George Russell won the Austrian Grand Prix after a collision between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen on lap 64, caused both drivers to pit with punctures.

Norris ultimately ended up with retiring the car after too much damage with Verstappen receiving a ten-second time penalty for the incident.

Max Verstappen started on pole for the Austrian Grand Prix. He managed to hold off Norris into the first corner, but Russell and Norris end up side by side into the second corner, Norris ultimately holds off Russell.

Leclerc, Piastri and Perez touch on the first corner, and Leclerc picks up damage to his front wing, having to pit for a new front wing and dropping him down to P19 and 40s behind the leader. Piastri gets pushed off track but stays in 7th place.

Hamilton gets past Sainz and tries to get past Russell and succeeds but Russell regains the position by using DRS to get around him before Turn 4. Hamilton was under investigation for leaving the track and gaining a position over Sainz, but it was later ruled no further investigation. Hamilton allows Sainz to overtake and gives the position back.

Both Haas drivers move into the top 10, with Ocon up into P8 ahead of Riccardo.

On lap 11, Magnussen and Riccardo pitted onto a set of hard tyres, with Hulkenberg and Alonso pitting on lap 12. Sargeant also pitted for the second time onto a set of hard tyres.

On lap 13 Verstappen was 5.112s ahead of the rest of the field with Norris over 3 seconds ahead of Russell, followed by Sainz, Hamilton, Piastri and Perez holding the top seven spots.

Albon pits and manages to overtake Leclerc on lap 15. Leclerc comes back down the field after his early pit stop, but Albon only manages to overtake Sergeant by lap 16.

Both Haas tyres scrap between each other after their pit stops but were told on the radio to manage their tyres.

Leclerc, on hard tyres, pits for the second time after 16 laps, back onto the medium tyres and comes back out into P20 but quickly overtakes Sargeant again, who also had a front wing change on the first lap.

Verstappen laps the back markers as Ocon and Bottas pit on lap 20, both onto hard tyres. Followed by Gasly, Stroll, Hamilton, Tsunoda, Perez and Sargeant.

Alonso received a 10-second penalty for forcing Zhou off track and causing a collision at Turn 3. Hamilton also received a five-second time penalty for crossing the white line at the pit entry.

After the first set of pit stops, everyone was running on hards except for Russell, who changed onto mediums on lap 26. Verstappen holds onto the race lead, followed by Norris, 6.685 seconds behind the leader, and Russell in third. Sainz, Hamilton, Piastri, Hulkenberg, Perez, Magnussen, and Riccardo round off the top ten on lap 27.

Verstappen was under investigation for an unsafe release, later ruled no further investigation but also complained on the radio about gear issues, having to be talked through some changes by his race mechanic. Perez also received a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

Norris held onto the fastest lap, looking comfortable in P2 on the hard tyres, 3.864s ahead of Russell on lap 32.

During lap 33, Riccardo held up the drivers behind him. Ocon and Gasly battled behind Alonso and Riccardo, who were in a DRS train. All four cars struggled to catch the Haas drivers in 8th and 9th place.

Leclerc pits for the third time onto another set of medium tyres on lap 34 and rejoins the track in the 18th spot. Piastri makes progress gaining on Hamilton just 2.5s behind.

The Alpine drivers continued to fight it out until Gasly overtook Ocon on lap 41 after a long time of trying. But Ocon continued to close on the back of Gasly, not wanting to give up 8th place - hard but clean racing between the teammates.

Both Norris and Verstappen complained about their tyres starting to go as Verstappen lost time in traffic while Norris was gaining on him.

Albon also received a five-second time penalty for crossing the white line on the pit entry. Russell pits for the second time onto hard tyres after getting caught up with lapped cars fighting for positions.

Piastri closed up to Hamilton and overtook him at Turn 3 on lap 48, moving Piastri up to P3. 

Russell takes the fastest lap of the Grand Prix on lap 49 after just pitting for new tyres and coming back onto the track in P5.

With a short and fast lap time, all the cars end up bunched up. Hulkenberg and Magnussen lap faster than Verstappen in the lead, but they were only in 8th and 9th place.

Verstappen complained so much about his tyres that he pitted on lap 51, and Norris followed him in, both changing onto medium. Verstappen had a very slow 6.5secs pit stop, closing the gap between him and Norris to only 2.999s. Verstappen then locked up, allowing Norris to gain even more with a gap of only 1.185s going into lap 53. Norris continued to gain, regaining the fastest lap and closing the gap within the DRS range of Verstappen on lap 54.

Hamilton pitted, served his time penalty, and rejoined the track in P6. Just as Norris attacked Verstappen into Turn 3, but he couldn't quite get past. With 15 laps to go, Norris continued to push Verstappen, keeping with the DRS range with 0.766s. Russell was still 14.006s behind in P3, but Norris received a black-and-white flag for track limits.

