Red Bull Racing will have a lot of work to do if it means to continue its win streak Sunday.
Q1 was looking toward an exciting finish with multiple cars out after the checkered flag, but Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll had a bad shunt near the finish line that entirely totaled his car and red-flagged the session. As as result, AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda technically led Q1 and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and both Alfa Romeo cars didn’t get a chance to improve their times, knocking them out of qualifying.
Q2 saw a shocking development, with both Red Bulls getting knocked out — Max Verstappen placed 11th and Sergio Perez placed 13th. Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz led the session, and Q2 also saw a great performance by AlphaTauri driver Liam Lawson when he qualified 10th and made in into Q3.
In the end, though, it was Sainz’s day. He qualified 1st to grab his second pole of the year, and it was almost a Ferrari 1-2 in Singapore for the first time since 2014, but Charles Leclerc was foiled by a late flyer from George Russell, who qualified second. Given the difficulty overtaking in Singapore, Red Bull’s win streak is perhaps more in danger on Sunday than it ever has been.
Max Verstappen claimed pole at his home race, but it was a hectic road to get there.
Saturday’s qualifying session for the Dutch Grand Prix has come and gone, and it was certainly an interesting session across all three sections.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen took pole position at his home race at Zandvoort, but he had to earn it on his final lap of Q3. There were two red flags during the session, both during Q3 — Logan Sargeant in the Williams and Charles Leclerc in his Ferrari both struggled and crashed their cars, as the qualy started wet on intermediates before drying up for slicks near the end. The racers both seemed to have fallen off the dry line during Q3, causing a bit of a hectic end to the session. Lando Norris continued to impress in his McLaren, as did Thai driver Alexander Albon, who put his Williams fourth on the grid.
Max Verstappen dominated qualifying on a drying track for the Belgian Grand Prix but will cede pole position to Charles Leclerc thanks to a gearbox penalty. Despite a Q2 scare that saw him barely scrape through to the pole shootout in 10th, …
Max Verstappen dominated qualifying on a drying track for the Belgian Grand Prix but will cede pole position to Charles Leclerc thanks to a gearbox penalty.
Despite a Q2 scare that saw him barely scrape through to the pole shootout in 10th, Verstappen mastered the slicks-on-damp conditions of Q3 to take top spot by an imperious 0.82s. But the Dutchman must serve a five-place grid penalty for unsealing his fifth set of gearbox components, one more than allowed for the season, which will drop him to sixth on the grid and promote Leclerc to pole on Sunday.
“Last year I had more penalties and we could still with the race,” Verstappen said, recalling his drive from 13th to victory. “That’s still the target on Sunday.”
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Verstappen’s Sunday hopes were boosted by a generally strong feeling in the car on his way to the fastest time.
“It was all about just feeling confident and risking everything in that final run to get more lap time,” he said. “We know that the car is quick, and even in these tricky conditions today, luckily we could show that again.”
Leclerc said he was pleased with his performance despite the margin, but he stopped short of making any predictions for the race.
“Not a bad qualifying for us,” he said. “Especially in those conditions it’s always tricky to put everything together. I’ve put a lot of work into those conditions because I wasn’t so comfortable a few race ago, and it’s paid off.
“We have a great starting position for Sunday, and let’s see how it goes.”
Sergio Perez was 0.877s slower than his session-topping teammate and will be promoted to the front row alongside Leclerc.
“It was a very tricky qualifying out there,” he said. “But it’s a good result. It’s a bit of a shame I didn’t get Charles there, but I think in these conditions he was good.”
Lewis Hamilton, Carlos Sainz and Oscar Piastri will move up to third, fourth and fifth respectively, dropping Verstappen into sixth ahead of Lando Norris.
Norris was well covered by teammate Piastri after the Briton slid off the road in still-wet conditions in Q3, where a trip through the stones caused some suspected damage to his front wing and floor. George Russell was similarly bested by teammate Hamilton, albeit by a more significant 0.756s.
Aston Martin teammates Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll completed the top five, Alonso 1.6s off the pace and Stroll a further full second adrift.
