Category: Formula 1

Hamilton ‘looking forward to the end’ after qualifying woes in Qatar

Lewis Hamilton says he doesn’t know where his qualifying pace has gone and that he’s looking forward to the end of his Mercedes career ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix. George Russell qualified on the front row for both the Sprint and Sunday’s main …

Lewis Hamilton says he doesn’t know where his qualifying pace has gone and that he’s looking forward to the end of his Mercedes career ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix.

George Russell qualified on the front row for both the Sprint and Sunday’s main race in Qatar, on each occasion being within a tenth of a second of the outright fastest time. Hamilton, meanwhile, was 0.4s off Russell in Sprint qualifying, and then slightly further off on Saturday night, and says he doesn’t believe it’s a lack of ability that is causing the gap.

“Well I mean I’m slow out there,” Hamilton said. “I’m half a second off my teammate in the same car … It’s been happening all year.”

“I know I’ve still got it, it’s just the car won’t go any faster. I definitely know I’ve got it still. It’s not a question in my mind. Looking forward to the end.

“We [pretty much] fixed the balance, so it was much better… [It was] a pretty straightforward session. The car was feeling pretty decent.”

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Hamilton — who will make his final start for Mercedes at next weekend’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix — also told Sky Sports that he felt his laps in qualifying were competitive at the time, before he completed the attempts and saw the standings.

“I can’t explain why I am half a second off my teammate,” he said. “It’s never happened in my career. I can’t explain that. What I can say is that the car felt generally fine for me. There’s not really much more I can add. I’ve given it absolutely everything and the laps are generally feeling good but I come across the line and it’s just slow.”

The seven-time world champion was more competitive in the first part of the Sprint before fading later on and losing out to Charles Leclerc, but he suggests he was balancing the risk and reward for a race that pays far fewer points than the grand prix.

“It was alright; it was [a fair fight], nice and close,” he said. “I didn’t defend; I should have defended but I didn’t. He was a bit quicker than me and probably going to come by anyways. If I’m in the same position again tomorrow, I’ll put more of a fight up, for sure.”

Verstappen stripped of Qatar pole for qualifying incident with Russell

Max Verstappen has lost pole position at the Qatar Grand Prix after being handed a grid penalty for an incident with George Russell during qualifying. Russell complained that Verstappen drove in a “super dangerous” manner when he slowed to create a …

Max Verstappen has lost pole position at the Qatar Grand Prix after being handed a grid penalty for an incident with George Russell during qualifying.

Russell complained that Verstappen drove in a “super dangerous” manner when he slowed to create a gap before his final attempt in Q3, with Russell having to take evasive action and nearly running into the back of the Red Bull. Russell proceeded to overtake Verstappen and start his lap, with the stewards investigating the Dutchman for “driving unnecessarily slowly.”

Following a lengthy wait, Verstappen has been handed a one-place grid penalty three hours after the end of qualifying, demoting him to second place and promoting Russell to pole. The stewards explained the usual three-place grid drop was not imposed because Russell could clearly see Verstappen, and neither driver was on a push lap at the time.

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“Car No. 1 was on a different preparation strategy to that of Car No. 63,” the stewards’ decision read. “Car No. 1 was well outside of the delta and the driver of Car No. 1 explained he had let Cars Nos. 4 and 14 past. The driver of Car No. 63 claimed that he had adhered to the delta and did not expect Car No. 1 to be on the racing line. He stated that if a car was going slow in a high speed corner, it should not be on the racing line.

“The Stewards regard this case as a complicated one in that clearly Car No. 1 did not comply with the Race Director’s Event Notes and clearly was driving, in our determination, unnecessarily slowly considering the circumstances.

“It was obvious the driver of Car No. 1 was attempting to cool his tires. He also could see Car No. 63 approaching as he looked in his mirror multiple times whilst on the small straight between Turns 11 and 12.

“Unusually, this incident occurred when neither car was on a push lap. Had Car No. 63 been on a push lap, the penalty would have most likely been the usual three grid position penalty, however in mitigation of penalty, it was obvious that the driver of Car No. 63 had clear visibility of Car No. 1 and that neither car was on a push lap.”