Norris lunges and gets past Verstappen into Turn 3, but he runs wide off the track to gain the position. He then opted to let Verstappen back through, dropping back to P2. But in the process, Norris is investigated for track limits and receives a five-second time penalty after previously receiving a black-and-white flag for track limits.

Norris continued to attack and fight it out with Verstappen with ten laps to go, but Verstappen held him off. He tried repeatedly to overtake, with Verstappen going wide at Turn 3, but Verstappen held the lead.

After fighting backwards and forwards on lap 64, Verstappen and Norris collided under braking, and both ended up with punctures after hitting each other at Turn 3, allowing Russell to take the race lead. Verstappen pitted and rejoined the track on soft tyres, joining the track in P6. Verstappen received a ten-second penalty for causing the incident with Norris.

Norris, also with a puncture, has to take another lap and pits with a delaminated right rear and bits flying off the car. McLaren then retired Norris's car.

Piastri then passed Sainz to move up into P2, just 2.8s behind Russell, but he ran out of laps to catch George.

George Russell wins the Austrian Grand Prix, with Piastri and Sainz finishing off the podium spots.

1) George Russell             1:24:22.798
2) Oscar Piastri                  +1.906
3) Carlos Sainz                  +4.533
4) Lewis Hamilton              +23.142
5) Max Verstappen            +37.253
6) Nico Hulkenberg            +54.088
7) Sergio Perez                  +54.672
8) Kevin Magnussen          +60.355
9) Daniel Riccardo             +61.169
10) Pierre Gasly                 +61.766
11) Charles Leclerc            +67.056
12) Esteban Ocon              +68.325
13) Lance Stroll                  +1 Lap
14) Yuki Tsunoda               
15) Alex Albon                    
16) Valtteri Bottas               
17) Zhou Guanyu
18) Fernando Alonso
19) Logan Sargeant
DNF Lando Norris

George Russell, secured Mercedes first win of the 2024 season had this to say about his win: “Incredible, it was a tough fight out there at the beginning of the race just to hold onto that P3 and I saw on the TV Max and Lando getting pretty hard, I knew Lando would be wanting to get that race win.

“The team have done an amazing job to get us into this fight and you’ve got to be there to pick it up the pieces and that’s where we were.

​“I couldn’t believe how close were to Max and Lando, it was a possibility, you are always dreaming but as I said you are so proud to be back on the top step. The team have worked so hard, they’ve made so many strides since the start of the season. The last two races have been incredible so more to come.”

Anny Wooldridge
Writer for the F1 Journal

Saturday started off well for Verstappen who takes his 10th Sprint Race title and the day got even better for Verstappen claiming his 50th career pole for tomorrow's feature race.

In the closest Q1's in F1 history, with just 0.798s covering the 20 drivers, but throughout the session, it was Verstappen who was the clear stand-out performer for qualifying.

Verstappen is joined by Norris on the front row for tomorrow's race, with Russell managing to take P3 after Piastri's last lap time was deleted for track limits, moving him down to P7.

Sainz and Hamilton start on the third row, with Leclerc and Piastri starting behind them.

McLaren wasn't happy about Piastri's deleted lap time, with Andrea Stella headed to the FIA to better understand Piastri's deleted lap time for track limits.

As the heat climbs in Austria, the Sprint Race starts, with every team choosing to start on medium tyres. Alex Albon begins from the Pit Lane after changing his car during Parc Ferme.
With just 24 laps, the Sprint Race provides a taster for Sunday's feature race.

With everyone lined up on the grid ready to start the race, the race is aborted and the drivers do an extra formation lap due to photographers standing behind barriers in T1 posing a safety risk. Alex Albon is allowed to do an extra formation lap after his car was overheating at the start of the pit lane, he then rejoined back in the Pit Lane. The extra formation lap takes a lap out of the Sprint Race, making it just 23 laps.

Max Verstappen holds the lead into the uphill run into the first corner, with Norris and Piastri tasseling for P2 and P3, with Norris maintaining position. Sainz overtook both Mercedes into P4, and Magnussen overtook Ocon to get into the top ten.

Albon had already reached the back of the pack on the first lap, with Norris managing to keep within DRS of Verstappen into lap three.

Leclerc started in P10, but by lap three, he had already gained three places, with both Alpines falling behind out of the top ten.

Norris and Piastri challenge Verstappen from lap three and put him under pressure. Norris lunges around Verstappen on lap four, but Verstappen quickly regains the lead on lap five. Norris loses two positions, and his teammates also overtake him for P2.

Sainz, Russell, and Hamilton join the front runners, and the front six battle it out. George regains his fourth position from Sainz, with Hamilton on Sainz's back.

Verstappen pulls away from Piastri with the top three now 2.2 seconds ahead of Russell in fourth place. Hamilton bided his time behind Sainz on a DRS train, with Leclerc closing the gap and joining the train.

Piastri edges out of the DRS range from Verstappen in the lead, with Verstappen clear by 1.2s and Norris in P3 1.7s further back.

The Alpines battle it out for P12 and P13, with Magnussen holding up the rest of the pack.

