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2023 F1 Grand Prix of the Netherlands — Results & aftermath

Verstappen prevails for record-tying ninth win on the trot in chaotic, rain-affected Dutch Grand Prix; Alonso returns to podium with masterful P2; superb Gasly promoted to P3 due to Perez penalty

Even the unpredictable elements at the Dutch seaside Zandvoort circuit could not prevent the great Max Verstappen from adding to his record-setting victory pace at his hometown race. With rain chucking it down at the very start of Sunday’s 72-lap Dutch Grand Prix and then again during the closing stanza, forcing split second strategy decisions up and down the pit wall, Verstappen and his Red Bull brain trust made all the right calls en route to another dominant victory. It was the points leader’s record trying ninth win in a row, drawing him level with the great Sebastian Vettel, who first lifted this team named after a sports drink to the pinnacle of motorsport. Proving himself a worthy successor to the German four time champ, the Dutch wunderkind wowed the virtual sea of his sodden and ecstatic orange-clad fans by surviving the opening two laps on slicks as the rain began and then two Safety Car periods that erased his cushion. The latter deluge began on Lap 61, leading to first a VSC three laps later and then a Red Flag due to cars aquaplaning off the track en masse. Nevertheless, the Dutch master held off the late charge of wily old Fernando Alonso and pulled out his winning margin over the final five green flag laps to 3.744-seconds over the Spaniard. That also made it eleven wins from thirteen races run in 2023 and increased his points lead over teammate Sergio Perez to a whopping 128. While Verstappen’s dominance may make for sometimes less than thrilling and lopsided victories, this race had excitement galore due to the changeable weather and abundance of incident. In any event, one has to give the devil his due in saying that Verstappen is head and shoulders above all the other contenders in what is shaping up to be one of the legendary individual seasons in the sport’s history.

Nearly as good was Aston Martin’s Alonso, who started from P5 but used his mastery of touch and feel in the wet to consistently push to the front whatever the track conditions. By Lap 13 and after a switch to Intermediate wets and then back to Soft Pirellis, Alonso had worked his way to P3, a position he looked destined to be locked into for the duration. But he got a huge break when the heavy showers hit and the field were once again forced to come in for wet weather tires. The P2 Red Bull of Perez dove to the pits for Inters on Lap 61, which looked like the shrewd move at the time. The pursuing Alonso came in a lap latter for the same compound but the rain only intensified from there and the Red Bull team pulled first Verstappen in for the full Wet tires on Lap 63 and then, after Perez had slid off the track in T1, they called him in for the same on Lap 64. But with a big shunt by Alfa Romeo’s Zho Guanyu directly after Perez had his own off, the race director first deployed a Virtual Safety Car but then determined that the only safe course of action was a Red Flag. That trapped Perez in the pits as the rest of the field trundled round to get back into them for safe retrieval of Zho’s Alfa and barrier repair. While Perez was allowed to keep P3 and not relegated any further, as that was his last timed position, he had lost out to Alonso on P2. Making matters worse for the Mexican, he somehow accrued a pit speed violation on that fateful pit entry and was slapped with a 5-second time penalty. Alonso easily held off Perez, as he made a hard if eventually futile charge at catching Verstappen at the point. Meanwhile, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, who drove a superb race, kept himself close enough to the second Red Bull to inherit the last step on the podium when Perez was docked those five-seconds after the checkers flew. It was brace of brilliant drives and results by Alonso and Gasly and another difficult day at the office for Perez when all was said and done.

