Tag Archives: Yuki Tsunoda

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!

2024 F1 Grand Prix of São Paulo — Qualifying results

Norris takes pole amidst carnage of delayed, rain soaked, red flag-affected Quali in Brazil; Russell fights to an impressive P2, Tsunoda a surprise P3 for RB Honda; Sainz crashes out, Verstappen & Perez also knocked out in Q2

Driver Alexander Albon walks away from his crash-damaged Williams

Top 10 qualifiers for the São Paulo GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

Q1

Q2

Q3

LAPS

1

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

1:30.944

1:24.844

1:23.405

33

2

63

George Russell

Mercedes

1:29.121

1:26.307

1:23.578

29

3

22

Yuki Tsunoda

RB Honda RBPT

1:29.172

1:26.464

1:24.111

30

4

31

Esteban Ocon

Alpine Renault

1:29.171

1:26.206

1:24.475

31

5

30

Liam Lawson

RB Honda RBPT

1:30.758

1:25.654

1:24.484

30

6

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

1:29.839

1:26.097

1:24.525

29

7

23

Alexander Albon

Williams Mercedes

1:29.072

1:25.889

1:24.657

28

8

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

1:30.114

1:25.179

1:24.686

28

9

14

Fernando Alonso

Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes

1:30.207

1:25.035

1:28.998

21

10

18

Lance Stroll

Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes

1:30.580

1:26.334

19

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

2024 F1 Grand Prix of Singapore — Qualifying results

Norris earns pole at Marina Bay in Red Flag-affected quali; Verstappen pips Hamilton for P2; Ferrari Q3 nightmare as Sainz crashes out, Leclerc time deleted

With Formula 1 entering the final third of its longest ever season and the Championship hunt as tight as it has been in several years, Saturday Qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix was as dramatic as it was potentially consequential. McLaren’s Lando Norris, desperate to close his gap to Red Bull’s points-leading Max Verstappen after a difficult weekend in Azerbaijan, was able to take the pole for Sunday’s race with a post-Red Flag one-lap flier late in Q3. Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz had crashed out midway through Q3 in bizarre fashion during a pre-hot lap warm up, bringing out the Red Flag to retrieve the Spaniard’s stricken Prancing Horse form the final corner’s Tecpro barriers.  With a little over 8 minutes remaining when the session restarted, McLaren opted to send both their cars out first amongst the remaining nine to set times and not wait around for any potential track improvement by the time the clock ran out. It worked well for Norris, who hooked up a lap good enough for P1 but less well for teammate Oscar Piastri. Piastri, last week’s winner at Baku, had been in the top spot before the Sainz stoppage but the young Aussie could not improve and was eventually relegated to P5 by the session’s end.

After a multi-race qualifying drought, Verstappen returned to his excellent form under the pressure of the one-lap shootout, besting Mercedes Lewis Hamilton for P2 in a car that had looked nowhere for most of the session. Lining up alongside Norris on the front row, this race could come down to which driver gets away better at the very start, as passing at Marina Bay Street Circuit can be extremely difficult. Hamilton was nonetheless pleased with his P3 effort, the team unlocking pace in the car overnight after some mediocre performances in Friday’s two practice sessions. Silver Arrows stablemate George Russell was slightly less pleased with the unpredictable performance of his Pirelli tires but still  managed to set the fourth fastest time to earn a spot alongside Hamilton on Row 2. Nico Hulkenberg far out-performed his mediocre Haas and set a stunning time good enough for P6. Aston Martin’s savvy Fernando Alonso pulled the same trick to take a solid P7. RB Honda’s Yuki Tsunoda earned P8, while Ferrari suffered the indignity of not only Sainz having to start the race from P10 due to his crash but also seeing Charles Leclerc’s decent final lap deleted for a track limits violation, dropping the Monegasque to P9 and making for a very unhappy fifth-row duo for the Scuderia.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Singapore GP:

