car’s aero balance, Verstappen was free to fly and overtook with aplomb until his final set of Soft Pirellis went off in the final laps and Antonelli proved able to escape his best efforts.

Top 10 finishers of the Sao Paulo GP:

Pos Driver Time Pts
1
L. Norris
McLaren

·

#4
1:32:01.596
25
2
A.K. Antonelli
Mercedes

·

#12
+10.388s
18
3
M. Verstappen
Red Bull

·

#1
+10.75s
15
4
G. Russell
Mercedes

·

#63
+15.267s
12
5
O. Piastri
McLaren

·

#81
+15.749s
10
6
O. Bearman
Haas

·

#87
+29.63s
8
7
L. Lawson
RB

·

#30
+52.642s
6
8
I. Hadjar
RB

·

#6
+52.873s
4
9
N. Hülkenberg
Kick Sauber

·

#27
+53.324s
2
10
P. Gasly
Alpine

·

#10
+53.914s
1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race weekend takes place towards the end of the month over November 20-22, as the teams head back up to North America for the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Which contender will end up the luckiest in that fantastically illuminated nocturnal shootout and who will roll snake eyes?  Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out in Sin City!

2025 F1 Grand Prix of Mexico City — Qualifying results

Norris nails it for pole at Hermanos Rodriguez, keeps pressure on Piastri, who stumbles to P8; Ferrari strong at altitude, as Leclerc notches P2, Hamilton P3 ahead of Russell & Verstappen

Lando Norris continued to ratchet up the pressure on his championship leading teammate Oscar Piastri by laying down a blistering lap good enough for pole during Saturday Qualifying for the Mexico City Grand Prix. Norris was by far the fastest driver on the day and headed the P2 Ferrari of Charles Leclerc by nearly three-tenths. The Scuderia nevertheless had a very good day between Leclerc’s solid second-best effort and Lewis Hamilton’s stout P3, and the fabled team from Maranello will be desperate to convert those efforts into race pace as they incredibly hunt their first win of the season here in Round 20. Piastri, on the other hand, continued to scuffle down the stretch, notching only the eighth best time in Q3. While Piastri will gain a position due to a penalty to Williams’ Carlos Sainz, who unbelievably out-qualified him, the young Aussie’s famous equipoise seems to have deserted him at the most crucial juncture of the season. In fact,  he has been out-scored by Norris in every race since his last win in the Netherlands back in Round 15. With five races remaining and his points lead over his teammate down to just 14, Piastri will have to fight from deep in the top ten on the grid to maximize his result in the race, hoping that Norris drops back, while also avoiding trouble with the other contenders that could further damage his championship aspirations.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen saw his impressive late season comeback efforts somewhat stymied when Mercedes’ George Russel got then better of him, P4 to P5. Still, the Red Bull in Verstappen’s hands has traditionally been an impressive weapon here at the high altitude of Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez and usually seems well suited the quirky nature of the circuit so, one would be foolish to count the Dutchman out as a contender come race day.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Mexico City GP:

DRIVER TEAM TIMES
1 – Lando Norris McLaren 1:15.586
2 – Charles Leclerc Ferrari +0.262
3 – Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +0.352
4 – George Russell Mercedes +0.448
5 – Max Verstappen Red Bull +0.484
6 – Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +0.532
7 – Carlos Sainz* Williams +0.586
8 – Oscar Piastri McLaren +0.588
9. Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls +0.666
10 – Oliver Bearman Haas +0.874

Complete qualifying results available via Formula!1.com.

Sunday’s Mexico City GP airs live on ABC starting at 4 PM Eastern here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out if Norris can keep upping the pressure on teammate & rival Piastri by converting pole into victory or if Ferrari can translate their qualifying pace into an opportunity for their first win of the season!

