Hello, Oscar Piastri won in Baku ahead of Charles Leclerc following another action-packed race full of intrigue and drama. But for the championship rivals Lando Norris and Max Verstappen, it was a mixed weekend, Norris still outscoring the Dutchman who failed to capitalise on his rival’s poor weekend. It means this championship has again narrowed<\/p>\n
Organisers of the Miami Grand Prix say they would have no concerns about running back-to-back races with Canada in the future in an attempt to help F1 achieve sustainability targets. Next year’s race takes place between Saudi Arabia and Imola with the sport going back to Montreal after three races in Europe.<\/p>\n
This season the sport introduced regional groupings as part of its plan to reach net zero by 2030, however, Miami, Montreal, Baku and Singapore fell outside regional groupings. However, Monaco, Montreal and Singapore have contracts which lock them into certain times of year.<\/p>\n
Miami Grand Prix president Tyler Epp told Motorsport.com \u201cWe like our slot on the calendar. We like being early on, the first US race and it juxtaposes nicely with what Vegas is doing later in the year. To be honest our date doesn\u2019t have much movement given everything else we have going on.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAmerican football doesn\u2019t finish up until, hopefully, late January, we run the Miami Open (tennis), so logistically I can\u2019t see us moving the date because of everything else.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miami is limited by the American football season and the Miami Open. But Epp suggested they were open to moving to late May or June becoming a double header with Montreal. He however accepted it was up to F1 to decide the schedule but was in line with the sustainability goals of the sport.<\/p>\n
But added \u201cI think they [F1] have some things in the works, but our date is pretty firm. We don\u2019t know until we see it, I wouldn\u2019t mind it necessarily. One of the things that F1 does not get enough credit for is they let each promoter be distinct and unique.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speaking about Vegas last year, he says that Miami was different enough to complement one another but close enough to align strategically.<\/p>\n
FP1 saw Max Verstappen top the times with a 45.546 on his final attempt which put him just over three-tenths faster than Lewis Hamilton. The Mercedes driver managed to split the two Red Bull\u2019s after going six hundredths faster than Sergio Perez. Lando Norris was fourth nearly half a second of the pace and a tenth behind Perez.<\/p>\n
FP2 was topped by Charles Leclerc with a 43.484 on the soft tyre which put him six-thousandths of a second ahead of Sergio Perez. However, it was not an easy session for the Monacan as he struggled with a steering issue early on. Hamilton was third six hundredths behind Perez as he put himself four-tenths ahead of Carlos Sainz.<\/p>\n
FP3 saw a hugely competitive session with George Russell fastest with a 42.515, putting himself a hundredth faster than Leclerc. Norris put his McLaren third as he went a hundredth faster than teammate Piastri, it was a much stronger session for the team who looked to struggle to find the pace on Friday. But McLaren looked a lot faster than the Red Bull of Max Verstappen who was a tenth behind Oscar Piastri.<\/p>\n
Qualifying saw Leclerc take a fourth Baku pole in a row with a 41.365, which put him just over three-tenths ahead of Piastri, who spilt the Ferrari\u2019s after going a tenth faster than Sainz. But the shock was Norris, who was knocked out in Q1 after he was forced to back off because of a yellow flag.<\/p>\n
Piastri put in a dominant performance to win the race by ten seconds ahead of Leclerc. the McLaren lunging his way past the Ferrari at the pit stop phase, from then on he looked to have a slight edge over the Ferrari. It was the most eventful race of the year in terms of battling as Piastri and Leclerc went wheel to wheel several times, then Verstappen and Norris also got close at different points in the race. George Russell finished third twenty seconds behind Leclerc and ahead of Lando Norris and Max Verstappen on another key day in the fight for this championship.<\/p>\n
Sergio P\u00e9rez suggested he could benefit more than teammate Max Verstappen from any fix to the car issues that have slowed the team down. Going into the weekend the Mexican suggested that the teams problems may have been masked by their different driving styles.<\/p>\n