Yuki Tsunoda was knocked out of the wet-dry Q2 in 11th ahead of Pierre Gasly and Kevin Magnussen.
Valtteri Bottas was among the first drivers to spy the opportunity to switch from intermediates to slicks, but it wasn’t enough to save him from 14th on the grid.
Esteban Ocon ended Q2 in his garage with a broken front wing after sliding off the track, through the stones and into the wall at Turn 9 without enough time to rejoin the track following repairs.
Alex Albon will start 16th after a fully wet Q1 that required use of the intermediate tire, beating Zhou Guanyu and American rookie Logan Sargeant, who joined the session late following a precautionary gearbox change after crashing out of FP1.
Daniel Ricciardo will start the grand prix 19th after having his fastest lap deleted for cutting the apex over the top of Raidillon. The Australian’s time had been good enough to put him 10th in the session, directly behind teammate Tsunoda.
Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg failed to set a time thanks to a hydraulics issue that delayed his exit from the pit lane until it was too late to complete an out-lap.
If you watched qualifying for IndyCar’s GMR Grand Prix of Indy to kick off the month of May you’ll have seen the fourth-closest Firestone Fast Six in history, with under 0.3s covering the entire six, and the gap between pole and second coming in at …
If you watched qualifying for IndyCar’s GMR Grand Prix of Indy to kick off the month of May you’ll have seen the fourth-closest Firestone Fast Six in history, with under 0.3s covering the entire six, and the gap between pole and second coming in at below 0.003s.
Granted, it wasn’t a clean session, but the margin between pole and second in Formula 1’s Miami Grand Prix a week before was logged at 0.361s, and the top six was spread out to the tune of nearly a second.
But Monaco delivered a thrilling fight for pole position, and F1 has actually seen the two closest field spreads in the history of its current qualifying format this year, with Q1 in Bahrain the tightest at 1.188s from P1 to P20, just pipping Miami’s 1.214s.
Yet as we all know, there’s no way Logan Sargeant can hope to make up that deficit from last to first just through setup and driver skill, such are the differences between F1 machinery. It’s one of the most fascinating and impressive factors of the category, with the regular upgrades — such as the ones set to be introduced in Barcelona this weekend — having such an influence on car development and performance.
But it also means there’s only so much a driver can do. They might be performing at the top of their game but the equipment will always be the main limit to their results.
Take Valtteri Bottas for example. In 2021 there were regular poles, podiums and a dominant win in Turkey thanks to the Mercedes he had at his disposal. A year later, he’s restricted to a solitary top-five and 10th in the championship, but many would say his first season at Alfa Romeo saw him driving as well if not better than before.
“It’s hard, and it’s definitely not always fair,” Bottas tells RACER. “There’s so many variables in this sport, like the car, the condition of the car, the setup, all these kind of things. So it’s not easy to accept sometimes if this guy is probably driving worse than me but he’s a few places ahead, and vice versa.
“Sometimes somebody might win a race that probably didn’t drive the best on the grid that day. That’s the nature of the sport — it’s always been like that. So it’s not always fair and you need to learn how to deal with it and accept those factors.
“I think in the end the main thing becomes focusing on your own work, making sure that you’re making the most out of it. Because that’s the driver’s job — to squeeze everything out of the car, and then after, give the best feedback you can.”
That feedback can only fully start once the car hits the track for pre-season testing, and its limitations or weaknesses can be felt in full. But drivers are well informed long before that point about the new chassis they’re going to be receiving, and where the team expects it to stack up.
“You normally get a pretty good prediction on aero numbers compared to last year, so then you can kind of guesstimate something,” Bottas says. “Let’s take an example of Aston Martin — you don’t know for a team like that if they’re gonna make a big jump over the winter or not.
“If you’re on a similar level than the previous year when you start a new season, then you know you’re screwed! So you need to be quite a bit up. And also, over the winter, normally in the wind tunnel how they find the performance, there’s like a graph. And if there’s been like a steady state, or if it’s been like that (sharply up), then you kind of get an idea that, OK, it’s been a good winter or a bad winter.
