George Russell won the 2025 Singapore Grand Prix, with Max Verstappen in second and Lando Norris in third place.

McLaren were crowned the 2025 Constructors' Champions with six races left in the season.

Singapore delivered once again, with damp conditions at the start of the race, lock-ups, a 360 spin from Hulkenberg, Hamilton losing his tyres and the McLaren battle took another step forward.

George Russell started on pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix, lining up side-by-side with Max Verstappen.

Around an hour before the race, it started raining heavily in Singapore. The rain didn't last long, but the track was green and very wet. During the lap to the grid, the drivers went out on intermediate tyres, all complaining that the first sector was dry, but the second and third sectors were wet.

Thirty minutes later, as the drivers headed for the formation lap, they started on a variety of compounds. Russell started on the medium compound tyre, as did the rest of the field except Hadjar, Alonso, Tsunoda, Stroll, Verstappen and Colapinto, who all started on soft tyres.

George Russell managed to stay ahead into and through the first corner, with Verstappen slotting in behind him.

​Piastri lost places at the start to his teammate, who made a confident lunge for the front, tapping both Verstappen and Piastri at Turn 3 and managing to move into third place.

Norris picked up front wing damage on his front endplate. The stewards investigated but ruled out any further investigation. The same was the case for Hadjar and Bearman.

Piastri aired his frustration openly on the radio about his teammate, as Antonelli moved down into sixth and Leclerc fifth.

Verstappen soon complained that he was struggling with downshifts and was having trouble staying with Russell, who was now 5 seconds ahead.1s ahead. Norris was 1.5s behind Verstappen.

Russell was running around 0.7 seconds quicker a lap than Verstappen, with a significant lead.

Bortoleto and Tsunoda both pitted early after front wing damage from Lap 1. Norris also suggested on the radio that he had hit the wall at Turn 17, but it was very lightly with no damage.

McLaren was threatening with pit stops, trying to undercut and play with their rivals into thinking they were going to pit. The risk of a Safety Car would have given them a free stop, but Norris was told to pit; however, they changed their mind at the last minute.

Verstappen pitted with a slightly three-second stop, moving onto the hard compound tyres. He came back out on track just ahead of Alonso. McLaren didn't respond with Verstappen putting in a fast first hard tyre lap, covering off the threat of the overcut.

Russell began to lose lap time to Verstappen as his tyres started falling away. Mercedes pitted both drivers with a clean stop, and Russell got back out on track 3.5 seconds clear of Verstappen.

Norris pitted with a good stop and was out on track five seconds behind Verstappen. Piastri pitted on the next lap, but the stop was slow, over 5.2 seconds, and he managed to get back on track ahead of Leclerc, with Norris 9.4 seconds ahead.

Alonso stopped with 34 laps left in the race, as Verstappen closed the gap to Russell by half a second over two laps, bringing the gap down to 3.3s. Russell quickly responded and brought that time back up.

Verstappen had a big lock-up into Turn 14, nearly heading straight for the wall. He didn't hit it, but did drop five seconds back from Russell and only two seconds clear of Norris.

Alonso passed Hadjar and Verstappen heads of the track for a second time, two laps before Turn 2. Norris closes in just 1.6s. But Norris goes deep into Turn 16 and Verstappen goes 2.5s clear.

Five seconds covered the top five in the race at that point.

Hulkenberg drops it at Turn 7 under braking, taking a complete 360-degree turn and sliding neatly into the run-off area, but manages to turn back around and rejoin the track.

Russell caught up to the back of the back markers and put three back markers between himself and Verstappen, with the back markers holding up Verstappen, allowing Norris to close the gap.

As the Verstappen and Norris fight continued, Piastri continued to close the gap down to just three seconds.

Antonelli overtook Leclerc for P5, as Hamilton pitted for soft compound tyres, and closed quickly to the back of the two drivers.

Hamilton overtook Leclerc and was chasing Antonelli down with just 2.6s between them. With five laps to go, Norris was still trying to find a way to get past Verstappen.

Hamilton caught right up to the back of Antonelli as Sainz fought Hadjar for P10. Hamilton complained that he lost his brakes and dropped back from Antonelli and got overtaken by Leclerc once again. Hamilton was 30 seconds behind Alonso with only a few laps to go. Sainz passed Hadjar for P10.

George Russell wins the Singapore Grand Prix, followed by Verstappen in second and Norris in third.

Alonso finished just behind Hamilton, but after the race, Hamilton received a five-second time penalty for track limits, and Alonso finished in P7 with Hamilton in P8.

1) George Russell
2) Max Verstappen           +5.430
3) Lando Norris                 +6.066
4) Oscar Piastri                 +8.146
5) Kimi Antonelli                +33.681
6) Charles Leclerc             +45.996
7) Fernando Alonso           +80.667
8) Lewis Hamilton             +85.251
9) Oliver Bearman             +93.527
10) Carlos Sainz                +1 Lap
11) Isack Hadjar
12) Yuki Tsunoda
13) Lance Stroll
14) Alex Albon
15) Liam Lawson
16) Franco Colapinto
17) Gabriel Bortoleto
​18) Esteban Ocon
19) Pierre Gasly
​20) Nico Hulkenberg

Mercedes’ George Russell, who wins the Singapore Grand Prix from pole position: "It feels amazing especially after what happened a couple of years ago, that was a bit of a missed opportunity but we more than made up for it today.

"I'm so grateful for the team, they did an amazing job this whole weekend. We don't really know where this performance came from but I'm really happy."

On the whole weekend: "Friday was a really tough day for me for many different reasons and I wasn't feel comfortable, but by the time Q3 came I felt really comfortable in the car and that is when it matters.

"I was a bit nervous at the beginning when I saw Max [Verstappen] on the soft [tyre], but that first stint was great from us and extended the gap."

On the car's performance: "I mean I said it yesterday, if I were going to make a list of all the races I think we would be good at this year, Singapore would probably be right at the bottom.

