Tag Archives: Racing Bulls

2025 F1 Grand Prix of Austria — Results & aftermath

Norris prevails over Piastri in chaotic Austrian GP; Ferrari gain in Constrcutors’ with Leclerc P3, Hamilton P4; Red Bull score zero at home race after Verstappen taken out by Antonelli on Lap 1, sloppy Tsunoda finishes last

A race after crashing out in a clash with his teammate in Canada, McLaren’s Lando Norris kept his cool under the hot Spielberg sun, fending off his chief rival and fellow Papaya driver Oscar Piastri to take victory at Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix. In a chaotic race that saw four retirements, including the usually impervious Red Bull of Max Verstappen, Norris reestablished his championship potential by controlling the race from the front after starting from the pole, deftly weaving his way through back-markers at the very short and intense Red Bull Ring and executing a very clean final stint under pressure to earn a valuable win. Despite a late race charge by Piastri after the final round of pit stops in this 70-lap contest, Norris withstood the challenge, as his young Aussie rival and current points leader could never quite close up enough to get the DRS and find a way by. Norris’s 25-points on the day versus Piastri’s second place 18 tightened up his deficit to a mere 15-points and, most importantly, restored the young Briton’s confidence after his error in judgement in Canada. It will be game on at Silverstone next weekend, where Norris will enjoy a slight home race advantage from the fans, while Piastri will be looking to reassert his dominance over his teammate and reignite his championship campaign.

As if to drive home the point of McLaren’s absolute dominance this Grand Prix weekend, Not only did Norris and Piastri finish 1-2 but the third place Ferrari of Charles Leclerc was nearly 20-seconds in arrears when he took the checkered flag.  Still, with stablemate Lewis Hamilton slotting in at P4, it was a good day for the Scuderia in the points, especially on a day where their nearest rivals for second place in the Constructors’ had downright dismal outings. Ferrari couldn’t have drawn it up any better when Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli made an overly optimistic dove bomb move on Lap 1 steaming into Turn 3. The Silver Arrow’s rear tires locked up under breaking and Antonelli slammed into the rear of Verstappen’s Red Bull, ending both their races before they could even compete a single circuit. To show just how rare that DNF was, it ended Verstappen’s astonishing 31-race scoring streak, a catastrophe for the team, as Yuki Tsunoda ran a ragged race and came home P16 when all was said and done, plumb last among the surviving cars. Still, it must be noted that Verstappen put himself into jeopardy by only qualifying P7 and Tsunoda is only the latest in a long line of second Red Bull drivers who are unable to find any kind of pace in the car. So, Red Bull’s situation might be even more grave than their zero-points result in Sunday in Austria before most of their corporate brass. For Antonelli, it was a brutal comedown after scoring his first podium in Canada two weeks ago and a reminder that they don’t call them “rookies” for nothing. George Russell salvaged at least a little something on the day, finishing where he started in P5, but Mercedes still saw Ferrari overtake them for P2 in the Constructors’ one race after it seemed they were ascendent after a 1-3 in Montreal. They’ll be hoping to get back on terms when they fire the engines up again in Silverstone.

Places 5 through 10 were nothing but happy surprises and good vibes, with Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson continuing his rebound from his short-lived tenure with Red Bull at the start of the season by scoring his best ever F1 finish in P6. Wily old vet Fernando Alonso kept his Aston Martin out of trouble and the pursuing whippersnapper Gabriel Bortoleto behind him en route to seventh place. It was still an outstanding day for Kick Sauber, with not only rookie Bortoleto driving superbly to score his first F1 points in P8 but also veteran teammate Nico Hulkenberg adding to the team total in P9. Haas’s Esteban Ocon made it two races in a row in the points with a solid P10, no doubt helped by the slew of retirements, including both midfield-running Williams.

Top 10 finishers of the Austrian GP:

POS.

NO.

DRIVER

TEAM

LAPS

TIME / RETIRED

PTS.