“Other things as well, such as new mechanical things — regarding the suspension, balance tools, stuff like that — you kind of know what’s coming, and then you can try and guesstimate where you’ll be.”
Lionel Ng/Motorsport Images
And despite what teams and drivers say, their whole mood is impacted by how competitive the car looks from the outset. Lap times are always analyzed and understood, and that can mean a pretty clear picture of where a team is likely to be fighting during the year, which in turn can be tough to handle knowing what the next 12 months are likely to hold.
“Of course it makes a difference,” Bottas agrees. “Let’s say, from all the conclusions from winter testing, if you see that you’re dead last, you know it’s going to be a tough season. But if you’re top three, you know that, ‘OK, there’s a great chance.’ So yeah, for sure that makes the mood, but the key thing is never let the mood kind of drag you down, or drag the team down.
“You always need to stay motivated in this sport and always need to keep pushing people and asking for more, because that’s how the sport works. But yeah, of course, in Formula 1 everything is more fun when the car is good, that’s just how it goes!”
Perhaps the toughest time is for a rookie, when the step is made from winning regularly in junior categories that are spec series, offering a much more level playing field. To go from that being the norm to a car that might not allow you to compete with most of the other drivers on the grid can be tough, though Bottas admits his own career path smoothed that transition.
“I was quite OK with it. Obviously, first year, everything is exciting anyway. The car wasn’t great, but that didn’t really put me down because I was focusing on trying to prove myself, that I belong in Formula 1. And then I finally had a couple of highlights in the first season which then secured me the drive.
“Then the next year already we actually then had a big jump — the 2014 Williams, I think six podiums, which was pretty cool. So, I’ve had good and bad cars and you just learn how to deal with it.”
Competitiveness is the focus rather than simply being quick. Pace is relative, and for someone like Bottas the priority is always lap time over changes and developments that suit his driving style or make the car more to his liking.
“I take lap time whatever. If I have to drive the car sideways, if the lap time is good, it’s all about performance,” he says. “It doesn’t matter — even when it was the porpoising issues and stuff, for me, if there was porpoising I would always take a setup that is faster, no matter what.”
Maximizing what you have to work with brings its own emotional rewards, but Bottas admits there’s still nothing like strong results – which are hard to come by for all but F1’s top teams. Jake Grant/Motorsport Images
But another popular myth is that drivers are most proud of a drive where they’ve maximized the result over the end result itself. There is some truth to that, but Bottas admits everyone performing to their maximum is still no substitute to a better return, even if not everything clicked at 100%.
“You feel good and proud — if I feel like I’ve done the most I could and if I feel like I’ve performed at my best level. But still, the result is so important that there’s this underlying feeling of disappointment if you don’t get the result you wanted.
“So it’s tricky. And also the mood in the team, if you have a sort of target of a result, no matter how well you drove, if you didn’t get there, nobody is cheering.”
A results-driven business where your driving sometimes can’t have an overriding influence on the result. Tough gig.
With more than 33 cars entered for the Indianapolis 500, bumping will take place during the month of May. Although there’s only one car to cleave from the field of potential race participants, there is a need to cut the 34 entries down to 33, “We …
With more than 33 cars entered for the Indianapolis 500, bumping will take place during the month of May. Although there’s only one car to cleave from the field of potential race participants, there is a need to cut the 34 entries down to 33,
“We know how much our loyal fans love the ‘race within the race’ to qualify for the Indianapolis 500, and bumping will add even more drama this year,” IMS President Doug Boles said. “We can’t wait to see the cars trimmed out for maximum speed in two of the most pressure-packed days in global motorsports, setting the field for the 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500.”
And so, with more cars than openings on the grid than the 11 rows of three will accommodate, the upcoming schedule for the opening week of activities at the Indy 500 will make use of the full set of qualifying procedures. To prepare for the busy weekend of time trials, the series produced a primer for fans to follow:
DAY ONE: Saturday, May 20 (all times Eastern):
11 a.m.-5:50 p.m.: Full Field Qualifying (Live on Peacock, also 2:30-4:30 p.m. on NBC)
Qualifying will take place for positions 1-30. Positions 13-30 will be set, and those drivers will not requalify Sunday.