For laps 13, 14 and 15, Norris charges and is the quickest driver on track and gets within DRS range of Piastri, waiting for this chance to overtake, but Norris already has two track limit violations. Verstappen still 3.2s in front and Russell 2.9s further behind Russell.

Further back, Riccardo overtakes Sargeant and moves into P16. Albon gets ahead of Bottas and Zhou and moves into P18.

Hulkenberg almost forces Alonso off the track with a late break, allowing Riccardo to go past and into 15th place. The stewards looked into the incident after the race and after the race Hulkenberg received a 10-second time penalty and two penalty points.

Norris is on the back of Piastri into the final lap, and Piastri defends superbly. But Verstappen crosses the finish line 4.6s ahead of Piastri in second and Norris in third. He was followed by Russell, Sainz, Hamilton, Leclerc and Perez, finishing the points positions.

1) Max Verstappen             
2) Oscar Piastri                +4.616
3) Lando Norris                +5.348
4) George Russell            +8.354
5) Carlos Sainz                +9.989
6) Lewis Hamilton            +11.207
7) Charles Leclerc           +13.424
8) Sergio Perez               +17.409
9) Kevin Magnussen       +24.067
10) Lance Stroll               +30.175
11) Esteban Ocon           +30.839
12) Pierre Gasly              +31.308
13) Yuki Tsunoda            +35.425
14) Nico Hulkenberg       +38.423
15) Daniel Riccardo        +39.397
16) Fernando Alonso      +43.155
17) Logan Sargeant       +44.076
18) Alex Albon                +44.673
19) Valtteri Bottas           +46.511
20) Zhou Guanyu           +53.143

In a thrilling qualifying session Max Verstappen claims his 40th career pole taking the lead from Norris by 0.404s. In what was an incredibly close Q1, with Sargeant in P19, just 0.593s off the fastest time in the session, with such small margins covering all the drivers.

Out In Q1
16) Alex Albon
17) Lance Stroll
18) Valtteri Bottas
19) Logan Sargeat
20) Zhou Guanyu

Verstappen gets out onto the track first, with the RBs just finishing set-up changes on both Riccardo and Tsunoda's cars between sessions.

During the early runs in Q1, the top five were Leclerc, Norris, Piastri, Tsunoda, Sainz and Hamilton, with the top six all covered by only 0.045s.

Perez was in trouble in the closing stages of the session down in P14 but improved on his final lap and managed to scrape through in P12.

Q1 was incredibly close, with Sargeant in P19, just 0.593s off the fastest time in the session, with such small margins covering all the drivers. Sainz tops the leaderboard for Q1 with a 1:05.263, with Piastri behind him with a gap of just 0.048s.

Out In Q2
11) Daniel Riccardo     +0.015s away from Q3
12) Kevin Magnussen  +0.073s
13) Pierre Gasly           +0.085s
14) Yuki Tsunoda          +0.138s
15) Fernando Alonso    +0.365s

Both Alpines were out on the race first, followed by both Ferraris, all eager to get a time on the board and get some clear air for their flying laps.

Both Ferraris started the session on used soft tyres to set their first flying lap times, but Sainz complained about porpoising, taking P1 and P4 early in the session between the two Alpines.

Next out on track are Verstappen and Norris, who were looking to match their Sprint Qualifying times. With ten minutes left in the session, a line formed to get out of the pits.

With eight minutes to go, Verstappen set a lap time of 1:04.577, almost 1 second away from the rest of the pack. No other drivers manage to get within 0.547 of Verstappen's fastest lap time of 1:04.469.

Starting Top 10
1) Max Verstappen          1:04.314
2) Lando Norris                +0.404            
3) George Russell            +0.526
4) Carlos Sainz                +0.537
5) Lewis Hamilton            +0.589
6) Charles Leclerc            +0.730
7) Oscar Piastri                +0.732
8) Sergio Perez                +0.888
9) Nico Hulkenberg          +1.071
10) Esteban Ocon            +1.569

Verstappen and Norris again record times that went straight to the top of the leaderboard, with 0.361s between them.

Verstappen continues to go quicker as the session progresses but gets noted for 'driving unnecessarily slowly' in the pit exit.

Piastri makes it up to P3 but gets his lap time deleted for track limits and moves down into P7.

Verstappen finishes with the fastest lap, 0.404s ahead of the rest of the field, with Norris joining him on the front row tomorrow with Russell and Sainz on the second row. 

Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who qualified in pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix said after qualifying "The qualifying went really well.

"We tried to adjust the car a little bit after the things we earned this morning and I think it went really well, The track was a bit warmer than it was yesterday which made it a bit tricker to drive but the car felt a lot better for me today.

"I could attack the corners a bit more and every run was on point and was very enjoyable out there.

"It’s been a while that we've actually been on pole so it’s a great feeling. The team has been working really hard to make the car a bit more competitive and I think this is a great statement and it will be a great fight.

