Max Verstappen won the Qatar Grand Prix, with Charles Leclerc second and Oscar Piastri third. The race was filled with penalties and three safety cars.

Lando Norris received a ten-second stop/go penalty for failing to slow under double yellow flags, George Russell received a five-second penalty for a safety car infringement, Lewis Hamilton received a five-second penalty for a false start and a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

Perez, Colapinto, Stroll, Hulkenberg and Ocon all retired from the race.

Alex Albon's wing mirror fell off his car and Valtteri Bottas ran it over after they failed to bring out a safety car to retrieve it. Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz both ran over the debris and got punctures.

The constructors' championship battle continues in Abu Dhabi, with Ferrari and McLaren separated by 21 points. Red Bull is officially out of the fight and will finish in third place.

George Russell started on pole for the Qatar Grand Prix, inheriting the position from Max Verstappen, who received a one-place grid penalty for impeding in Qualifying. 

​All drivers started on the medium compound tyre except Nico Hulkenberg, who started on the hard tyre.

George Russell lost the lead before Turn 1 to Max Verstappen, with Lando Norris also overtaking George Russell into Turn 1.

Franco Colapinto and Esteban Ocon collided at Turn 1 and were both out of the race, bringing out a safety car at the end of lap one. Nico Hulkenberg also got a puncture but made it back into the pits after he lost the rear of the car and took out both Colapinto and Ocon. This incident was noted but no further investigation was given.

Alex Albon also got caught up with Lance Stroll at Turn 1 but spun and managed to get back on track.

Piastri dropped from fourth to fifth, Perez moved up to seventh, and Hamilton dropped from sixth to ninth.

The safety car came in at the end of lap four.

Max Verstappen retained the lead at the safety car restart, with Lando Norris and George Russell sticking with him.

Piastri overtook Leclerc at Turn 1 on the safety car restart on lap five, but Liam Lawson and Valtteri Bottas collided, and Liam went backwards exiting Turn 1 but rejoined the track in 18th, as did Bottas.

​Magnussen and Gasly overtook Alonso on lap six.

On lap seven, Max Verstappen managed to pull 1.5s away from Lando Norris, who was in second. Piastri was gaining on Russell, closing up to within DRS range.

Lance Stroll pitted on lap eight to serve his ten-second time penalty for causing a collision with Alex Albon. Lance Stroll then pitted to retire the car on lap ten.

Alonso was noted for rejoining the track unsafely after going wide but was ruled no further investigation. Just as Hamilton was noted for a false start and later received a five-second time penalty, going slightly before the lights went out.

Magnussen and Tsunoda go wheel to wheel for ninth with Magnussen getting ahead and Tsunoda immediately under pressure from Gasly on lap 11.

Liam Lawson received a ten-second penalty for causing a collision with Valtteri Bottas.

Magnussen, Tsunoda, Gasly, and Alonso were battling on track for highly coveted constructors championship points and places. Gasly got past Tsunoda on the outside for tenth.

Lando Norris chased down Verstappen to within 1.8s, setting the fastest laps. Just as Alonso also got ahead of Tsuonda for 11th, but not for long as Zhou got past Tsunoda on lap 15, who moved to 13th.

​Max Verstappen led the Grand Prix by 1.8s from Lando Norris, with George Russell a further three seconds behind him, but George was under threat with Piastri within DRS range in fourth place, but Piastri fell back after losing the rear at the final corner and going wide.

Charles Leclerc was running in fifth, Sainz in sixth, Perez in seventh, Hamilton in eighth, Magnussen in ninth and Gasly in tenth.

Valtteri Bottas went wide slightly into the gravel on lap 21, all on his own, running in 13th.

George Russell dropped to six seconds behind Lando Norris, with Piastri moving back into DRS range of Russell on lap 23, with Leclerc closing the gap behind them.

George Russell was the first to pit onto hard tyres on lap 24 from fourth. He had a very slow seven-second stop and rejoined the track in 11th, costing him three places on the track in the process.

Piastri moved up into third eight seconds behind Lando Norris in second.

Bottas was the next to pit on lap 25 onto hard tyres and came back out 18 seconds behind Lawson in 17th.

​Lando Norris moved to within 1.5 seconds behind Verstappen, setting another fastest lap. On lap 27, Piastri was 10.2 seconds behind the two front runners.

After pitting, George Russell struggled on the hard tyres, held up by Alonso. This gave the other teams valuable data for the hard tyre compound, which wasn't an advantage, with no other top runners pitting so far on lap 29. Lewis Hamilton was also struggling with his Mercedes.

Alex Albon's wing mirror fell off his car and was on the track on the start and finish straight, with teams hoping for a safety car to clear it. Valtteri Bottas hit the wing mirror on lap 34 before they had a chance to remove it.

​Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz both got punctures from hitting the mirror debris on the start/finish straight. Oscar Piastri pitted to get off the main straight. Lewis Hamilton moved down into sixteenth place, with Sainz rejoining the track in 10th.

Finally, a safety car was deployed on lap 36, allowing Verstappen, Norris, Leclerc, and Perez to pit under the safety car. George Russell pitted again for a second set of hard tyres and rejoined the track in seventh, but he complained that he wanted medium tyres.

Alonso, Gasly and Zhou also pit behind the safety car, with Alonso changing on another set of mediums.

The safety car went through the pit lane, as Verstappen led the Qatar Grand Prix behind the safety car, followed by Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc, Oscar Piastri, Sergio Perez, Pierre Gasly, George Russell, Carlos Sainz, Zhou Guanyu, Fernando Alonso, Kevin Magnussen, Yuki Tsunoda, Alex Albon, Nico Hulkenberg, Liam Lawson, Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas in 17th.

Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas were allowed to un-lap themselves on lap 38. Alex Albon gambled and put on a set of soft tyres for the race restart.

​Sergio Perez lost drive and spun before the safety car restart, having to retire the car.

The safety car ended on lap 40, with Verstappen and Norris going wheel to wheel on Turn 1, but Verstappen managed to hold onto the lead.

A virtual safety car was deployed on lap 40 then another full safety car, to collect Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg who ended up in the gravel on his own.

Lando Norris was investigated for failing to slow under double yellow flags and received a ten-second stop/go penalty.

The safety car ended on lap 43, with the pack closed up, but this time, Verstappen got going as Lando Norris went to the inside to try to defend his position against Leclerc.

​After the safety car restart on lap 43, Verstappen led the race, followed by Norris 0.7s behind him, with Leclerc, Piastri, Russell, Gasly, Sainz, Alonso, Zhou, Albon, Magnussen, Bottas, Tsuonda, Hamilton, and Lawson.

Hulkenberg, Perez, Stroll, Ocon and Colapinto were all out of the race.

Lando Norris headed into the pit lane from second on lap 46 to serve his stop/go penalty and rejoined the track in 15th and last in the race.

Moving Leclerc into second place, Piastri in third and Russell in fourth.

Lewis Hamilton also received a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane. He served his penalty and rejoined the track in 15th behind Lando Norris. Lewis said on the radio that he wanted to park the car.

Further back, Gasly was fifth, Sainz sixth, Alonso seventh, Zhou eighth, Albon ninth, and Magnussen tenth. Albon, Tsunoda, and Lawson were running on soft tyres.

On lap 51, Lando Norris overtook Liam Lawson as he fought his way through the field, lapping three seconds faster than the cars around him. Norris overtook Tsunoda on the start/finish straight.

Bottas and Albon battled for tenth place and the last points position with five laps to go. Further ahead, Sainz and Gasly battled for fifth place.

Bottas overtook Albon on lap 53, but Norris was right behind them and overtook Albon for 11th. As Albon received a ten-second penalty for causing a collision.

Norris overtook Bottas on lap 54 for tenth place, with Zhou running in eighth position and on track for his first points of the season.

Max Verstappen had the lead over Charles Leclerc by six seconds, with Piastri behind him and Russell in fourth.

Albon pitted on lap 56 as Hamilton moved into 12th place. George Russell received a five-second time penalty for a safety car infringement but stayed in fourth.

Max Verstappen wins the Qatar Grand Prix with Charles Leclerc in second and Oscar Piastri in third - the constructors' championship heads to Abu Dhabi between McLaren and Ferrari.

1) Max Verstappen
2) Charles Leclerc     +6.031
3) Oscar Piastri          +6.819
4) George Russell      +14.104
5) Pierre Gasly           +16.782
6) Carlos Sainz          +17.476
7) Fernando Alonso   +19.867
8) Zhou Guanyu         +25.360
9) Kevin Magnussen. +32.177
10) Lando Norris        +35.762
11) Valtteri Bottas       +50.243
12) Lewis Hamilton    +56.122
13) Yuki Tsunoda       +61.100
14) Liam Lawson       +62.656
15) Alex Albon            +1 Lap
DNF Nico Hulkenberg
DNF Sergio Perez
DNF Lance Stroll
​DNF Franco Colapinto
​DNF Esteban Ocon

Max Verstappen wins the Qatar Grand Prix for the second year running in the Red Bull, he said: “It was a very good race, yesterday in qualifying the car was a lot better and today, that first stint was very, very fast, Lando [Norris] and I doing 1.8seconds of each other the whole time and pushing each other, it was honestly a lot of fun out there.

“This track has a lot of grip and this year the tyres were really holding on so that was a lot of fun to really be pushing the tyre and we went really long in that first stint, after that there were a lot of safety car moments that you had to take car.

“I’m very happy it’s been a long while in the drive and to be this competitive and I’m very proud of everyone in the team to turn it around within a day so they definitely deserve this victory.” On the safety cars: “On the hard tyres there’s very little grip, you just come out of the box and it was already called and immediately we had the safety car and behind the safety car you can’t warm them up.

​“I tried something different out of the last corner where I had no rear grip basically so I just struggled for traction out of the corner and it got a bit spicy into Turn One, but I think that’s great to see and after that we drove it until the end with good pace, so I’m happy to win here.”

​On the potential performance of the last race: “It’s difficult to say, the last three years we’ve always been quite competitive there [Abu Dhabi] so I hope we can be competitive there again but we will pay attention to detail to try and optimise the car and hopefully we can fight for a win there again.”

Anny Wooldridge
​Writer at F1 Journal

George Russell inherited Pole Position for the Qatar Grand Prix, after Max Verstappen received a one-place grid penalty for driving unnecessarily slow on his cool-down lap in qualifying. Max will line up second on the grid with Lando Norris in third.
​
Oscar Piastri will start fourth after his Sprint race win, followed by Leclerc, Hamilton, Sainz, Alonso, Perez, and Magnussen, rounding out the top ten.

Earlier, Oscar Piastri won the Qatar Sprint race, followed by Lando Norris in second place and George Russell in third.

Drivers Championship winner Max Verstappen finished the Sprint race in 8th position. In a race that saw McLaren play the team game, Lando Norris kept Oscar Piastri in DRS range for the whole 19 laps to keep George Russell behind them both.