"I think we need to sit down on Monday and Tuesday to sort of understand why the performance was so good. I hope we can carry this through to the rest of the season but I think realistically Lando [Norris] looked incredibly fast.

​"He was within a second from Max the whole race and around this circuit that is not easy, so we will take the performance from today, celebrate it and won't think too much about Austin yet."

Written by Anny Wooldridge

George Russell will start on pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix, with Max Verstappen starting in second and Oscar Piastri in third.

The Singapore streets came alive with super close lap times during Free Practice Three, with half a second separating the top seven teams, with Max Verstappen topping the leaderboard in that session, after Fernando Alonso was fastest in FP1 and Oscar Piastri in FP2.

Both Williams drivers are under investigation for both cars exceeded the maximum limit of 85mm on both sides of the rear wing outer area.

Top Ten Results
1) Max Verstappen                 1:30.148
2) Oscar Piastri                         +0.017
3) George Russell                     +0.049
4) Kimi Antonelli                        +0.089
5) Lando Norris                         +0.089
6) Carlos Sainz                         +0.244
7) Isack Hadjar                          +0.341
8) Lewis Hamilton                      +0.411
9) Nico Hulkenberg                    +0.489
10) Charles Leclerc                   +0.503

Max Verstappen topped the leaderboard in the last practice session of the weekend, with just half a second covering the top seven teams.

​Saturday's running offered the last opportunity for drivers and teams to make any final adjustments before the qualifying session.

Getting underway at 5:30pm local time, in temperatures higher than on Friday,

Haas drivers were the first out on track, with both drivers sporting medium compound tyres. By the 15-minute mark, all of the drivers were out on track except for Verstappen and Russell. 

Norris went fastest in the early running with a lap time of 1m 31.021s, just before a red flag was shown. Liam Lawson once again hit the wall in Turn 8 after riding over the kerbs and damaged his car, which came to a halt on the track.

His car was recovered and the debris was cleared, with running continuing with just over 35 minutes left on the clock. Antonelli and Russell got back on track, running on soft compound tyres.

Sainz ran down the escape road at Turn 14 but managed to reverse back onto the track. Just after the halfway mark, Antonelli went quickest with a lap time of 1m 30.760s.

Hamilton was noted for a red flag infringement, which was investigated after the session. Another yellow flag was shown after Albon made a trip down the escape road at Turn 16.

Alonso was asked to limp his car home with 15 minutes remaining.

There was a flurry of soft compound lap times set during the last moments of the session, with Leclerc initially setting the fastest time, but Norris knocked him off and then Verstappen, who topped the timesheet with a lap time of 1m 30.148s at the end of the session.

Out In Q1
16) Gabriel Bortoleto
17) Lance Stroll
18) Franco Colapinto
19) Esteban Ocon
20) Pierre Gasly

All the drivers got out on track quickly in the session, trying to separate themselves out to create gaps between them.

McLaren struggled from the start, with Piastri losing out to yellow flags on his first flying lap. Norris topped the timesheets in the first part of the session but then began to struggle as other drivers beat his time.

Verstappen topped the timesheet, as did Hamilton. Piastri was yet to set a lap time, but in the second half of the session managed to get a lap together good enough for sixth.

Antonelli set some very quick lap times, good enough for the top five, but suffered with track limits and was in the drop zone until the final running.

At the very end of the session, yellow flags were brought out, disrupting some drivers' final lap times, after Gasly stopped on track on the outside of Turn 11 with a mechanical issue.

Bortoleto, Stroll, Colapinto, Ocon and Gasly were out in Q1.

Drivers once again got out on track quickly on a mix of new and used soft compound tyres after the start of the session was delayed to recover Gasly's car and for the stewards to check yellow flag infringements.

Antonelli suffered the same fate as he did in Q1, having his first lap time deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 2, and he was in trouble in the drop zone. However, he managed to put together a lap and move into Q3.

Leclerc tapped the wall in Turn 14 on his first run and was sitting in 13th with five minutes left on the clock. 

Russell, Tsunoda, Hulkenberg, and Bortoleto were investigated after the session for yellow flag infringements on their final lap in Q1 after Gasly brought out the yellow flags. These were ruled no further investigation.

Hulkenberg, Albon, Sainz, Lawson and Tsunoda were eliminated in the session. 0.791s covered all 15 cars during Q2.

Top Ten Results
1) George Russell                     1m 29.158
2) Max Verstappen                       +0.182
3) Oscar Piastri                             +0.366
4) Kimi Antonelli                            +0.379
5) Lando Norris                             +0.428
6) Lewis Hamilton                         +0.530
7) Charles Leclerc                        +0.626
8) Isack Hadjar                             +0.688
9) Oliver Bearman                        +0.710
10) Fernando Alonso                    +0.797

George Russell puts his Mercedes on pole in Singapore, he said: "It’s amazing to be on pole position. Yesterday was a very challenging day for many different reasons, but it’s good to come back and get a good result today.

"It’s a long sweaty race tomorrow but I knew there was potential in the car. Kimi [Antonelli] was doing an amazing job all weekend and I actually changed quite a lot from seeing what he was capable of doing yesterday afternoon. I’m very happy to be on pole."

On the race: "Singapore has not been the kindest to me in the past and that has been through my own doing the majority of the time.

"I’m not going to get carried away with this pole position, it’s the best place to start and there is a good pole side advantage here so I would like to think I can hold the lead into Turn One.

​"This guy [Max Verstappen] on my left is obviously pretty good at race starts and sending it down the inside, so I will be keeping an eye."

Written by Anny Wooldridge

The Singapore Grand Prix weekend got underway with Free Practice One and Two. Fernando Alonso unexpectedly topped the timesheet in Free Practice One, with Oscar Piastri heading up the leaderboard in Free Practice Two.

Singapore didn't disappoint with humid conditions, chaotic running and drama throughout both sessions.

​Alex Albon had to retire his car in FP1 due to an issue with his rear brakes. George Russell and Liam Lawson both had incidents with the walls in FP2, and many drivers came close or suffered lockups.