POS

NO

DRIVER

CAR

Q1

Q2

Q3

LAPS

1

4

Lando Norris

McLaren Mercedes

1:30.002

1:30.007

1:29.525

16

2

1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT

1:30.157

1:29.680

1:29.728

18

3

44

Lewis Hamilton

Mercedes

1:30.393

1:29.929

1:29.841

16

4

63

George Russell

Mercedes

1:30.811

1:30.153

1:29.867

17

5

81

Oscar Piastri

McLaren Mercedes

1:30.258

1:29.640

1:29.953

18

6

27

Nico Hulkenberg

Haas Ferrari

1:30.724

1:30.150

1:30.115

18

7

14

Fernando Alonso

Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes

1:30.684

1:30.450

1:30.214

17

8

22

Yuki Tsunoda

RB Honda RBPT

1:30.716

1:30.289

1:30.354

17

9

16

Charles Leclerc

Ferrari

1:30.786

1:29.747

DNF

19

10

55

Carlos Sainz

Ferrari

1:30.670

1:30.108

DNS

16

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN beginning at 8 am here in the States. With tensions mounting  and time running short in the hunt for glory in 2024, as well as a very tight circuit where overtaking is very difficult and Safety Cars are de rigueur, look for loads of close quarters action between the top contenders, several of whom are out of position, in a desperate scramble for maximum points. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2024 F1 Grand Prix of Hungary — Results & aftermath

Piastri prevails for maiden win over Norris as McLaren dominate in Hungary; Hamilton earns P3 and 200th podium with savvy drive; Verstappen finishes a disgruntled P5

McLaren’s young Australian driver Oscar Piastri earned his maiden Formula 1 win at Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix, prevailing over his teammate Lando Norris after a first lap pass for the race lead and then a little help from team orders when some late race strategy calls reversed their positions. The McLaren 1-2 was their first since 2021 and confirmed the surging team’s status as the biggest threat to Red Bull and Max Verstappen’s hegemony. In a thoroughly intriguing and tense race at the high downforce Hungaroring, pit strategy came to the fore as the determining factor for the top contenders, and none more so than at team McLaren. With Norris perhaps hampered by a pre-race gremlin in his drive-by-wire throttle system, the pole-sitter saw himself out dragged by his teammate heading into Turn 1 to start the race, and Piastri made it stick for the early race lead. Piastri maintained de facto P1 after the first round of stops for McLaren despite the undercut of Norris boxing a lap earlier than him on Lap 18. But when they decided to repeat the earlier call to Norris in for his second tire stop on Lap 47 of this 70 lap contest, attempting to cover off the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton, things within the team became quite tense. Hamilton had already made his second and final stop back on Lap 41, the Mercedes braintrust deciding to stay on the durable Hard Pirellis, hoping for an advantage in the final laps. On the other hand, Norris switched off the Hards and back onto the quicker Mediums, again undercutting his teammate Piastri, who came in one circuit later on Lap 48 to make the same tire switch. This time, Piastri was unable to maintain his advantage and emerged in P2 behind the now race-leading Norris. But the team quickly informed both drivers of their intentions to switch their positions in the closing laps to rectify Piastri’s startegy-induced disadvantage, since they had contravened the gentleman’s agreement within F1 teams giving pit priority to their leading driver. While Piastri struggled to catch up to his front-running teammate and Norris required repeated cajoling from the pit wall over the final 20 or so laps, he finally and somewhat grudgingly let Piastri by with two laps to go. In the end, it all worked out for team McLaren and reflected well on Norris as a team player able to accept the bigger picture amidst his own fierce ambition to win. And for Piastri, it was his Formula 1 dream come true and, he hopes, merely the first of many Grand Prix victories to come.

 