When every car in the qualifying order for Saturday has been presented at least one chance to qualify, teams may choose from two lanes for second and subsequent attempts. Cars in the priority lane (Lane 1) must withdraw their qualified time — if the car has one — but get priority access to the track ahead of Lane 2. Lane 2 is for cars that have already qualified but wish to improve their position.
Once cars are outside of the Top 30, they are considered to not have a qualification speed as only positions 1-30 will be locked in during Day One.
DAY TWO: Sunday, May 21
2-3 p.m.: Top 12 Qualifying (Live on Peacock)
Positions 7-12 will be determined. The order is based on Saturday times, slowest to fastest. Each car is guaranteed one attempt. The fastest six advance to the Firestone Fast Six to determine positions 1-6.
4-5 p.m.: Last Chance Qualifying (Live on NBC)
Positions 31-33 will be determined. Each car is guaranteed one attempt and may make multiple attempts until time expires. Each car’s most recent qualification speed will remain eligible for the starting lineup until the time is withdrawn or qualifications end.
5:15-5:45 p.m.: Firestone Fast Six (Live on NBC)
Positions 1-6 will be determined. The order is based on times from Top 12 Qualifying earlier Sunday, slowest to fastest. Each car is guaranteed one attempt. The fastest driver in the Firestone Fast Six will earn the coveted NTT P1 Award for pole.
Arrow McLaren’s Felix Rosenqvist captured his second consecutive pole at Texas Motor Speedway in qualifying for the PPG 375 NTT IndyCar series race and will have plenty his teammates close by when the green flag waves on Sunday at 12:15pm ET. The …
Arrow McLaren’s Felix Rosenqvist captured his second consecutive pole at Texas Motor Speedway in qualifying for the PPG 375 NTT IndyCar series race and will have plenty his teammates close by when the green flag waves on Sunday at 12:15pm ET.
The Swede’s two-lap average of 220.264mph edged Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon, who produced a 219.972mph in the No. 9 Honda. McLaren’s Alexander Rossi will line up third in the No. 7 Chevy and have another member of the Bowtie family — Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden in the No. 2 entry — alongside in fourth.
McLaren’s Pato O’Ward was fifth fastest in the No. 5 Chevy, giving the team a P1-3-5 qualifying performance and all three cars in a straight line as they approach the start.
Complementing Dixon in second, new CGR driver Takuma Sato secured sixth on his debut in the No. 11 Honda.
“Arrow McLaren gave us weapons again,” Rosenqvist said. “We’ll take it. We’ve always been good here, but it’s an all-new confidence level this year.”
Elsewhere, Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports’ David Malukas impressed with a run to ninth, one position ahead of Colton Herta, Andretti Autosport’s fastest driver.
Like Malukas, the A.J. Foyt Racing duo of Benjamin Pedersen and Santino Ferrucci were high achievers in qualifying, locking in 13th and 14th, respectively, and of the remaining drivers who had a reason to be happy with their results, oval rookie Agustin Canapino qualified 19th for Juncos Hollinger Racing, ahead of Andretti’s Kyle Kirkwood, Meyer Shank Racing’s Helio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud, Ed Carpenter Racing’s Conor Daly and Rinus VeeKay, and the entire Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team.
“We’re disappointed,” Rahal said. “I just think aerodynamically, we’re missing something big. The car just doesn’t accelerate. I just think the cars are draggy and slow. It’s not acceptable.”
Alex Bowman will start from the pole at Richmond Raceway for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race after rain canceled Saturday’s practice and qualifying sessions. Bowman, who moved back into the points lead this week when the Hendrick Motorsports teams …
Alex Bowman will start from the pole at Richmond Raceway for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race after rain canceled Saturday’s practice and qualifying sessions.
Bowman, who moved back into the points lead this week when the Hendrick Motorsports teams had their points reinstated by the appeals panel, starts from the top spot through the metric — a weighted combination of the driver’s fastest lap and finish in the previous race, owner race finish, and owner points position.