Asked about Verstappen’s recent remarks on the Red Bull’s performance, P\u00e9rez said his team probably did not notice the severity of the problems with Verstappen “coping well with them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Adding \u201cIt wasn’t so obvious the issue with [Max’s] driving style, where with my driving style it all became a lot more apparent probably since race number three of the season. The issues I was having they just got worse and worse and now Max seems to be finding similar issues.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201c[Resolving the issue] is something that will help both drivers. It will help me even more, you know, because of the driving style I have.\u201d We know that Perez has struggled more than Verstappen since they have been teammates, in hindsight were these warnings the team and we all missed now that Verstappen has issues? But we won’t know until Sunday whether that floor has resolved some of the issues.<\/p>\n
Friday I think was one of the most positive ones we have seen in a while, Perez was six thousandths off in FP2 but the car did look more balanced. We know they have brought a new floor this weekend which might be the turning of the corner they need.<\/p>\n
Perez said after practice, \u201cWe did good progress from FP1 to FP2, so we just have to make sure that we\u2019re able to progress from here. I think we can definitely be in the mix for tomorrow. I think we\u2019re heading in the right direction, we\u2019re finding that we can put a little bit more together the car. There\u2019s still a long way to go, but it\u2019s promising what we\u2019ve seen so far.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked if that gives him hope of fighting for pole, the Mexican added: \u201cI think tomorrow anything can happen, really, so we just have to keep our head down and hopefully deliver a great couple of laps. Well, we only need one in Q3!\u201d<\/p>\n
Verstappen meanwhile struggled a bit more with several lock-ups and moments where he went off the track, but was still positive about his and the team\u2019s prospects.<\/p>\n
Saying \u201cI think overall a good day. We learned quite a bit. Now it\u2019s just about tidying up the things that we tried. But I think, so far, we have been more competitive this weekend, so that\u2019s a positive.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those moments as well as bouncing continued for Verstappen in qualifying after he was forced to change the set-up on his car, which left him sixth six and a half tenths behind Leclerc. Red Bull had been in the mix for pole but he revealed they made a setup change ahead of qualifying, which impacted his car balance and introduced rear-end bouncing.<\/p>\n
Verstappen explained, \u201cAs soon as I went out in Q1, I just felt the car took a step back. We made some changes and the car just became incredibly unpredictable and difficult. That caused a lot of bouncing in the back of the car when turning in and out of a corner. In Q2 it still went relatively well, but the car did not feel good and I couldn’t get the maximum out of it. I had too much oversteer, and you don’t want that on a street circuit.”<\/p>\n
Asked if his car was still a “monster” like in Monza, he said: “No, no, we did improve the car. But now with the set-up, we tried to make a few things better and unfortunately it went the other way.”<\/p>\n
Mercedes went into the weekend confirming confirmed they will not run the floor upgrade which has caused them problems since its introduction at Spa, as they assess whether it is behind the dip in form at the last two races.<\/p>\n
Mercedes went into the summer break with three wins from four races, however at the last two races they have had issues with the new floor. In Monza, it did comparisons of the floor, where George Russell then out qualified eventual race winner Charles Leclerc then a first-corner mistake placed him on the back foot for the rest of the race, while Hamilton did not trouble the leading positions in either qualifying or the race in Italy.<\/p>\n
It is understood that Mercedes has decided not to run the Spa floor at all in Baku to gain a full weekend of data on how the car, which had upgrades to its diffuser, beam wing, front wing and halo that remains fitted, meaning Mercedes has not reverted to its full pre-Spa specification, performs without it.<\/p>\n
Lewis Hamilton showed a decent turn of speed for the team as he finished second and third in FP1 and FP2, however Russell struggled in practice going eighth and ninth. Between the sessions Russell had a power unit change which left him out of sync with the traditional run plan before his running was cut even shorter because of another issue.<\/p>\n
He said, \u201cNot sure what happened, we just knew we had to change the engine as we had a problem after FP1. Obviously delayed the session and then we had a problem at the end of the session too. So it wasn\u2019t our finest Friday that\u2019s for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem was the engine in FP1, and then at the end it was a sensor failure, so we actually pitted as we thought we had a water leak, but we didn\u2019t. So, it was feeling okay, it wasn\u2019t feeling superb for me out there, I was struggling.\u201d In FP1 he ran hards and FP2 mediums but this didn\u2019t appear to help.<\/p>\n