Hamilton drove exceptionally well en route to third place and his 200th career podium. The seven-time World Champion was able to push through his doubts about the Silver Arrows tire strategy of running the Mediums to Hards to Hards, contrary to the other contenders, who ran Medium-Hard-Medium, and make his final stint work well enough to hold off a furious podium charge by Verstappen. On Lap 63, in shades of 2021, the two came together when Verstappen made a lunge steaming into Turn 1, with Verstappen catching one of Hamilton’s wheels and being sent airborne. Luckily and despite coming down quite hard, there was no significant damage to the RB20 and no penalties were assessed to either driver by the stewards. But the contretemps fatally balked the furious Dutchman’s progress and he lost out not only to Hamilton but also Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who was waiting to pounce after running a solid if unspectacular race of his own and consequently nicked P4 from the Dutchman. Relegated to an uncharacteristic P5 at the finish, it capped off a difficult and tumultuous day for Verstappen and the Red Bull team, their ace pilot repeatedly berating the car’s performance, the strategy and generally carrying on in a mighty cranky mood throughout. Perhaps the pressure of what is now a genuine and formidable title challenge from McLaren is getting to the current reigning three-time champ. And while teammate Sergio Perez did well enough to recover to a solid P7 finish after another crash out early in qualifying and lousy start from the back of the grid, the fact that Perez very rarely races at the front to be utilized as Verstappen’s wingman these days is probably also hurting the team. It is certainly hurting Perez’s standing as the second Red Bull driver and, despite being re-signed earlier this season, the Mexican’s perplexingly poor performance since then has the rumor mill on possible in-season replacements in overdrive.

Leclerc’s somewhat fortunate P4 finish covered up the rather more mediocre pace of the Ferrari here, with Carlos Sainz finishing more like where the car deserved, in P6. Hamilton’s teammate George Russell also had to execute a Perez-like recovery drive after getting caught out in wet-dry conditions on Saturday and only qualifying a lowly P17. The Briton was able to salvage P8 and also grabbed the extra point for the fastest lap of the race. But it was still a pretty bitter day at the office for Russell as he watched his more decorated teammate once again ascend to the podium. Yuki Tsunoda kept it clean enough in his RB Honda to come home P9 and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll took the last point in P10.

Top 10 finishers of the Hungarian GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 70 1:38:01.989 25
2 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 70 +2.141s 18
3 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 70 +14.880s 15
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 70 +19.686s 12
5 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 70 +21.349s 10
6 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 70 +23.073s 8
7 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 70 +39.792s 6
8 63 George Russell MERCEDES 70 +42.368s 5
9 22 Yuki Tsunoda RB HONDA RBPT 70 +77.259s 2
10 18 Lance Stroll ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 70 +77.976s 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race, the last before the long summer break, is in but a week’s time — the Belgian Grand Prix at the fabled Spa-Francorchamps circuit in the Ardennes. The very long and sweeping Spa is an entirely different beast from the tight and twisty Hungaroring so, it remains to be seen if McLaren’s stunning improvements will also translate there or if Red Bull will finally have the room to again stretch what had been its supreme legs earlier in the season. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2024 F1 Grand Prix of Monaco — Results & aftermath

Leclerc finally breaks through at home GP to take victory in Monaco; Piastri P2, Sainz P3 & Norris P4 in all-Ferrari vs McLaren competition

After years of bad luck, self-inflicted mistakes and ever-building pressure, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc finally broke through to take a comprehensive victory at his home race at the Monaco Grand Prix on Sunday. The Monegasque ran from pole to the checkers, maintaining first place the whole while on this legendarily difficult to overtake street circuit, where the top cars in the world have been racing since 1929. With qualifying of supreme importance here, it became a two team battle between Ferrari and McLaren, with the four drivers finishing where they started — Leclerc in P1 and his Scuderia stablemate Carlos Sainz in P3 and the two McLarens of Oscar Piastri in P2 and Lando Norris in P4. Red Bull were uncharacteristically not a factor here, as Max Verstappen held station to also come home where he started in P6. His unlucky teammate Sergio Perez was wiped out on the opening lap in a contretemps with the overly ambitious Haas of Kevin Magnussen that also took out the other Haas of Nico Hulkenberg when the melee had concluded.

That large multi-car shunt led to a lengthy Red Flag period necessitated by an extensive cleanup of the rather large debris field of broken Red Bull and Haas bits strewn across the entirety of Beau Rivage. It also enabled Sainz, who suffered a puncture after wheel to wheel contact dicing with Piastri at the start, to save his race. The Ferrari mechanics were able to perform repairs to the Spaniard’s car with no time penalty and the restart would be in the exact order of the race start due to the Red Flag being thrown without even a full first sector being run. Unfortunately, it also gave all the teams a free change of tires, which negated any future requirement to pit for a change of Pirelli compounds, as per the rules. This meant that the front four could run a slow, tire management pace without consequences or need for any strategy calls that might have spiced up the action. But that’s Monaco — a race that is usually greater on pageantry, pomp, historical significance and prestige than in actual racing action. Nevertheless, no one can take away the pure joy of Leclerc’s boyhood dream coming true in front of his hometown fans, including Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene, who both participated in the ebullient, champagne-drenched podium ceremonies for the local boy made good.