“Pit stall selection, I think, is probably the biggest thing,” Bowman said of being on the pole after getting his 100 points reinstated from the Hendrick Motorsports appeal of the hood louvers earlier this week. “You’d probably still have a pretty good pit stall selection fifth, though. So, not a huge difference, but obviously, having clean air at the start is important.
“Hopefully, we’ll take advantage of a good pit pick and have a good solid day. This has been a hard place for me to get ahold of in the past, even with a win. We’ll just try to maximize the day and keep chipping away at it.”
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Bowman finished eighth in the spring race at Richmond a year ago, but his average finish at Richmond is 19.6.
“It’s been tough,” Bowman said. “We’ve had good days here and then we’ve had really bad days. You have a good day here and I’ve left, like last spring or the race that we won, and I’m like, ‘Man, I know exactly what I need and I know the feel that I want to have.’ And then, come back in the fall and be confused and can’t find that and can’t get the race car to do the same thing and feel the same way.
“It’s just been a little more hit and miss than we want to be, but I think identified some things that can help me, and hopefully, we’ve gone in the right direction with the race car and will be strong tomorrow.”
Bowman will be joined on the front row by Kyle Busch, who is a six-time winner at Richmond.
William Byron starts third, Ross Chastain starts fourth, and Tyler Reddick fifth. Reddick enters Richmond off a win at Circuit of The Americas with his new 23XI Racing team.
Austin Cindric starts sixth, Chris Buescher starts seventh and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. starts eighth. Kyle Larson starts ninth, and Kevin Harvick starts 10th.
Denny Hamlin starts 11th at one of his home racetracks. Hamlin is the defending race winner.
Back in the No. 9 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, Josh Berry starts 30th. Sunday will be Berry’s fourth start substituting for the injured Chase Elliott.
Anthony Alfredo makes his first start in the No. 78 for Live Fast Motorsports at Richmond. Alfredo starts 35th.
Chandler Smith makes his Cup Series debut in the No. 13 for Kaulig Racing. Smith brings up the rear of the field in 37th.
Rain also washed out Xfinity Series practice and qualifying at Richmond. The inclement weather is expected to clear out Saturday afternoon and the forecast looks good for the rest of the weekend.
William Byron is becoming a betting favorite for the pole on a NASCAR Cup Series road course after grabbing another one at Circuit of The Americas. Byron earned the top spot for Sunday’s race with a lap of 93.882mph (2m10.76s). While it is his first …
William Byron is becoming a betting favorite for the pole on a NASCAR Cup Series road course after grabbing another one at Circuit of The Americas.
Byron earned the top spot for Sunday’s race with a lap of 93.882mph (2m10.76s). While it is his first pole at COTA, it is the fourth road course pole for Byron. And he is the first driver in the Cup Series to win a pole on four different road courses (Charlotte 2019; Road America 2021; Indianapolis 2021).
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“It’s been an up and down weekend; the Cup car, we definitely had a little bit of work to do yesterday on overall balance and grip in some areas and then me as a driver,” Byron said. “When I talked overnight (with the team) we felt maybe there were three-tenths on my end and on the car’s end. We were able to close that gap today a little bit and put both together.
“It’s good to get the pole, but tomorrow is what matters. There is a lot of work to do. A lot of physical work to do in the (Xfinity Series) race later today, and then tomorrow is going to be tough. Excited for it, and hopefully we can prepare throughout today and go into tomorrow.”
Byron will be joined on the front row by Tyler Reddick. Reddick, who was fastest in practice and fastest from the second group of drivers in qualifying, ran a lap of 93.783mph in the final round.
Austin Cindric qualified third at 93.459mph with Jordan Taylor qualified fourth at 93.174mph. IMSA veteran Taylor is making his NASCAR Cup Series debut driving the No. 9 for Hendrick Motorsports in-place of the injured Chase Elliott.
Daniel Suarez qualified fifth at 93.067mph ahead of Alex Bowman in sixth at 93.911mph and AJ Allmendinger in seventh at 92.840mph.