​"It is always nice to race (Norris) and it ill be a tight battle but I’m not thinking too much about that. I am just happy how the car was performing today and hopefully it will translate tomorrow in race pace."

Anny Wooldridge
Writer for the F1 Journal

The sun was shining on the Red Bull Ring for Friday's sessions. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were the top cars for most of Free Practice One, but ultimately, Max Verstappen took the Sprint Race pole.

This weekend, several teams brought upgrades to the track. McLaren has a new front suspension upgrade, which they were testing on Oscar Piastri's car in Free Practice One, covered in fluro paint. Mercedes also brought upgrades this weekend, with a new lower beam wing for downforce and lowering drag.

RB is also running two different spec cars with drivers split between upgrades and their old car.

Top 10 Results
1) VER 1'05.685
2) PIA   +0.276
3) LEC  +0.370
4) SAI   +0.443
5) HAM +0.569
6) OCO +0.612
7) STR  +0.699
8) RUS  +0.701
9) TSU  +0.894
​10) ALO +0.918

Excitement for Mercedes as they topped the timesheet for the majority of Free Practice One running on hard tyres, with the rest of the drivers opting for a mix between medium, hard and soft tyres. Both Williams drivers took a slightly different approach, starting with the medium tyres and changing to the softs. Many teams opt for long stints on the medium tyre, which is interesting because they need medium tyres for sprint qualifying and the race due to the sprint weekend.

Free Practice 1 was briefly red-flagged as Verstappen stopped on the start/finish straight due to a sensor issue. This was quickly rectified, and the session resumed. Verstappen also got back on track fairly quickly after a reset.

This year, after last year's track limits issues, there is now gravel on different areas of the track. This means that if drivers permit a track limit violation, they will be in the gravel, as Norris found out late into the session. These gravel pits seem to be working as a good way of self-policing track limits. We will see what this means in the race and qualifying, though.

Verstappen topped the time sheet with a run on softs in the last few minutes of the session. Most drivers opted to use soft tyres in the last ten minutes, except Hamilton, who stayed on the hard tyres for the duration of the session.

Max Verstappen takes the Sprint Race pole in a thrilling Sprint Qualifying session which had a one lap shootout in SQ3, with Charles Leclerc not setting a time after failing to cross the start/finish line in time to set a lap time.

Out in SQ1
16) Daniel Riccardo
17) Nico Hulkenberg
18) Valtteri Bottas
19) Alex Albon
20) Zhou Guanyu

With medium tyres required and only one new set for the SQ1 session, it was a waiting game to see which driver came out onto the track first. As the timer counted from 12 minutes, Lewis Hamilton was the first on-track around two minutes into the session, quickly followed by the rest of the drivers.

Hamilton was the first to record a lap time, which was quickly deleted for track limits at Turn 6. Other drivers quickly joined the track with split strategies across the field, with some choosing to do multiple push laps with cool-down laps in between and others opting to go back into the pits for more fuel.

With Hamilton's deleted lap time, he only managed to reach P11, but it was just enough to put him through to SQ2, finishing in P13. Tsunoda takes a big spin on his final lap but makes it through to SQ2 by 0.024s. He knocks his teammate out with Riccardo in P16.

Out In SQ2
11) Kevin Magnussen
12) Lance Stroll
13) Fernando Alonso
14) Yuki Tsunoda
​15) Logan Sargeant

With ten minutes on the clock, eight drivers get on track quickly, setting their first laps and returning to the pits. The rest of the drivers opt to stay in the pits until halfway through the session, opting to run a push, double cool, and then push lap in the final moments of the session.

The session had a mix of the top four for every lap, but Verstappen finished ahead.

Logan Sargeant made it through to his second SQ2 of the season, ahead of his teammate, but he could only manage P15 after getting a deleted lap time for track limits on Turn 6 on his final lap. He would have finished in the same place anyway. 

Starting Top 10
1) Max Verstappen    1'04.686
2) Lando Norris           +0.093
3) Oscar Piastri           +0.301
4) George Russell       +0.368
5) Carlos Sainz           +0.440
6) Lewis Hamilton       +0.584
7) Sergio Perez           +1.322
8) Esteban Ocon         +1.415
9) Pierre Gasly            +1.938
10) Charles Leclerc     No time set

With the mandatory soft tyre compound required for this session but only one set, everyone waited until the last possible moment to come out onto the track. Drivers could use soft tyres, old or new, for this session.

Hamilton and Russell were the first out of the pits with only 2:40 minutes left on the clock. Once both Mercedes were on track, the other drivers quickly followed behind.

Perez, Gasly, and Leclerc were the last to leave the pits, with Leclerc having a problem in the pit lane and having to stop. The last three drivers were racing to the start/finish line, but only two made it through. Leclerc arrived too late to start a lap and took the checkered flag instantly.

With only one flying lap for all ten drivers, as each crossed the line, the order changed, with five different drivers topping the leaderboard. However it was Max Verstappen who came out on top, taking pole for tomorrow's Sprint Race.

