File photo of Max Verstappen© AFP

Max Verstappen avenged his overnight demotion from pole position by clinching his ninth win of the season and 63rd of his career with a dominant triumph for Red Bull in Sunday’s crash-hit and controversial Qatar Grand Prix. In a race shaped by a litany of stewards’ decisions and penalties, including a harsh late 10-second ‘stop-go’ for Lando Norris of McLaren, the newly-crowned four-time world champion was flawless as he came home six seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. That result meant McLaren, even with Oscar Piastri finishing third, were unable to clinch a first constructors title since 1998 and have to try again in the final race in Abu Dhabi next weekend. 

George Russell finished fourth for Mercedes, despite being handed a late time penalty, ahead of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz in the second Ferrari, two-time champion Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin and Zhou Guanyu of Sauber, who scored his and the team’s first points of the season. 

Kevin Magnussen was ninth for Haas and Norris, after a ferocious finale following his penalty, was 10th for McLaren. 

Verstappen’s success was not enough to keep alive Red Bull’s challenge for the teams’ title which left McLaren top with 640, 21 points clear of Ferrari with one race to go. 

“I am very happy with that,” said Verstappen, who has recovered his form in the last three races. “It’s been a long time since we had victory in the dry and it’s great for the team to be so competitive again.” 

Leclerc said he was happy with second and forecast a “very tight” finish in the championship next weekend. “But 21 points is still a big margin,” he added. 

The Dutchman’s overnight loss of pole, for driving too slowly and causing Russell to take evasive action, had gifted the Mercedes’ driver his career fifth pole and second in succession.

Fired up by that stewards’ decision, Verstappen made an excellent start to power by Russell and lead into Turn One with Norris squeezing through to take second before the opening lap was red-flagged for a Safety Car. 

A crash involving Nico Hulkenberg, who lost the rear of his Haas and spun into Ocon’s Alpine, the pair taking the innocent Franco Colapinto with them in his Williams, caused the pause. It was the luckless Williams team’s 16th crash of the season. 

Racing resumed on lap five with the top three unchanged ahead of Leclerc and Piastri, who swiftly jumped back to fourth, a move that kept both McLarens ahead of the two Ferraris.

For McLaren, it was going to plan, a description not claimed by Hamilton. After a false start, he was eighth with a five-second penalty. 

His Mercedes team-mate Russell also suffered misfortunes, pitting after 24 laps in a slow seven seconds – due to a recalcitrant right rear wheel — and dropping from third to rejoin 12th on hards. 

Russell’s problems lifted Piastri to third, 8.7 behind Norris, the two McLarens sitting ahead of Leclerc and Sainz, in fourth and fifth, with Verstappen on top before an errant mirror, from Magnussen’s Haas car, fell on the main straight, bringing double waved yellows. 

Valtteri Bottas ran over the mirror on the lap 34, sending debris across the circuit. Hamilton and Sainz collected punctures and pitted before a belated Safety Car was deployed as Piastri and then the rest came in. 

Leclerc profited by moving up to third, ahead of Piastri, who stopped before the SC interval, while Hamilton fell to 16th and Russell, angry after taking another set of hards, was seventh. “Why have we put hards on?” he screamed. 

Max Verstappen claimed a fourth consecutive Formula One world title under the lights of the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Saturday. The 27-year-old Dutchman came home in fifth place in a race won by George Russell of Mercedes as he became just the sixth man after Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton, Juan Manuel Fangio, Sebastian Vettel and Alain Prost to claim four championships. McLaren’s Lando Norris, who was Verstappen’s only title rival, finished in sixth place. “Oh my god what a season, four times, thank you guys,” Verstappen told his Red Bull team on the radio. “It’s a little more difficult than last year, but we pulled through. Thank you so much guys.” Seven-time champion Hamilton was second with the Ferraris of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc in third and fourth places respectively.

Norris, who had stesdily chipped away at Verstappen’s lead over the second half of the season, started from sixth on the grid just behind his rival.

He pitted as early as the 10th lap and dropped to 17th as a result.

Two laps later, Verstappen dived in, also exchanging medium tyres for hard on his Red Bull, and rejoined in sixth place. 