The penalty also carries one penalty point, giving Verstappen six for the 12-month period. His last pole position in Belgium also came with a grid penalty for exceeding power unit components, meaning Verstappen’s last official pole remains the Austrian Grand Prix in June.

Russell predicts exciting Qatar GP after McLaren’s ‘infuriating’ Sprint race tactics

George Russell is expecting an exciting Qatar Grand Prix starting alongside Max Verstappen on the front row, after being infuriated by McLaren’s defensive teamwork in the Sprint. Verstappen secured pole position ahead of Russell by just 0.055s on …

George Russell is expecting an exciting Qatar Grand Prix starting alongside Max Verstappen on the front row, after being infuriated by McLaren’s defensive teamwork in the Sprint.

Verstappen secured pole position ahead of Russell by just 0.055s on Saturday night, turning around what had been a tough weekend up to that point as he was uncompetitive in the Sprint. Russell also started on the front row in the shorter race but saw the McLaren drivers work together to keep him at bay, and he wants a different type of battle on Sunday.

“I’m just excited,” Russell said. “Hopefully we can have a proper race rather than this team orders stuff. It’s going to be a good race. I think we’ll all be going for it.

“It’s actually great that Max is in the mix as well. I was really surprised at their turnaround because they looked really off the pace yesterday, off the pace this morning. And obviously they were both in Q3 and Max on pole, so I think we’ve got a good race on our hands.”

Oscar Piastri got past Russell at the start of the Sprint before leader Lando Norris give Piastri DRS for the majority of the race, helping defend from Russell on the pit straight. Russell says the approach was understandable but did not provide a good spectacle in his opinion.

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“It was obviously so frustrating every lap, Lando backing up, giving Oscar the DRS. I understand why they did that. But when you’re out here, you’re fighting, you want to give it everything, and you want to put a race on for the fans, it was just pretty infuriating. But nevertheless, it was P3 and this afternoon is going to be the important one.”

Russell was also critical of some of Piastri’s defensive driving in the Sprint and believes he could have fought for victory to back up his win in Las Vegas last weekend.

“Obviously, we went wheel-to-wheel and into Turn 1 on one of the laps,” he said. “I was on the inside and he closed the door pretty aggressively. We made contact. We were lucky to both stay in the race there, and then a few laps later I committed to the inside and he pulled across pretty late. When you’re doing, you know, 330kph, 320kph into Turn 1, and there’s a big speed difference and there’s a closing of the door so late, it’s pretty sketchy.

“But it’s just the Sprint. I take a lot of positives from the result because I think if Lando wasn’t being a team player, I think we’d have got past Oscar and could have had a good fight with Lando.”

Verstappen’s Qatar GP pole turnaround ‘a miracle’ for Red Bull

Max Verstappen described his pole position at the Qatar Grand Prix as “a miracle” after he managed to bounce back from a poor Sprint race. Red Bull was not competitive in the Sprint as Verstappen finished eighth and was unable to catch Nico …

Max Verstappen described his pole position at the Qatar Grand Prix as “a miracle” after he managed to bounce back from a poor Sprint race.

Red Bull was not competitive in the Sprint as Verstappen finished eighth and was unable to catch Nico Hulkenberg over the shorter race distance, leading him to say he needed a miracle to be competitive in qualifying. However, the four-time world champion was in the mix at the front of the field throughout Saturday night’s session and took pole by 0.055s from George Russell on his final lap.

“I mean, it couldn’t have been worse [in the Sprint] so we just looked at it,” Verstappen said. “It’s not all super clear, but we’re like, well, we have to go and try this direction. We put it on the car and it worked.

“There are a lot of people back at the factory analyzing a lot of stuff already throughout the whole weekend. But at the end of the day, you have to make the decisions on track if you want to do it or not. [The] simulator is running in the background as well, and yeah, a miracle happened!

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“I did think that maybe we could improve the car a little bit, but not like this, that’s for sure.

“It just felt a bit more hooked up on entry, mid-corner, like everything that was bad before improved quite a lot. I felt it straight away from lap one that it all just felt a bit more consistent. That’s exactly what we needed to be a bit more competitive.”