Lando Norris started on pole for the Qatar Sprint race, while further back, Franco Colapinto and Sergio Perez both started from the pit lane after setup changes during Parc Ferme.

​The Sprint race was 19 laps with no mandatory pit stops and eight points up for grabs. All the drivers started on the medium compound tyres except Zhou who started on soft tyres.

Lando Norris retained the lead into Turn 1 as Oscar Piastri overtook George Russell at the race start. Lewis Hamilton managed to overtake Charles Leclerc.

Further behind, Max Verstappen dropped back to ninth, and Liam Lawson dropped back from 10th to 16th.

Franco Colapinto overtook Sergio Perez out of the pit lane at the race start after Sergio had a slow start out of the pit lane, in which it seemed he failed to react to the green light.

By lap two, Lando Norris had pulled ahead of his teammate by 1.2s, with George Russell in third, Carlos Sainz in fourth and Lewis Hamilton in fifth.

George Russell closed down and tried to go down the inside of Oscar Piastri in Turn 1, but Piastri retained second place. George Russell stayed with Oscar Piastri, and Lando Norris slowed down to help Piastri stay ahead, giving him DRS.

​Behind the top three, Carlos Sainz was under threat from Lewis Hamilton, who had DRS behind him with 2.5s covering the top five.

Further behind, Verstappen was within DRS range of Pierre Gasly for eight place, but Verstappen managed to overtake Pierre Gasly into Turn 1 on lap eight.

​Zhou on soft tyres was running 3.5s slower than the rest of the field running in 20th and had to pit on lap 11 for medium tyres.

With ten laps to go, the top four were stuck in a DRS train. Hamilton was not that far behind the top four, and Charles Leclerc was within the DRS range of Hamilton in sixth.

Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton go wheel to wheel for a number of corners, but Leclerc managed to get past Hamilton after finding a way through after some great racing from the both of them.

Piastri found himself under pressure from Russell after losing DRS from Norris, with Sainz closing in on the back of the both of them.

Lando Norris continued to help Oscar with five laps to go but Norris complained about his front tyres.

Sergio Perez pitted on lap 15 to change his front wing and play with his setup in preparation for tomorrow's race after failing to overtake a single car in the race. His teammate Verstappen struggled to close the 1.6-second gap to Hulkenberg in seventh place.

On the final corner, Lando Norris pulled to the inside and slowed out of the final corner, allowing Oscar Piastri to win the Qatar Sprint race by 0.136 seconds as he came past.

Top Eight Finishers
1) Oscar Piastri 
2) Lando Norris           +0.136
3) George Russell       +0.410
4) Carlos Sainz           +1.326
5) Charles Leclerc       +5.073
6) Lewis Hamilton        +5.650
7) Nico Hulkenberg      +8.508
8) Max Verstappen      +10.368

Out In Q1
16) Alex Albon
17) Liam Lawson
18) Nico Hulkenberg
19) Franco Colapinto
20) Esteban Ocon

George Russell was first out on track on a set of medium tyres, scrubbing them for tomorrow's race before changing to soft tyres.

The drivers quickly headed out onto the track in the first qualifying session.

Stroll and Alonso set the fastest laps of the session, followed by Bottas, Colapinto, and Zhou with 13 minutes left in the session, as other drivers had yet to set lap times.

Colapinto, Albon and Magnussen all have track times deleted for track limits as Verstappen sets a lap time of 1m 21.713s, followed by Norris 0.3s behind.

With ten minutes to go, Zhou, Lawson, Colapinto, Gasly, and Ocon were in the bottom five, with George Russell topping the timesheets ahead of Lando Norris by 0.059s.

​Oscar took a little dip into the gravel with one of his tyres, as the times were so close at the bottom of the timesheet.

Norris's lap time was deleted for track limits, but he had the fourth fastest time, so he was safely through to Q2.

George Russell tops the timesheet with a 1m 21.241, with Alex Albon, Liam Lawson, Nico Hulkenberg, Franco Colapinto and Esteban Ocon were out of qualifying.

Out in Q2
11) Pierre Gasly
12) Zhou Guanyu
13) Valtteri Bottas
14) Yuki Tsunoda
15) Lance Stroll

The drivers lined up at the end of the pit lane for Q2, eager to get out on track and avoid traffic.

​George Russell was the first driver to set a lap time in Q2, with a time of 1m 21.161, one-tenth faster than his time from Q1. Piastri went into second place, followed by Leclerc, Sainz, and Hamilton - the only drivers to set a lap time with over 11 minutes to go.

With ten minutes to go, Magnussen, Gasly, Alonso, Stroll, and Tsunoda were in the bottom five, with Verstappen at the top with a lap time of 1m 21.085.

Perez took a trip into the gravel on a flying lap and remained in fifth place.

Sainz was noted and investigated after the session for an unsafe release too close to Hamilton in the pit lane.

With five minutes to go, Bottas, Zhou, Tsunoda, Stroll, and Alonso were in the bottom five. Alonso had no lap time set, as Verstappen went fastest with a 1m 21.049 lap time.

Verstappen goes quickest in Q2 with a 1m 20.687, with Gasly, Zhou, Bottas, Tsunoda and Stroll out in Q2.

Starting Top 10
1) Max Verstappen     1m 20.520
2) George Russell        +0.055
3) Lando Norris            +0.252
4) Oscar Piastri            +0.309
5) Charles Leclerc        +0.332
6) Lewis Hamilton        +0.491
7) Carlos Sainz            +0.521
8) Fernando Alonso     +0.731
9) Sergio Perez            +0.905
10) Kevin Magnussen  +0.980

Red Bull found some pace from the Sprint race, with both Verstappen and Perez making it into Q3.