Top Ten Results
1) Fernando Alonso                1:31.116
2) Charles Leclerc                    +0.150
3) Max Verstappen                   +0.276
4) Lewis Hamilton                     +0.364
5) Oscar Piastri                         +0.365
6) Lando Norris                         +0.582
7) Isack Hadjar                          +0.639
8) Carlos Sainz                         +0.696
9) Yuki Tsunoda                        +0.744
10) Esteban Ocon                     +1.012

Fernando Alonso topped the timesheet in the first practice session of the Singapore Grand Prix weekend.

The session started at 5:30pm local time in cloudy conditions, following some afternoon showers that left typical Singaporean hot and humid conditions.

All 20 cars exited the pit lane as the green light switched on. This weekend, high temperatures have led the FIA to declare a heat hazard for the entire weekend, necessitating the installation of a special Driver Cooling System on the cars.

The drivers were mostly running on hard compound tyres, with the Aston Martins slotting on medium compound tyres.

Alex Albon caused some early drama when he returned to the pits with smoke emanating from the rear of his Williams car, prompting mechanics to deploy air blowers and fire extinguishers to manage the issue. This was later identified as a rear brake hardware problem, forcing him to sit out the remainder of the session.

The 19 remaining cars began setting lap times, with Lando Norris topping the timesheet with a lap time of 1:33.388. Over a quarter of the way through the session, Alonso held onto P1 with a lap time of 1m 32.595s on the medium compound tyres.

As drivers started pushing a little harder, Alpine's Pierre Gasly went too deep at Turn 14, and Lewis Hamilton had a close call with the wall on the exit of the same turn. 

At the halfway point, Alonso lowered the benchmark to a 1m 32.054s lap time, which Sainz overtook and then Leclerc with a 1m 31.763s.

The drivers then opted for soft tyre running with Leclerc going quickest, followed by Verstappen, Norris and Hadjar.

In the final moments of the session, Qualifying simulations started. Alonso followed up with a lap time of 1m 31.116s, making his way back to the top of the leaderboard.

Oscar Piastri topped the timesheet during a disrupted FP2 session, in a session which had two red flags and a pit lane incident between Leclerc and Norris.

Nico Hulkenberg was the first out on track during the second qualifying session, which took place under the lights at 9pm local time.

Albon was back out on track after having to return to the pits after a rear brake issue in FP1. The rookie continued to explore the race track boundaries early in the session, with Kimi Antonelli having a moment and Gabriel Bortoleto running wide. Norris set an early benchmark lap time of 1m 31.716s.

George Russell brought out yellow flags after ending up with a broken front nose, after hitting the barrier at Turn 16, with a red flag being shown to recover the debris all over the track.

The session got back underway with half an hours running left, with many drivers getting back on track with soft compound tyres, with Hamilton and leclerc continuing on the medium tyres.

The action was brought to a halt after Liam Lawson hit the wall out of Turn 17, resulting in heavy damage to his car, which came to a stop at the pit entry, as his car was recovered.

As the session resumed Leclerc and Norris made contact in the pit lane, with Norris having to be wheeled back into the garage to have his front wing replaced after he hit the pit wall. Ferrari later received a fine of 10,000 euros for an unsafe release.

Both drivers headed out onto the track for the rest of the session, in a busy end to the session. The majority of the drivers were out on soft compound tyres with Piastri topping the timesheet by just 0.132s.

Written by Anny Wooldridge

Max Verstappen takes the Azerbaijan Grand Prix win after a dominating weekend, with pole position and the fastest lap. He was joined on the podium by George Russell, who had been ill all weekend and Carlos Sainz in P3, with his first podium for Williams.

Championship leaders McLaren suffered another weekend of challenges and troubles, with Piastri crashing on Lap 1 and Norris struggling to pass Tsunoda for the remainder of the race, with a slow McLaren pit stop not helping the situation. McLaren's championship fight continues in Singapore.

Max Verstappen started on pole position for the sixth time this season and managed to hold onto the lead into Turn 1 at the race start.

Verstappen started on the hard compound tyre while Sainz started on the medium tyre. Despite this, Verstappen maintained the lead throughout the first lap and after the safety car restart, as Piastri slammed into the barrier at Turn 5, bringing out the safety car.

Piastri's day started badly and got worse. At the race start, he initially jumped the lights before stopping and engaging the anti-stall, dropping to the back of the grid. Alonso, directly behind Piastri, also jumped the start, somewhat triggered by Piastri. Both received five-second time penalties; however, Alonso served his during his penalty, while Piastri's race finished before the first lap, so his penalty was not served.

Norris lost a position at the race start to Piastri and was down to P8 during the five laps under the safety car. At the safety car restart, Norris lost another position to Leclerc.

The two Mercedes drivers were side by side into the first corner of lap one, but it was Russell who lost out and lost a position to Tsunoda.

Verstappen pulled away from Sainz and quickly established a 1.5s lead after the safety car restart. Hadjar ran slightly wide at Turn 16, allowing both Leclerc and Norris to slide past, with the French driver dropping into ninth, and Hamilton also getting past.

By lap 10, Verstappen had built up a lead of over 2.1s, with Sainz into DRS range of Lawson in P3, Russell in fourth and Tsunoda in fifth.

Tsunoda dropped back and soon led a DRS train, which included Leclerc, Norris, and Hamilton, with Hajar not too far behind them. Tyre management came into effect for the one-stop race.

Further behind, Bearman and Albon moved ahead of Gasly at Turn 1, then joining the back of another DRS train led by Colapinto in P13 and included the majority of the back mid-runners.

Albon pitted for hard compound tyres at the end of Lap 15, followed by Colapinto. The pair came together at Turn 5 with Colapinto taking a full 360-degree spin, but recovered and got back underway. Albon was handed a ten-second time penalty for the incident.

Antonelli pitted from fourth after struggling to find a way around Lawson in P3 and under pressure from his teammate directly behind him. Sainz was 4.5s ahead, with Verstappen another five seconds ahead of him.

