George Russell is the form man in Formula 1 at the moment, as he grabbed a second pole position in four races to head an all-British top 3 in the British Grand Prix qualifying on Saturday. Russell finished 0.171s ahead of Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton, who qualified P2. McLaren’s Lando Norris slotted in third, despite being the favourite going into qualifying. His teammate Oscar Piastri qualified P5. It was a disappointing day for Max Verstappen by his standards, as he qualified only fourth. But how did Mercedes come out on top?

Wet weather the secret to Mercedes success

Not for the first time in 2024, the Mercedes came alive in cooler conditions. Much like the Canadian GP when Russell grabbed pole, a wet-to-dry qualifying session suited the Mercedes car during qualifying, making them the team to beat on the soft tyre runs.

Championship leader Max Verstappen went off into the gravel in Q1, and a possible loss of downforce from that incident meant that the Dutchman was never really in contention for pole.

With rain on the cards on Sunday, George Russell will be eyeing up a second successive win, after his Austrian GP success last weekend.

Watch out for Hamilton, Norris

Lewis Hamilton is an eight-time winner at Silverstone, and no driver drives the circuit quite like the seven-time world champion. Starting on the front row, Hamilton, for once in 2024, will not have to rue a poor qualifying result.

Lando Norris in the McLaren is likely to also take the fight to the two Silver Arrows. In recent weekends, the McLaren has been the fastest car on raceday.

Day to forget for Ferrari

Ferrari have abruptly fallen behind Red Bull, McLaren and Mercedes, proved by the fact that Nico Hulkenberg in the Haas outqualified Carlos Sainz. The day was even worse for Charles Leclerc, who failed to make it to Q3.

Lance Stroll (P8) also outqualified Fernando Alonso (P10) in the Aston Martin team.

Earlier in the day, Sergio Perez beached it in the gravel in Q1, meaning it was yet another Q1 elimination for the Mexican.

British GP Qualifying Top 10: 1. George Russell, 2. Lewis Hamilton, 3. Lando Norris, 4. Max Verstappen, 5. Oscar Piastri, 6. Nico Hulkenberg, 7. Carlos Sainz, 8. Lance Stroll, 9. Alex Albon, 10. Fernando Alonso.

George Russell claimed a dramatic victory for Mercedes on Sunday after a sensational late collision between series leader Max Verstappen of Red Bull and his nearest rival Lando Norris of McLaren in the closing laps of an action-packed Austrian Grand Prix. It was the British driver’s second career victory, endorsing the improved form of the Mercedes team in recent races, as he made the most of Verstappen’s impulsive and aggressive move against Norris, to finish 1.9 seconds clear of Oscar Piastri in the second McLaren.  “Incredible!” said Russell, who had registered Mercedes’ last win in Brazil in 2022. “I think it was a tough fight out there at the beginning of the race just to hold on to that third place and I saw on the TV that Max and Lando were getting pretty close — and I knew Lando would want to try to get that race win. 

“The team has done an amazing job to put us in this fight and you’ve got to be there in the end to pick up the pieces.”

Carlos Sainz finished third for Ferrari ahead of seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton in the second Mercedes and Verstappen, who was fifth, despite collecting a 10-second penalty for causing the crash with Norris, who was forced to retire his damaged car. 

On a hot day in the Styrian Alps, with air temperatures touching 29 degrees and the track at 49, Verstappen made his now customary flawless start from pole. 

Russell also made a good start from third and fought Norris for second on the opening lap.

Verstappen pitted on lap 23, followed by Norris and the rest, passing the race lead to Piastri until he pitted on lap 25. Piastri rejoined sixth and order was restored with everyone on hards, except Russell who took a second set of mediums.

“He launched straight into me – I couldn’t turn right into the box,” said Norris, complaining about Verstappen’s alleged unsafe release by Red Bull.

“Yeah, we’re on it,” came the reply. 

By lap 41 Verstappen was grumbling about his tyres.

“I don’t know what’s happening,” said the champion who had only a fresh set of hards or used mediums left to run.