1

4

Lando Norris

McLaren

70

1:23:47.693

25

2

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren

70

+2.695s

18

3

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

70

+19.820s

15

4

44

Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari

70

+29.020s

12

5

63

George Russell

Mercedes

70

+62.396s

10

6

30

Liam Lawson

Racing Bulls

70

+67.754s

8

7

14

Fernando Alonso

Aston Martin

69

+1 lap

6

8

5

Gabriel Bortoleto

Kick Sauber

69

+1 lap

4

9

27

Nico Hulkenberg

Kick Sauber

69

+1 lap

2

10

31

Esteban Ocon

Haas

69

+1 lap

1

Complete race results available via Fomula1.com.

The next race is in but a week’s time — the British GP from the legendary Silverstone Circuit, the grandaddy of them all in F1. We’ll see if  McLaren can keep pulling away from the field at a very different kind of circuit than the Red Bull Ring and, if so, whether the Piastri-Norris battle may once again lead to an internecine clash that opens the door for the other contenders. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2025 F1 Grand Prix of Austria — Qualifying results

Norris claims pole at Red Bull ring ahead of P2 Leclerc, teammate Piastri in P3

Looking to rebound from the clash with his teammate that ended his race in Canada prematurely two weeks ago, McLaren’s Lando Norris blistered the field to earn pole during Saturday Qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix. Norris mastered the short and tricky Red Bull ring to the tune of a record-setting 1:03.971 fast lap, half a second ahead of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari and a few tenths more than that versus McLaren stablemate and current points leader Oscar Piastri. After the the Papaya duo collided late in the race in Quebec a fortnight ago, costing Norris any points at all and nearly taking out Piastri as well in the process, Lando will be desperate to get away and stay away from all of the other contenders, run a clean race and take home maximum points to reignite his championship aspirations. With Leclerc’s Prancing Horse slotting in at P2 and teammate Lewis Hamilton pulling one out of the bag good enough for the fourth fastest time, Piastri could well have his hands full just trying to fend off the Ferraris, let alone getting  back on terms with Norris, who frankly looks like he has the edge here in Spielberg.

Mercedes suffered by comparison when measured against McLaren and the Scuderia, perhaps due to the extremely hot conditions here at the circuit, with George Russell only good enough for P5 and rookie teammate Kimi Antonelli scuffling his way to a lowly P9 spot on the grid. Racing Bulls Liam Lawson, who has really come on after a very rough start to the year in the senior Red Bull team, shocked his old teammate Max Verstappen by out-qualifying the Flying Dutchman, P7 to P8. Verstappen may have gotten a taste of what his wingmen usually have to deal with, as the four–time champ complained that his car was literally un-drivable. He struggled with snap oversteer repeatedly over the course of these short but demanding laps, and teammate Yuki Tsunoda fared even worse, coming home a shocking P18 and rueing his lack of front grip. On the other side of the coin, Kick Sauber rookie Gabriel Bortoleto achieved his best-ever qualifying result with a very impressive time good enough for P8. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly rounded out the Top 10 in P10, unable to improve his time when he spun on his final quali effort.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Austrian GP:

POS.

NO.

DRIVER

TEAM

Q1

Q2

Q3

LAPS

1

4

Lando Norris

McLaren

1:04.672

1:04.410

1:03.971

18

2

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

1:05.197

1:04.734

1:04.492

21

3

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren

1:04.966

1:04.556

1:04.554

19

4

44

Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari

1:05.115

1:04.896

1:04.582

21

5

63

George Russell

Mercedes

1:05.189

1:04.860

1:04.763

18

6

30

Liam Lawson

Racing Bulls

1:05.017

1:05.041

1:04.926

17

7

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing

1:05.106

1:04.836

1:04.929

18

8

5

Gabriel Bortoleto

Kick Sauber

1:05.123

1:04.846

1:05.132

21

9

12

Kimi Antonelli

Mercedes

1:05.178

1:05.052

1:05.276

17

10

10

Pierre Gasly

Alpine

1:05.054

1:04.846

1:05.649

21

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Sunday’s race airs live beginning at 9AM Eastern on ESPN here in the States. Hope to see you then to find out if Norris can keep his quali momentum going and get his championship campaign back on track with a victory, or if Lady Luck — and his teammate Piastri and the two charging Ferraris — have other plans in store.