Carlos Sainz was the lone Ferrari to make it home after teammate Charles Leclerc DNF’d due to floor damage on Lap 42. While Sainz held on for P5, it was another confused and disappointing day for the Scuderia, with Leclerc’s pointless retirement preceded by a botched stop for Inters on Lap 2. The Monegasque driver made his own call to box but the team weren’t ready for him with the tires, making for an agonizingly long time spent stationary. Heading into Monza next week, Ferrari will be under immense pressure to do better in front of their rabid tifosi. Mercedes Lewis Hamilton was likewise his team’s lone representative in the Top 10, recovering from a poor qualifying and a P13 start to take a hard earned P6. Teammate George Russell’s day came to grief late in the race when he suffered a puncture dicing with McLaren’s Lando Norris on lap 67 and was forced into an emergency pit stop that pushed him back to P17 and last among the remaining runners. Norris survived that incident to come home P7, with teammate Oscar Piastri not quite as quick in P9. Williams’ Alexander Albon did an excellent job after running his opening stint on Soft tires all the way to Lap 44 despite the drenched circuit, a crazy feat that set him up for his eventual P8 finish. The second Alpine of Esteban Ocon took the last point in P10 after the team’s gamble to be the first to go on full Wet tires on Lap 62 didn’t quite pay off due to the Red Flag.

Top 10 finishers of the Dutch GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 72 2:24:04.411 25
2 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 72 +3.744s 19
3 10 Pierre Gasly ALPINE RENAULT 72 +7.058s 15
4 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 72 +10.068s 12
5 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 72 +12.541s 10
6 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 72 +13.209s 8
7 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 72 +13.232s 6
8 23 Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES 72 +15.155s 4
9 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 72 +16.580s 2
10 31 Esteban Ocon ALPINE RENAULT 72 +18.346s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in but a week’s time as we head into September — the Italian Grand Prix from Monza, the Temple of Speed. Verstappen will be gunning for the record for consecutive race wins and the rest of the contenders will be hoping that somehow the ultra-fast circuit suits their hot rods a little better. And, at their home circuit, Ferrari will simply be praying for both of their cars to perform well and with no embarrassing mistakes for the Italian media to harp on. 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 Hungary — Qualifying results

Hamilton comes up huge in Hungary, upsets Verstappen to take pole;  Norris third fastest under new qualifying tire rules

With the smart money on Red Bull’s peerless Max Verstappen to nab his sixth consecutive pole position in what has evolved into an epically dominant year for the Dutchman, his old nemesis and some new qualifying rules conspired to thwart that possibility during Saturday qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Faced with a new experimental mandate for this weekend that cars only be allowed to run Hard Pirrelis in Q1, Mediums in Q2 and then Softs in Q3, it was Mercedes ace and seven time champion Lewis Hamilton who found the fastest form at the Hungaroring, one his favorite circuits. Hamilton out-dueled Verstappen by .003-seconds to wrest away the top spot on the grid for tomorrow’s race and earn his first pole since the penultimate race in 2021 in Saudi Arabia. That extended Hamilton’s pole record to 104, with nine of those coming here in Hungary, and left the veteran English pilot hoarse with delight at the achievement after a multi-year struggle by the Silver Arrows to get back on terms with the rapid Red Bulls. While Verstappen was his usual disgruntled self when presented with anything less than the best possible results, you can be sure he will be fired up at the start of the race tomorrow to take back what he perceives as rightfully his and rapid getaway into his seventh consecutive victory. Likewise, Hamilton will be looking to extend today’s high and fend off Verstappen for his first win since starting from pole in Jeddah that fateful year of 2021. It should be a titanic battle between two of the best in the business when the lights go out tomorrow and  let’s hope it lasts all race long.

Slotting in at P3 was not a teammate of either man but rather the McLaren of Lando Norris, with his stablemate Oscar Piastri setting the fourth fastest time, a fine result for the absolutely reinvigorated McLaren F1 program after Norris scored a P2 result at Silverstone a fortnight ago and Piastri finished P4. In fact, the Red Bull and Mercedes wingmen both had poor to disastrous days in the shadow of Hamilton and Verstappen’s mighty laps. Red Bull’s Sergio Perez was only fast enough for P9 on the day, though the veteran Mexican driver will be at least somewhat pleased that he finally got through to Q3 again after an inexplicable five race absence. It was far worse for the second Silver Arrow of George Russell when the team botched his strategy in Q1 and brought him out late amidst too much traffic, which cost the young Englishman dearly. Russell was unable to get away cleanly with so many cars trying to set up their own final runs and will be forced to start way back in P18 on the grid on a track where overtaking is nigh impossible despite what is clearly a reinvigorated Merc chassis.