– 10 second penalty –

By lap 44, Verstappen’s lead was down to 6.4 seconds before Russell, also struggling, pitted for fresh hards, re-joining sixth. He swiftly set a fastest lap and passed Sainz for fifth behind Hamilton, who was behind the two McLarens. 

With the leaders extending their stints to make a two-stop strategy work, back-markers like Leclerc in 12th on three stops were faster on track, but stuck behind Verstappen until he pitted again with Norris on lap 51. 

The Dutchman suffered a slow stop due to a ‘sticky’ left rear and Norris on fresh mediums was only 2.2 behind as they rejoined in P1 and P2. Verstappen was on used mediums, delivering the prospect of a thrilling duel to the flag. 

Norris was three-tenths adrift before passing him on lap 59, but ran wide and off-track. He gave the position back and received a warning for exceeding track limits before attacking again only for Verstappen to run wide and rejoin.

The battling pair eventually collided on lap 63 at Turn Three where Verstappen moved across to hit Norris’s car and both suffered punctures, gifting the lead to Russell as they limped back to the pits.

Verstappen’s front left was damaged and Norris’s right rear, with sufficient damage for the McLaren to retire as Verstappen rejoined in fifth, only to receive a 10-second penalty for causing the crash which led to a brief Virtual Safety Car.

Nico Hulkenberg came home sixth for Haas ahead of Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull, Kevin Magnussen in the second Haas, Daniel Ricciardo of RB and Pierre Gasly of Alpine. 

Leclerc finished 11th in the second Ferrari after a race of four pit-stops following a first lap incident. 

Lando Norris seeks to be a party-wrecker this weekend when he takes on series leader and three-time Formula One world champion Max Verstappen at his Red Bull team’s home Austrian Grand Prix. After a series of impressive results including two consecutive second place finishes behind the Dutchman, the McLaren driver wants to trim his 69-point deficit in the title race. The 24-year-old Englishman believes he has the car and the confidence to put together a winning sequence himself. 

“We’re on a roll and we’re doing well,” said Norris, adding he was frustrated by his own errors.

“I need to tidy up a few little bits and pieces and we’ll be on top. I am confident. 

“Every weekend we go into now, the car is performing extremely well and we’re always there, or thereabouts, within a couple of tenths.”

He blamed himself for not winning from pole in last Sunday’s Spanish Grand Prix after beating Verstappen in qualifying. 

Since winning the Miami Grand Prix in May, Norris has moved up a gear to become his friend’s main rival for the title.

He has finished within four seconds or less of Verstappen at Imola, Montreal and Barcelona as he extended his run to 10 seconds in the last 23 races. 

However, he and McLaren know Verstappen will be strong and motivated by massed ranks of his ‘orange army’ on a track where he dominated last year as he stamped his supremacy on the season.

‘Big strides’

This year has been different, however, and a close scrap is in prospect in the 11th round of the championship where a third sprint race this year may also spring a surprise. 

Red Bull’s team boss Christian Horner warned his team are no longer having it their own way and said he expects a difficult weekend. 

“On such a short lap, it’s going to be tight and we expect McLaren, and Lando, to be fast again along with Ferrari and Mercedes.

“Who knows? 

“The one who’s really stepped up is Lando and we’re having to fight really hard for wins at the moment and be on top of our game as a team. But, you know, that’s F1 as it should be!”

After their recent resurgence, Mercedes will hope to stay in contention with seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton buoyed by his first podium this year and team-mate George Russell feeling the Silver Arrows have rediscovered their form and mojo. 

“We’re all feeling excited for the remainder of the season,” said Russell.

“We’ve got more wind tunnel time than all of our rivals and we know what we need to do to make these big strides now.

“We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, but I’m 100 per cent confident we’ll win races this year now.”

Whatever the outcome this weekend, as he seeks a fifth win, Verstappen will extend his record for leading the championship to 50 races.

It is a welcome certainty in the light of last year’s chaos when the result was revised five hours after the event following a spate of penalties for drivers’ exceeding track limits. 

That is unlikely this year as the Red Bull-owned circuit has installed 2.5-metre gravel traps at the exits of Turns Nine and Ten. 