All drivers except Verstappen and Norris were out at the start of the session.
Perez, Alonso, and Magnussen only had one set of new tyres available for the session, but they were all out on used tyres at the start of the session.

Magnussen was the first to set a lap time on a set of used soft tyres. Alonso's first lap time, which was third on the timesheet, was deleted for track limits.

George Russell set a lap time of 1m 20.575 to top the timesheet, with Norris heading slightly into the gravel on his first flying lap.

With five minutes to go, Verstappen goes second fastest behind George Russell, with Leclerc in third place.

Norris had yet to set a lap time with just over three minutes to go in the session.

Carlos Sainz was the first to cross the line with the checkered flag but only managed fourth. Leclerc went fifth, Lando Norris only managed third, and Verstappen went fastest with a lap time of 1m 20.520.

An incident between Max Verstappen and George Russell was investigated after the race and Max received a one-place grid penalty for driving too slowly around the track, giving pole position to George Russell.

Anny Wooldridge
​Writer at F1 Journal

Lando Norris will start on Pole for tomorrow's Sprint race, followed by George Russell in P2 and Oscar Piastri in P3.

Sainz will start the Sprint race in fourth, followed by Leclerc, Verstappen, Hamilton, Gasly, Hulkenberg and Lawson rounding out the top ten.

Sergio Perez and Tsunoda failed to make it out of SQ1. Aston Martins, Valtteri Bottas, and Alex Albon also failed to make it through to SQ3.

Charles Leclerc topped the only Free Practice of the weekend in an uneventful Free Practice One session.

Top 10 Results
1) Charles Leclerc           1m 21.953
2) Lando Norris                 +0.425
3) Oscar Piastri                 +0.472
4) Carlos Sainz                 +0.582
5) Yuki Tsunoda                +1.091
6) Valtteri Bottas               +1.111
7) Lance Stroll                   +1.146
8) George Russell             +1.207
9) Alex Albon                     +1.208
10) Lewis Hamilton           +1.235

With the Qatar Grand Prix being a Sprint weekend, Free Practice One is the only practice session of the weekend.

The temperature and track temperature were much cooler than last year's hot and humid race.

The session started with most drivers on track, making the most of the limited running time during the weekend. The drivers took to the track on a mixture of hard and medium tyre compounds.

A third of the way into the session, Charles Leclerc set a time of 1m 23.702s on a set of hard tyres, putting him a couple of tenths clear of Max Verstappen, Pierre Gasly, Lando Norris, Carlos Sainz and George Russell.

A few runs later, Lando Norris was on a very fast lap on a set of medium tyres but had an unfortunate slide into Turn 10, and Piastri also had a moment at Turn 15.

With ten minutes to go, the drivers headed out on the soft compound tyres, with all changes at the top of the leaderboard. However, Leclerc remained at the top with a 1m 21.953s lap, ahead of Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, Carlos Sainz, Yuki Tsunoda, Valtteri Bottas, Lance Stroll, George Russell, Alex Albon, and Lewis Hamilton, rounding out the top ten.

Out In SQ1
16) Sergio Perez
17) Yuki Tsunoda
18) Esteban Ocon
19) Zhou Guanyu
20) Franco Colapinto

The Ferrari, Haas, Williams, Alpine, Verstappen and Sauber drivers were first out on track for SQ1. All the drivers were running medium tyre compounds as required for the first session.

Norris set his first lap time and went immediately to the top of the timesheet with a lap time of 1m 22.785, followed by George Russell, Kevin Magnussen and Valtteri Bottas.

With five minutes to go Ocon, Albon, Perez, Colapinto and Lawson were in the bottom three.

Leclerc, Sainz and Verstappen were in the top three with three and half minutes to go, but with two minutes to go it was all change at the top and the bottom.

Lando Norris tops the timesheets for SQ1, followed by Sainz and Russell.​ Sergio Perez, Yuki Tsunoda, Esteban Ocon, Zhou Guanyu and Franco Colapinto were knocked out in SQ1.

Out In SQ2
11) Fernando Alonso
12) Alex Albon
13) Valtteri Bottas
14) Lance Stroll
15) Kevin Magnussen

Both Haas, McLaren, Aston Martin and RB drivers Lawson and Alex Albon were all out on the track at the very start of SQ2, running once again on medium tyres.

Verstappen set an early fastest lap time with a time of 1m 22.188s, but it was quickly beaten by Charles Leclerc by 0.058s.

With five minutes to go, George Russell, Lewis Hamilton, Kevin Magnussen, and Valtteri Bottas had yet to set a lap time and were in the bottom five, along with Liam Lawson.

George Russell heads to the top of the timesheet with a 1m 21.488 as Oscar Piastri gets a lap time deleted for track limits. Lando Norris takes the lead with a lap time of 1m 21.231 with two minutes to go in SQ2.

With less than two minutes to go, Alonso, Stroll, Bottas, Piastri, and Magnussen were in the bottom five.

​Lando Norris tops the timesheets for the second session in a row, followed by Russell and Piastri. Alonso, Albon, Bottas, Stroll and Magnussen get knocked out in SQ2.