Russell not have the best start to the weekend which has impacted his confidence in the car and getting the tyres into the right window, creating uncertainty going into qualifying when everyone sets engine modes for the rest of the weekend.<\/p>\n
Hamilton added, \u201cIt was a really good day. I enjoyed today, hit the ground running from the get go, made incremental steps with the set-up. For once it felt like we didn\u2019t have any steps that we had to come back on, it was like consistently building.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know how my long run is compared to others, we didn\u2019t get a huge amount of laps. Yeah, I think Red Bull seems pretty quick, as does the Ferrari, but we are there or thereabouts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ferrari went into this weekend still searching for answers on whether its floor upgrades has turned its performance around at higher downforce circuits. it brought a upgrade to Barcelona however it was forced to abandon the spec introducing temporary fixes because of bouncing issues, which has also resulted in it slipping down the order.<\/p>\n
In Monza Ferrari introduced its latest floor specification, which did appear to work as desired, with the squad in the mix at the front and Charles Leclerc even making a one-stop strategy work to defeat the McLarens and take an emotional win on Italian soil for the Scuderia.<\/p>\n
Team principal Fred Vasseur said \u201cIt\u2019s quite difficult to understand the impact of the upgrade on a track like Monza, because we are in such a different configuration compared to the rest of the season. But at the end of the day, when you see the qualifying and you have six cars in less than one-tenth [two-tenths actually], every single bit makes the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
But crucially, the true test of whether the new Ferrari floor has eliminated high-speed bouncing will come on tracks with longer and faster high-downforce corners. The answer to corner speed could not come until Austin in six weeks’ time where we could get answers.<\/p>\n
Sainz said at Monza, \u201cWe will need to wait for more normal tracks to see if this upgrade has really turned our season around and we’re going to fight for wins from now on or we are going to go back to what we saw in Zandvoort.\u201d He added they need more samples from more normal track.<\/p>\n
Leclerc was also cautious as he believes that \u00a0McLaren and Red Bull will still be a step ahead on more downforce dependent layouts. he said, \u201cThe upgrade definitely brought us closer to McLaren, but I don’t think it’s enough to be the car to beat for the rest of the season on other tracks.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSingapore maybe could be a strong track for us. On the other tracks, I still feel like we are a step behind McLaren and Red Bull. But we’ve seen that we can be very on a par with McLaren if we do everything perfectly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite being cautious on Friday, Leclerc took his fourth pole in a row in Baku as he finished three-tenths ahead of Oscar Piastri. After qualifying he said it hasn\u2019t been an easy weekend but they knew the pace was there and he didn\u2019t lose confidence following the crash.<\/p>\n
He said, \u201cThe pace was always there and then in qualifying and Q3 it was all about trying to stay as far as possible off the walls. In that last lap I went for it a bit more and the lap time came very nicely. The car felt really good and everything felt great, so it\u2019s amazing to be on pole.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked about the strategic benefit of having two Ferraris at the front of the field, Leclerc added: \u201cLet\u2019s say it was the best we could\u2019ve hoped for. Normally the even side of the grid has a little bit less grip, so first and third is where you want to start.\u201d<\/p>\n
Going into the race Sainz added they needed to take advantage of Norris\u2019 Q1 knockout to close the gap in the constructors. Adding \u201cI think we had a solid quali, a solid day in general with the two cars, and I think we put ourselves in a very good position for tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never really been 100% hooked up around here in my career. It\u2019s a track that I tend to struggle with a bit, so to be P3 is a good position for tomorrow as also my race pace yesterday seemed strong, so it\u2019s all to play for tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leclerc finished second ten seconds behind Piastri but believes he didn\u2019t defend well enough to keep the McLaren behind him, for the fourth consecutive time in Baku failed to convert pole into victory. Piastri lunged his way past the Ferrari taking the lead on lap twenty.<\/p>\n