Anny Wooldridge
​Writer for F1 Journal

The triple header continues this weekend with the Austrian Grand Prix taking place at the Red Bull Ring (Spielberg) and it's a sprint weekend!

Red Bull and McLaren are expected to be close this weekend, but last year track limits played a major part in the final race classification. It took nearly five hours for the final race classification to be confirmed, with eight drivers earning penalties. Changes have been made to the track this year to avoid another repeat of 2023.

This week tyres are a factor with the high speeds and management to avoid overheating. For the past two editions of the grand prix, a two stop strategy has proved to be the quickest, running the medium and the hard tyre. 

Friday F1

• Free Practice 1: 11:30 - 12:30 BST
• Sprint Shootout: 15:30 - 16:14 BST

Saturday F1

• Sprint: 11:00 BST
• Qualifying: 15:00 - 16:00 BST

Sunday F1

• Race: 14:00 BST

Anny Wooldridge
Writer at F1 Journal

Max Verstappen and Redbull come out on top in the battle of tyre strategies to win the Spanish grand prix. McLaren had a harder day than expected after a poor start from Lando Norris lost him the lead, setting them back to plan B. Hamilton greets the podium for the first time since Mexico in October.
66 smooth sailing laps with no yellow flags, and no weather condition change of 42 degrees Celsius track temp allowed for an all-out on track battle.
​

• Max Verstappen wins for the third straight year here, this time from P2 on the grid
• Norris starts on Pole for the 2nd time in his career
• 300th race for Alonso and Hamilton
• 21st home grand prix for Alonso
• Norris continuous to be the only driver to have finished in the points at all races this season
• No podium for home drivers today

Lights out in Barcelona as all bar one of the 20 drivers started on soft tyres, Alex Albon on mediums started in the pitlane after some last minute changes to his power unit.
Lando Norris started on a fresh set of softs but it wasn’t enough as he gets swallowed by Verstappen and Russell by turn one, leaving the Mercedes to lead the first laps of the race.
​
Further down the pack home drivers Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso missed out on crucial spaces gained during a race start as Sainz stayed in 6th while Alonso dropped back by two from 10th to 12th after being squeezed into the escape road.

Leclerc becomes the only man not to pit after Lando went into to the pit on lap 24, 6 laps after Verstappen and Hamilton, after the Woking team brought Piastri in two laps earlier.
Norris coming out the pit with mediums six laps fresher than Verstappen who was back in the lead, the silver arrows and Sainz between the pair. With in less than 10 laps Norris was able to pick off Sainz and Hamilton ready to push for Russell who was starting to slow.
Back down the order Hulkenberg and Tsunoda received +5s penalty for speeding in the pitlane. Hulkenberg’s penalty allowing Ocon breathing room as the Alpines were on track for a double points finish, battling Checo who was crawling up the points and now battling Gasly for eighth.
​
With 15 laps to go Hamilton overtakes his teammate, who was struggling to make ground on Norris with his hard tyres, to get himself up into podium sitting position. And soon enough Leclerc was eating into the gap Russell once had on the Ferrari.
After pitting on lap 48 Lando has managed to get with in 5s of Verstappen with 10 laps to go, reducing the gap with ever lap but unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be for the Brit as he ran out of laps just 2.219s shy of Verstappen. Looks like Redbull starting with used softs and finishing on the fresh set paid off.

Bronwen Jones
Writer @ F1 Journal

Lando Norris gains his second pole position of his career with “The perfect lap” improving on Verstappens provisional by two tenths of a second to set up what looks to be an extremely competitive race day.

With 30 out of the 33 victories seen at the circuit have been from front row runners Carlos Sainz has his work cut out for him if he wants to win his home grand prix as he sits sixth on the grid failing to convert his FP3 position when it really counts. Charles Leclerc out qualifying his teammate for the sixth time in a row.

A huge upgrade for RB didn’t have the impacted they wanted as both drivers failed to make it out of Q1, unlike Mercedes who have received significant improvement in recent weekends, locking out the 2nd row ahead of the Ferraris.

Lewis Hamilton “ "I'm really happy. It's been quite a difficult year but everyone back at the factory has worked so hard, finally we are starting to see those steps moving closer to those guys ahead. Slowly, the car is crafting into a racing machine that we can use to fight the cars ahead."
​
With the potential of Ferrari, Redbull, Mercedes on pole position team strategies are vital and could be the making and breaking of these drivers.

​An array of tyres seen as the drivers began FP3 with Magnussen, Alonso and Stroll hitting the track in hards, both Redbulls and Tsunoda  in mediums and Mercedes and Ferraris testing their softs with the track measuring around 43 degrees Celsius compared to 48 during FP1, but today’s wind has made all the difference in the board order.
George Russell topping the board in the first half of the session but as the teams enter the final half an hour of free practice fresh sets and qualifying simulation comes into play.
Home hero Carlos Sainz managed to reach the top spot during the final free practice after going third in FP1 and second in FP2.
Leclerc who is now running the same spec as Carlos and managed to go faster than max Verstappen to go up into third missing out on taking besting his teammate by 0.037, one of many caught out by the wind that Hamilton and Verstappen have also felt.

