JEDDAH: Max Verstappen showed no ill effects from a stomach bug on Friday as he topped the times for Red Bull ahead of Fernando Alonso in Friday’s second free practice at this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
The defending double world champion, shaking off the stomach upset that had delayed his arrival in Jeddah by 24 hours, clocked a best lap in one minute 29.603 seconds to outpace two-time champion Alonso’s Aston Martin by 0.208 seconds.
Sergio Perez was third in the second Red Bull ahead of Esteban Ocon of Alpine, George Russell of Mercedes and Pierre Gasly in the second Alpine.
“I think we had a positive day, but I think there’s still quite a few things we can improve,” reported Verstappen.
“It’s just fine-tuning, with the downshifts. Things we do all the time,” he added.
Perez revealed he had suffered mechanical issues.
“Hopefully, we can sort it out for tomorrow,” he said.
“And it will bring us more pace so I can have a better idea of where this car is. Today it was inconsistent, difficult to get a proper read.
“We seem to be strong, but the competition is there as expected.”
Alonso’s Aston Martin team-mate Lance Stroll was seventh ahead of Nico Hulkenberg of Haas and the two Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, both of whom were equipped with new power units.
Leclerc already has a 10-place grid penalty for Sunday’s race for taking a third electronic control unit of the season.
Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton was 11th for Mercedes, with a best lap of 1:30.599, a second slower than Verstappen, on the day he announced he was no longer working with his long-serving performance coach Angela Cullen.
Alonso’s performance confirmed his speed this year after a strong showing to finish third in the season-opening race in Bahrain, but it was Verstappen who set the pace with some ease.
After Verstappen’s early supremacy in a Red Bull one-two in opening practice the second session began in cooler conditions, the air temperature descending to 25 degrees and the track from 44 to 31.
Stroll was the first man out, Sainz the early pace-setter, but only for five minutes before the world champion once again went top only for Alonso to reply, two-tenths faster.
Stirred again, both medium-clad Red Bulls responded. Verstappen with 1:29.952 ahead of Perez until Alonso, on softs, split them again. His Aston Martin appeared to be the only car capable of fighting with them.
And then Perez clocked a 1:29.902 as last year’s pole sitter Leclerc emerged unscathed from a close brush with Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas.
The close dicing at the front continued with the Red Bulls narrowly ahead of Alonso and then a gap of two-tenths to the pack led, after half an hour, by Hulkenberg and Gasly.
The top three were separated by 0.012 before Verstappen, again, lifted the bar in 1:29.603 after switching to softs for a brief simulation of what may lie ahead in Saturday’s qualifying session.
At this time, Russell climbed to fourth for Mercedes, but Hamilton was 11th.
“We need to make some big changes,” said Russell in a stern voice. “Yes, copy,” retorted his pit wall, seemingly sensitive to the team’s need for a changed approach as they seek to reverse their slump.
Verstappen shrugs off bug to top practice in Saudi Arabia
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Verstappen shrugs off bug to top practice in Saudi Arabia
- The defending double world champion clocked a best lap in one minute 29.603 seconds to outpace two-time champion Alonso's Aston Martin by 0.208 seconds
- Sergio Perez was third in the second Red Bull ahead of Esteban Ocon of Alpine, George Russell of Mercedes and Pierre Gasly in the second Alpine
Max Verstappen wins Monaco Grand Prix to extend F1 championship lead
- Spanish veteran Fernando Alonso was a season’s best second for Aston Martin
- Heavy rain played havoc with about 20 of the 78 laps left
MONACO: Formula One champion Max Verstappen’s lights-to-flag victory at the Monaco Grand gave the Red Bull driver his fourth victory of the season and a record 39th overall for the team as he extended his championship lead to 39 points over teammate Sergio Perez on Sunday.
Verstappen’s wins have all been with Red Bull since his first on debut for the team at the Spanish GP in 2016 when he became the youngest F1 winner at 18 years old.
Seven years and two world championships later, the Dutchman set a team record for wins as he passed former Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel’s previous tally of 38 victories when he won four straight titles from 2010-13.
“It’s great, I never thought I’d be in this position in my career,” Verstappen said. “It’s better than I could have imagined for sure.”
Spanish veteran Fernando Alonso was a season’s best second for Aston Martin as he collected a fifth podium in six races, albeit 28 seconds behind Verstappen, while Frenchman Esteban Ocon secured third place and a rare podium for Alpine.
Red Bull has won all the races so far.
“It’s super nice to win it in the way we did today with the weather and everything to stay calm and bring it home,” Verstappen said.