Leclerc stayed with the Australian for the remainder of the race and made several attempts to repass him into the same corner with the help of DRS, but as his hard tyres faded the Ferrari man had to settle for second instead. He said after the race \u201cTo be honest, we lost the race where I didn’t quite defend as well as I should have at the end of the straight. But it is the way it is. Sometimes you do mistakes, and I’ll learn from it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Oscar overtook me, I was like: ‘Okay, now it’s just a matter of staying calm, trying to keep those tyres [alive] and overtake him again later on’. Actually, it was a lot more difficult than that and on the straights, I couldn’t get as close as I wanted. I think maybe McLaren had a little bit less downforce, so on the straights they were very quick. In the corners we were a bit quicker.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sainz and Sergio Perez were exonerated by the stewards following their crash at the end of the Baku race. As they fought for third with two laps to go the crashed resulting in them both retiring but classified eighteenth and seventeenth respectively.<\/p>\n
They had both been sat on the tail of the leading duo of Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc for much of the second half of the race, before the lead Ferrari of Leclerc lost pace as his hard tyres gave up on him. That allowed both Perez and Sainz to close in and put them on a collision course to end each other’s races prematurely.<\/p>\n
After talking to both drivers and studying data from the incident as well as the respective driving lines from previous laps, the stewards came back with a decision that no further action was necessary labelling the crash a “racing incident” in which “neither driver was predominantly at fault.”<\/p>\n
Perez’s frustration was clear as he swore over the team radio following the crash, while Sainz defended his position ahead of a conversation with race stewards.<\/p>\n
Sainz said, \u201cI think we exited turn two. I did my normal racing line. I didn’t do any strange manoeuvre or anything. And for some reason that I still don’t understand, we collided and yeah, I think he had plenty of space to the left. I didn’t do any strange movement, but I guess that’s racing.”<\/p>\n
While Perez said \u201cIt is just a shame because when we exit turn 2 there was a metre between the cars and then within a metre or two we ended up making contact. I understand what Carlos was trying to do, to follow Charles’ tow but I was there and it all happened very quickly as he was having more speed and the way he moved meant he touched my front right tyre quite quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sainz’s version of events was very much at odds with how Red Bull saw the incident, with Helmut Marko laying the blame squarely on the Spaniard. he said, \u201cI see Sainz making a rather abrupt move to the left, which then triggered this crash. It was completely unnecessary to provoke something like that two laps before the end. Perez came out much better and of course he didn’t make way voluntarily.\u201d<\/p>\n
In response, Fred Vasseur said, \u201cIf Horner is expecting for Carlos then I am expecting a grid penalty for Checo, he had plenty of room on the left-hand side.\u201d<\/p>\n
McLaren is to prioritise Lando Norris over teammate Oscar Piastri in their bid to win both world championships this year. But team principal Andrea Stella warned that this would only happen within the teams \u2018principles of sportsmanship and fairness\u2019. Going into this weekend Norris was sixty-two points behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in the drivers’ championship with a maximum of two hundred and thirty-two still available<\/p>\n
Stella told BBC News, \u201dThe overall concept is we are incredibly determined to win, but we want to win in the right way. We [will] bias our support to Lando but we want to do it without too much compromise on our principles.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOur principles are that the team interest always comes first. Sportsmanship for us is important in the overall way we go racing. And then we want to be fair to both drivers.\u201d<\/p>\n
I think they had to make this call as I said in previous editions I think Norris is the best option because he has been more consistent in scoring big points and fighting for victory. But Piastri\u2019s time will come, it will be interesting how they manage this in the long term as it could create future issues.<\/p>\n
Following Practice Norris said he believed that the team were a \u201clong way off\u201d after only managing seventeenth in FP2, while Piastri was fifth but still half a second off Leclerc\u2019s session-topping time. As ever, there are many variables at play on Friday but the Englishman felt they were behind the curve as they were needing to push the car.<\/p>\n