​ As qualifying picks up pace the time board start seeing  1.11s.
Q2 ended as both the Aston Martins and Saubers Saturdays early, with Nico Hulkenberg to complete the bottom of bottom five. With just two minutes remaining, Lewis Hamilton was battling to escape the bottom five, managing to place his Mercedes in second position to save himself an early exit. Meanwhile, both Alpine drivers successfully secured their places. It was Fernando Alonso's 21st home Grand Prix, and while his performance was disappointing for the Spanish fans, there was still hope as Carlos Sainz advanced to Q3, positioning himself fifth and splitting the McLarens. Mercedes continued to show strong form, holding the second and third spots, but it was Max Verstappen who set the fastest lap, outperforming his teammate Sergio Perez, who only managed to secure eighth place.

Teamwork among the Redbull garages had early pay off as Checo gives Max a slip stream to provisional pole but a purple middle sector from Norris, thanks to a small tow from Ocon, pushed him in to second.
Piastri’s chances of improving dissolved as he ran wide into the gravel leaving him, without a lap recorded, in 10th. Ahead of Ocon, but with Perez in 8th with a three place grid penalty yet to be added he will move down into 11th pushing the Mclaren and Alpine into 8th and 9th and Alonso into the top 10 for his 21st home grand prix.

Bronwen Jones
Writer @ F1 Journal

A dry and sunny weekend ahead for the 20 drivers battling it out in Barcelona this weekend, following tough and unpredictable weather conditions in Canada.
Carlos Sainz starts his home weekend strong as he becomes the fastest driver on track, not in softs in FP1, while Norris topped it overall and Hamilton FP2 .
Sergio Perez not having the most exciting of days but his mind is probably on the three place grid penalty he faces later this weekend for unsafe driving in Canada.
New updates will be seen on the Aston Martins as they look to improve their aerodynamics and optimise airflow interactions, new front wings on the Redbulls and rear wing for Ferrari.

Ollie Bearman was among the first few out on track in medium compound tyres as the Ferrari reserve replaced Nico Hulkenberg at Haas for FP1. Joining the young Brit in mediums, both Williams, Magnussen, Zhou and then Piastri, while the rest of the pack were in hards. Half way through the session, once some rubber was laid out on the track, the soft sets came into play and times were being chased. Lando Norris soon went fastest taking top spot off Verstappen who had previously cleared Sainz on mediums by three tenths to reclaim top spot, but before Max had time to retaliate a short break on track as a red flag was waved as marshall's had to clear the track of debris from Alonso's front wing.

As the session gets going again George Russell come's back out for the his last stint in Hard tyres ready to collect data more data for his team, while Tsunoda is just struggle to get laps in as he's nearly 10 laps behind everyone else.
 By the chequered flag Norris is still top however Sainz is in third only 0.344 behind as the fastest car not in softs.

After track highs on 48 degrees celsius earlier, more softs were in play at the temperature had cooled to 43 degrees.
After a huge weekend out in canada, Mercedes have a strong first day out on track with Russell  experiencing the top spot in the early stages on FP2, and Hamilton eventually topping the whole session. However the surprising time was set by Gasly in his Alpine after previous troubles in FP1, but with less than 1 second separating Hamilton in first and Ricciardo in 16th qualifying looks to be an exciting session.

Haas who expected to struggle recorded decent times as Nico Hulkenberg now back in his car goes just behind his teammate Magnussen to sit 11th and 12th.
While Williams couldn't find their rhythm finishing the hour at the bottom of the table despite having the most amount of laps counted.

Bronwen Jones
​Writer @ F1 Journal

Formula One heads back across the Atlantic to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the first of a European triple header.

Catalunya is a driver's favourite. Its good mix of high- and low-speed corners, combined with the challenging Turn 3 right-hander, make for a great race track. It is also one of the tracks the drivers have driven the most, with winter season often in previous seasons having taken part at the track.

This track has held the Spanish Grand Prix since 1991. But the Spanish Grand Prix is one of the oldest on the calendar, celebrating its 100 years in 2013, held at various venues around the country.

This weekend, Oliver Bearman will make the second of his six scheduled Free Practice 1 outings of the season with Haas.