As he was after qualifying, Dutch points leader Verstappen ended up sandwiched between the two Mercedes, with George Russell coming home in P5 and Lewis Hamilton in P7. Even with both Verstappen and Hamilton being tow of the very few to pit to get off the Mediums and back onto the Hards for their final stints, it did nothing to really shake up their respective races. Rounding out the top ten, Yuki Tsunoda claimed P8 for RB Honda, Alexander Albon was P9 for Williams and Pierre Gasly claimed his first point of the year in P10. Gasly finishing at all was impressive considering he came together with teammate Esteban Ocon on the opening lap. Ocon went airborne and was knocked out of the race, earning the wrath of his team boss in an unusually harsh public rebuke.

Top 10 finishers of the Monaco GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 78 2:23:15.554 25
2 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 78 +7.152s 18
3 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 78 +7.585s 15
4 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 78 +8.650s 12
5 63 George Russell MERCEDES 78 +13.309s 10
6 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 78 +13.853s 8
7 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 78 +14.908s 7
8 22 Yuki Tsunoda RB HONDA RBPT 77 +1 lap 4
9 23 Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES 77 +1 lap 2
10 10 Pierre Gasly ALPINE RENAULT 77 +1 lap 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in a fortnight’s time, as the teams cross the Atlantic again and return to wide open racing with the Canadian Grand Prix. Can Red Bull and Verstappen get their mojo back on the high speed straights of Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve or have Ferrari and McLaren truly made inroads to make this a genuine three-team championship battle? Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2024 F1 Grand Prix of Monaco — Qualifying results

Leclerc claims pole for hometown Grand Prix, pipping P2 Piastri; Sainz P3 on good day for Ferrari; Red Bull struggle with Verstappen only sixth fastest, Perez out in Q1

With the Memorial Day holiday weekend upon us, that means the return of the venerable Monaco Grand Prix, the crown jewel of the Formula 1 season. On this most unique of street circuits, the tightest and slowest on the F1 calendar, Red Bull’s usual straightline & DRS advantages were utterly neutralized during Saturday qualifying, as championship points leader Max Verstappen could do no better than P6 and Sergi Perez was unceremoniously bounced in Q1 with only the eighteenth fast time in the twenty car field. That left the door wide open for Ferrari and McLaren and the Scuderia’s Charles Leclerc came flying through it with a final lap good enough for pole at his home race. The Monegasque Leclerc bested the P2 McLaren of young Oliver Piastri, as well as his Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz, who will start tomorrow’s race from P3 on the grid. Piastri’s McLaren stablemate Lando Norris, who is on his own fine run of form, will line up along Sainz on the second row in P4.

Mercedes had decent if not spectacular pace on the streets of the principality, with George Russell once again out-qualifying his more senior Silver Arrow teamate Lewis Hamilton, P5 to P7, effectively making the frustrated P6 Verstappen the meat in a Mercedes sandwich. Rounding out the top 10 qualifiers, Yuki Tsunoda was P8 for RB Honda, Alexander Albon hauled his Williams up to P9 and Pierre Gasly did well to hustle his usually poky Alpine into P10.