Once the opening stops had concluded, pole-sitter Russell still led in his Mercedes.

Verstappen was second with Ferrari duo Sainz and Leclerc as well as Hamilton in the second Mercedes providing an impressive buffer zone between the Dutchman and Norris.

The Englishman’s mood under the lights darkened at the halfway stage as he radioed his team to tell them he was struggling with the front tyres of his McLaren.

Meanwhile, Pierre Gasly who had started third in his Alpine and Alex Albon of Williams were the first men to retire.

From 10th on the grid, Hamilton continued to cut through the field, passing the two Ferraris before comfortbaly slipping past Verstappen to take second.

By the 33rd lap, Russell was 11 seconds ahead of his Mercedes teammate.

With the title in sight, Verstappen then watched as Sainz and Leclerc also went by but safe in the knowledge that even a fifth place finish would deliver the title.

Max Verstappen played down his prospects of clinching a fourth consecutive drivers’ world championship at this weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver, who claimed a spectacular victory in the rain-hit Sao Paulo Grand Prix three weeks ago, said that triumph had not proved that all his problems were over after a winless 10-race run. Speaking to reporters in Las Vegas, he said it was not certain that he would win again to take the 2024 title.

“At the moment, it’s difficult to tell because if you look at the last few races in the dry of course we didn’t have the pace… It’s not that, because we won in the rain in Brazil, suddenly everything is fixed and everything is looking great again.

“Of course, it gave me a good position in the championship, but also I have to be realistic that we are not the quickest.

“I hope that we can be competitive here. It’s still very unknown with the track temperatures, of course, and like last year very cold.”

The Dutchman leads McLaren’s Lando Norris by 62 points in the title race with three Grands Prix remaining – and 60 points available at the final two races.

This leaves Norris needing to beat Verstappen by three points in Las Vegas to keep his title challenge alive.

“For me, the pressure is from me because I want to do well always, every single weekend,” said Verstappen. “And it is not necessarily about the championship.

“I am just trying to enjoy the weekend as well and to see. How competitive we can be. It is not decided yet so there are still points that we need to be scored.

“Really, it is about how quick I am and how good the car is more than anything else.

“In the last few races, McLaren has been the quickest but last year, Ferrari was very fast here and it can be different every year.

“Other teams have upgrades compared to the last time here so it is difficult to say what can happen here at the moment.”

Drivers ‘bit fed up’ with FIA

Verstappen also expressed surprise at the sudden departure of race director Niels Wittich.

The FIA said on the eve of the Grand Prix that the German had left his role to “pursue new opportunities”, but Wittich said he had been dismissed with three races remaining this year.

Rui Marques has replaced him.

“I think everyone was very surprised to see that with three races to go,” said Verstappen who added his support to the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association”s demands for the FIA to treat them “like adults” with greater consultation and transparency.

The drivers also asked for president Mohammed Ben Sulayem to “consider his own tone and language when talking to our member drivers, or indeed about them.”

“We just wanted to send a letter to make sure that everyone is aware of our concerns and what we want to work on and we’ll see what comes out of that,” said Verstappen.

“At the moment, nothing has happened. I think there was a lot going on with the FIA anyway that they had to deal with – now we’ll see in the coming races and we’ll keep engaging.”

Mercedes’ George Russell said the FIA had not responded to their open letter and admitted drivers, in general, were “a little bit fed up with the whole situation.

“Getting things to change, or promises upheld, seems slightly more challenging,” he said. “Maybe the FIA or the president did not recognise how seriously we all felt.”

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc snatched pole position at his home Monaco Grand Prix on Saturday, as championship leader Max Verstappen could only finish sixth fastest. The 26-year-old Monegasque driver, who has never managed a podium finish at his home race, clocked a best lap of one minute and 10.270 seconds to outpace Australian Oscar Piastri of McLaren by 0.154 seconds. It brought Leclerc his third Monaco pole position and ended Verstappen’s run of seven straight poles this year and a record-equalling eight in succession, shared with three-time champion Ayrton Senna.

Three-time world champion Verstappen struggled for Red Bull after hitting the barriers on his final fast lap.

“It was so nice,” said a relieved Leclerc after a tense and thrilling qualifying.