.Grand Prix Laps - 66
Circuit Length - 4.657km
Race Distance - 307.23km
Corners - 14
DRS Zones - 
           Detection 1 - Between Turn 8 and Turn 9
           Activation 1 - After Turn 9
           Detection 2 - Between Turn 13 and Turn 14
          Activation 2 - After Turn 14
Time Lost in Pit Lane - 22.3secs
Tyre Compounds - 
       Hard      Medium     Soft
         C1           C2          C3
Minimum Starting Tyre Pressures- 
           Front       Rear 
         25.5psi     21.0psi
Maximum Starting Tyre Camber-
          Front       Rear
​         -3.00º      -1.75º

​Times Held - 33
First Held - 1991
Winners - 16
Pole Sitters - 18
Lap Record - 1:16.330s Verstappen (2023)
Track Lap Record - 18.047s (Daniel, Ricciardo, 2018)
Most Wins (Driver)
                 - Schumacher (6)
                 - Hamilton (6)
Most Wins (Constructors) - Ferrari (8)
Most Driver Poles - Schumacher (7)
Most Team Poles - Mercedes (9)
Most Driver Podiums - Schumacher (12)
Most Team Podiums - Ferrari (25)
Most Fastest Laps (Driver) - Schumacher (7)
Most Fastest Laps (Team) - Ferrari (9)
Times Won From Pole - 24
Lowest Starting Position to Win - P5
Smallest Pole Margin - 0.017s (Maldonado, 2012)
Smallest Win Margin -  0.616s (Verstappen, 2016)
Largest Pole Margin - 1.005s (Mansell, 1992)
Largest Win Margin - 51.988s (Schumacher, 1995)
Virtual Safety Car - 25% Probability
Safety Cars - 50% Chance

2023
Qualifying -
               1 VER 1'12.272
               2 SAI   1'12.734
               3 NOR 1'12.792
Race -
​              1 VER (2 stop)
              2 HAM (2 stop)
              3 RUS (2 stop)
Fastest Lap- 1'16.330 VER L61

2022
Qualifying -
              1 LEC 1'18.750
              2 VER 1'19.073
              3 SAI  1'19.166
Race -
​             1 VER (3 stop)
             2 PER (3 stop)
             3 RUS (3 stop)
Fastest Lap - 1'24.108 PER L55

2021
​Qualifying -
              1 HAM 1'16.741
              2 VER 1'16.777
              3 BOT 1'16.873
Race -
​            1 HAM (2 stop)
            2 VER (2 stop)
            3 BOT (2 stop)
Fastest Lap - 1'18.149 VER  L62

Helmets are often the easiest way for a driver to express their personality, with many current drivers using their protection as tributes for past drivers, with redesigns of Ayrton Senna's iconic green and yellow helmet is commonly seen. To promote Charities and beliefs, from Mclaren's "Mind" collaboration  and Sebastian Vettel's "Save the bees" design. And to celebrate tracks, blossom flowers often added to designs to celebrate Suzuka or Daniel Ricciardo's most recent Maple syrup helmet in Canada. Occasionally drivers have used designs as a way to connect with their fans, allowing them to have an input.

Helmet deliveries have increased in recent years after the FIA discarded a previous rule  put in place between 2015 - 2020, intended to make drivers more recognisable, "Drivers will now be restricted in the number of changes they can make to their helmet design during each season".

Personalised designs on helmets have been seen as early as Jackie Stewarts tartan design from 1969, with the 80s seeing bolder and more designs coming into the sport from the likes of Ayrton Senna, Keke Rosberg and Elio De Angelis. 

Here are a few of the F1 journal team's favourite designs:

In 2014 Jenson Button turned up to the British Grand prix with Papa smurf painted onto his helmet in honour of his father, John, who had passed away earlier that year from a heart attack. According to the independent 120,000 fans attended the race sporting pink t-shirts in support of the Button family. John Button was an incredible supporter of his son, appearing in the paddock on sunday's with his "lucky" pink race-day shirt. John only missed one race during the 14 seasons, passing before Jenson's 15th.

Although the McLaren qualified in 3rd a fairy tale home race wasn't in the cards as the British driver missed out on a podium by 0.8 seconds to Daniel Ricciardo, with both drivers believing if they had one more lap Button would have passed Ricciardo to take third. Lewis Hamilton was victorious at Silverstone, later becoming the 2014 World champion, followed by Valtteri Bottas.

 In 2020 the world was hit with covid-19, which drivers were not immune to as Hamilton experienced who tested positive after the Bahrain GP and was forced to miss the penultimate race of the season, the Sakhir GP. Hamilton finished the season with 124 points more than his teammate, Valtteri Bottas, who finished second in the season standings. 
Alongside the pandemic the movement "Black Lives Matter" took over the world, with tributes to the movement seen through out the F1 paddock and on top of Hamiltons helmet. The movement's coverage accelerated after a white officer killed a black civilian, George Floyd.

In recent years the American Grand Prix's have brought out incredible liveries, but in 2019 Romain Grosjean arrived in Austin with a nostalgic Lightening McQueen inspired helmet design. The former Haas driver, like many, used the design by Adrien Paviot to celebrate his teams home race. 

Disappointingly for Grosjean he finished 15th at the Austin GP. Mercedes teammates Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton secured their team a 1-2 finished, with Max Verstappen (RedBull) completing the podium.

Bronwen Jones
Writer @ F1 Journal

The Canadian Grand Prix was filled with rain, tyre strategy, and safety cars, but ultimately, Max Verstappen returned to the podium, followed by Lando Norris and George Russell.