It was a good day for Alfa Romeo on what has been a fairly miserable season, as Zhou Guanyu was able to get himself up to P5 and veteran Valtteri Bottas slotted in P7. They sandwiched the the lone Ferrari of Charles Leclerc in P6 after teammate Carlos Sainz struggled on his Medium tires in Q2 and wound up only eleventh fastest in that session. Rounding out the top ten qualifiers, Fernando Alonso was P8 in the now back-to-earth Aston Martin and Nico Hulkenberg had another fine quali effort in his Haas for P10. And a special mention for Daniil Ricciardo on his return to first team status in F1 after supplanting the struggling Nick Devries at AlphaTauri. The veteran Australian hot shoe with the giant smile outqualfied his teammate Yuki Tsunoda P13 to P18 on his first race weekend back in the saddle since last year’s finale in Abu Dhabi when he finsihed up an unhappy stint with McLaren. It’s good to see the affable Aussie back on the grid even in what has so far been subpar equipment.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Hungarian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:18.577 1:17.427 1:16.609 20
2 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:18.318 1:17.547 1:16.612 21
3 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:18.697 1:17.328 1:16.694 20
4 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:18.464 1:17.571 1:16.905 20
5 24 Zhou Guanyu ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 1:18.143 1:17.700 1:16.971 22
6 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:18.440 1:17.580 1:16.992 21
7 77 Valtteri Bottas ALFA ROMEO FERRARI 1:18.775 1:17.563 1:17.034 20
8 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:18.580 1:17.701 1:17.035 21
9 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:18.360 1:17.675 1:17.045 23
10 27 Nico Hulkenberg HAAS FERRARI 1:18.695 1:17.652 1:17.186 20

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 9AM Eastern here in the States. One can only hope that the razor’s edge battle that we saw today between Hamilton and Verstappen will continue on throughout tomorrow’s Grand Prix — hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Great Britain — Results & aftermath

Verstappen takes sixth victory in a row at competitive British GP; Norris earns P2 honors with magnificent drive for greatly improved McLaren, teammate Piastri P4; Hamilton recovers with help from Safety Car to podium after P7 start

Max Verstappen and Red Bull continued their winning ways on Sunday at the British Grand Prix, as the Dutch ace notched his sixth consecutive victory, which also made it eleven on the trot for Formula 1’s most dominant team. However, the competition seemed to step up their collective game this weekend at Silverstone and, while never really being challenged for the win, Verstappen was held to a relatively modest margin of victory by his high standards of “only” about 3.8 seconds over the runner up. Even more so than yet another Verstappen win, that runner up was the story of the day because it was McLaren’s Lando Norris who took second place, converting his excellent qualifying effort into a hard earned, stressful but ultimately joyous P2. In fact, Norris even passed Verstappen at the beginning of the race after getting the better start from the ostensibly disadvantaged P2 side of the grid. While the young Englishman could only hold off the charging Red Bull until Lap 5, it still said the world about the progress that team McLaren have made within this season to haul their car up from the midpack doldrums and into genuine contention. The English fans roared their approval for the local team’s exploits on the day, which also included rookie Oscar Piastri overcoming an ill-timed Safety Car on Lap 33 of this 52-lap contest to take P4. While the timing of that SC and missing out on the cheap stop did cost the young Aussie a position from his starting grid spot, if anyone had asked him or team McLaren if they’d have been happy with a P4 as their secondary result on the day you can bet they all would have signed up for that.