Despite the step forward, Verstappen says the race performance in the Sprint was so poor that he is still not certain of how competitive Red Bull will be on Sunday.

“It’s still a bit of a question mark,” he said. “I did feel that yesterday we were not too far off in qualifying, and then I felt like we were quite far off in the Sprint. So this is great, to be on pole, but I’m not sure yet if it’s going to be enough to really be the outright fastest, but we’ll find out tomorrow.”

Verstappen rebounds with Qatar GP pole

Max Verstappen is poised to start the Qatar Grand Prix from pole position – his first since June’s Austrian Grand Prix – after edging George Russell to top spot in Lusail. The Dutchman, however, in under investigation for traveling too slowly on a …

Max Verstappen is poised to start the Qatar Grand Prix from pole position — his first since June’s Austrian Grand Prix — after edging George Russell to top spot in Lusail. The Dutchman, however, in under investigation for traveling too slowly on a preparation lap and appearing to impede Russell, who was also preparing to set a fast lap. The “super dangerous” incident, as the Mercedes driver described it, could yet incur the four-time champion a grid penalty.

Russell had held provisional pole after the first laps of Q3, but the qualifying session ended in unusual conditions, with most drivers struggling to improve with their final laps as grip suddenly appeared to desert the circuit.

Russell completed his final tour without improving his time, a slow middle sector undermining his effort. That left him vulnerable to Verstappen, who was only 0.045s behind him in the order. The Red Bull Racing driver, revitalized after changes made in the hours following his lackluster Sprint race, was one of the few drivers to find meaningful gains, improving by 0.1s to move into pole position.

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“Crazy,” he said. “Honestly, I also didn’t expect that, but well done to the team to give me a car that feels a bit more connected.

“Once the car’s a bit more together, you can also push harder. It felt a lot better out there. I hope of course it lasts tomorrow in the race — I don’t know that yet.”

Russell — for whom second place is his third consecutive front row start in a grand prix, said his 0.55s defeat and failure to improve could have been down to the incident with Verstappen on a preparation lap that sent him off the road to avoid crashing with the slow-moving Red Bull Racing car.

“I ended up going through the gravel,” he said. “It felt like the floor was scraping through the curb and the gravel. Maybe that’s why we didn’t improve, I don’t know.”

McLaren, fresh from one-two in the Sprint earlier in the evening, locked out the second row, Lando Norris 0.252s off pole and 0.057s ahead of Oscar Piastri.

“Not the position we were hoping for after yesterday and today but the maximum we could do for sure,” Norris said. “I was pretty happy with the lap, just not quick enough compared to the others.”

Charles Leclerc qualified fifth ahead of Lewis Hamilton in sixth. Carlos Sainz was seventh fastest but faces an investigation of his own for being released unsafely from pit lane ahead of Hamilton.

Fernando Alonso set just one representative flying lap in Q3 to qualify eighth ahead of Sergio Perez, who bounced back from his bottom-five knockout in Sprint qualifying for his third top-10 appearance in the last six races.

Kevin Magnussen completed the top 10 for Haas. Pierre Gasly missed out on what would have been his fourth Q3 appearance in the last five grands prix by just 0.012s, incidentally saving Perez from another embarrassing top-10 miss.

Zhou Guanyu led teammate Valtteri Bottas to 12th and 13th in Sauber’s first double-Q2 appearance of the season since the Spanish Grand Prix and only its second of the season. It was also the second consecutive grand prix for which Zhou outqualified Bottas and just the third time all year.

Yuki Tsunoda was knocked out of qualifying 14th ahead of Lance Stroll in 15th.

Alex Albon will line up 16th after falling 0.026s short of a berth in Q2. Liam Lawson, who qualified 10th for the sprint, followed in 17th.

Nico Hulkenberg was a surprise Q1 knockout just hours after scoring two points for seventh in the Sprint. Radio from the Haas pit wall subsequently suggested the German didn’t have full battery deployment for being in the wrong state-of-charge mode.

Franco Colapinto qualified 19th, one up from his sprint qualifying result but now just 0.204s slower than his teammate, while Esteban Ocon qualified his un-upgraded Alpine last and 0.871s slower than teammate Gasly, who is benefitting from using a new front wing this weekend.