Sainz, Perez, Albon, Leclerc and Sargent were out of the race with damage and engine failures.

George Russell started on pole for the first time since the 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix. Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu started from the pit lane after Sauber changed the rear wing spec on both cars.

With rain pre-race and rain looming for the start of the race, everyone started on Intermediate tyres, except both Haas drivers, who started on full wet tyres.

​There is standing water all around the track, and existing drainage problems have already delayed FP1 on Friday. There is a lot of water around the track for the start of the race.

​George starts in P1 and retains P1 for the race start, holding off Verstappen. Alonso and Hamilton gain places at the start, with Riccardo dropping to 7th place. Sainz cuts the last corner and drops back to 15th, with Leclerc up to 8th.

Both Haas drivers started on full wets and it paid off, with Magnussen passing Leclerc, Stroll, Hamilton, Alonso and Piastri and moving up into 4th place in an incredible driver. He didn't manage to keep the momentum for very long as the track dried out and the blue skies appeared.

On lap six, Sargeant headed down the escape road, bringing out a brief yellow flag, but managed to turn around and get back on the track. As the intermediate tyres turned out to be faster tyres, despite Magnussen's initial charge through the field, he was the first to pit from wet tyres to intermediate tyres, but the team wasn't expecting him, and they ended up with an eight-second pit stop.

While the track started to dry out, Daniel Riccardo was under investigation for a false start, for which he later received a five-second time penalty.

Verstappen started to gain on Russell, who was still in the lead, with Norris right behind them. All three were trying to keep their intermediate tyres in good shape as the track dried.

With the continued threat of rain looming, tyres were on everyone's mind. Verstappen was now just 0.602 seconds behind Russell. But it was Norris who was gaining, and he took the fastest lap on lap 16.

​As Verstappen tries to get past Russell, he quickly detours off the track at Turn 2 but manages to maintain his place ahead of Norris in P3.

As DRS is enabled on lap 20, Norris gets past Verstappen and moves into second place before overtaking Russell to take the lead in the Canadian Grand Prix. Verstappen also overtakes Russell.

Meanwhile, behind the leaders, Sargeant crashes on lap 25, bringing out a safety car. Verstappen, Russell and Piastri all take advantage of the safety car and pit, but Norris stays out and pits a lap later with all drivers now on fresh intermediate tyres. Norris regains the track in third position behind Russell and Verstappen, with Verstappen taking the lead.

As Sargeant's time racing in Canada comes to an end, Leclerc's Ferrari has engine issues, which they tried to fix during a pit stop. However, that didn't work, and Leclerc rejoined the race in 19th place.

The rain once again started to fall as the safety car came in on lap 29, and the race once again started. Sainz received damage to the front of his Ferrari after a slight scuffle with Bottas and Riccardo.

As the rain stopped and DRS was once again enabled, it was a gamble who would move onto slick tyres first, but that wasn't a problem for Leclerc as Ferrari retired his car from 19th place on lap 43 of 70.

It was Hamilton who was pitted first for medium tyres on lap 44 with Verstappen (mediums), Russell (hards), Piastri (mediums) and Alonso (hards) also pitting.

Verstappen regains the lead from Norris, who also pits for medium tyres but can only rejoin the track in P2 and is immediately overtaken by Russell on the hard tyre. However, Russell is still four seconds off Verstappen.

Russell runs wide at Turn nine and takes a bit of kerb, allowing Norris to pass him and regain second place.

The safety car was deployed again on lap 54. This time, Albon had a tussle with Sainz and had to retire his car from the race after it ended up the wrong way around and in the grass. Sainz also retired from the race after losing control of his car in the wet and hitting Albon.

Meanwhile, Perez lost control of his car and ended up slightly hitting the barrier with the rear of his car at the wall at Turn Six. He also had to retire his car.

The safety car arrives on lap 58, with Verstappen leading in front of Norris, Piastri, Russell, and Hamilton, rounding off the top five.

With just ten laps to go, Verstappen was ahead of Norris by two seconds, and battles were raging between the McLarens and Mercedes.

On lap 64 the top three was Verstappen, followed by Norris and Piastri but Russell and Piastri have slight contact allowing Hamilton to pass his team mate and Piastri and moved into third position.

But not for long. On lap 68, Russell overtakes Hamilton to gain a position on the podium. The race ends with Verstappen celebrating his third consecutive win in Canada, with Norris taking second place and Russell taking the last podium spot. Hamilton retains and earns the point for fastest lap.

Max Verstappen, who takes his third consecutive victory at the Canadian Grand Prix, said: “It was a pretty crazy race, a lot of things were happening and we had to keep on top of our calls.

​As a team we did really well today, we remained calm and we pitted at the right time, the safety car worked out nicely for us but even after that we were managing the gaps quite well. “I love it, that was a lot of fun, those kind of races you need once in a while.”

Anny Wooldridge
​Writer @ F1 Journal