2025 F1 Grand Prix of Spain — Results & aftermath

Piastri bookends triple header with win in eventful Spanish GP, Norris earns P2 as McLaren keep rolling; Leclerc scores opportunistic podium after late Safety Car; Verstappen loses cool while battling with Russell, penalized 10-seconds and dropped to P10 from fifth place

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri prevailed over teammate Lando Norris and a chaotic late race Safety Car restart to take victory in the Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Sunday. Despite having a reputation for fostering processionals, the circuit served up a very tense and nervy contest, with the leading teams attempting different tire strategies that put the respective pit walls under constant pressure. In the end, McLaren capped off a grueling triple header with three wins in a row after Piastri won in Emilia-Romagna and here in Spain and Norris taking the coveted Monaco Grand Prix victory a week ago. While Piastri never really seemed under threat, starting from pole and leading the first three quarters of the race with aplomb, a late Safety Car on Lap 55 of this 66-lap tilt brought his closest rivals, notably teammate Norris and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, right back up to his gearbox as his lead was erased prior to the end of the Safety Car on Lap 60. But the young Aussie controlled the restart like a multi-year veteran, jamming on the brakes to balk Norris’s momentum and then sprinting away to reestablish his leading gap, which he would never relinquish en route to the checkered flag.

Meanwhile Norris also benefitted after the top ten runners all boxed under the SC for fresh Pirellis because, while he and Piastri still had a set of used Soft Pirellis to finish out the race after two previous stops, Verstappen only had a new set of Hards remaining due after running a counterintuitive but still quite effective three-stop strategy. One wonders if he might have been better served by staying out, as this fourth tire change disadvantaged the Dutchman greatly when things resumed and Piastri sped away to end Lap 60 and begin Lap 61. When Verstappen put his foot down for the restart from P3, his car squirmed as the cold Hards struggles for grip and he instantly fell into the clutches of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Leclerc put an overtaking move on the Red Bull down the start-finish straight, with Verstappen banging into the Prancing Horses side pod for good measure as he desperately tried to close the door.

To rub salt into the already irate Verstappen’s wounds, he next found himself going mano-a-mano with Mercedes’ George Russell, with Russell also attempting to pass as Verstappen took the escape road in an effort to avoid contact. The Red Bull team were quickly on the blower to inform Max that he would have to give Russell P4 due to leaving the track. The incredulous Verstappen instead closed the door while Russell believed he was ceding the position, smashing into the Silver Arrow’s side pods.  Fortunately, neither car was badly damaged, though Verstappen was issued a 10-second time penalty for his reckless maneuver, dropping him from P5 at the line all the way down to P10, a massive points loss for for team and driver for a brief moment of red mist.

This benefitted all the other runners from sixth to ninth, with the improbable Kick Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg getting the greatest prize after an already excellent day’s work by being promoted to an astonishing P5, the team’s first points since the opening round in Australia. The second Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton slotted in at P6 on a day when the seven-time champ struggled mightily with rear tire grip. Impressive Racing Bulls rookie Isack Hadjar was vaulted to P7, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly took P8 and Spaniard Fernando Alonso scored in front of the adoring home fans in P9, a fine result on a day when Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll did not start due to a mysterious post-qualifying injury.

Top1 10 finishes of the Spanish GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