Norris defied team to hand Piastri Qatar Sprint victory

Lando Norris was told by his McLaren team that he shouldn’t try to let Oscar Piastri by as he relinquished victory at the end of the Sprint at the Qatar Grand Prix. Exiting the final corner, Norris slowed and moved to the inside to give Piastri a …

Lando Norris was told by his McLaren team that he shouldn’t try to let Oscar Piastri by as he relinquished victory at the end of the Sprint at the Qatar Grand Prix.

Exiting the final corner, Norris slowed and moved to the inside to give Piastri a clear run at the line, returning the favor for his teammate handing him victory in the Sprint at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. Norris then revealed he had been told by the team not to switch the positions because George Russell was too close behind Piastri, but he ignored that request.

“It was probably a bit closer than what I was wanting, but I planned to do it since Brazil,” Norris said. “Just what I thought was best, probably a bit sketchy, the team told me not to do it, but I thought I could get away with it and we did.

“So honestly I don’t mind, I’m not here to win Sprint races, I’m here to win races and a championship — but that’s not gone to plan. So I did the best we could and I look forward to tomorrow.”

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Norris says he had only told his race engineer that he planned on giving the position up if he had the opportunity, and he believes few other teammates would work in a similar way.

“It wasn’t something that was really discussed. I didn’t have to do it if I didn’t want to,” he said. “I told my engineer that I would do it so he was the main one that probably knew about it. I told him before the race if we have a bit of a gap and we’re first and second, and then I would try and do it. 

“So he knew and he was telling me not to do it because I think the gap to George was probably a bit too fine for their liking. But Oscar did his part in trying to help me get closer to Max in the championship and give that opportunity a go.

“I deserved that right to have a chance and that’s how we have to work as a team, when one of us has that opportunity. And I returned the favor today.

“I don’t think any of us are proud of necessarily winning a Sprint race or we’re also not too unhappy on giving up a Sprint race win. But we work together well as a team, and I think that’s probably one of our biggest strengths over everyone is how well we work together.

“I don’t think any other team would do such a thing and help each other as much as we’ve done this year for one another. It’s our strength, and we’ll continue to do that.”

Norris hands Piastri Qatar Sprint win

Oscar Piastri led a McLaren one-two finish in the Qatar Sprint after pole-getter Lando Norris handed his teammate the lead on the final lap. Norris made the decision to switch places exiting the final corner of his own volition as payback for …

Oscar Piastri led a McLaren one-two finish in the Qatar Sprint after pole-getter Lando Norris handed his teammate the lead on the final lap.

Norris made the decision to switch places exiting the final corner of his own volition as payback for Piastri handing him victory in the Sao Paulo sprint last month, when he was still in contention for the drivers’ championship.

Norris nailed his start from pole to hold the lead into he first turn, but front-row starter George Russell was challenged by Piastri, starting third. The Australian took the Briton side by side around the outside into the first turn before scything down his inside into Turn 2 for a McLaren dream start to the race.

By then Norris had bolted, however, capitalizing on the scrap behind to put 1.2s on the field by the end of the first sector, leaving Piastri vulnerable to the slippery Mercedes behind.

Russell made an attempt to take back the place on lap 4, using DRS down the main straight to draw up to the back of the McLaren, but Piastri was aggressive in closing the door into he Turn 1 right-hander.

“He just f***ing turned into me,” Russell fumed, though the stewards took no notice of the move.

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By now the threat to the one-two finish was clear, and Norris was asked to slow to keep Piastri within range of his DRS as a defensive play against Russell, neutralizing the Mercedes driver’s own DRS advantage. The slowed pace brought Sainz into the fold, having held fourth off the line, but prevented any changes of position in the DRS train.

The enforced ceasefire was briefly broken on lap 14, when Norris stretched his legs to set what was then the fastest lap of the sprint and pulled 1.4s clear of the pack again. Russell attempted to seize the chance with another DRS-assisted move down the inside, but again he found the door firmly shut.

“F*** me that was late — twice now,” he complained, but with no ensuing action from race control.