To 10 qualifiers for the Monaco GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:11.584 1:10.825 1:10.270 26
2 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:11.500 1:10.756 1:10.424 24
3 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:11.543 1:11.075 1:10.518 28
4 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:11.760 1:10.732 1:10.542 27
5 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:11.492 1:10.929 1:10.543 28
6 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:11.711 1:10.745 1:10.567 28
7 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:11.528 1:11.056 1:10.621 28
8 22 Yuki Tsunoda RB HONDA RBPT 1:11.852 1:11.106 1:10.858 25
9 23 Alexander Albon WILLIAMS MERCEDES 1:11.623 1:11.216 1:10.948 29
10 10 Pierre Gasly ALPINE RENAULT 1:11.714 1:10.896 1:11.311 30

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ABC beginning at 9 am Eastern here in the States. With Red Bull on the back foot on a very difficult to pass circuit, this could end up a Ferrari-McLaren duel amongst the top four starters, with Leclerc inspired to fend off Piastri and take victory at his prestigious home race. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2024 F1 Grand Prix of Emilia-Romagna — Qualifying results

Verstappen holds off surging McLaren to take pole at Imola; Piastri qualifies P2 but served 3-place grid penalty, Norris P3; Leclerc P4, Sainz P5, disappointing the tifosi

Faced with the rapidly improving McLarens starting to fill up his rearview mirrors in 2024 and just a fortnight removed from being beaten out fair & square for the win in Miami by Lando Norris, Red Bull and Max Verstappen seemed on the back foot for much of the three practice sessions here at Imola for the return of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix after a year’s hiatus. But, as team Red Bull and their Flying Dutchman have done so often in their rise to the pinnacle of Formula 1 over the past three-and-a-half years, Verstappen pulled a flier out of the bag when it mattered most during Saturday qualifying. While it was a razor thin margin, Verstappen hooked up all three sectors of this old school 4.9 km track to pip McLaren’s Oscar Piastri by a minuscule .074 seconds. The second McLaren of Norris set the third fastest time in Q3 but will start alongside Verstappen on the front row after Piastri was penalized three grid spots for impeding Haas’s Kevin Magnussen during Q1. Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez had another perplexingly mediocre effort in quali and was bounced out in Q2 with only the eleventh quickest lap in that session.

There were a lot of expectations on Ferreri between some significant technical upgrades and being on home soil in front of the rabidly patriotic tifosi at the namesake Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari. But in qualifying, at least, it all ended up a bit disappointingly for the Scuderia, with Charles Leclerc only good enough for P4 and Sainz struggling even more so on his way to a distant P5, nearly three-tenths off his Monegasque teammate’s pace. Mercedes continued their underwhelming ways this year, with George Russell once again out-qualifying Lewis Hamilton, P6 to P8. Yuki Tsunoda split the Silver Arrows with an impressive final lap good enough for P7, while teammate Daniel Ricciardo continued to get to grips with the RB Honda en route to P9 on the grid. Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg made it into Q3 yet again and earned P10 for tomorrow’s GP start.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Emilia-Romagna GP:

POS NO DRIVER CAR Q1 Q2 Q3 LAPS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 1:15.762 1:15.176 1:14.746 18
2 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:15.940 1:15.407 1:14.820 15
3 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 1:15.915 1:15.371 1:14.837 19
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 1:15.823 1:15.328 1:14.970 21
5 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 1:16.015 1:15.512 1:15.233 20
6 63 George Russell MERCEDES 1:16.107 1:15.671 1:15.234 18
7 22 Yuki Tsunoda RB HONDA RBPT 1:15.894 1:15.358 1:15.465 15
8 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 1:16.604 1:15.677 1:15.504 20
9 3 Daniel Ricciardo RB HONDA RBPT 1:16.060 1:15.691 1:15.674 15
10 27 Nico Hulkenberg HAAS FERRARI 1:15.841 1:15.569 1:15.980 21

Complete qualifying results available via Formula1.com.

Tomorrow’s race airs live on ESPN2 beginning at 9 am Eastern here in the States. With McLaren hot on the heels of Red Bulls usually supreme pace and Ferrari desperate to produce a result on Italian soil, Verstappen could have his hands full, not to mention the abundant gravel traps here at Imola potentially provoking Safety Car & Red Flag periods to introduce further unpredictability. Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!