“I’m really happy about my lap. The excitement was so high, but I know from the past that qualifying is not everything. The win is the target.”

Leclerc’s Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz was third ahead of Lando Norris in the second McLaren, Mercedes’ George Russell and Verstappen.

“It was close,” said Piastri. “If you took the second half of my first lap and the first half of my second one it would have been enough for pole!”

Sainz added: “I’ve struggled all weekend with confidence in the car so it’s an improvement. I just wish I was fighting for pole.”

Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton was seventh in the second Mercedes ahead of RB’s Yuki Tsunoda, Alex Albon of Williams and Pierre Gasly of Alpine.

In near-perfect Riviera conditions with sunshine and temperatures of 48 degrees celsius on the track and 21 in the air, Hamilton led Russell and the rest out of the pits.

Fiercely-contested

As the Mercedes ran two preparatory laps, it was Tsunoda on top for RB before Hamilton took command only for the rapidly-tumbling times to deliver Verstappen, Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg on top, the two Haas drivers retaining their positions until Russell took over.

Leclerc, disappointed by Ferrari’s decision to delay his entry, was 13th before he recorded a fast lap to go top in 1:11.653, a tenth clear of Magnussen and Hulkenberg.

In a fiercely-contested session, Hamilton jumped to second, but Perez was 14th and Norris 18th with only a minute remaining before, in a frantic finish to Q1, the Briton climbed to safety, but Perez was out along with Alonso.

The Mexican was 18th making an early exit for the second year running along with the two-time champion, in his Aston Martin, Williams’ Logan Sargeant, Valtteri Bottas and his Sauber team-mate Zhou Guanyu.

“We’ve struggled all the way through,” said Perez. “It is so tight, the margins I thought I could make the top five.”

Norris was first out for Q2, but Sainz swiftly went quickest ahead of Verstappen in another tight tussle with barely a second separating the top 14 and the Alpines suddenly flying, Gasly claiming a place in Q3 in fifth. “Let’s go, let’s go!” he cried.

Piastri, looking confident, then clocked a 1:10.756 only to be beaten by team-mate Norris as the McLarens took control ahead of Leclerc and Russell before another busy finale saw Esteban Ocon of Alpine, Hulkenberg, Daniel Ricciardo of RB, Lance Stroll in the second Aston Martin and Magnussen eliminated.

Sainz was first out for the top ten shootout, followed by Hamilton who clocked 1:10.975, an impressive lap that was blown away immediately by Leclerc in 1:10.418, a lap nine-tenths faster than Verstappen’s pole time last year.

The Dutchman’s first timed lap left him third after losing time in the final sector. “Still the same issues in Turns Five and Ten,” he reported.

As conditions continued to improve, Sainz and Verstappen chose to run again on a traffic-free lap, the rest following.

Hamilton improved to take fourth, but Russell beat him and then Verstappen glanced a barrier before Leclerc improved to 1:10.418 to take a dramatic pole ahead of Piastri, the Italian team’s 250th pole position in Formula One.

Max Verstappen is braced for a difficult Monaco Grand Prix weekend aware that his rivals are beginning to mount a sustained challenge to his bid for a fourth consecutive drivers’ world title. The three-time champion and series leader said on Thursday that he felt both Ferrari and McLaren could threaten his hopes of a third victory in the Mediterranean principality in Sunday’s race. “It’s one of the more difficult tracks for us,” said the 26-year-old Dutchman, who won last Sunday’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix by less than a second ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris. “In the last few years, Ferrari have always been very, very strong here and McLaren, lately, in the last two races, have really ramped up their performance so they are, for sure, ones to watch as well.

“In Monaco, you can always have surprises. Last year, Esteban (Ocon) did an amazing lap in qualifying so these kind of things can happen when someone feels really good, really confident.”

Verstappen leads the drivers’ championship by 48 points ahead of Charles Leclerc of Ferrari, after winning five of the opening seven races this year, but knows that Norris, who claimed his maiden victory in Miami three weeks ago, has the speed to beat him. 

The Dutchman hopes to extend his Ayrton Senna record-equalling sequence of eight pole positions to an outright new record of nine in Saturday’s qualifying session that is so critical to the outcome of Sunday’s race. 