LAPS

TIME/RETIRED

PTS

1

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

66

1:32:57.375

25

2

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

66

+2.471s

18

3

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

66

+10.455s

15

4

63

George Russell

Mercedes

66

+11.359s

12

5

27

Nico Hulkenberg

Kick Sauber Ferrari

66

+13.648s

10

6

44

Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari

66

+15.508s

8

7

6

Isack Hadjar

Racing Bulls Honda RBPT

66

+16.022s

6

8

10

Pierre Gasly

Alpine Renault

66

+17.882s

4

9

14

Fernando Alonso

Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes

66

+21.564s

2

10

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

66

+21.826s

1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

2025 F1 Grand Prix of Spain — Qualifying results

Piastri pips Norris for pole in Barcelona; Verstappen heads Russell, P3 to P4

In a tense and intriguing Saturday Qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix, McLaren’s Lando Norris set the ultimate one-lap pace with a blistering final effort to wrest pole position from his teammate, Lando Norris. with Norris sitting atop the pylon ahead of the final flying laps of Q3, Piastri was letter perfect in all three sectors of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, while Norris seemed to overdrive on his ultimate effort and ended up losing time to his hard-charging Aussie teammate. It was Piastri’s fifth pole of the season but only the second front row lockout for team McLaren.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen also saved his best for last, getting the better of the very competitive Mercedes of George Russell, P3 to P4. Both of those elite drivers will be looking to pounce if there is any kind of kerfuffle between the McLaren duo on the opening lap of tomorrow’s race, a distinct possibility as their duel for the championship really heats up. Verstappen’s quali was even more impressive in the context of the second Red Bull of Yuki Tsunoda ending up dead last in P20, while Russell’s Silver Arrows wingman Kimi Antonelli earned a more representative P6. No matter who Red Bull put in that second car, it seems apparent that only Verstappen can get a handle on the tricky RB21.

Filling out a very competitive top seven, Ferrari showed well, with Lewis Hamilton getting the better of Charles Leclerc, P5 to P7, at a track where the seven-time champ has always run well. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly in P8, Racing Bulls’ impressive rookie Isack Hadjar in P9 and home race favorite Fernando Alonso in P10 rounded out the top ten starting spots on the grid.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Spanish GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

Q1

Q2

Q3

LAPS

1

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

1:12.551

1:11.998

1:11.546

14

2

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

1:12.799

1:12.056

1:11.755

15

3

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

1:12.798

1:12.358

1:11.848

12

4

63

George Russell

Mercedes

1:12.806

1:12.407

1:11.848

12

5

44

Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari

1:13.058

1:12.447

1:12.045

15

6

12

Kimi Antonelli

Mercedes

1:12.815

1:12.585

1:12.111

18

7

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

1:13.014

1:12.495

1:12.131

12

8

10

Pierre Gasly

Alpine Renault

1:13.081

1:12.611

1:12.199

18

9

6

Isack Hadjar

Racing Bulls Honda RBPT

1:13.139

1:12.461

1:12.252

15

10

14

Fernando Alonso

Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes

1:13.102

1:12.523

1:12.284

14

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 9 AM Eastern here in the States. While McLaren are clearly the cars to beat, those directly behind them will be hoping they beat themselves and will be looking to pounce on any internecine combat between Piastri and Norris. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2025 F1 Grand Prix of Monaco — Results & aftermath

Norris holds off Leclerc for maiden Monaco win in plodding, strategic race; Piastri P3, Verstappen P4: FIA double-pit stop rule change backfires

Formula 1 and the FIA tried to fix the age old problem of passing at the venerable Monaco circuit and avoid last year’s Red Flag-induced processional by mandating two separate pit stops for Sunday’s dry and sunny Monaco Grand Prix. It did not quite work out exactly as planned. Instead of creating more opportunities for strategic overtakes, the clever team engineers bent the procedure to their own individual goals for the race and ended up using whichever car and driver that qualified lower as a blocker for the car that qualified in the better position to create a safe window for their pit stops. This created long stretches of the 78-lap race where most of the field were running well below full speed, as drivers like Williams’ Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon took turns playing cork in the bottle to the second half of the field to ensure each of them could pit twice without any real threat of being overtaken. In the end, the key to Monaco, as it almost always is in good weather, was the Saturday qualifying order. And pole-sitter Lando Norris, who also set the track record in his McLaren en route to the top starting spot, was able to survive the best efforts of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, as well as having to wade through a slew of back markers, to capture his first Monaco victory.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen did his best to put a spanner in Norris’s works by running a long and not particularly fast second stint from nominal the race lead while waiting for the penultimate lap to make his mandated second stop for fresh Pirellis. This backed Norris into Leclerc late in the going as Verstappen was simply goal hanging for a Safety Car of some sort or a Red Flag, and therefore the proverbial “cheap” pit stop.  But there were no late incidents and once Verstappen ducked in, Norris sped away from Leclerc’s Ferrari rather easily to secure the win, with the Monegasque and last year’s storybook winner settling for second place. Norris’s McLaren teammate Piastri had a bit of wild and wooly weekend in the principality, with plenty of drifting and airborne kerb-banging, but kept it clean enough in the race to bring the car home in P3. Piastri now leads in the Drivers’ championship by a mere three points over the reinvigorated Norris. Verstappen, who had nothing to lose by running  to the bitter end for his second stop due to his massive time cushion over the second Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton, claimed P4 at the finish, exactly where he started.