Sprint Race Starting Top 10
1) Lando Norris      1m 21.012
2) George Russell    +0.063
3) Oscar Piastri        +0.159
4) Carlos Sainz        +0.269
5) Charles Leclerc    +0.296
6) Max Verstappen    +0.303
7) Lewis Hamilton     +0.462
8) Pierre Gasly          +0.966
9) Nico Hulkenberg   +1.076
10) Liam Lawson      +1.565

With a mix of drivers opting to stay in the garage and heading out onto the track at the start of the session, with Russell, Hamilton, Verstappen, Sainz, Leclerc, Gasly and Lawson heading out onto the track first.

Leclerc was the first to set a lapt time with a time of 1m 21.705s, followed by Gasly, Lawson, Hamilton, Russell, Verstappen and Sainz.

The ten drivers were all out on track for the whole session, with just quick pit stops of wing adjustments or to make space on track.

Lando Norris aborts his final lap heading into the pits but he was on provisional pole at the time.

Lando Norris take Pole Position for the Qatar Sprint race, followed by George Russell, Oscar Piastri, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.

McLaren's Lando Norris, who secured sprint pole said: "It is tough here because it is so quick. It feels like the quickest circuit of the year. The final sector feels like you are hanging on.

"But great qualifying today, especially to bounce back from where we were in Vegas.

"We came here to get pole and we got that so job done for today."

Anny Wooldridge
​Writer at F1 Journal

The Qatar Grand Prix is back for its third Grand Prix, this time as the penultimate race of the season, moved until the end of November/December to reduce the temperature for the drivers on track after last year's race.

Max Verstappen won his fourth consecutive Drivers World Championship last weekend in Las Vegas after having won the title in the Qatar Sprint race last year.

With the Drivers Championship title sealed this weekend is all about the Constructions Championship title, with Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari all in the battle for the top three places.

The Qatar Grand Prix is holding the last Sprint race of the season, with even more points up for grabs than usual.

F2 and F1 Academy are also both racing at Lusail this weekend. 

Friday
F1 Academy
Free Practice One     10:00 (GMT)
Free Practice Two     15:00 (GMT)
​
F2 
Free Practice              11:05 (GMT)
Qualifying                   16:10 (GMT)

F1
Free Practice One       13:30 (GMT)
Sprint Qualifying          17:30 (GMT)

Saturday
F1 Academy
Qualifying                   12:20 (GMT)
Race One                   20:05 (GMT)

F2
Sprint Race                16:20 (GMT)

F1
Sprint Race                 14:00 (GMT)
Qualifying                    18:00 (GMT)

Sunday
F1 Academy
Race Two                    11:00 (GMT)

F2
Feature Race              12:20 (GMT)  

F1
Race                           16:00 ​(GMT)

2021
Qualifying - 
                 1 HAM 1.20.827
                 2 VER 1.21.424
                 3 BOT 1.21.478
Race Result - 
                    1 HAM (2 stop)
                    2 VER (3 stop)
                    3 ALO (1 stop)
Fastest Lap - 1.23.196  Verstappen Lap 57   
     
2023
Qualifying -
                  1 VER 1.23.778
                  2 RUS 1.24.219
                  3 HAM 1.24.305
Race -
                 1 VER (3 stop)
                 2 PIA (3 stop)
                 3 NOR (3 stop) 
Fastest Lap - 1.24.319 Verstappen Lap 56

Anny Wooldridge
Writer at F1 Journal

Charles Leclerc won the United States Grand Prix after taking the lead at Turn 1 on the first lap. Carlos Sainz finished second in a dominating race for Ferrari.

Lewis Hamilton only managed two laps after getting stuck in the gravel having to retire his car, bringing out the safety car.

Max Verstappen and Lando Norris battled for the last fifteen laps, resulting in Verstappen finishing in third after Lando Norris received a five-second time penalty.

​George Russell started in the pit lane and finished in sixth, in front of Sergio Perez, who could only manage seventh place.

Liam Lawson and Franco Colapinto finished in the points, with Franco almost taking the fastest lap of the race until Alpine pitted Esteban Ocon for soft tyres to take it away from them at the end.

Lando Norris started on Pole Position for the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.

​The top 12 on the grid started on brand-new medium tyres, with Hamilton, Stroll, Lawson, Russell, and Colapinto, all starting on hard tyres.

​Lando Norris tried to hold off Verstappen into the first corner but left too much room, and Leclerc breezed past and took the lead of the Grand Prix coming out of the first corner.

Verstappen and Sainz both passed Norris on the first lap, with Hamilton going from P17 into P12 on the first lap after Ocon got spun around by Albon into the first corner, opening up space for cars to get past and leaving Ocon at the back of the grid.

Lawson also gained five places at the race start and moved into P14. Hamilton's fast pace running didn't last long, however, after a mistake on lap three brought out the yellow flag. He ended up in the gravel at Turn 19, and a full safety car was brought out on lap three as Hamilton climbed out of his race car.

On lap five, Leclerc led the Grand Prix, followed by Verstappen, Sainz, Norris, Piastri, Gasly, Magnussen, Tsunoda, Perez, and Alonso, who rounded out the top ten.

The safety car ended on lap five. All the drivers had bunched up, as Leclerc had the lead and stayed in the lead into lap six during the safety car restart.

Stroll had a moment in the dirt on lap six and dropped back to 19th place but overtook Albon for 18th. Then was noted for leaving the track and gaining an advantage over Albon, but resulted in no further investigation.

Leclerc pulled away from Verstappen with a gap of 1.302 seconds by lap seven. Sainz was still within DRS range of Verstappen, but Norris had fallen back, giving the top three space.