Last year, a total of more than 1,200 possible infringements were investigated resulting in 83 being identified and eight drivers penalised.

McLaren driver Lando Norris fought right to the end, but it was Max Verstappen who won his seventh race of the season at the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix. The gap between the two drivers were separated by only 2.2 seconds at the chequered flag, after a valiant push from the British driver, to close the gap from more than eight seconds at one point. Mercedes finished third and fourth for the second consecutive race, but this time, Lewis Hamilton grabbed his first Grand Prix podium of 2024.

At the start of the race, George Russell went from fourth to first in the first turn, with an audacious move. Crucially, Verstappen also pipped pole-sitter Norris at the start. The Dutchman would soon overtake Russell on Lap 3, a move that would allow him to manage his pace and tyres at the front.

Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz finished where they started, coming home in fifth and sixth. Leclerc was less than a second behind Russell at the end.

Home hero Fernando Alonso endured a race to forget, finishing pointless at a disappointing 12th place. 

Russell was ahead of Norris and Hamilton for most of the race. However, Mercedes’ decision to put hard tyres on his final stint proved to be the wrong choice, as he slipped down the podium places.

Sainz also spent most of the race ahead of Leclerc, having overtaken him in Lap 2. However, he also fell victim to the hard tyres.

Oscar Piastri recovered from his worst qualifying of 2024 to finish seventh, while Sergio Perez got eighth. 

And it was a bright day for French constructors Alpine, as both Pierre Gasly (P9) and Esteban Ocon (P10) finished in the points. 

Verstappen continues to lead the championship standings, now going 70 points in front of everyone. Norris, however, has leapfrogged Leclerc to second.

The F1 circus next heads to Austria, for the Austrian GP, on June 30.

McLaren’s Lando Norris (centre) took pole position for the Spanish GP.© AFP

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton topped the times ahead of Australian Oscar Piastri in an intriguing opening free practice for this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix. Hamilton clocked a best lap in his Mercedes of 1minute and 12.169 seconds to outpace McLaren’s Piastri by 0.029sec with his ‘silver arrows’ team-mate George Russell third. Lando Norris was fourth in the second McLaren ahead of local favourite Charles Leclerc in the leading Ferrari, two-time champion Fernando Alonso and his Aston Martin team-mate Lance Stroll. 

The late pause, after Chinese driver Zhou Guanyu lost control of his Sauber, interrupted some teams’ plans to switch to soft tyres in the closing minutes, leading to an unrepresentative outcome.

Three-time world champion Max Verstappen, who did not run on softs, complained about his Red Bull car as he struggled in 11th place and 0.815secs off the pace. 

“It is so loose on the bumps, any correction with engine braking or brake bias just makes it worse,” said Verstappen, who remarked on Thursday he envisaged a tough weekend labelling the track “one of the more difficult” for the team.

McLaren introduced a striking yellow and green livery as a tribute to the late Ayrton Senna, one of many changes as the teams switched from the sweeping corners of Imola last weekend to the narrow and unforgiving barriers of Monaco. 

On an overcast day with rain threatening, Hamilton led the cars out of the pit-lane to start the session, most teams opting for hards. 

Piastri set the early pace ahead of Verstappen whose father Jos was present for the first time since Red Bull’s early season off the track difficulties.

Norris soon took over for McLaren with a lap in 1:15.294 before Leclerc gained the initiative in 1:14.238.

Norris and Leclerc continued swapping fastest laps, the Monegasque showing his form on the track that was his childhood bus-run to school. 

After 30 minutes of the hour Verstappen and then Hamilton moved up to second before Russell went top on softs ahead of his Mercedes team-mate.

Hamilton then improved to 1:12.169 to go top before Zhou Guanyu crashed to trigger a red flag. 

The Chinese driver clipped a barrier and lost part of his front wing which was then collected by Leclerc’s Ferrari as he ran over the debris. 

This forced Leclerc to pit for repairs as light rain fell and on resumption Perez pitted with a puncture.