The Briton had one more opportunity on the final lap, when Piastri again fell behind the leader, but again he couldn’t force an error, forcing the Mercedes driver to closely follow the leaders home around the lap.

It was with him just 0.6s behind Piastri that Norris decided to hit the brakes out of the final corner to pull off a finely judged switch in a show of gratitude for his teammate doing the same in Brazil.

“It was probably a bit closer [with Russell] than what I was wanting,” he said. “But I planned to do it since Brazil. It’s just what I thought was best.

“It was probably a little bit sketchy. The team told me not to do it, but I thought I could get away with it, and we did.

“We scored a one-two. That’s what we were aiming for today. We got maximum points. We’re happy as a team. We executed things perfectly.”

Piastri credited his teammate for helping him defend second place through the race to secure the one-two finish.

“It was about defense for the whole race, to be honest,” he said. “I had a good start and a good Turn 1 but then didn’t quite have the pace. I think I killed the front a little bit early on. I was struggling a bit for the rest of the Sprint.

“Some great teamwork. I think without that help it would’ve been a much more difficult Sprint.”

Russell was frustrated to be thwarted by McLaren’s team game to finish third ahead of Ferrari teammates Sainz and Charles Leclerc in fourth and fifth.

Leclerc had dropped behind Lewis Hamilton on the first lap but barged back past with a gutsy exchange on lap 13, diving down the Briton’s inside into Turn 1 and then hanging around his outside through Turn 2 to complete the move. It limited the damage done to Ferrari’s constructors’ title hopes to six points, its margin to McLaren now 30 points.

Hamilton finished sixth ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, who scored two valuable points for Haas’s hold on sixth in the title standings.

Max Verstappen finished an uncompetitive eighth after losing three places off the line and recovering only one from Pierre Gasly.

Gasly finished ninth ahead of Kevin Magnussen to complete the top 10, with Fernando Alonso, Valtteri Bottas, Lance Stroll, Esteban Ocon and Alex Albon.

Liam Lawson lost seven places on the first lap to finish 16th ahead of teammate Yuki Tsunoda.

Franco Colapinto finished 18th after overtaking Sergio Perez at the pit lane exit, both having started off the grid following overnight set-up changes.

Zhou Guanyu gambled on the soft tire and was forced to pit on his way to 19th, while Perez finished 20th after a pit stop for a new front wing.

Alpine signs F2 title contender Aron as reserve driver

Alpine has signed rookie Formula 2 championship contender Paul Aron as its reserve driver for the 2025 season. Aron stepped up to F2 full-time this season with Hitech – ran by Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes – and has impressed with four pole …

Alpine has signed rookie Formula 2 championship contender Paul Aron as its reserve driver for the 2025 season.

Aron stepped up to F2 full-time this season with Hitech – ran by Alpine team principal Oliver Oakes – and has impressed with four pole positions and seven podiums. While he has yet to convert a pole into a victory, Aron is currently fourth in the championship standings and 36.5 points behind leader Gabriel Bortoleto, who he will start from pole ahead of in Qatar on Sunday.

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The Estonian was not affiliated with a young driver program this year, having been dropped by Mercedes late last season, but will now become Alpine reserve driver as current reserve Jack Doohan steps up to a race seat in 2025.

“We are very pleased to have Paul join BWT Alpine Formula One Team as our 2025 reserve driver,” executive advisor Flavio Braitore said. “There is a generational shift in Formula 1 at the moment, as we see with many young drivers coming into the sport and making an impact. We believe Paul is one of the best talents and we look forward to developing him into an F1 driver.”

Aron led the F2 standings for the early part of this season and says he is keen to finish off the year strongly before he takes on the Alpine role.

“It’s incredibly special to be joining BWT Alpine Formula One Team,” Aron said. “It is clear that this is a great place to be for any young driver and I’m really pleased that Flavio and Oliver have given me this opportunity.

“Before 2025 and the hard work that will come with being the team’s reserve driver, I have a championship to focus on for the remainder of this year and I will be giving it my all to compete for the title. I’m looking forward to really beginning the work and continuing my career pathway in motorsport.”

Alpine also announced it has retained Mick Schumacher as part of its World Endurance Championship line-up earlier this week, with the German leaving his reserve role at Mercedes in F1 at the same time.