Sainz complained of no power out of the corners with a smell of fuel on lap nine and drops back from Verstappen as Norris gains on him. Ferrari gave him different settings to try and he solved the issue.

On lap ten, Zhou took a spin on the track and ended up rejoining the back of the pack complaining about no grip.

Lawson had moved up to 12th after starting at the back, and Russell, who started in the pit lane, had reached 15th. On lap eleven, Lawson overtook Alonso to move up to 11th.

By lap 13, Leclerc had gained a gap of over five seconds from Verstappen, who was second, with Sainz a further 1.8 seconds behind.

On lap 13, Norris complained on the radio about the pace of his car, as he was over three seconds behind Sainz.

Zhou was the first to pit onto medium tyres on lap 14, as Verstappen received a radio message saying there was an issue with the car that they would fix at the pit stop.

Russell was under investigation after forcing Bottas off the track. He received a five-second time penalty for the incident, to which Russell responded, 'What?!' after being told about it over the radio.

​Bottas was the second driver to pit on lap 16 onto hard tyres. On lap 17, Perez overtook Tsunoda for P8, but Lawson was only five seconds behind him after starting in the pit lane.

Magnussen pitted for hard tyres on lap 18, starting a chain reaction and rejoined the track in 17th place. Tsunoda and Gasly pitted on lap 19 and rejoined the track in 16th and 17th, but more importantly, behind Magnussen, who took advantage of the undercut.

Out in front, Leclerc built an eight-second gap to Verstappen after Verstappen complained about his tyres on lap 20.

Sainz tried the undercut on Verstappen on lap 22, pits for hard tyres, and rejoins the track in fifth. Leclerc had built a nine-second gap out in front as the pit stops got underway.

Albon was noted for forcing Magnussen off the track, but it was ruled no further investigation.

On lap 26, Norris closed the gap to Verstappen, but Verstappen headed into the pits and rejoined behind Sainz in fifth.

Leclerc pitted from the lead of the Grand Prix on lap 27, changing onto hard tyres, and came back onto the track in front of Sainz in net first or third place on the track. Neither Norris nor Piastri had pitted, as Norris led the Grand Prix on lap 27.

Further behind Gasly, Albon and Stroll battled for 13th place, as Gasly complained about his hard tyres. Gasly was noted, investigated and given a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

Hulkenberg and Stroll pitted on lap 28 and returned to the track in 12th and 19th place, respectively. Perez also pitted and rejoined the track in ninth.

Gasly received a black and white flag for track limits on lap 30, and Norris received a warning.

On lap 30, Norris and Piastri had yet to pit and were trying to make a one-stop work, just as Leclerc got within DRS range of Piastri battling for second place, as the Ferrari had gained pace behind. As Leclerc passed Piastri and Norris pitted, Leclerc once again took the lead of the Grand Prix, with Norris rejoining the track in fifth.

Piastri pitted with a slow stop on lap 32, with Russell running sixth, Lawson seventh, and Colapinto eighth. They had yet to pit.

On lap 35, Leclerc was leading with over seven seconds on Sainz, with Verstappen a further four seconds behind Sainz in third and Norris within DRS range of Verstappen in fourth. Piastri was running in fifth, seven seconds behind Norris, followed by Russell, Lawson, Colapinto, Perez and Magnussen rounding out the top ten.

Tsunoda received a five-second penalty for forcing Albon off track. Meanwhile, Perez is still behind Colapinto and unable to pass for the eighth position.

Lawson pitted from seventh on lap 37 onto medium tyres and rejoined the track ahead of Tsunoda in 12th with a five-second penalty.

Perez finally managed to overtake Colapinto on lap 38 after trying for a long time to pass him. Both Perez and Verstappen complained about their hard tyres, with Norris quickly gaining on Verstappen.

Magnussen was called dramatically to the pit lane on lap 39 and returned onto the track on medium tyres in 13th place. Lawson had already overtaken Gasly and was up into tenth place, just as Leclerc drove the fastest lap of the race.

​Colapinto pitted on lap 40 and returned to the track in 12th place. Russell pitted and served his five-second time penalty on lap 41, returning onto the track in eighth place on medium tyres.

Tsunoda spun on lap 42, while further ahead, Magnussen and Colapinto had a great battle on track for P11.

With 15 laps to go, Norris had closed up to the back of Verstappen, closing the gap to within 1.5 seconds.

Russell set the fastest lap on lap 44 from eighth as Sainz gained on the back of Leclerc, and Norris got within DRS range of Verstappen for third place. Norris was all over Verstappen's car, staying within DRS range for multiple laps in a row.

After starting in the pit lane, Russell moved up to seventh on lap 46, chasing down Perez for sixth. With ten laps to go, Perez was over 29 seconds behind Piastri.

With ten laps to go, Sainz was within five seconds of Leclerc as Norris and Verstappen continued to battle for third place.

Colapinto took the fastest lap from tenth position on lap 48, with Russell closing up onto the back of Perez, closing the gap to just over two seconds.

With five laps to go, Verstappen and Norris still battled for third, with Norris having the tyre advantage. After almost ten laps, Norris overtook Verstappen for third place on lap 53. With the fight continuing, Verstappen complained about Norris overtaking off track, and Norris was under investigation for overtaking off track and gaining an advantage.

Russell reached the DRS range of Perez on lap 55 and overtook him for sixth place on the final lap.

On lap 55, Ocon took the fastest lap away from Colapinto after pitting for soft tyres.

Norris received his third strike for track limits and received a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage over Verstappen.