For most of the race, he coasted on a dry and narrow track where overtaking is the hardest in F1.
But an incident-free race in Monaco is rare and heavy rain played havoc with about 20 of the 78 laps left. Some drivers had pitted for the wrong medium tires shortly before the downpour and slid around.
“It was incredibly slippery,” Verstappen said.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. glided sideways into the barriers and was lucky not to damage his Ferrari. Kevin Magnussen lost control of his Haas and Lance Stroll retired after damaging his Aston Martin.
Red Bull had wisely put Verstappen on the versatile and more suited to the wet conditions intermediates on Lap 56 and they carried him to his second win in Monaco. The first was in 2021.
Lewis Hamilton finished fourth for Mercedes and picked up a point for fastest lap. His teammate George Russell was fifth, having earlier almost slammed into Perez as visibility worsened. A serious crash was somehow avoided in a hectic few minutes before the rain eased off.
“Braking was extremely fragile,” Alonso said. “I think everyone did an amazing job today to keep the cars on track.”
Alonso is third in the standings and closed the gap on Perez to 12 points. The 41-year-old Alonso’s podium was his 103rd in F1, while Ocon grabbed his third.
“I’m speechless at the moment,” Ocon said. “A little bit on my cloud at the moment.”
Russell was given a five-second penalty for rejoining the track in an unsafe manner but had just enough to keep fifth place ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Pierre Gasly (Alpine), a seething Sainz, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri (both McLaren) rounded out the top 10.
On Saturday, Verstappen just edged out Alonso to deny him his first pole for 11 years.
Perez, who won the race last year, started from last after a clumsy crash in qualifying and finished 16th.
The sinewy 3.4-kilometer (2.1-mile) street circuit gives the pole sitter a massive advantage if he makes a clean getaway, which is what Verstappen did as Alonso’s gamble to start on hard tires didn’t work.
“Max drove super well on the medium tires on that first stint,” Alonso said. “We (went) for all or nothing. We started on the hard tire and didn’t have the pace.”
After 26 of the 78 laps Verstappen was 12 seconds clear of Alonso, who even persuaded himself he had a puncture. Twice his team assured him it wasn’t the case.
Eventually Verstappen started losing time and wanted to pit for new tires but his team told him he’d fall behind Alonso if he did that.
At the same time Perez stuck among the back markers was getting tense, almost clipping Stroll and then bumping into the back of Kevin Magnussen’s Haas.
Sainz, meanwhile, was furious that Ferrari — a team with a worrying reputation for still making bad strategy calls — pitted him too early and put on the wrong tire to cover Ocon’s stop and let his team know with an outburst over team radio.
The Spaniard had already endured a difficult day after his front wing clipped Ocon’s Alpine as he tried to overtake. A portion of the wing came off subsequently but Sainz got away with just a warning for the incident.
The sky then darkened and rain started to fall heavily soon after drivers had completed 50 laps.
“I have to drive super slow because my tires are (expletive),” Verstappen lamented on Lap 54, while Alonso pitted a lap later for mediums.
Early on, Sainz’s front wing clipped Ocon’s Alpine as he tried to overtake coming out of the tunnel. A small piece of debris came off but the wing stayed on the car, and Sainz got away with a warning.
Red Bull's Max Verstappen wins the Miami Grand Prix
- The victory extends Verstappen's lead at the top of the standings
- Aston Martin's Spanish veteran Fernando Alonso took third
MIAMI GARDENS: World champion Max Verstappen powered from ninth on the grid to beat Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez and win the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday.
The victory extends Verstappen's lead at the top of the standings and follows his triumph in the inaugural Miami race last year.
The 1-2 for Red Bull is their fourth in five races so far this season as the team utterly dominate the sport leaving their rivals to battle for the third podium position.
Aston Martin's Spanish veteran Fernando Alonso took third for his fourth podium in five races this season as he continues to enjoy his late career revival.
Perez, starting on pole, made the perfect start, racing clear of his rivals but Verstappen, on hard tyres, quickly moved through the field and took just 15 laps to reach second place behind his team-mate.
Perez pitted on lap 20 allowing Verstappen to take the lead but the Dutchman had to give that up when he went into the pits on lap 46, changing to the medium compound tyres and coming out 1.2 seconds behind.
It took just two laps for Verstappen, who won the inaugural Miami Grand Prix a year ago, to take advantage of his fresher tyres with better grip as, after a brief joust, he overtook the Mexican, on 25-lap-old tyres, to take the lead.
Verstappen's 38th win for Red Bull equals the team record set by Sebastian Vettel.