Norris told F1TV, \u201cWe’re quite a long way off. I’m having to push way too much to try and get a lap time out of it, clearly. I think where Oscar was is kind of more where we are. If we nail it, we’re just about there, but I’m sure the [competitors] are not even close to nailing it yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have quite a lot to find, honestly, compared to Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull. They’re all very similar, and then there’s a good three, four-tenths gap back to us. So, a lot of work for us to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
I think this was a surprise given they have been at the front or near the front at so many races, however we have seen this at circuits earlier in the year where teams have slipped back gone forwards depending on the type of circuit. But McLaren has been more consistent in being near the front at those circuits where they have been on the back foot.<\/p>\n
Norris said the extremely low-grip conditions in Baku, which has led to slower practice times than last year and several drivers going off the track, are likely playing a part in McLaren’s struggles to get up to speed.<\/p>\n
Adding, \u201cIt’s just very slidey out there, you know? We perform well at the higher grip circuits and the track is way off, not even close to where we were last year. So we’re just finding it difficult at the minute, but we’ll work hard tonight.\u201d That was a factor as we saw throughout practice and we saw several drivers lock up, go wide etc which could also be an issue in Singapore.<\/p>\n
Things went from bad to worse in qualifying with Norris knocked out in Q1 because of what the team called an \u201cunnecessary\u201d yellow flag. When completing his final attempt he came across a slow moving Esteban Ocon in the final sector, who was limping back after contact with the wall.<\/p>\n
Norris recovered and still would have had enough pace to make it to Q2 – his team insist around the third place his team-mate Oscar Piastri managed in the segment – before the boards then flashed yellow and then green around Turns 17 and 18, where Norris encountered the Alpine.<\/p>\n
Norris, following the regulations, slowed before accelerating again, but then dove into the pits with his lap essentially ruined. He admitted it was \u201cunlucky\u201d and he \u201chad to lift,\u201d to avoid a penalty, which is correct I think that this competitive weekend had put him in that position alongside struggling this weekend.<\/p>\n
Stella told Sky Sports they are discussing the \u201cextremely costly\u201d moment with the FIA \u201cbecause the yellow flag isn’t necessary when a car is just a slow car, it is not on a flying lap. Everyone tried their best I’m sure, this time there was a situation that ideally, and I think by the regulations, shouldn’t have happened. We paid the price.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also was also adamant that the board was yellow, as opposed to white, which would not necessitate a driver to slow down and would often be displayed in this circumstance to indicate a slow-moving car on track.<\/p>\n
Well after a difficult weekend, Norris said he was surprised to finish fourth and ahead of Verstappen and was happy to play “a small part” in teammate Oscar Piastri’s win. McLaren played the perfect strategy for Norris allowing him to get into the top ten before a late pit stop on lap thirty-eight.<\/p>\n
While Russell got past Verstappen and drove to the podium, Norris clawed back his pitstop-sized deficit to a struggling Verstappen to snatch fourth away from the Dutchman. He said after the race \u201cI don’t think we could have asked for a lot more today. We would have been happy with eighth, as we just expected the top four teams to go with me being the eighth car.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI would have loved to have got past Alex a bit earlier. He made my life tough. As soon as Alex boxed, I think my pace was the best on track, even on the hards from the beginning of the race, and I managed to create a good gap and just unlock all the potential that the car had.\u201d<\/p>\n
Norris I think did the best he could as it was always going to be a damage limitation race for him, finishing ahead of Verstappen I don\u2019t think we expected that. But it\u2019s the type of drive you need from a champion and it was a clever bit of strategy by McLaren and also helped keep Verstappen behind Norris.<\/p>\n
What a turn around the race was for McLaren with Piastri taking the decisive lead on lap twenty with the race winning dive on Leclerc and then defending off several attempts to try to pass the Ferrari. But maybe we were robbed a bit of it going down to the wire because of the crash between Perez and Sainz which saw the race end under a VSC.<\/p>\n