While Hamilton ran a lonely and unsatisfying race after a bit of clever pit strategy early on to get him out in front of Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar, his P5 was two places better than his penalty-induced seventh place start on the grid and about as much as one could expect for improvement here on the streets of Monte Carlo. Hadjar continued to impress despite ceding a spot to Hamilton early in the race on pit cycles and came home a very solid P6, with Racing Bulls teammate Liam Lawson also scoring for the squad in P8. Esteban Ocon secured his and Haas’s best result of the season in P7, while the Williams duo of Albon and Sainz were rewarded for their slow going shenanigans by scoring valuable team points in P9 and P10 respectively.

Mercedes had a disastrous day as their gamble on running a long first stint on Hard tires with both their cars did not pay off at all due to the slow pace of the midfield runners in front of them. George Russell and Kimi Antonelli scored exactly zero points on a frustrating day the Silver Arrows team will be keen to put behind them as they pack up for the short trip to Barcelona next weekend.

Top 10 finishers of the Monaco GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

LAPS

TIME/RETIRED

PTS

1

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

78

1:40:33.843

25

2

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

78

+3.131s

18

3

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

78

+3.658s

15

4

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

78

+20.572s

12

5

44

Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari

78

+51.387s

10

6

6

Isack Hadjar

Racing Bulls Honda RBPT

77

+1 lap

8

7

31

Esteban Ocon

Haas Ferrari

77

+1 lap

6

8

30

Liam Lawson

Racing Bulls Honda RBPT

77

+1 lap

4

9

23

Alexander Albon

Williams Mercedes

76

+2 laps

2

10

55

Carlos Sainz

Williams Mercedes

76

+2 laps

1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in but a week’s time as F1 wraps up another hectic sequence of three races on the trot with the Spanish Grand Prix from the well-loved Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Hope to see you then at a much more conventional and faster race track where overtaking should at least be reasonably possible and we’re also sure see the return of only the single mandatory pit stop after this weekend in Monaco’s unintended consequences from the FIA’s fiddling.

2025 F1 Grand Prix of Monaco — Qualifying results

Norris beats Leclerc to pole in Monaco, sets track record; Piastri P3, Hamilton demoted from P4 due to blocking penalty

On the biggest race weekend of the year, with the traditional Memorial Day Weekend Sunday lineup of the Monaco Grand Prix, the Indianapolis 500, and the Coca-Cola 600, Saturday qualifying for arguably the most prestigious trophy of them all took place on the fabled streets of the Principality of Monaco under perfect conditions. With the elite teams of Formula 1 posting ultra-competitive lap times on this tight and twisty temporary circuit, it came down to a final Q3 shootout between hometown hero and Ferrari ace Charles Leclerc and the two McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. In the end, Norris pipped Leclerc for pole by dint of setting the new lap record, an astonishing 1:09.954, ahead of the Monegasque’s seemingly impervious 1:10.063. It was quite the fillip for young Norris, who, after displaying a lack of confidence under intense pressure from teammate Piastri, has reasserted himself with his decent P2 in Emilia-Romagna last weekend and today’s impressive one-lap heroics on one of the toughest circuits on the calendar. Of course, Leclerc will be charging hard from P2 at the start of tomorrow’s tilt in an effort to execute an opening lap pass on Norris, often the surest way to victory on what is one of the most difficult tracks on which to overtake.