"I took the cars off one by one and then I could stay out really long on the hard tyres and that's where we I think made the difference," said Verstappen.
"For sure winning a race from P9 is always very satisfying," he said.
Mercedes had some consolation at the end of a difficult week with George Russell taking fourth place ahead of Ferrari's Carlos Sainz and team-mate Lewis Hamilton finishing sixth.
Charles Leclerc, who crashed late in qualifying and started seventh on the grid, finished in seventh place with Frenchman Pierre Gasly of Alpine in eighth.
Verstappen quickest, Leclerc crashes in ‘slippery’ Miami Grand Prix practice
- Red Bull drivers have dominated the opening four races of the season with Verstappen and teammate Sergio Perez claiming two victories each
MIAMI GARDENS, Florida: World champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull set the fastest time in Friday’s practice for the Miami Grand Prix while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc suffered a crash into a barrier on a track which several drivers described as “slippery.”
After Mercedes enjoyed a 1-2 effort in the opening session, with George Russell leading the way from Lewis Hamilton, Verstappen — the current championship leader — responded emphatically with an impressive best lap time of 1:27.930.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was 0.385 seconds behind closely followed by his teammate Leclerc, whose session ended early after he went nose first into the barrier at Turn eight.
Leclerc left the track on a moped and showed no signs of any side-effects from the incident, which caused a red flag and five-minute delay, frustrating teams who were putting in some longer runs.
Verstappen’s second practice, on the newly resurfaced Miami track, was accompanied by regular complaints from the driver about his headrest but the discomfort appeared to have little impact on his performance.
“It was a good day. Initially we were getting used to the track with the new tarmac, it was ramping up a lot throughout the day. It’s still quite slippery off line but on the driving line it’s OK,” he said.
“Most importantly today we had good balance in the car so I feel happy. There are still a few things we want to look at overnight, ideally we want to be faster on every corner, which isn’t always possible. We’ll have to see what the weather will do tomorrow, but overall it’s been a positive day,” he said.
The weather forecast for the weekend predicts rain but it is more likely to fall on Sunday rather than for Saturday’s qualifying.
Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez, who is just six points behind him in the standings after his win in Baku last week, was fourth fastest ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.
Red Bull drivers have dominated the opening four races of the season with Verstappen and teammate Sergio Perez claiming two victories each.
The lack of over-taking in a largely processional Azerbaijan Grand Prix, combined with the Red Bull cars’ superior speed, has led to fears of a season lacking drama and excitement.
After Russell posted a time of 1:30.125 in the earlier session, with his fellow Briton Hamilton second quickest, 0.212 behind, there was at least some indication that Red Bull might not have it all their own way on Sunday.
But even before the second session, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff was quick to caution against reading too much into their times.
Hamilton finished seventh in the second session while Russell was down in 15th, 1.286 off Verstappen’s pace.
“I’m going to stay optimistic and hopeful that we can get the car in a better place for (Saturday) and maybe be a couple of positions further forward,” said Hamilton.
“We weren’t particularly quick, and it was a struggle out there. The grip is quite low on this new surface. It is slippery, particularly for the rear-end. The track temperature today was very high so there was lots of sliding. (First practice) looked quite good but our pace in (the second practice) was a kick in the guts. We’re trying lots of different things and we’ll keep working on it,” he said.
Last year’s maiden Miami race was met with criticism from drivers about the grip on the track when moving out of the regular driving line and it appears that the newly laid tarmac still has some issues.
“So far, I think the new track surface seems to be better, but we were basically just cleaning the racing line today,” said Alonso.
“It seems when you move away from it, it’s very slippery — so that could make overtaking difficult,” he added.
The first practice also saw a red flag after Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg lost control of his car entering turn three, spinning into the wall and leaving debris on the track from his front end.
Sergio Perez beats Max Verstappen to win Azerbaijan Grand Prix
- Perez took the lead when he managed to save time pitting during a safety car
- Verstappen started second behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc but swept past him
BAKU: Sergio Perez took advantage of a fortunately timed safety car to beat his teammate Max Verstappen to the victory in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Sunday, adding it to the sprint he secured the day before, as Red Bull kept up its winning start to 2023.
Perez took the lead when he managed to save time pitting during a safety car period after Verstappen had come in a lap earlier.
“Well done guys, we dominated this weekend,” Perez told his team over the radio. “We are in the fight, guys.”
Verstappen started second behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc but swept past him on the long start-finish straight at the end of lap 3, the first lap on which drivers were allowed to use the DRS overtake assist system on the rear wing.