Reflecting on the battle, Piastri said: \u201cI tried at the start of the race to get in front but once I dropped out of DRS [range] I just didn\u2019t have the pace. After the stop, I saw we were pretty close again and I felt like we had a little bit of extra grip and I had to go for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
But despite that Piastri\u2019s win saw McLaren lead the constructors by twenty points with six race weekends to go. He was also voted Driver of the Day.<\/p>\n
Aston Martin has confirmed the appointment of Adrian Newey as managing technical partner and a shareholder in its F1 team. The appointment while expected sees the legendary designer head up the 2026 design ahead of the introduction of new regulations when he joins the team by the end of March next year.<\/p>\n
Newey resigned as Red Bull\u2019s chief technical officer in May admits the fallout from the power struggle which resulted in allegations against Christian Horner which have been dismissed and is due to leave the team in the coming weeks following the completion of his RB17 hypercar project<\/p>\n
According to BBC News and Sky Sports, the five-year contract is worth up to \u00a330m a year, including bonuses and add-ons. `Newey said he was “hugely inspired and impressed by the passion and commitment” of team owner Lawrence Stroll.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year the team signed his defacto deputy at Red Bull Dan Fallows and Ferrari\u2019s Enrico Cardile, due to start within the next year. The team will have a new chief executive from 1st<\/sup> October as former Mercedes HPP managing director Andy Cowell joins the team.<\/p>\n Lawrence Stroll said “This is huge news. Adrian is the best in the world at what he does – he is at the top of his game – and I am incredibly proud that he is joining the Aston Martin.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s the biggest story since the Aston Martin name returned to the sport and another demonstration of our ambition to build a Formula 1 team capable of fighting for world championships. As soon as Adrian became available, we knew we had to make it happen.<\/p>\n Mike Krack says the team could be a future team for Max Verstappen after they secured Adrian Newey as managing technical partner. Asked by Motorsport.com, if the Dutchman could be an option, Krack said \u201cThe door for Max Verstappen is always open, I think for every team.\u201d<\/p>\n Alpine expects to have a final decision on its 2026 engine partner in less than a month’s time, as Renault’s board presses on with its assessment of its Viry-Chatillon-based engine project. The French manufacturer announced earlier this year that they were cancelling their own engine project, and seek a customer deal with Mercedes its believed.<\/p>\n In the aftermath, a number of employees at Viry went on strike, with many travelling to the Italian Grand Prix to make their displeasure public. Explaining the current situation to Motorsport.com, de Meo stated that the option to turn Alpine into an effective customer entity was ongoing, with Mercedes the likeliest supplier of powertrains to the team in 2026.<\/p>\n He said \u201cWe have four or five weeks to define the situation in the board. We are analysing how to approach F1 from 2026 in order to be more competitive and we are evaluating every opportunity. The idea of switching to Mercedes engines is on the table, but I can assure you that there is no choice done yet.\u201d<\/p>\n De Meo said their was massive cost ramifications in switching to being a customer team, as well as negative consequences of marketing – Renault ditching its own engine. This comes against the backdrop of employees released figures of the 2026 engine project thus far, stating that they showed promise and that the Viry-Chatillon engineers were on track to meet targets.<\/p>\n But he added, \u201cIf we make a purely financial analysis of how much it costs to make a 2026 power unit in-house and how much you could save with a customer engine, the difference becomes enormous.\u201d<\/p>\n Pierre Gasly was disqualified from qualifying after the stewards determined that his car had breached the fuel flow limit. Gasly had qualified thirteenth and at one stage had been as high as fourth in Q1, but was called to the stewards for an alleged breach of Article 5.2.3 of the Technical Regulations \u2013 regarding the exceedance of the instantaneous fuel mass flow \u2013 being noted.<\/p>\n The stewards handed out a disqualification that sends the Alpine to the back of the grid, and means Gasly joins Guanyu Zhou in being penalised this weekend. This is the standard penalty for this offence and Alpine didn\u2019t protest the penalty.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Franco Colapinto decaded qualifying ninth to the team who rebuilt his car after his crash in practice. Both Williams drivers made it into Q3 on a day where the team showed true pace, although a strange situation where Alex Albon left the pits with a cooling fan still attached did take some of the gloss off the achievement \u2013 but not for Colapinto himself who was three tenths faster.