With Piastri coming up a bit short of that sterling top two and slotting in at P3, it appeared his partner in the second row on the grid would be the second Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton. But Hamilton, who had a small shunt to end free Practice 3, was also dinged three grid spots for impeding Red Bull’s Max Verstappen during qualifying after his race engineer gave him some incorrect information about Verstappen’s pace on track. That dropped Hamilton to a difficult P7 spot on tomorrow’s grid, while Verstappen reaped the rewards and was elevated to P4 despite only qualifying P5. The Racing Bull of impressive rookie Isack Hadjar and the Aston Martin of veteran pilot Fernando Alonso also benefitted from Hamilton’s misfortune, with Hadjar being promoted to P5 and Alonso to P6 for tomrorow’s race. Esteban Ocon did yeoman’s work to make Q3 and hustle his Haas up to P8; the second Racing Bull of Liam Lawson qualified a confidence-boosting P9 and Alexander Albon put his Williams in P10.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Monaco GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

Q1

Q2

Q3

LAPS

1

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

1:11.285

1:10.570

1:09.954

27

2

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

1:11.229

1:10.581

1:10.063

27

3

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

1:11.308

1:10.858

1:10.129

29

4

44

Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari

1:11.575

1:10.883

1:10.382

28

5

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

1:11.431

1:10.875

1:10.669

21

6

6

Isack Hadjar

Racing Bulls Honda RBPT

1:11.811

1:11.040

1:10.923

27

7

14

Fernando Alonso

Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes

1:11.674

1:11.182

1:10.924

30

8

31

Esteban Ocon

Haas Ferrari

1:11.839

1:11.262

1:10.942

32

9

30

Liam Lawson

Racing Bulls Honda RBPT

1:11.818

1:11.250

1:11.129

26

10

23

Alexander Albon

Williams Mercedes

1:11.629

1:10.732

1:11.213

34

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ABC beginning at 9 AM Eastern here in the States. While it looks to be a Norris-Leclerc/McLaren-Ferrari shootout from the front, the second McLaren of Piastri and Verstappen’s Red Bull are sure to be in the mix thanks to Hamilton’s unfortunate penalty. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2025 F1 Grand Prix of Japan — Qualifying results

Verstappen stuns McLaren duo at Suzuka with surprise pole; Norris out-duels teammate Piastri for P2; Tsunoda fails to impress after promotion to Red Bull for home race

Saturday qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix at the storied Suzuka Circuit looked for all the world like a battle for pole between McLaren teammates Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. With Norris taking victory in Piastri’s backyard to open the season in Melbourne and Piastri getting the better of Norris for the win in China two weeks ago, all eyes were on the Papaya duo to see who would emerge as the fastest qualifier. But all eyes were on the wrong team and drivers. Reigning champion Max Verstappen proved he is not ready to go gently into that good night this early in 2025, with a blistering final lap that knocked a stunned Norris off the pole and relegated Piastri to P3 and the second row. With Verstappen’s Red Bull trimmed to the limit for maximum straight line speed even though Suzuka has many more twisty bits than straights, the Flying Dutchman was able to hustle his RB21 to the tune of a track record 1:26.983, a mere one hundredth ahead of Norris. It was not only a nice moment for Verstappen after a challenging first two rounds of the season but also for Red Bull engine supplier Honda at their home circuit. However, new Red Bull Number Two Yuki Tsunoda did not fare much better on the day than most of Verstappen’s other wingman of recent vintage. The young Japanese driver, opting for a much more downforce heavy setup, ended up a desultory P15 despite the enthusiastic urgings of his countrymen in the stands. Liam Lawson, the driver Tsunoda replaced at the big team just three races into the season, out-qualified him in P14 driving his own former Racing Bull. That was probably not what Tsunoda or Red Bull had envisaged when they made the switch and this race weekend began.

Behind the elite top three, Charles Leclerc bettered by some margin his Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton, P4 to P8.  Mercedes’ George Russell had a fairly ragged final effort in Q3 and could not improve his P5 position when the scoring was over, while rookie Silver Arrows teammate Kimi Antonelli made impressive leaps throughout the three difficult sessions to wind up a surprisingly strong P6. Fellow rookie Isack Hadjar was able to overcome a persistently painful too-tight lap belt situation to pull himself all the way up to an quite solid  P7, while Williams’ Alexander Albon and Haas’s Oliver Bearman, yet another rookie, filled out the rest of the top ten in P9 and P10 respectively.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Japanese Grand Prix:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