The main beneficiary of that Safety Car, which immediately followed the virtual version when the stewards determined that the stopped Haas of Kevin Magnussen was going to require significant time to remove form the circuit, was Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton. With Piastri having already pitted under green flag conditions on Lap 29, Hamilton was able to dive to the pits along with Verstappen and Norris under the full Safety Car, which then slowed the field to such an extent that Hamilton was able to come out in front of Piastri in P3. It was quite the opportunistic recovery for the seven-time World Champion after a lackluster qualifying saw him starting the race in P7. But there always seems to be magic for Lewis at Silverstone, his favorite track, where he has won an astounding eight times in his career. And, for a while on this day, it almost looked as if Hamilton might vault past Norris and maybe try to take on Verstappen for the overall victory. Both Verstappen and Hamilton made the switch off of their opening Medium Pirelli tires onto the Softs, while both McLarens decided on the relative security of new Hards to finish out the race. While it was hearts in mouths stuff for McLaren wondering if they had made a strategic error when Hamilton was all over the back of Norris on those first few laps after the restart on Lap 39, Norris was able to fend off Hamilton’s best efforts on the stickier rubber until his own tires switched on and the pace advantage evaporated. Likewise, Hamilton’s teammate George Russell could not quite get around Piastri on his slightly older Mediums against Piastri’s equally old Hards, both of them having pitted earlier on Lap 28 and 29 respectively and therefore missing out on the cheaper stop. Russell’s stop was also about a second and a half slower, which proved crucial. So, while Piastri then lost out to Hamilton on the Safety Car pit sequence, he was still able to hold off Russell for the rest of the race, with George having to make do with P5 as the checkers flew.

Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez was forced into another recovery drive after getting knocked out in the first or second round of quali for the fifth consecutive time, an absolutely perplexing turn of events for a driver of his caliber. In the end, Perez was able to work his way up to a P6 finish, which certainly deserves some plaudits. But there is no doubt that the Mexican pilot has got to put an end to his inexplicable qualifying woes if he is going to be factor in the second half of the season. Fernando Alonso made the best of a bad situation with an Aston Martin that didn’t really suit the compromise-heavy Silverstone Circuit, the Spaniard driving calmly and competently to salvage P8. The team are hoping that some new upgrades and the much different nature of the Hungaroring will again make them more competitive two weeks hence. If Aston were disappointed with their run in Britain then Ferrari have to be appalled at their dismal day in Northamptonshire. The Prancing Horses were easy meat late in the race as both Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc suffered the ignominy of being passed not only by Perez but also the Williams of Alexander Albon and could only watch helplessly as the latter secured an excellent P8 result. That relegated Leclerc to P9 and Sainz to P10, a depressing setback after the Scuderia appeared to be making progress with a P2 for Leclerc and a P6 for Sainz at the last race in Austria a week ago. The fabled team from Maranello must be praying that the one-off was here at full size Silverstone and not an illusory over performance at the very short Red Bull Ring.

Top 10 finishers of the British GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 52 1:25:16.938 26
2 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 52 +3.798s 18
3 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 52 +6.783s 15
4 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 52 +7.776s 12
5 63 George Russell MERCEDES 52 +11.206s 10
6 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 52 +12.882s 8
7 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 52 +17.193s 6
8 23 Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES 52 +17.878s 4
9 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 52 +18.689s 2
10 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 52 +19.448s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in two week’s time: the Hungarian Grand Prix at the tricky Hungaroring. While it won’t be the traditional last race before the summer break this season, it should prove an intriguing event to discover if McLaren’s massive pace improvement can be sustained, if mighty Mercedes can punch back against those upstart efforts and whether Ferrari and Aston Martin are now going the wrong way. And, of course, Verstappen’s streak has got to end sometime, doesn’t it? And Perez can’t keep qualifying outside the top ten, can he? Hope to see you in a fortnight to find out all the answers!