At the end of lap 20, Liam Lawson was called into the pits, being the first of the front runners to pit, and reemerged on track just ahead of Antonelli in eleventh. Russell moved into third and pulled away to over three seconds ahead of Tsunoda.

Antonelli eventually got past Lawson at the end of lap 21 with the help of DRS on the start/finish straight.

By lap 23, Verstappen was leading by over seven seconds, ahead of Sainz, Russell, Tsunoda and Norris, who was stuck behind Tsunoda.

Antonelli overtook Bortoleto on Lap 26, moving into 8th place. Saniz pitted on Lap 27 with a gap of over two seconds to Russell and rejoined the track in sixth place on hard compound tyres. Verstappen was now ahead by over twelve seconds.

Norris, now in P4 with others around him, pitting was told to get closer to Tsunoda and go long with his medium compound tyres. Hamilton stopped at the end of Lap 36 and rejoined in ninth place.

Norris eventually pitted on Lap 37 for hard compound tyres but had an issue with his front right-hand tyres and had a stop of over 4.1s rejoining the track in P8.

Tsunoda pitted the following lap and came out just in front of Lawson; however, the Kiwi managed to get past with warmer tyres at Turn 3 with Leclerc and Norris behind him.

Russell pitted at the end of Lap 40, but had created enough of a buffer to rejoin the track in second place, just ahead of Sainz, Antonelli, Lawson, Tsunoda, Leclerc, Norris and Hamilton.

Verstappen pitted from the lead but had enough time to rejoin as race leader.

Leclerc was overtaken by both Norris and Hamilton, with Norris joining the back of a DRS train of Tsunoda and Lawson battling for fifth place.

Both Lawson and Tsunoda were under immense pressure from Norris and Hamilton behind them. Still, both kept their cool, with Tsunoda just hanging behind Lawson, playing the team game with points, trying to keep Norris as far away from Verstappen as possible.

Max Verstappen won the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and closed to within 69 points of Piastri and even closer to Norris in the Drivers Championship, with Mercedes overtaking Ferrari for second in the Drivers Championship, and McLaren still not gaining enough points to take the win.

1) Max Verstappen
2) George Russell            +14.609
3) Carlos Sainz                +19.199
4) Kimi Antonelli               +21.760
5) Liam Lawson                +33.290
6) Yuki Tsunoda                +33.808
7) Lando Norris                 +34.227
8) Lewis Hamilton             +36.310
9) Charles Leclerc             +36.774
10) Isack Hadjar                +38.982
11) Gabriel Bortoleto         +67.606
12) Oliver Bearman           +68.262
13) Alex Albon                   +72.870
14) Esteban Ocon             +77.580
15) Fernando Alonso         +78.707
16) Nico Hulkenberg          +80.237
17) Lance Stroll                  +96.392
18) Pierre Gasly                  +1 Lap
19) Franco Colapinto
​DNF Oscar Piastri

Red Bull's Max Verstappen wins from pole in Baku, he said: "This weekend has been incredible for us, last weekend was already great, but for us to win here again is just fantastic.

"In the race, the car was working really well on both of the compounds, we had clean air all the time, and you could then look after your tyres.

"It was pretty straightforward. It's not easy around here, and it's very windy today, so the car is always moving around a lot. I'm very happy with this performance."

On the race: "You always have to be a little more careful with tyre management and stuff, you want to make the one-stop work, so I think everyone was a bit more cautious with that anyway.

"The medium and hard compounds that we were running today, they weren't really used that much up until today and that all helped. I was happy that there were not too many safety cars."

​On the car's competitiveness: "It's difficult to say at the moment, but the last two race weekends have been amazing for us. Singapore is a completely different challenge again with the higher downforce, so we will see what we can do there."

Written by Anny Wooldridge

In a dramatic qualifying session, which had six red flags, the championship winner crashed, along with Charles Leclerc and Esteban Ocon being disqualified for a rear wind infringement. Albon, Hulkenberg, Bearman, and Colapinto all crashed during the session.

It was Max Verstappen who took pole position, followed by Carlos Sainz and Liam Lawson in second and third.

Top 10 Results
1) Lando Norris               1:41.223
2) Max Verstappen            +0.222
3) Oscar Piastri                  +0.254
4) Lewis Hamilton              +0.276
5) Kimi Antonelli                 +0.653
6) George Russell              +0.741
7) Alex Albon                      +0.760
8) Oliver Bearman              +0.762
9) Liam Lawson                  +0.923
10) Charles Leclerc            +0.986

Lando Norris finished on top of the timesheets in a high-wind practice session in Baku, ahead of Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri.

The circuit was dry for the final practice session of the weekend; however, heavy rain overnight removed the rubber that had been laid down during Friday's running. The high winds created wind funnels in many braking zones.

Oliver Bearman became the first driver to enter the run-off area in Turn 4 in the first ten minutes of the session. Almost all of the drivers stayed in the garage until around the 20-minute mark.

As the drivers started to get out on track, Lando Norris was the first to set a time after his lack of running in FP2 due to hitting the wall halfway through that session.

Charles Leclerc set the initial pace with a lap time of 1m 43.048s, even though he ran deep in the final braking zone.

As track conditions improved, so did the lap times, with Leclerc lowering the benchmark to 1m 42.354s, despite brushing the wall on the entry to Turn 7, while Liam Lawson suffered a full 360-degree spin.

Verstappen was the first driver to break the 1m 42s barrier as drivers focused on qualifying simulations.

It was Norris who eventually set the benchmark time with a 1m 41.223s lap time in the final 15 minutes of the session. Piatri had to abort his lap after suffering from oversteer through Turn 4 and then running deep at Turn 1 on his next lap. Piastri set a competitive lap but was three-tenths behind Norris, with Verstappen and Hamilton slipping between the two title rivals.

Out in Q1
16) Franco Colapinto
17) Nico Hulkenberg
18) Pierre Gasly
19) Alex Albon
DQ Esteban Ocon

Piastri was delayed coming out of the garage as his front wing was being worked on. He eventually emerged from the pits with 14 minutes to go, on a set of medium compound tyres, like his teammate and both Red Bull cars, while everyone else was running the soft compound tyre.