Q1

Q2

Q3

LAPS

1

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

1:27.943

1:27.502

1:26.983

17

2

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

1:27.845

1:27.146

1:26.995

15

3

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

1:27.687

1:27.507

1:27.027

18

4

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

1:27.920

1:27.555

1:27.299

21

5

63

George Russell

Mercedes

1:27.843

1:27.400

1:27.318

17

6

12

Kimi Antonelli

Mercedes

1:27.968

1:27.639

1:27.555

18

7

6

Isack Hadjar

Racing Bulls Honda RBPT

1:28.278

1:27.775

1:27.569

18

8

44

Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari

1:27.942

1:27.610

1:27.610

23

9

23

Alexander Albon

Williams Mercedes

1:28.218

1:27.783

1:27.615

20

10

87

Oliver Bearman

Haas Ferrari

1:28.228

1:27.711

1:27.867

21

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.,com.

Tomorrow’s race airs overnight here in the States beginning at 1 AM Eastern Sunday morning on ESPN. With Verstappen in his preferred spot — up front and in clean air — we’ll have to see if McLaren’s long run pace can pull the Red Bull back into their clutches of if the four-time Champ is only beginning to show that he’s a serious contender to earn his fifth on the trot despite all predictions to the contrary. Hope to see you then to find out how it all plays out!

2025 F1 Grand Prix of China — Qualifying results

Piastri earns first F1 pole with blistering lap in Shanghai; Russell splits McLarens at the death with stunning P2 effort, relegating Norris to P3, Verstappen to P4

McLaren’s second of two young phenoms, Oscar Piastri, got the better of his ostensible team number one, Lando Norris, during Saturday qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai International Circuit, earning the young Aussie his first career Formula 1 pole position. In what is shaping up to be an intrateam battle for the ages, Piastri earned the top starting spot ahead of a competitive Norris and regained some momentum for his own championship aspirations a week after Norris’s spectacular win in a rain-soaked Melbourne, where Piastri could do no better than P9. Adding insult to injury for Lando, he was pipped for P2 at very death of Q3, when Mercedes’ George Russell put in a stonking lap to nab second on the grid. Russell’s excellent effort also dropped Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to P4, extending the Dutch Master’s pole-less streak in Grand Prix to 15 races dating back Austria last year.

After an exhilarating and redemptive win in the Sprint race earlier on Saturday, Ferrari’s new signing,  seven-time champ Lewis Hamilton, was brought back down to earth a bit and could only record the fifth fastest time in Quali. Still, he was faster than teammate Charles Leclerc and the Monegasque could only muster a fast lap good enough for P6. The two young Racing Bulls showed excellent pace, with rookie Isack Hadjar putting the heartbreak of his formation lap crashout in Australia behind hime with an outstanding effort good enough for P7 on the grid and his senior teammate Yuki Tsunoda taking P8. They sandwiched the second Merc of Kimi Antonelli in P8, while Alex Albon rounded out the top ten starters in P10 for Williams. Worth noting, the second Red Bull of Liam Lawson had a torrid time once again in his second race weekend with the big team and was plum last in Q1. He’s fated to start from the rear in P20 tomorrow if no one else has any woes prior. The curse of Max Verstappen’s wingman seems to be fully upon the Kiwi and one has to wonder how long Dr. Helmut Marko and the Red Bull braintrust will stick with the rookie, especially with Tsunoda looking very racy and more than ready in the junior team.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Chinese GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

Q1

Q2

Q3

LAPS

1

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

1:31.591

1:31.200

1:30.641

20

2

63

George Russell

Mercedes

1:31.295

1:31.307

1:30.723

22

3

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

1:30.983

1:30.787

1:30.793

17

4

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

1:31.424

1:31.142

1:30.817

15

5

44

Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari

1:31.690

1:31.501

1:30.927

21

6

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

1:31.579

1:31.450

1:31.021

21

7

6

Isack Hadjar

Racing Bulls Honda RBPT

1:31.162

1:31.253

1:31.079

20

8

12

Kimi Antonelli

Mercedes

1:31.676

1:31.590

1:31.103

22

9

22

Yuki Tsunoda

Racing Bulls Honda RBPT

1:31.238

1:31.260

1:31.638

19

10

23

Alexander Albon

Williams Mercedes

1:31.503

1:31.595

1:31.706

20

Complete qualifying results available via  Formula1.com.