The high kerbs around the barrier-lined street track represent a major worry to Red Bull, as Verstappen admitted. 

Last year’s Singapore Grand Prix, on another street circuit with high kerbs, was the only event at which they failed to score a podium finish.

“Our car normally struggles a bit over bumps and kerbs,” said Verstappen.

“We did work on it a bit, compared to last year, and I think our low-speed performance has improved a little on most of the tracks we’ve been to this year.

“But I don’t think it’s going to be an easy weekend! Monaco is never straightforward, even when you have the best car. It is so very tricky. You need to get everything to work and there is always a lot of disruption.”

He added that he wanted to avoid a repeat of his experience at Imola where after a bad start, in two difficult days of practice, he recovered to win by 0.725 seconds, resisting Norris’s late charge.

“For sure, things have closed up a lot since Miami and now it is very dependent on finding the best set-up. We have to be at our best and maybe in the last few races we haven’t been operating at that level.”

Max Verstappen secured his eighth consecutive pole position in qualifying for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola on Saturday to equal the record of Ayrton Senna. The Red Bull three-time world champion’s dominance in qualifying drew him level with Senna’s run of eight poles, poignantly three decades after the late great Brazilian’s tragic death at the Italian circuit in 1994. “It’s a great start to the year but also very special 30 years since he passed away at this track,” said Verstappen.

“Of course, very pleased to get pole here and in a way it’s a nice memory to him (Senna), he was an incredible Formula 1 driver especially in qualifying laps as well, so a great day for me and a great day for the team, I’m very very happy.”

Oscar Piastri’s McLaren was to have started alongside the unstoppable Dutchman on Sunday after posting the second fastest time 0.074 seconds behind in a tight qualifying session.

However, the Australian was docked three grid places for impeding the Haas of Kevin Magnussen.

That promoted McLaren teammate Lando Norris, winner last time out in Miami, to the front row.

The two Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz will set off from the second row with Piastri now alongside the Mercedes of George Russell on the third row.

Yuki Tsunoda’s RB, Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), Daniel Ricciardo (RB), and Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) rounded out the top 10.

The glaring absentee from the first five rows was the Red Bull of Sergio Perez, who went out in the second qualifying session, the Mexican muttering “what a mess” on the team radio.

– ‘Tiny margins’ –

Piastri had initially been thrilled to get so close to taking pole.

“My lap was a bit scruff in the final corner, but it is so difficult to do a perfect lap at this circuit,” he said before the penalty was handed down.

Norris added: “Not a bad job, it’s all about tiny margins.”

After a chaotic third practice on a beautiful sunlit day at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari Verstappen was swiftly on the pace and went top after eight minutes in 1:16.013 only to be outpaced within a minute by Piastri and then Norris, the McLarens endorsing their practice speed.

Fernando Alonso’s difficult day continued when his Aston Martin went off at the exit of Tamburello, taking a dive through the gravel, but avoiding any contact with the barriers. He pitted, accepting he could not improve on 20th and last on the grid.

Hulkenberg then went top for Haas before Verstappen outpaced him along with Leclerc as Q1 ended with Valtteri Bottas of Sauber, Logan Sargeant of Williams Zhou Guanyu of Sauber and Magnussen, in the second Haas, exiting with Alonso.

Hamilton was out early to top Q2 ahead of Russell before the Red Bulls finally found their pace, Verstappen going top in 1:15.386, despite running wide at Rivazza, with Perez second. All were running on softs.

Leclerc then took the initiative with Tsunoda slotting into second place, all proof that Red Bull were not having it their own way – and the top seven all within half a second of the pace.

On their second runs, Verstappen improved to take top spot, but team-mate Perez missed out on the top-ten shootout and was eliminated in 11th along with Esteban Ocon of Alpine, Lance Stroll of Aston Martin, Alex Albon of Williams and Pierre Gasly, sporting a Senna-yellow helmet, in the second Alpine.

The top four were separated by four-tenths of a second for the final runs which saw Verstappen, digging into his reserves of talent, grab pole with a dazzling lap in 1:14.746 – a clear example of an outstanding driver delivering beyond the potential of his car.