Two yellow flags were already shown with 12 minutes left, as Hulkenberg locked up and nearly hit the wall, while Leclerc moved to the top of the timesheet.

The first red flag of the session was brought out as Alex Albon clipped the inside of the wall at Turn 1 and broke his front suspension, ruining a lot of flying laps in the process, especially for Piastri.

Antonelli was noted, investigated, but ruled no further action for a yellow flag infringement. 

Eleven minutes left on the clock, the session got back underway, with Gasly out on new soft tyres and Alonso on medium tyres. There was enough time for two timed laps.

Leclerc topped the timesheet with nine minutes on the clock with a 1m 41.982s lap time. Verstappen, Piastri and Norris were running their previous medium tyres, with Lawson and Russell on new mediums.

Antonelli was in trouble after losing his lap time due to track limits. But it was Hulkenberg who locked up and slid straight into the wall at Turn 4. He got going again, but the red flag was brought out.

With six minutes to go, Antonelli still had no time on the board. Piastri crossed the line just seconds before the red flag was brought out.

Sainz was the first back out on track on new softs, as were the Haas drivers.

Five minutes were left on the clock, with drivers having enough time to do a push, cool, push lap.

During the final few seconds of the clock, Gasly stopped in the runoff area at Turn 4, but it was his teammate who brought out the red flag, as Colapinto crashed into the walls when the yellow flags were out.

Franco Colapinto, Nico Hulkenberg, Esteban Ocon, Pierre Gasly and Alex Albon were all eliminated in the session.

Out In Q2
11) Fernando Alonso
12) Lewis Hamilton
13) Gabriel Bortoleto
14) Lance Stroll
15) Oliver Bearman

Barrier repairs delayed the start of Q2. When running got underway, Sainz was the first out on track on medium tyres with Alonso and Bearman close behind him.

Norris was out on used soft tyres, as were Leclerc and Hamilton.

Running didn't last long as Bearman touched the wall out of Turn 2 and brought the red flags out with 11:54 seconds on the clock.

Leclerc was out on track as running got back underway first, as the other drivers split between running new or old medium or soft compound tyres.

Leclerc was on a fast flying lap but briefly brought out the yellow flags, disrupting his teammate's lap in the process.

With four minutes to go, Stroll, Bortoleto, Alonso and Leclerc were the drivers in danger.

Hamilton ran out of time to complete another lap and ended up in the drop zone, being eliminated from the session along with Alonso, Bortoleto, Stroll, and Bearman.

Starting Top 10
1) Max Verstappen          1:41.117
2) Carlos Sainz                1:41.595
3) Liam Lawson               1:41.707
4) Kimi Antonelli               1:41.717
5) George Russell            1:42.070
6) Yuki Tsunoda                1:42.143
7) Lando Norris                 1:42.239
8) Isack Hadjar                 1:42.372
9) Oscar Piastri                  DNF
10) Charles Leclerc            DNF

In a chaotic session, it was only fitting that a chaotic Q3 was completed, with both Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri crashing into the wall and Lando Norris failing to produce a flying lap good enough for the top spot when it mattered the most.

It was Verstappen who took the opportunity and ended up on pole position for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, with Carlos Sainz in P2 and Liam Lawson in P3.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who starts on pole position in Baku: "A long qualifying to be honest with so many red flags so it was very difficult to basically get your lap together. "Most of the time your tyres are not really ready for it or again a red flag, especially with Q3 with a bit of rain, it was a very difficult session.

"In the final lap you just have to send it, I wasn’t even on the best tyres I wanted but because of the red flags, you basically run out of tyres.

"I’m very happy so far with how the weekend has gone because from FP1 we were not too bad and we just kept on improving a tiny amount and then we were there in qualifying and that is when it matters."

On the car: "We definitely were in there for pole, Q3 is always a bit messy for everyone, but I’m just happy as since Monza we are doing a better job and I hope we can continue in that way."

​On the race: "It’s a long race, you want to have a good start but even then we just need to do our own race and look after our tyres. "It’s still quite tough on our tyres around here because of the softer compounds and then we will see what happens."

Written by Anny Wooldridge

It was a tale of two teams on Friday in Baku, with a McLaren 1-2 in Free Practice One and a Ferrari 1-2 in Free Practice Two.

It was Lewis Hamilton who ultimately set the fastest lap time of the day with a 1m 41.293 seconds, just ahead of Leclerc.

McLaren's day started well with a 1-2 in FP1, but a power unit issue caused Piastri to miss a lot of FP1, and both drivers found the walls in FP2, with Norris taking a bad hit halfway through the session and having to remain in the pits for the rest of the session.

Top 10 Results
1) Lando Norris       1:42.704
2) Oscar Piastri           +0.310
3) Charles Leclerc       +0.552
4) George Russell       +0.553
5) Alex Albon               +0.859
6) Yuki Tsunoda           +1.034
7) Max Verstappen      +1.086
8) Carlos Sainz            +1.155
9) Liam Lawson           +1.199
10) Isack Hadjar          +1.271

Lando Norris set the pace during the first practice session of the weekend, ahead of championship leader Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc.

When the green light went out, drivers were quick to get out on track after the two-week break in the cloudy but dry Baku conditions.

Early in the session, Norris had to return to the pits to remove a component cover from his car, and Piastri was told to back off and avoid full load.

Gabriel Bortoleto showcased how slippery the track was with a deep turn into Turn 3, resulting in him going into the run-off area. Alex Albon also lost one of his mirrors during the session, and George Russel, who was at the track after missing media day due to illness, said he could smell burning in his car.

The first red flag of the session was shown after just 15 minutes due to an incident caused by Carlos Sainz running over the kerb and leaving a section of it loose.

Norris was at the top of the timesheet with a time of 1m 42.747s on the soft compound tyre, ahead of Russell, Leclerc and Verstappen.

The session resumed with 20 minutes left in the session after marshals repaired the kerb.

Norris continued to improve his lap times, while Piastri returned to the track after his team resolved his power unit issue. 