2025 F1 Grand Prix of Singapore — Results & aftermath

Russell reigns supreme to take victory in Singapore; Verstappen holds of Norris for P2; McLaren claim Constructors’ Title but tensions between P3 Norris & P4 Piastri come to a head after early race contact

Pics courtesy GrandPrix247.com

Mercedes’ George Russell dominated Sunday’s Singapore Grand Prix, converting his pole position into an easy victory and avenging a last lap shunt here at Marina Bay Street Circuit back in 2023 that cost him a podium on that day. But it was all smiles for the British ace this year, as no one could really match his race pace and Russell controlled brilliantly from the front, masterfully managing his tires, deftly navigating a slew of back markers in the late going and leaving his closest competitors well in the rearview mirror. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was the runner up over five-seconds adrift, although the Dutch Master did manage to hold off the best efforts of McLaren’s Lando Norris to secure that solid P2. Norris, who was never able to really put a move on Verstappen on this tight, difficult-to-overtake circuit despite his extreme proximity to the Red Bull’s gearbox as the race wound down, nevertheless came home ahead of his teammate and championship rival Oscar Piastri. Norris gained a position on Piastri with some aggressive maneuvers on the opening lap and then consolidated his eventual P3 finish when the McLaren mechanics botched Piastri’s only pit stop on Lap 27 of this grueling 62-lap contest to the tune of an achingly slow 5.2 seconds. All in all, it was a fairly miserable day for Piastri individually, the Aussie points leader feeling hard done by Norris’s aggressive, wheel banging opening lap pass and thereafter making his displeasure known early and often on the team radio. But the McLaren pit wall played it straight in Singapore and the team was rewarded with enough points on the day between Norris’s third place and Piastri’s P4 to easily clinch their second Constructors’ title in succession with six rounds still remaining and the tenth in the team’s illustrious history. So, Piastri had to grin and bear it for the sake of such a great occasion for the Papaya organization and their faithful fans. But going forward, and with his points lead over Norris trimmed to just 22, Piastri will no longer be playing the good soldier as he duels with his teammate for the ultimate individual prize in Formula 1 and both talented young pilots hunt for their first F1 crown.

Top 10 finishers of the Singapore GP:

POS.

NO.

DRIVER

TEAM

LAPS

TIME / RETIRED

PTS.

1

63

George Russell

Mercedes

62

1:40:22.367

25

2

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing

62

+5.430s

18

3

4

Lando Norris

McLaren

62

+6.066s

15

4

81

\Oscar Piastri

McLaren

62

+8.146s

12

5

12

Kimi Antonelli

Mercedes

62

+33.681s

10

6

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

62

+45.996s

8

7

14

Fernando Alonso

Aston Martin

62

+80.667s

6

8

44

Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari

62

+85.251s

4

9

87

Oliver Bearman

Haas

62

+93.527s

2

10

55

Carlos Sainz

Williams

61

+1 lap

1

Complete race results amiable via Formula1.com.

The next race is in a fortnight, as the teams make the long journey across the Pacific to Austin, Texas and Circuit of the Americas, the home of the United States Grand Prix and Round 19 of the 2025 season. COTA is a very different animal than Marina Bay and its long straights and high speed curves should be more suitable to McLaren than the last two street circuits. As for whether bygones will be bygones between Piastri and Norris, that’s another matter entirely. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

 

2025 F1 Grand Prix of Singapore — Qualifying results

Russell earns second Mercedes pole of season with blistering effort at Marina Bay; Verstappen a frustrated P2; Piastri secures P3 ahead of adrift Norris in P5

 

Top 190 qualifiers of the Singapore GP:

POS.

NO.