Erik Jones qualified eighth at 92.838mph, with Kyle Busch ninth at 92.678mph, and Noah Gragson qualified 10th at 92.188. It is the first time both Legacy Motor Club drivers made the final round of qualifying in the same session. Defending race winner Ross Chastain qualified 12th, his fastest lap was 93.310mph.
Kimi Raikkonen qualified 22nd and Jenson Button was 24th. Jimmie Johnson qualified 31st.
Those hoping to play in one of the most iconic U.S. Women’s Opens ever staged can now start planning their journey.
Those hoping to play in one of the most iconic U.S. Women’s Opens ever staged can now start planning their journey. On Tuesday, the USGA announced qualifying sites for the 78th U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach Golf Links. This marks the first U.S. Women’s Open for Pebble Beach and its 14th USGA championship.
The 36-hole qualifiers will be held across 23 sites in the U.S. as well as Canada, Japan and Belgium. The first qualifiers will take place May 9 at The Club at Mediterra (South Course), in Naples, Florida, and Shannopin Country Club in Pittsburgh. Qualifying will wrap up on June 7.
Online entry applications open on Wednesday, Feb. 15, and will continue through Wednesday, May 3, at 5 p.m. EDT. Players must have a Handicap Index not exceeding 2.4 or be a professional to be eligible.
Birdie Kim (2005) is the last player to win the U.S. Women’s Open after advancing through qualifying. In 2022, 22 golfers who played in a qualifier made the 36-hole cut in the Women’s Open at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club.
The USGA accepted a record total of 1,874 entries for the 2022 U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles last year. The previous record was established in 2015 when 1,873 filed entries for the championship at Lancaster (Pa.) Country Club, which will also be the host site for the 2024 championship.
Two qualifiers will be held at clubs that have previously hosted the U.S. Women’s Open. Starmount Forest Country Club, in Greensboro, North Carolina, is where Betty Jameson claimed the 1947 championship. Jameson had previously won the 1940 U.S. Women’s Amateur at Pebble Beach. Betsy Rawls won the first of her four Women’s Open titles in 1951 at Druid Hills Golf Club. The Atlanta club will host qualifying for the sixth time since 2011.
Pebble Beach Golf Links has previously hosted six U.S. Opens (1972, 1982, 1992, 2000, 2010, 2019), five U.S. Amateurs (1929, 1947, 1961, 1999, 2018) and two U.S. Women’s Amateurs (1940, 1948).
2023 U.S. Women’s Open Qualifying Sites
Tuesday, May 9 The Club at Mediterra (South Course), Naples, Fla.
Shannopin C.C., Pittsburgh, Pa.
Monday, May 15 The Vancouver G.C., Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada
Druid Hills G.C., Atlanta, Ga.
Somerset C.C., Mendota Heights, Minn.
Echo Lake C.C., Westfield, N.J.
Wednesday, May 17 Belle Haven C.C., Alexandria, Va.
Monday, May 22 Marin C.C., Novato, Calif.
Valencia (Calif.) C.C.
Bradenton (Fla.) C.C.
Oahu C.C., Honolulu, Hawaii
Wednesday, May 24 Bellerive C.C., St. Louis, Mo.
Galveston (Texas) C.C.
Thursday, May 25 Indian Creek G.C. (Creek Course), Carrollton, Texas
Monday, May 29 Golf Club de Naxhelet, Wanze, Belgium
Boso C.C. (East/West Courses), Chiba Prefecture, Japan
Tuesday, May 30 Gainey Ranch G.C., Scottsdale, Ariz.
Wednesday, May 31 Starmount Forest C.C., Greensboro, N.C.
Ohio State University G.C. (Scarlet Course), Columbus, Ohio
Thursday, June 1 CommonGround Golf Course, Aurora, Colo.
Monday, June 5 Rancho Santa Fe (Calif.) G.C.
The Peninsula G. & C.C., San Mateo, Calif.
OGA Golf Course, Woodburn, Ore.
Wednesday, June 7 The Club at Admirals Cove (North/West Courses), Jupiter, Fla.
Palatine Hills Golf Course, Palatine, Ill.
Duxbury (Mass.) Yacht Club