Lewis Hamilton clipped the wall on the entry to Turn 5 and returned to the pits with front wing damage. 

Piastri managed to set a decent lap time just three-tenths slower than Norris on his final running as Leclerc was just half a second adrift.

Lewis Hamilton topped the leaderboard in Free Practice Two, just 0.074 seconds ahead of his teammate Charles Leclerc, as both McLaren drivers struggled for pace after both hitting the wall.

Drivers were right on the limit for the whole session, with Liam Lawson running deep at the downhill left-hander of Turn 15, just as Hamilton did the same thing at Turn 7 in the opening moments of the session.

Piastri was back out on track after missing the majority of FP1 with a power unit issue and quickly set a lap time of 1m 43.307s, easily putting him at the top of the leaderboard in the opening stages of the session.

Norris was the fastest driver on track after the opening flurry of laps, with a 1m 42.199s lap time, ahead of Leclerc. But Leclerc quickly set a quicker lap, breaking the 1m 42s barrier. His teammate was close behind him.

At the halfway point, Norris's session took a turn for the worse when he hit the wall on the exit of Turn 4, leaving his left-rear suspension damaged, resulting in him having to limp back into the pits and being out for the rest of the session.

Piastri also had to limp back into the pits after hitting the Tecpro barrier at Turn 15.

Meanwhile, Leclerc moved to the top of the timesheet with a lap time of 1m 41.367s, with Ferrari engaging in an inter-team battle; Hamilton and Leclerc traded the top spot for the rest of the session.

Written by Anny Wooldridge

Formula 1 heads to Azerbaijan this weekend for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The big question on everyone's mind is, will McLaren seal the Constructors' Championship this weekend? With seven races left on the calendar, if they do seal the championship, that will be a historic moment for both Formula 1 and the team.

They will win the championship with a 1-2 result this weekend, or in any of the following situations:

• McLaren finished 2nd and 3rd and Ferrari don't finish 1st
• McLaren finished 3rd and 4th, with neither Ferrari drivers in the top two and Mercedes don't finish 1st and 2nd
• McLaren finsih 1st and 3rd
• McLaren finish 2nd and 4th with both Ferrari drivers finishing below 5th position (if Mercedes don't finsih 1st and 3rd)

Friday September 19

• 07:00: F2 Practice Session
• 09:30: Formula 1 Free Practice One
• 11:00: F2 Qualifying Session
• 13:00: Formula 1 Free Practice Two

Saturday September 20

• 09:30: Formula 1 Free Practice Three
• 11:15: F2 Sprint Race
• 13:00: Formula 1 Qualifying

Sunday September 21

• 08:00: F2 Race
• ​​12:00: Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Written by Anny Wooldridge

Max Verstappen won the Italian Grand Prix over 19 seconds clear of Lando Norris and Championship leader Oscar Piastri.

In a race which saw a slow pit stop for McLaren end up in a switch around on track and a a DNF for both Fernando Alonso and Nico Hulkenberg who had to retire his car on the formation lap around the fastest circuit on the calendar in Monza.

​The majority of the drivers were running medium compound tyres, with Albon, Ocon, Stroll, Hadjar and Gasly all running hard compound tyres and Lawson on softs.

Racing stopped as soon as it started with drama for Nico Hulkenberg, who had to pit on the formation lap to retire his car.

When racing got underway, Verstappen held off Norris at the race start by cutting Turn 2. Leclerc overtook Piastri at the race start, but it didn't last long as Piastri moved around the outside of the Australian on the second Lesmo to take back P3.

Verstappen was told to give the position back to Norris, and Norris took the lead of the race. Leclerc and Piastri continued to fight with changes back and forth, with Leclerc getting ahead once more.

Bortoleto running in P6 was the fastest man on track in a straight line and put up a big fight against Russell, but the Brit managed to keep ahead of the Brazilian driver.

Verstappen, after giving the place back to Norris, sticks with him and continues to battle, with Leclerc dropping three seconds back from the fighting duo.

Verstappen retook the lead of the race from Norris around the outside of Turn 1, with Leclerc also cutting the corner at Turn 1.

Further back, Hamilton, on a fighting charge, overtook Alonso for P7, with Tsunoda being noted for leaving the track and gaining an advantage over Hamilton in Turn 1 on the first lap.

Eventually, Piastri passes Leclerc for P3 at Turn 1, but ends up over three seconds behind Norris, who was running in P2.

Hamilton continued his charge, this time clearing Bortoleto, with Hamilton closing up to the back of Leclerc within the opening stages of the race.

Verstappen was running over 2.6 seconds ahead of Norris, maintaining a comfortable position as the race leader, with Piastri four seconds behind Norris and Leclerc now under pressure from Russell, who had caught up to him.

DRS trains were always going to be an issue around Monza and it didn't take long for Bortoleto to lead eight cars all within a second of each other and all with DRS.

Tsunoda dropped out of Alonso's DRS range, and the DRS effect was immediately apparent, with Antonelli passing him in Turn 1, running in P9.

Verstappen maintained his lead, creating a 5.6s gap between himself and the McLarens. Norris and Gasly both go wide on the exit of the second Lesmo and throw gravel onto the track.

Alonso and Bortoleto both enter the pits at the same time and Alonso takes the advantage with a quicker stop than the others and heads back out onto the track ahead of Bortoleto and Lawson, who was on his second stop of the race.

Leclerc managed to keep three seconds clear of Russell, with Hamilton closing in quickly on the Mercedes driver.

Alonso slows down and something seemed broken on the car, turns out it was the front right suspension that failed on the exit of Ascari, he headed back to the pits to retire the car.

Russell pits as the first of the front-runners, as McLaren discusses with Norris the option of extending and running softs at the end.

With an equal gap of six seconds up front between the first five cars, Albon was up into sixth place and showed good pace on the hard compound tyres.

Leclerc headed into the pits from fourth, wth a quick stop and a new set of hard compound tyres and rejoined the track ahead of Russell.