Charles Leclerc wins the United States Grand Prix, with Carlos Sainz finishing in second, and Verstappen takes third after Norris received a five-second penalty.

1) Charles Leclerc                  
2) Carlos Sainz             +8.562
3) Max Verstappen       +19.412
4) Lando Norris             +20.354
5) Oscar Piastri             +21.921
6) George Russell        +56.295
7) Sergio Perez            +59.072
8) Nico Hulkenberg      +62.957
9) Liam Lawson            +70.563
10) Franco Colapinto    +71.979
11) Kevin Magnussen   +79.782
12) Pierre Gasly           +90.558
13) Fernando Alonso    +1 Lap
14) Yuki Tsunoda   
15) Lance Stroll
16) Alex Albon
17) Valtteri Bottas
18) Esteban Ocon
19) Zhou Guanyu
​DNF Lewis Hamilton

Charles Leclerc, who takes his third victory of the season in the Ferrari" “Very happy, it hasn’t been an easy weekend until now I have been struggling with the feeling in the car but I had the confidence in the race and the feeling was better.

“We said in the sprint race we weren’t scared but we felt that the others will improve but today we still had the upper hand so really happy with how it went today, a one-two for the team, we couldn’t have dreamed for better.”

On Turn One at the start of the race: “It was a pretty good Turn One, that is exactly how I wanted to do, we had a good launch and I knew it would be tight. Yesterday I was a bit of a victim being in the wrong place at the wrong time, today I gained from it and that helped a lot in our first stint because we had a lot of mega pace.

“In the second stint it was all about managing behind but we did a great job, the pace of the car this weekend was really good and that’s thanks to the engineers. They’ve been working like crazy to bring the upgrades that we had in Singapore and it seems to be paying off. Everything worked out well and we are really really happy.”

​On it being 18 years since Ferrari have had a one-two in the US: “Very happy and now we are still targeting the title, it’s still a long way to go but it’s a good start to this triple header.”

Anny Wooldridge
​Writer at F1 Journal

Max Verstappen won his first race since Austria in the US Grand Prix Sprint Race on Saturday, with Carlos Sainz finishing behind him and Lando Norris in third place.

Lando Norris is on pole for the United States Grand Prix after George Russell hits the barrier at Turn 19, disrupting the final few seconds of the Q3. Max Verstappen will start the Grand Prix in P2 with Carlos Sainz in P3.

Hamilton gets knocked out in Q1 and will start the race from P18 after qualifying in P19, but Liam Lawson takes a grid penalty for a new power unit and various other components.

Alex Albon started the Sprint Race from the pit lane after changing his car set during parc fermé. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen started on pole, with George Russell in P2, Charles Leclerc in P3, and Lando Norris in P4.

The Sprint Race had just 19 laps. It was all racing with no mandatory pit stops. The majority of the teams started on used medium tyres, with Tsunoda, Piastri, Ocon, Albon, and Zhou on new medium tyres.

Max Verstappen starts on pole and manages to hold the lead into Turn 1. Behind him, Lando Norris made up two places, overtaking Russell and Leclerc on the first lap. Leclerc and Russell battled through the first lap over P3 while Verstappen and Norris broke away from the rest of the pack.

Hulkenberg lost three places on the first lap, moving into P9. Leclerc and Sainz battled it out for P4, switching back and forth during laps two and three. Only 3.1 seconds covered the top five.

After five laps, Russell was already on Norris's back; he gained extremely quickly as Norris dropped out of the DRS range of Verstappen. The Ferraris continued to have a thrilling fight for P4 but gained on the back of Russell, just as Verstappen put over two seconds between him and Norris behind.

By lap seven, Piastri was up into P12 but was noted for forcing Gasly off the track and was given a five-second penalty. Magnussen and Hulkenberg were running in P7 and P8 on lap eight, both in the points.

Sainz moves into the top three after overtaking Russell with ten laps to go. Russell is also under pressure from Leclerc in the other Ferrari. Russell seemed to be in trouble with his tyres, saying his tyres were toast as Leclerc passed Russell.

Norris gained on Verstappen, closing the gap to 1.365 seconds with nine laps to go after Verstappen struggled with his tyres, but Verstappen held on and pulled away from Norris once again.

Perez and Tsunoda battled for ninth place on lap 13, and then Piastri joined them after overtaking Colapinto and proceeded to go wheel to wheel with Tsunoda. Tsunoda was noted for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, but no further action was given. It didn't matter, as Piastri moved into tenth position anyway on lap 16.

Both Mercedes were in P5 and P6 after their tyres were cooked for the second half of the race.

With two laps to go, Norris was under pressure from both Sainz and Leclerc, who were in DRS range for a three-way battle for P2. But Norris locked up into Turn 1, and Sainz passed him for P2, but he stayed with Sainz in the middle of both Ferraris. Leclerc almost runs into the back of Norris on the final lap but manages to steer away at the last moment, however Norris was noted and then investigated after the race for 'driving erratically'.

Max Verstappen won the United States Grand Prix 112 days after his last win since Austria, with Carlos Sainz finishing second and Lando Norris third.

Top Eight Finishers
1) Max Verstappen
2) Carlos Sainz
3) Lando Norris
4) Charles Leclerc
5) George Russell
6) Lewis Hamilton
7) Kevin Magnussen
8) Nico Hulkenberg

Out in Q1
16) Alex Albon
17) Franco Colapinto
18) Valtteri Bottas
19) Lewis Hamilton
20) Zhou Guanyu

In Q1, the drivers were eager to get out on track. A line formed waiting for the track to open, and once the clock started counting down, 15 drivers were out on the track.