Three-time world champion and series leader Max Verstappen returned to winning ways on Sunday when he resisted a late charge by Lando Norris to take a dramatic victory for Red Bull at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. After being beaten in Miami, where friend and rival Norris claimed his maiden victory for McLaren, the Dutchman resisted him to come home 0.725 seconds ahead of the Briton who mounted a rousing final attack in vain. Charles Leclerc finished third for Ferrari ahead of Oscar Piastri in the second McLaren, Carlos Sainz in the second Ferrari and seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes team-mate George Russell. 

Sergio Perez was eighth in the second Red Bull ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and RB’s Yuki Tsunoda, in his Faenza-based team’s home event. 

Verstappen’s hard-earned win, after a difficult two days of practice, was his third at Imola, his fifth of the season and the 59th of his career, lifting him 48 points clear of Leclerc in the drivers’ title race. 

“We did a great race considering how it started and I had to work hard for that,” admitted Verstappen. “The whole race I pushed flat out to make a gap. 

“I felt quite strong on mediums, but on the hards, it was more difficult to manage and the last 15 laps I had no grip and I was sliding a lot. 

“I could see him behind me and I am super-happy to win here today.”

Norris said: “It’s frustrating! This feels more painful. It hurts me to say so, but with one or two more laps I think I’d have had him.”

Leclerc, whose podium finish for Ferrari in their heartland was acclaimed by masses of tifosi, said: “At least a podium! Of course, I wanted to win and I didn’t make it.

“They were incredibly quick at the end, but it’s looking good for us for the rest of the season. Monaco is going to be special.”

‘I’m pushing’

On a very warm Spring day all but Perez began on medium tyres, the Mexican choosing ‘hards’ to go long after a desultory qualifying left him 11th on the grid. 

Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso started from the pitlane after late suspension changes while Piastri was fifth, penalised from second for obstructing Kevin Magnussen on Saturday. 

As the lights went out, Verstappen surged clear while behind him Hamilton and Perez made up places during an incident-free opening as the world champion built an early advantage. 

Verstappen’s relentless pace took him five seconds clear by lap 16 ahead of Norris who led Leclerc by 1.3 with Sainz fourth, resisting Piastri. The Mercedes’ pair were sixth and seventh ahead of Perez.

Russell was the first of the leading group to pit after 21 laps, having complained his tyres were shot.

Norris was next in on lap 23, coming out behind Perez, followed by Piastri and then Verstappen, on lap 25, shortly after the Dutchman was shown a black-and-white flag for exceeding track limits. One more offence would bring a five second penalty. 

Verstappen re-joined fourth behind Leclerc, Sainz and Hamilton with Norris behind him, having passed Perez, before Leclerc pitted and Sainz inherited the lead briefly before pitting with Hamilton, who had run off at Acque Minerali. 

This left Verstappen back on top at half-distance with a lead of 6.2 seconds on Norris, Leclerc and Piastri.

Having eased off to preserve his tyres, Norris mounted a late charge and trimmed Verstappen’s lead on successive laps to put him under intense pressure.

With seven laps to go, he was only two seconds adrift and closing in. 

“I’m pushing as hard as I can mate,” said Norris on team radio when encouraged to hunt a second victory.

Hard as he tried to turn the screw Verstappen scraped home on the day Formula One remembered the late great Ayrton Senna, who died in a crash at the circuit three decades ago.

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 will start alongside the unstoppable Dutchman on Sunday after posting the second fastest time 0.074 seconds behind in a tight qualifying session.

The Australian’s teammate Lando Norris, winner last time out in Miami, posted the third best time to fill the second row alongside the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.

Carlos Sainz in the other Ferrari will set off on the third row with the Mercedes of George Russell for company.

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 in contrast was 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 but I’m very happy.”

Norris, who claimed his maiden victory two weeks ago, said: “P3 is not a bad job and both of us are within a tenth of P1, so it is all about tiny margins. We’ve had a good day and a good weekend so far.”

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 Kevin 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. 

Hulkenberg was first out for Q3, as the temperature fell, with Verstappen revelling in the cooler conditions. He clocked 1:14.869 to go top with Norris second on his first timed run ahead of Leclerc, Piastri and Sainz. 

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.

File image of Max Verstappen© AFP