Perez blames SQ1 exit on Leclerc fight

Sergio Perez says being caught in a fight with Charles Leclerc on his final flying lap cost him enough time to be knocked out in SQ1 at the Qatar Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver was already close to the drop zone when he started his final attempt, …

Sergio Perez says being caught in a fight with Charles Leclerc on his final flying lap cost him enough time to be knocked out in SQ1 at the Qatar Grand Prix.

The Red Bull driver was already close to the drop zone when he started his final attempt, but had Leclerc on his inside on the run to the first corner. Perez managed to stay ahead around the outside and continue his lap but his improvement wasn’t big enough to pull him clear of danger and he ended up being eliminated by just 0.013s.

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“Unfortunately we left a little bit late,” Perez explained. “We had an issue with one of the anti-roll bars, and then to get my final lap we were all opening gaps and then Charles came and we were fighting into Turn 1 and so on, so we lost a couple of tenths there.

“It was enough to be knocked out, which was a shame because I thought we really progressed with the car from P1 to qualifying — we had a lot more potential and it’s a shame that we just ended up here.”

Starting from 16th in a Sprint race that doesn’t feature any pit stops, Perez admits it’s unlikely he will be able to pull himself into points contention, with only the top eight cars scoring.

“I think it’s going to be very difficult. For now we will focus on the rest of the weekend,” he said. “In such a short race I don’t think there will be a lot that we can do. But yeah, we will try.”

It also wasn’t a particularly strong session for newly crowned world champion Max Verstappen in the other Red Bull, as he qualified sixth for the Sprint and feels his weekend is likely to be a struggle.

“Just no pace, to be honest,” Verstappen said. “Too slow — I just don’t really have the balance to attack. Entry to mid-corner the car is just a bit off, so that makes it really difficult around there. The very high speed is OK, but everything else is not OK and that makes it just difficult to push. I think P6 is more or less where we should be, maybe even P7 actually, but that’s of course not where you want to be.

“The Sprint, probably it will be tough to fight the cars around me just with the balance I have in the car. Then for the other qualifying, let’s see if we can improve the situation a bit, but I don’t suddenly expect it to be turned upside down and then it works. It’s not been amazing, let’s say it like that.”

Norris ‘hanging on’ in securing Sprint pole

Lando Norris said he felt like he was hanging onto his car during a Sprint qualifying lap at the high-speed Lusail circuit ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix. Lusail’s fast corners and flat curbs allow drivers to push their cars close to their limits, …

Lando Norris said he felt like he was hanging onto his car during a Sprint qualifying lap at the high-speed Lusail circuit ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix.

Lusail’s fast corners and flat curbs allow drivers to push their cars close to their limits, while also providing a physical test for themselves behind the wheel. Norris secured pole position for Saturday’s Sprint with his first flying lap of SQ3 and admits he couldn’t execute a clean attempt on his second run.

“It’s tough, because it’s so quick around here,” Norris said. “It feels like the quickest circuit of the year. I mean, the final sector just feels like you’re hanging on. It was a decent lap, I made too many mistakes on my second. But we were coming here to get pole, and we did that, so job done for today.”

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Norris says the conditions contributed to the errors on his final attempt, with wind gusts destabilizing cars due to their unpredictability.

“The wind plays a big part, but the conditions are also a lot better than last season,” he said. “It makes it a lot tougher physically, but it also makes it much quicker to drive. I think most of the cars are close to being flat in most of the corners in the final sector, which is quite an accomplishment.

“It felt quick — and when it feels quick, it must be very fast. It’s a challenge to put a lap together, especially when the tires don’t feel in for the beginning, and through the lap you gain confidence. That’s been the challenge of today, but it’s paid off. We made some good improvements into qualifying and I was happy with it.”

With teammate Oscar Piastri starting from third place behind George Russell, McLaren is targeting maximum points on Saturday as it looks to try and wrap up the constructors’ championship.

“Our target is one-two. We know it’ll be a battle,” Norris said. “Mercedes will be quick, Ferrari will be fast, so not expecting an easy one. Probably expecting an exciting one for everyone watching, so looking forward to it tomorrow.”