2024 F1 Grand Prix of Miami — Results & aftermath

McLaren’s Norris earns maiden win in Miami with brilliant drive & a little luck; Verstappen relegated to rare P2 in fair fight, Leclerc P3 for Ferrari

McLaren’s Lando Norris drove the race of his life at the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday, using his ever improving skills as a driver, the new upgrades on his MCL38 chassis and little bit of Safety Car luck to earn his maiden win in Formula 1 in spectacular fashion. Having knocked on the door with seven podiums over the course of a F1 career that began in the middle of the 2018 season, the 24-year-old Briton finally kicked down that barrier to take the top step of the podium ahead of the usually imperious Red Bull of Max Verstappen by an impressive 7.612 seconds. After coming a cropper on the first lap of Saturday’s Sprint race, Norris excelled in Sunday’s GP, even though he started from back in P5 on the grid. With Verstappen looking fully in control and en route to another easy win midway through this 57-lap contest, and teammate Oscar Piastri actually seeming the quicker car in the early going, Norris made his own luck by running an extra-long first stint on his initial Medium Pirelli tires. While some contenders pitted under a brief Virtual Safety Car deployed on Lap 23 to retrieve a loose bollard from the chicane that Verstappen had knocked onto the track a few laps earlier, including Max himself, the two McLarens were not in position to take the risk of the VSC ending while in the pits and stayed out. It proved to be a prescient decision.

When the action resumed at the end of that lap, Verstappen had been shuffled back to P4, with Piastri now in the lead, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in P2 and Norris in third. Piastri and Sainz then pitted under green flag conditions on Lap 28, both going from Mediums to Hards under the favored one-stop strategy, with Norris then inheriting the lead and presumably attempting a one-lap overcut strategy. But that plan paid even bigger dividends when the Haas of Kevin Magnussen came together with the Williams of local boy Logan Sargeant on the very same lap, spinning Sargent backwards into the barriers and disabling his car. A Safety Car to retrieve the stricken Williams was quickly deployed on Lap 29, enabling Norris to duck into the pits for the cheap stop under the full course yellow a lap later. Norris then reemerged still in the lead, setting up a showdown for the victory with Verstappen when the SC ended in the latter part of Lap 32. The pace in the McLaren being up to the challenge, Norris held off Verstappen with aplomb at the rolling the restart and then, to the capacity crowd’s astonishment, began pulling away from the flying Dutchman. With the tension and anticipation of something truly special unfolding as the laps wound down, Norris kept pulling away from Verstappen, who for once could do nothing to get back up to Norris and make a real challenge. Perhaps the Red Bull’s front wing was damaged from hitting that bollard or perhaps the McLaren in Norris’s hands truly had the legs on the RB20 on this day — or maybe little of both. But when the checkers flew it was an ecstatic Norris with that all important first Formula 1 victory to put McLaren back in the winners circle for the first time since 2021 and relegate the runaway championship favorite Verstappen to a wholly unaccustomed P2.

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2024 F1 Grand Prix of Japan — Results & aftermath

Verstappen & Red Bull return to winning ways with easy win at Suzuka, Perez P2; Sainz prevails over teammate Leclerc, P3 to P4, in strong performances for Ferrari

Two weeks after a shocking mechanical DNF in Australia, Max Verstappen and his Red Bull team were back in top form for Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix. Verstappen led the race from pole twice, the second time after a Lap 2 Red Flag, and gapped his game teammate Sergio Perez each time, steadily putting enough in the bank to come across the finish line of this 53-lap contest over twelve and a half seconds ahead of P2 Perez. For the Red Bull team, it was back to their usual recent supremacy at this highly technical circuit that really seems to suit their cars, making it three out of the last four Japanese GP that they’ve finished 1-2 at the figure eight Suzuka Circuit. For good measure, Verstappen also ended up setting the race’s fastest lap for the bonus point and a maximum of 26 on the day. It was still an encouraging day for Perez, who had to make several solid overtakes against other contenders after his two pit stops in order to secure that valuable second place and hopefully bodes well for the Mexican veteran’s renewed sense of confidence in the RB20.