DRIVER

TEAM

Q1

Q2

Q3

LAPS

1

63

George Russell

Mercedes

1:29.928

1:29.562

1:29.158

18

2

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing

1:30.028

1:29.572

1:29.340

18

3

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren

1:30.313

1:29.813

1:29.524

20

4

12

Kimi Antonelli

Mercedes

1:30.036

1:29.649

1:29.537

17

5

4

Lando Norris

McLaren

1:29.932

1:29.809

1:29.586

20

6

44

Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari

1:29.765

1:29.936

1:29.688

20

7

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

1:30.370

1:29.914

1:29.784

22

8

6

Isack Hadjar

Racing Bulls

1:30.214

1:30.016

1:29.846

19

9

87

Oliver Bearman

Haas

1:30.420

1:30.076

1:29.868

17

10

14

Fernando Alonso

Aston Martin

1:30.745

1:30.054

1:29.955

18

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live beginning at 8 AM Eastern on ESPN here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2025 F1 Grand Prix of Azerbaijan — Results & aftermath

Verstappen dominates in Baku for easy win; Russell rallies through illness for P2, Sainz earns maiden Williams podium in P3; Piastri crashes out on opening lap but P7 Norris fails to truly capitalize

Red Bull ace Max Verstappen earned his second victory in a row with a dominant win from pole at Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix. At the highly technical yet also high speed Baku City Circuit, Verstappen showed his flawless precision and race management, leading every lap of the 51-lap contest, setting the fastest lap and gapping the second place Mercedes of George Russell by a whopping 14.6 seconds at the finish. Carlos Sainz capitalized on his somewhat fortunate P2 starting position after Saturday’s highly chaotic qualifying to earn his first podium with Williams in P3. Meanwhile, McLaren had a weekend to forget, as championship points leader Oscar Piastri followed up his crash out in Q3 on Saturday with a very similar shunt on the race’s opening lap that ended his day in dramatic fashion. But despite being fated to score zero points on the day, teammate and chief championship rival Lando Norris could not make up much ground due to his own mediocre qualifying effort, the young Briton finishing exactly where he started when all was said and done in P7. Norris was therefore only able to reduce his deficit to Piastri by 6 points, the Aussie still retaining a 25-point cushion with seven rounds remaining. Still, as the home stretch of the 2025 season comes into view, Piastri looks mentally vulnerable for the first time and he will be staring at the walls of another very claustrophobic street circuit when the teams unload in Singapore in two weeks.

Kimi Antonelli continued his recent resurgence, making it an excellent day for the Silver Arrows by complimenting Russell’s P2 with a solid fourth place result. Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson also had an excellent race, holding off multiple contenders in the final laps to secure an impressive P5. Teammate Isack Hadjar also contributed to the Racing Bulls points haul by coming home in P10.  Those unable to pass Lawson as the laps ran out were the second Red Bull of Yuki Tsunoda, who nevertheless placed an encouraging P6, as well as the frustrated Norris in P7 and the best placed Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton in P8. Hamilton got the better of his Scuderia stablemate Charles Leclerc with a pass late in the going, relegating the Monegasque to P9. Regardless, it was not a strong weekend for Ferrari and they will be keen to leave Baku behind for Singapore and the friendly confines of the Marina Bay Street Circuit, where they have traditionally run very well under the lights.

Top 10 finishers of the Azerbaijan GP:

POS.

NO.

DRIVER

TEAM

LAPS

TIME / RETIRED

PTS.

1

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing

51

1:33:26.408

25

2

63

George Russell

Mercedes

51

+14.609s

18

3

55

Carlos Sainz

Williams

51

+19.199s

15

4

12

Kimi Antonelli

Mercedes

51

+21.760s

12

5

30

Liam Lawson

Racing Bulls

51

+33.290s

10

6

22

Yuki Tsunoda

Red Bull Racing

51

+33.808s

8

7

4

Lando Norris

McLaren

51

+34.227s

6

8

44

Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari

51

+36.310s

4

9

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

51

+36.774s

2

10

6

Isack Hadjar

Racing Bulls

51

+38.982s

1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in a fortnight at another demanding street circuit — the nighttime Singapore GP from the beautifully illuminated Marina Bay Street Circuit. Verstappen will be looking to keep his mojo working, Piastri will surely be looking to regroup while Norris ratchets up the pressure, Mercedes will try to keep climbing and Ferrari will be desperate to get back to the sharp end of the field. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!