Leclerc, by contrast, drove an outstanding race with a long first stint on the medium tyres to catch and pass Mercedes’ George Russell for the final podium place. He said: “I feel like we’ve maximised absolutely everything we could have this weekend. There wasn’t anything more in the car. “We need to focus on qualifying...
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri took his third win of the year and with it the world championship lead at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Piastri benefited from a penalty for Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to take control of the race and score his second win in a week. Verstappen was given a five-second penalty for illegally...
Norris’ crash interrupted the first runs of all his rivals in Q3 apart from Piastri, who laid down a marker just before his team-mate lost control over the kerb at Turn Five and slid sideways into the wall. When the session resumed, Verstappen went out on his semi-used tyres and took over top spot in...
Norris has admitted to not being comfortable with the new McLaren car since the start of the season, despite leading the championship by three points from Piastri coming into the fifth race of the season. He said he had been concentrating on gaining confidence in the car on the high-speed Jeddah street track. Norris said:...
He added his approach to the high-speed nature of the Jeddah circuit will change slightly, partly because he is struggling to replicate the same form in the car that saw him finish second in the title race to Max Verstappen in 2024. “It is clear that there are things… things that have changed since last...
Verstappen moved to within one point of Norris in the standings with a brilliant win at the Japanese Grand Prix from pole position two weeks ago. His weekend in Sakhir was a stark contrast to the highs of Suzuka as he qualified in seventh and finished the race three places lower than Briton Norris, who...
Combining consistent speed with the mental solidity and racing decisiveness he has always shown makes Piastri a formidable rival who, psychologically at least, will be a tough nut to crack. As McLaren team principal Andrea Stella put it in Bahrain: “There’s no noise in Oscar’s head, which is a very useful characteristic in Formula 1,...
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri took a controlled, dominant victory in the Bahrain Grand Prix to close on team-mate Lando Norris in the world championship. The Australian was serene in the lead, calmly keeping himself out of reach of his rivals, as Mercedes’ George Russell held off an assault from the second McLaren of Lando Norris for...
Lando Norris said he felt “clueless” and “like I have never driven a Formula 1 car before” after qualifying sixth for the Bahrain Grand Prix. The Briton’s McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri took pole position, while Norris was 0.426 seconds slower than the Australian. Norris said: “No big complaints. The car’s amazing. The car’s as good...
Oscar Piastri led Lando Norris to a McLaren one-two in Friday practice at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Piastri was 0.154 seconds quicker than Norris while Mercedes’ George Russell was 0.527secs behind the Australian in third place, ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli was fifth fastest, from Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar, Red Bull’s...
McLaren’s one chink of light in the race was the pit stops. Norris was about 1.5 seconds behind Verstappen as they neared, just about within theoretical range of the ‘undercut’, where a driver gains a position by stopping first and using the time gained on fresh tyres to be ahead by the time his rival...
Verstappen led the two McLarens for the entire first stint, the three lapping closely together. There may be questions as to why McLaren pitted Piastri first, when it might have made sense to attack Verstappen with Norris with an earlier pit stop. Verstappen and Norris stopped on the same lap, one later than Piastri, and...
Was the lap that put Max Verstappen on pole position for the Japanese Grand Prix the best of his career? The Red Bull driver himself certainly thought it was up there. “It’s difficult,” Verstappen said. “I mean, I’ve had some really nice ones also in other places. But I think if you look at how...
Norris, who twice ran wide at the tricky Degner Two corner, headed Piastri by just 0.026 seconds as the fight between the two McLaren drivers remained close and intense. Mercedes driver George Russell was third, 0.112secs off the pace, and ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton. Leclerc was...
Tsunoda had a few edgy moments as he familiarised himself with his new car. He ran on to the kerb at Degner One, twice had an oversteer moment at the hairpin, and then a big wobble out of the final chicane. But he kept the car on track and displayed a mature approach in the...