Verstappen reacts and Red Bull pits the front runner for a set of hard compound tyres, with Norris agreeing to do the opposite of the race leader.

Hamilton pitted on another smooth Ferrari pit stop with a 2.1s stop time, for a set of hard tyres.

Sainz and Bearman collide as Sainz attempted an overtake around the outside of the second chicane, both spinning but continuing to run, much to McLaren's annoyance, with a missed safety car chance.

Albon running in P10, clears Antonelli for P9 at the second chicane, putting him in net seventh, ahead of Ocon and Stroll, who have yet to pit.

Piastri finally pits for a set of soft compound tyres, hoping to run them to the end of the race. McLaren pitted the Australian first to prevent a situation where, if Norris had stopped first and a safety car appeared, he would fall behind the Australian.

Norris pitted after Piastri, but it was an incredibly slow stop with the front left tyre not going on properly and taking 5.9s. The slow stop allows Piastri to get ahead, and he drives off into the distance quickly, making a 1.7s lead over Norris.

Norris pushed hard to try to catch the championship leader before Piastri got the order from the pit wall to let Norris back through. Once he does, McLaren says they are free to race, with Verstappen out in front by 19s, followed by Norris and Piastri.

Verstappen sets the fastest lap time of the race so far on hard compound tyres and easily wins the Italian Grand Prix, followed by Norris in second and Piastri in third.

1) Max Verstappen
2) Lando Norris                +19.207
3) Oscar Piastri                +21.351
4) Charles Leclerc            +25.624
5) George Russell            +32.881
6) Lewis Hamilton            +37.449
7) Alex Albon                    +50.537
8) Gabriel Bortoleto          +58.484
9) Kimi Antonelli               +59.762
10) Isack Hadjar               +63.891
11) Carlos Sainz               +64.469
12) Oliver Bearman          +79.288
13) Yuki Tsunoda              +80.701
14) Liam Lawson              +82.351
15) Esteban Ocon            +1 Lap
​16) Pierre Gasly
17) Franco Colapinto 
18) Lance Stroll
DNF Fernando Alonso
​DNF Nico Hulkenberg

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen wins the Italian Grand Prix. He said: "It was a great day for us, we were flying and that the car for me was really enjoyable and I could manage the pace quite well throughout that first stint.

"We pitted at the right time and the hard tyres at the end you can push a bit more because they are more resilient.

"A fantastic execution by everyone and the whole team, I think the whole weekend we were on it and it’s super enjoyable to win here."

On the start: "I could see that the pace was good but I just needed to settle in, there was quite a lot of fighting going on but I could see the pace was there and quite quickly we were back in the lead."

​On chances to win in the future: "We will try for sure, we will go step by step and race by race, but for us this was an unbelievable weekend."

Written by Anny Wooldridge

Max Verstappen is on pole for the Italian Grand Prix after setting the fastest lap time in Formula 1 history around Monza. He will be lining up with Lando Norris beside him and Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc behind them.

Earlier in the day, Lando Norris topped Free Practice Three, with Charles Leclerc just 0.021 seconds behind him and Oscar Piastri in third.

Top Ten Results
1) Lando Norris           1m 19.331
2) Charles Leclerc             +0.021
3) Oscar Piastri                  +0.165
4) Max Verstappen             +0.167
5) George Russell              +0.184
6) Gabriel Bortoleto            +0.227
7) Lewis Hamilton               +0.267
8) Isack Hadjar                    +0.272
9) Kimi Antonelli                  +0.365
​10) Alex Albon                     +0.389

Lando Norris set the fastest lap time in the final practice session of the weekend, flying around the track and setting a lap time in the 1m 19s.

The session started slowly with it taking over ten minutes for all of the drivers to get out on track, with most just performing installation laps and scrubbing tyres.

For those who set lap times, they did so on the hard compound tyre, with just generally running until swapping to qualifying simulation runs.

Isack Hadjar was the first to go into the garage for a set of soft compound tyres, with the RB driver only managing a lap three-tenths slower than Tsunoda on the hard compound tyres.

Verstappen set a lap time in the top three on the soft compound tyre, with Leclerc slotting in a few tenths clear behind. Leclerc on medium compound tyres had a bit of oversteer through Parabolica.

Hamilton set a lap time worthy of second place on the medium compound tyre, two-tenths slower than Verstappen's benchmark time.

Qualifying run simulations started with 15 minutes to spare, with Norris setting a new benchmark with a lap time of 1m 19.331s. Piastri was in second place. Norris failed to improve with Piastri closing the gap.

Out in Q1
16) Isack Hadjar
17) Lance Stroll
18) Franco Colapinto
19) Pierre Gasly
20) Liam Lawson

Hulkenberg sets the first flying lap time of 1m19.950, with Russell coming in second on the medium compound tyre, followed by Bortoleto and Sainz.

This weekend is special for Lewis Hamilton with his first weekend in Monza with a wild crowd.

No driver wanted to be out in front breaking the air flow, with a slipstream worth an tenth or two around this track.

Sainz had his lap time deleted for track limits at Turn 7, just as the McLarens headed out onto the track with eleven minutes to go. Norris sets the fastest lap time of the session so far with a time of 1m19.611s.

With nine minutes to go, neither Williams car had a time on the board, with Albon having locked up and Sainz succumbing to track limits.

Russell put his Mercedes in the top spot with eight minutes to go on the medium compound tyre.

Sainz finally put a lap time on the board good enough for third, with just 0.865 seconds separating P1 from P20, with seven minutes to go.

Everyone headed into the pits before the last running with Gasly, Antonelli, Colapinto, Ocon and Lawson in the drop zone and Albon and Hadjar on the bubble.

Russell remained in the pits with the rest of the drivers, all out on track on a mixture of new and used soft compound tyres.

Isack Hadjar, Lance Stroll, Franco Colapinto, Pierre Gasly and Liam Lawson were out during the session.

Out In Q2
11) Oliver Bearman
12) Nico Hulkenberg
13) Carlos Sainz
14) Alex Albon
15) Esteban Ocon

The start of Q2 was delayed as gravel was swept off the track. 