It was a copy of the pass Perez made on Leclerc on his way to winning the sprint race Saturday. After Verstappen took the lead Sunday, Perez needed only two more laps for his own similar pass on Leclerc to seize second, as Red Bull underlined its status as F1’s dominant team.
Perez benefited when an accident by Nyck de Vries brought out the safety car after his AlphaTauri slid off the track with a broken suspension, just after Verstappen had pitted from the lead. The safety car meant Pérez and Leclerc lost less time on their stops and came out ahead of Verstappen.
After that, the two Red Bull drivers pulled away from the pack and cruised to a straightforward win. Red Bull has won all four Grand Prix races this season and the sprint in Baku on Saturday. Leclerc was third to continue his recovery after a poor start to the year and said the Red Bulls had been “in another league” for race pace.
With the win Perez cut Verstappen’s standings lead to six points. They each have two victories this season but Perez lost ground at the last race in Australia when he was fifth after sliding off the track in qualifying.
Perez is the only driver to win in Baku more than once and has four podium finishes in his last five races there. The Mexican driver joked he had won “two and a half” times in Azerbaijan including Saturday’s sprint.
“It is what it is,” Verstappen said of his result, describing the safety car timing as “unlucky.”
Fernando Alonso finished in fourth place, showing strong pace for Aston Martin after issues in qualifying on Friday, ahead of Carlos Sainz, Jr. for Ferrari and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, who recovered after losing out in the safety car period like Verstappen.
The second Aston Martin of Lance Stroll took seventh ahead of Hamilton’s teammate George Russell, with McLaren’s Lando Norris and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda ninth and 10th, respectively.
Sergio Perez wins F1 sprint in Baku, Verstappen confronts Russell
- Leclerc started on pole — as he will for the grand prix on Sunday — but was overtaken by Perez
BAKU: Max Verstappen confronted George Russell in the pit lane following a collision as his teammate Sergio Pérez won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix sprint race on Saturday.
Red Bull remains the team to beat in Formula One, with Pérez first and Verstappen third in the sprint, but Verstappen was unhappy after Russell left a hole in his car’s sidepod in the collision, hampering Verstappen’s chances of taking second from Charles Leclerc of resurgent Ferrari.
Verstappen walked up to Mercedes driver Russell in the pit lane and seemed to suggest he would be similarly uncompromising when racing Russell in future following the first-lap collision.
“Mate, we all have no grip, we all need to leave a little bit of space,” Verstappen told Russell, who said his car lacked grip and locked up a tire.
“Then expect next time the same, you know,” Verstappen added as Russell walked away, and appeared to aim an expletive at the British driver.
Verstappen lost third place in the incident, but recovered it later at a safety car restart. Russell told British broadcaster Sky Sports he believed he had the right to pressure Verstappen for the position because he was on the inside of the corner and said he was surprised the Red Bull driver tried to hold on while on the outside.
Leclerc started on pole — as he will for the grand prix on Sunday — but was overtaken by Perez just before the halfway point of the 17-lap sprint on the long seafront straight. The Mexican driver cruised to the win, which cuts his deficit to leader Verstappen in the standings by two points to 13.
Leclerc held on to second, as Verstappen closed in on the final lap, to give Ferrari its first top-three finish of 2023 following a dismal start to the season. Leclerc more than doubled his points tally for the season to 13 after two retirements and a seventh-place finish from the first three races.
“One thing for sure, it shows how bad the first three races were,” he said. “We deserve much more points than what I have now in the championship.”
Red Bull has won all three grands prix, with Verstappen winning the opener in Bahrain and then in Australia, after Pérez came first in Saudi Arabia.
The safety car was called out because Yuki Tsunoda slid into the wall, leaving behind a tire and debris from his AlphaTauri.
American driver Logan Sargeant was withdrawn from the sprint by Williams after the team couldn’t repair crash damage in time. He qualified 15th for the sprint after crashing into a barrier in the first session of the shootout.
For the first time, there was a shortened “shootout” qualifying session for the sprint race, in addition to a standard qualifying session on Friday for Sunday’s grand prix. Leclerc qualified on pole for both races despite hitting the wall late in the Saturday “shootout.”
It was the first time that an F1 sprint did not set the grid for the main race. F1 stopped doing that in an attempt to encourage drivers to take more risks for sprint points, something many drivers have welcomed.
Verstappen criticized the format, saying he was “bored” during the second qualifying session and disliked the “hectic” schedule.
“It’s just not proper racing. It’s more like gambling,” he said.