Sunday’s race from Shanghai International Circuit airs live beginning at 3 AM Eastern on ESPN here in the States. So set your DVR or brew some coffee to find out if Piastri can convert pole into victory or if someone else in the mega-talented top six can beat him to the checkered flag!

2025 F1 Grand Prix of Australia — Qualifying results

McLaren lay down marker in Melbourne to start season, as Norris grabs pole, Piastri P2; Verstappen settles for P3; Ferrari underwhelm

The highly anticipated 75th season of Formula kicked off properly during Saturday Qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix at the Albert Park GP Circuit in Melbourne when McLaren picked up were they left off in 2024 by locking out the front row ahead of Red Bull’s peerless ace Max Verstappen. Lando Norris bested his teammate and home race hero Oscar Piastri to take pole with a final do or die flying lap after having his only earlier Q3 time deleted for a track limits violation. The dynamic Papaya duo exceeded Verstappen’s best effort, relegating the Dutchman and reigning four-time consecutive champ to the second row and P3 on the grid. Mercedes’ George Russell put in a superlative effort to nail down P4 and, with some serious rain predicted for tomorrow’s race despite dry conditions to start the weekend, put himself in position to contend with the elite three ahead of him. Both Yuki Tsunoda, who was passed over for promotion to the senior Red Bull team and is inexplicably fighting for his F1 life, and the massively improved Williams of Alexander Albon, outperformed the much more heralded Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and new Scuderia recruit Lewis Hamilton. Tsunoda qualified P5 and Albon P6, while Leclerc could do no better than set the seventh fastest lap and Hamilton, who struggled mightily with the balance of his Prancing Horse and spun in Q2, was only good enough for P8 on the grid in his Ferrari debut. Pierre Gasly got the most out his Alpine in P9 and the second Williams of Carlos Sainz secured P10 on his first real effort in anger with his new team.

What all that will really mean if the heavy rains that are predicted to soak Albert Park on Sunday is anyone’s guess. But there were some less than promising signs for several young drivers at this tricky track. Verstappen’s latest wingman, New Zealander Liam Lawson, replacemnt for the long suffering Sergio Perez, struggled mightily with both mechanical issues and a shaky feel for the pointy dynamics of the RB21 and was unceremoniously bounced out in Q1 with only the eighteenth fastest lap. Likewise, Mercedes’ pick to replace seven-time champ Hamilton, rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli, damaged his car by running over too many curbs and qualified down in P16. And while Haas’s new pilot Oliver Bearman had a miserable start to the year and was unable to get a lap in quali due to numerous crashes and the resulting mechanical issues those caused, the rookies Jack Doohan of Alpine and Gabriel Bortoleto of Kick Sauber fared somewhat better in P14 and P15 respectively.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Australian GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

Q1

Q2

Q3

LAPS

1

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

1:15.912

1:15.415

1:15.096

20

2

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

1:16.062

1:15.468

1:15.180

18

3

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

1:16.018

1:15.565

1:15.481

17

4

63

George Russell

Mercedes

1:15.971

1:15.798

1:15.546

21

5

22

Yuki Tsunoda

Racing Bulls Honda RBPT

1:16.225

1:16.009

1:15.670

18

6

23

Alexander Albon

Williams Mercedes

1:16.245

1:16.017

1:15.737

21

7

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

1:16.029

1:15.827

1:15.755

20

8

44

Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari

1:16.213

1:15.919

1:15.973

23

9

10

Pierre Gasly

Alpine Renault

1:16.328

1:16.112

1:15.980

21

10

55

Carlos Sainz

Williams Mercedes

1:16.360

1:15.931

1:16.062

21

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs on ESPN beginning  at midnight Eastern Sunday here in the States. With rain predicted, expect a wet a wild mashup of a race after only dry running so far this weekend. Can McLaren prevail against the modern Rain Meister Verstappen or will a dark horse from further down the grid spring a surprise? Hope to see you the to find out how it all shakes out in Round 1 Down Under!