2023 F1 Grand Prix of Great Britain — Qualifying results

Verstappen notches fifth consecutive pole amidst tight competition at Silverstone; McLaren in the mix with stunning Norris P2, Piastri P3; luckless Perez out in Q1

On a thrilling day of Saturday qualifying for tomorrow’s British Grand Prix at the venerable Silverstone Circuit, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen overcame nine other highly competitive contenders to notch his fifth consecutive pole. In a tricky three-part quali session that started out wet and drizzly and evolved into a a dry and sunny affair by the end, Red Bull’s ace once again pulled out enough to win when it mattered to claim the top spot on the grid. Perhaps due to the track rubbering in after being washed Saturday morning or perhaps because the performance gap is tightening up, the biggest surprise of the day was who claimed P2 and P3 when the checkers flew in Q3. That would be a stunning effort by McLaren and its young studs, Englishman Lando Norris and Australian rookie Oscar Piastri, who gave Verstappen a real run for his money and outperformed Ferrari, Mercedes and Aston Martin in the process. Norris will line up alongside Max on the front row and Piastri will back them up on row two in P3. The team were ebullient with the results and it seems like their recent upgrades to both cars really paid dividends in qualifying trim. It remains to be seen if McLaren can convert that newly discovered raw single lap pace into long haul race pace but the optimism is certainly running high at the team and amidst the rabid fanbase of this storied F1 marque.

McLaren’s success at Silverstone came at the expense of a trio of more highly regarded teams. First among those was Ferrari, with Charles Leclerc only able to set the fourth fatstest time of the session and Carlos Sainz slotting in at P5. Then it was Mercedes’ turn to be disappointed, as they saw George Russel come home P6 and Lewis Hamilton behind him in P7. It must have been particularly maddening for Hamilton at his home Grand Prix in a place where he has usually dominated in his career and after looking like he might be the one challenging Verstappen earlier in Q3. Aston Martin were also miffed after the ignominy of seeing Williams Alexander Albon better the vaunted Fernando Alonso, P8 to P9, as well as watching Lance Stroll get bounced out in Q2. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly rounded out the Top 10 qualifiers.

With plenty of grouchiness to go around in an unsettled paddock, undoubtedly the most distraught driver on the day was Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez who, astonishingly, failed to make it out of Q1. Perez has now been unable to make it to Q3 in the last five race weekends, an astonishing statistic. To be fair he was hard done by today when an ill-timed Red Flag forced him to scramble to set a time but then had to wait with ever-cooling tires at the front of the pit lane until the track went green again. With the circuit damp but drying Perez set his fast lap too early as time ran out and was easily overtaken by succeeding cars and dropped into the bottom five cut line. Once again, the veteran Mexican will have to fight from way back in the field starting from P15 tomorrow after Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas was DQ’d for lack of fuel. While he was able to recover for a podium last week in Austria from the exact same starting position, that is no way for a putative championship contender to line up on a weekly basis. Still, with Perez forced into aggression, the grid somewhat jumbled and some new truly fast cars added to the mix, it should make for an exciting day at the races.

Top 10 qualifiers for then British GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:29.428 1:27.702 1:26.720 26
2 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:28.917 1:28.042 1:26.961 26
3 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:29.874 1:27.845 1:27.092 26
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:29.143 1:28.361 1:27.136 25
5 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:29.865 1:28.265 1:27.148 26
6 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:29.412 1:28.782 1:27.155 24
7 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:29.415 1:28.545 1:27.211 25
8 23 Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES 1:29.466 1:28.067 1:27.530 25
9 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 1:29.949 1:28.368 1:27.659 24
10 10 Pierre Gasly ALPINE RENAULT 1:29.533 1:28.751 1:27.689 24

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 beginning at 10AM Eastern here in the States. While Verstappen remains the overwhelming favorite to claim his sixth win on the trot, the performance gap seems to have tightened throughout the field. So, podium places are very much up for grabs, perhaps even the top step. Plus, wet weather is always a wild card in this part of England and can undo the best laid plans of even the most talented drivers. 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!