When the session started, the Williams drivers were the first out on the track with used soft compound tyres. With ten minutes to go, Verstappen, on new soft tyres, takes the top spot on the leaderboard, with Russell a tenth and a half behind in P2, followed by Leclerc.

Nine minutes were left on the clock, and Norris had yet to set a lap time, as he cut the corner and lost time due to track limits. Piastri pushed and ended up in third place.

Norris was all alone on the track with seven minutes to go, desperately trying to set a lap time, but now has no tow and ends up in P15. With five minutes to go in the session, Norris set a lap time good enough for seventh, keeping him out of the drop zone. However, with less than a second covering P1 and P14, the field was extremely tight.

Verstappen led, followed by Russell and Piastri, with three minutes to go. Meanwhile, Norris found himself sitting in P10 but received a tow from Piastri on his last flying lap and crossed the line in P5.

Ollie Bearman, Nico Hulkenberg, Carlos Sainz, Alex Albon and Esteban Ocon were eliminated in the session.

Starting Top 10
1) Max Verstappen           1m 18.792
2) Lando Norris                1m 18.869
3) Oscar Piastri                 1m 18.982
4) Charles Leclerc             1m 19.007
5) Lewis Hamilton              1m 19.124
6) George Russell              1m 19.157
7) Kimi Antonelli                 1m 19.200
8) Gabriel Bortoleto            1m 19.390
9) Fernando Alonso            1m 19.424
10) Yuki Tsunoda               1m 19.519

Red Bull's Max Verstappen, who will start on pole position at Monza: "I try but I think around here with the low downforce it’s always very difficult to nail the lap, under braking it's very easy to make mistakes.

"Q3 felt good and I'm happy with the laps and to be on pole here for us is also fantastic. The car has been working better the whole weekend and to be able to fight for pole, I'm very happy with that."

On if he thought it was possible: "It was tight, we were still lacking a tiny amount and we made some final changes which I think allowed me to push a bit more and that's exactly what you need in qualifying. For us, it's a great moment."

On the race: "Historically this season the race has always been a little bit more complicated for us, but we are going to give it everything we have.

​"That's the only thing we can do and then we will see what happens tomorrow."

Written by Anny Wooldridge

Free Practice One and Two saw two different drivers top the timesheet, with Lewis Hamilton the fastest in the first session and Lando Norris in the second.

Ferrari made a strong start to their home Grand Prix weekend with a one-two finish in FP1, and Leclerc finished second in FP2.

The sessions were filled with drivers running off track and gravel being spread around.

Top Ten Results
1) Lewis Hamilton          1:20.117
2) Charles Leclerc             +0.169
3) Carlos Sainz                  +0.533
4) Max Verstappen            +0.575
5) Kimi Antonelli                 +0.823
6) Lando Norris                  +0.904
7) Alex Albon                      +0.956
8) George Russell              +0.993
9) Fernando Alonso            +0.997
10) Isack Hadjar                 +1.041

Ferrari put their Zandvoort misery behind them with a great opening session in Monza with a 1-2 finish in Free Practice One.

The hour got underway under bright sunshine with Alex Dunne switching with Oscar Piastri for a rookie session and Paul Aron driving Franco Colapinto's Alpine.

Lando Norris was the first driver to take to the runoff area at the opening chicane, with many drivers struggling to keep their cars under control due to the tailwind into the braking zone.

Norris was the first driver to set a lap time, with a 1m 22.513s lap time, while Alex Albon quickly set a faster time of 1m 21.479s. Albon, running the hard compound tyre, set a quicker lap time with a 1m 21.073s.

Dunne was the first to put on a set of soft compound tyres, but only managed a lap time enough for 15th. Max Verstappen, also running on hard tyres, lowered the benchmark time by less than one-tenth.

Iscak Hadjar went off through Ascari and rejoined the track, but spread gravel across the track, bringing out a red flag.

Leclerc was on a flying lap with the Ferrari driver overtaking a Kick Sauber approaching the chicane when the red flags appeared. The matter was investigated further, but no further action was taken.

Leclerc posted a lap time of 1m 20.286s when the running resumed, with Hamilton quickly surpassing him with a lap time of 1m 20.117s, securing a one-two finish for Ferrari in the session.

Top Ten Results
1) Lando Norris              1:19.878
2) Charles Leclerc            +0.083
3) Carlos Sainz                 +0.096
4) Oscar Piastri                 +0.181
5) Lewis Hamilton             +0.192
6) Max Verstappen            +0.199
7) Alex Albon                     +0.301
8) Nico Hulkenberg           +0.363
9) Yuki Tsunoda                 +0.391
10) George Russell           +0.398

Lando Norris topped Free Practice Two, with the session getting underway at 5pm local time. 

All of the drivers emerged from the garage quickly at the start of the session, with Piastri getting back in his car and Franco Colapinto taking to the track for the first time this weekend.

Piastri had a cracked mirror but posted a 1m 21.212s lap time in the opening minutes. Norris completely lost one of his mirrors but was still able to lower the benchmark to a 1m 21.012s lap time both on medium compound tyres.

Pierre Gasly went too deep into the Ascari chicane, running through the gravel and scattering stones everywhere on the track. Antonelli lost control of his car through Lesmo 2, beaching it at the exit and brining out the red flag.

During the red flag McLaren were able to fix their mirrors.

Changes happened all the time at the top of the timesheet with drivers running a mix between medium and hard compound tyres. Piastri and Bortoleto clattered on the kerbs at the exit of Lesmo 1, with Albon having a mid-corner snap through Lesmo 1.

At the halfway spot, the switch was made to soft compound tyres, with Norris setting a 1m 19.878s lap time. He abandoned his first lap but set the time on his second.

Leclerc and Verstappen also experienced troubles with the soft compound tyres, going off track, and Verstappen reported that he had no grip and that his car was really jumpy.

At the end of the session, drivers focused on longer runs with Leclerc making improvements and Sainz slotting into third.

Written by Anny Wooldridge