The Haas, Sauber, and Alpine cars were the first to set timed laps. Lando Norris took an early lead with a 1:34.029 time set in the first three minutes of the session.

Verstappen's first timed lap took him to the top of the timesheet with a 1:33.690, ahead of Norris by 0.339 seconds. With ten minutes to go, only ten drivers had set timed laps, with Leclerc getting his first lap deleted for track limits.

Due to the fewer sets available this weekend for teams to use, there was a mix of drivers going out on used softs and new softs. Tsunoda got his first two timed laps deleted for track limits.

With five minutes to go, Bottas, Russell, Hamilton, Zhou, and Tsunoda were in the elimination zone in the bottom five.

​With two minutes to go, there was no change in the elimination zone, with both Mercedes struggling to get out of the bottom five. Russell gets a lap in and goes third, but Hamilton doesn't make it out of the bottom five and is eliminated in Q1, along with Bottas, Zhou, Colapinto and Albon. Verstappen finished at the top of the leaderboard with 1:33.046.

11) Yuki Tsunoda
12) Nico Hulkenberg
13) Esteban Ocon
14) Lance Stroll
​15) Liam Lawson

The drivers got out on track immediately, with Verstappen and the Ferraris starting the session with used soft tyres.

Verstappen and Perez are the first to set lap times, with Verstappen setting a 1:33.052 time with ten minutes to go.

Lawson made it through to Q2 but only did one lap to scrub a set of new tyres before returning to the garage and a second lap to give Tsunoda a tow for his flying lap. He will finish the session in P15 but has a grid penalty going into the race, so he will start in P20.

​With five minutes to go, Ocon, Alonso, Stroll, Leclerc, and Lawson were in the elimination zone, with the track cooling down and times plateauing.

​Leclerc had one shot to get a timed lap in and out and get through to Q3. He managed to go third fastest and was safely through to Q3.

Lawson, Stroll, Ocon, Hulkenberg and Tsunoda were eliminated in Q2, with Verstappen topping the leaderboard.

Starting Top 10
1) Lando Norris         1:32.330
2) Max Verstappen     +0.031
3) Carlos Sainz           +0.322
4) Charles Leclerc      +0.410
5) Oscar Piastri           +0.620
6) George Russell       
7) Pierre Gasly            +0.688
8) Fernando Alonso     +0.979
9) Kevin Magnussen    +1.151
10) Sergio Perez           No time set

The front-running drivers went out onto the track with brand-new soft tyres. Galsy and Perez started the session on scrubbed soft tyres.

Kevin Magnussen made his first Q3 appearance of the 2024 season in Austin.

Lando Norris took provisional pole with a fantastic lap early in the session, with a lap time of 1:32.330 with seven minutes to go, in front of Verstappen, Sainz, and Leclerc.

Perez lost his first lap time for exceeding track limits. Alonso made his way out onto the track with five minutes to go on his only set of soft tyres and had the track all to himself, but he only went eight provisionally. 

Gasly was noted for an unsafe release on Verstappen.

With one minute to go, Norris was still on provisional pole, and all the drivers were out on track, getting ready for their final lap attempts.

George Russell hits the barrier after a big crash at Turn 19, bringing out the yellow flag and disrupting the final lap times.

Lando Norris takes pole for the United States Grand Prix, with Verstappen in P2 and Sainz in P3.

​​Lando Norris after securing pole: "It was a beautiful lap. I was not going to go much quicker than what I did. When you just do a lap and you think 'damn, it's going to be tough to beat that' but I put everything out on the line and it's what we needed to do, we've been on the back foot pretty much the whole weekend. We've not had the pace of the Ferraris or the Red Bulls so I had to do something and today I did that so yeah, a cool lap and a nice way to start the race tomorrow."

On the weekend so far: "A tough day, a tough weekend for us, but we changed quite a bit, I think we reviewed everything we could and we made the improvements we needed to make, so maybe we weren't the quickest car out there today, Carlos [Sainz] said he was going to go quicker, Max [Verstappen] said he was going to go quicker so I'm lucky but I'll take it."

Anny Wooldridge
​Writer at F1 Journal

Hamilton now has to Wait until Mexico to Fight for his 5th world Championship. 

A huge congratulations to Kimi Raikkonnen for an outstanding Race win. The end of the race was edge of your seat stuff. At one point there was only 3 seconds between 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. A tussle between Verstappen and Hamilton over laps 52 and 53 made for a great watch. At one point it looked as if Hamilton made the overtake for 2nd position stick but the formidable driver Max is, he managed to claw back the place. Mean while Kimi was upfront gaining an advantage as the two behind him battling for position made them a little slower, giving Kimi time to extend his lead. 

Behind the top 3 were Bottas and Vettel. Vettel made a massive recovery. From Starting 5th due to the grid place penalty to colliding with Daniel Riccardo, exactly the same way he did with max a few weeks ago, left him spinning after clashing tyres together on one of the corners due to a lockup under breaking. It looked worrying for Team LH as Vettel was closing the gap to Valtteri. The fans could sense the points dwindling away as he got closer and closer. Before too long Vettel made the move and took the 4th place possistion. Meaning that the title race continues into Mexico next week. Should Hamilton Scoere 5 more points than rival Vettel then he will claim that 5th tittle.

Lights out in Mexico will be 19:11 GMT on the 28/10/18. Subscribe to our news letter and follow us on twitter and Facebook for live updates where you can get involved as well.   

​See you all next week