Once it became clear that Red Bull were simply the class of the field again, the more intriguing  part of the race came down to who would score the last podium position and how the rest of the top ten would shake out. Ferrari once again looked like the closest thing to competition that Red Bull may have this season and the Scuderia braintrust effectively split their strategies between their drivers, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc. With Sainz, the last race winner in Melbourne, qualifying P4 but Leclerc mired down in P8 after a subpar quali effort on Saturday, the team went with a conventional tire strategy for Sainz and a roll of the dice for Leclerc. Sainz ran the standard two-stopper, going Medium Pirellis to Medium to Hard to finish the race, while Leclerc ran a long first stint on Mediums all the way to Lap 27 and then took his only set of Hards to the end. This not only allowed Sainz to better his starting position by one and get the Spaniard on the podium with a P3 finish but vaulted Leclerc, who drove superbly to hold onto that initial set of Mediums, all the way up to an eventual P4 finish. While Leclerc couldn’t hold off his teammate for that last podium spot late in the race, the Monegasque still prevailed over both McLarens on the day, the team that is really Ferrari’s true rival in race pace. So, the brass at Maranello should be well pleased by a rather excellent two race stretch, with Sainz and Lecerlc one-two in Australia and now three-four in Japan.

For McLaren, it ended up being more of a salvage what you can kind of day rather than competing for the podium, as the team have more recently come to expect. The race pace of the cars was definitely not as strong as the Prancing Horses here and Norris was easy meat for Sainz when the Spaniard passed him for third place on Lap 46, with Norris having locked up the prior lap. Similarly, McLaren teammate Oliver Pisatri also suffered with long run handling when he ran wide on the final lap heading into Turn 16, which enabled Mercedes’ George Russell to steal P7 from the young Aussie. While not a disaster by any means, with Norris finishing P4 and Piastri P8, team McLaren will be looking to improve when they unload in China in two weeks, such are the higher expectations they now have with their MCL38’s usual solid performance and their two young pilots’ excellent pace.

Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso tried to keep Piastri in position to defend himself from Russell’s ambitions, the wily Spanish veteran keeping the McLaren within DRS range and using Piastri as a blocker. In the end, Russell ran out of laps to make any headway on Alonso and the two-time champ scored Aston’s only points on the day with a fine P6 finish. With Russell locked in at P7 and Silver Arrows teammate Lewis Hamilton only able to take P9 when the checkers flew, there had to be some debate about the Mercedes pit wall’s decision to attempt a one-stopper after both switched to Hards from the Mediums under the Red Flag conditions. In the end, it probably wasn’t decisive either way even though the team was forced to bail on that strategy, with Russell getting rid of his aged Hards on Lap 38 in favor of Mediums to end the race and Hamilton following suit two laps later. Mercedes simply lack the pace of Ferrari, McLaren and certainly Red Bull so, Russell making that late race pass on Piastri was actually bettering expectations. There remains a lot of work to do for the once mighty Silver Arrows if they are going to get back to challenging for podiums let alone wins.

RB Honda’s Yuki Tsunoda took the last point in P10 at his home race to the delight of his countrymen in the stands, a fine result for any Japanese driver and another indication that the talented Tsunoda is showing his improving skills on a weekly basis, even in a less than elite car. He was also aided in that eventual good result by a cracking pit stop by his mechanics on his final tire change, the RB beating out four other runners who had also stopped at the exact same time, netting him crucial track position that Tsunoda then converted into that valuable P10.

Top 10 finishers of the Japanese Grand Prix:

POS NO DRIVER CAR LAPS TIME/RETIRED PTS
1 1 Max Verstappen RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 53 1:54:23.566 26
2 11 Sergio Perez RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT 53 +12.535s 18
3 55 Carlos Sainz FERRARI 53 +20.866s 15
4 16 Charles Leclerc FERRARI 53 +26.522s 12
5 4 Lando Norris MCLAREN MERCEDES 53 +29.700s 10
6 14 Fernando Alonso ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES 53 +44.272s 8
7 63 George Russell MERCEDES 53 +45.951s 6
8 81 Oscar Piastri MCLAREN MERCEDES 53 +47.525s 4
9 44 Lewis Hamilton MERCEDES 53 +48.626s 2
10 22 Yuki Tsunoda RB HONDA RBPT 52 +1 lap 1

Complete race results available via Formula1.com.

The next race is in two weeks’ time — the return of the Chinese Grand Prix form the Shanghai International Circuit for the first time since 2019. Will this circuit be any less conducive to the seemingly unstoppable force that is Red Bull-Verstappen? Hope to see you then to find out!