<\/p>\n The Argentine said \u201cIt was difficult, but you know, more difficult than it was going to be if I couldn’t do FP2, and luckily, the boys in the garage did an amazing job too. They didn’t even have lunch but they were working flat out to put my car out in FP2. And after they did that they gave me a big confidence boost and a lot of energy to try and achieve a good result for them, for the effort that they have been doing this year.\u201d<\/p>\n I think that was a decent bounce back for Colapinto on a weekend where Williams has had decent pace and he is fighting for his long-term future in 2026, meaning he needs performances like this and to thank the team is brilliant for his standing as a team player.<\/p>\n However, the team were placed under investigation after Alex Albon was released with a fan lodged in his airbox, which the British-Thai driver put down to a “rush to get the tow” at the end of Q3. That meant he failed to do a final run as he was forced to throw it off the car.<\/p>\n Explaining the incident, Albon said: “[It was] a bit of a rush to get the tow, a bit like Monza. I actually think this track’s even better with the tow than Monza, because it’s a low-speed exit and you don’t lose as much in the dirty area. We were targeting close gaps, keen on the garage pull away to get going, and obviously we left a fan on the car. Frustrating. Better to happen in Q3 than in Q1 and Q2.\u201d<\/p>\n Albon wasn\u2019t angry with the team but it did mean he couldn\u2019t start his final attempt, the reason why he couldn\u2019t get help from the team or marshals was because that would be deemed as \u2018outside assistance,\u2019 and that means he could no longer take part in qualifying.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Ollie Bearman says knowing he has a seat with Haas makes this weekend the perfect opportunity to build his experience ahead of 2025. The Englishman replaces Kevin Magnussen this weekend after he was handed a one-race ban for reaching his twelfth penalty point.<\/p>\n Ahead of the weekend, he said, \u201cIt\u2019s nice to be back. Of course, not the circumstances I would have hoped but it\u2019s a great opportunity to build up my experience and get a full weekend under my belt. I had some notice this time. I\u2019ve known it was coming, which is helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI just want to build it up step by step and enjoy it as well. Knowing I\u2019m going to race is a big help and also the fact I\u2019m doing FP1 and FP2 to help build it up. Of course I\u2019ve been training hard but I\u2019ve been doing that anyway because I\u2019m racing that next year.\u201d<\/p>\n Bearman had a mixed day on Saturday when he crashed out of FP3 before out-qualifying Nico Hulkenberg. But following qualifying he said out qualifying his teammate doesn\u2019t make up for the fact he missed out on Q3 for the second time in two races, he was just over a tenth a quarter behind Alex Albon.<\/p>\n After learning he was eliminated, Bearman fumed on the team radio: “I had a lock-up. Damn it! I’m such an idiot.” Explaining what happened, he said: “It was coming up the castle. I was a bit deep in Turn 11. I had a snap into 12 and I lost enough time to stop me from the final round of qualifying.”<\/p>\n But Bearman felt the real damage had been when he’d crashed out in Turn 1 at the start of Saturday morning’s FP3 session, which robbed him of valuable soft-tyre running to build up to qualifying. He added \u201cIt definitely put me on the back foot.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think not in confidence, but for example the mistake I made in qualifying, I’m sure I would have already done this mistake in FP3 and figured out how to not do that, so we just lost a lot of mileage.\u201d I think he is been harsh on himself and its only his second race weekend and the fact he out qualified Hulkenberg show he has the speed and talent. We know Baku and Jeddah are two difficult circuits to jump in the car and he is still a rookie.<\/p>\n Bearman made it back-to-back point-scoring races as he finished tenth following a battle with Hamilton, who he said knew \u201cwasn\u2019t going to put me in a wall\u201d. Both were just outside the points but thanks to the collision between Perez and Sainz moving the future Ferrari teammates, Bearman being an FDA driver, into the points.<\/p>\n Hamilton passed Bearman into Lewis Corner (Turn One), defending determinedly before losing out on the tightening exit for the 90-degree left-hander \u2013 and demoting his younger compatriot.<\/p>\n Bearman said when asked about Hamilton\u2019s move, said, \u201cWell, you know when you go around the outside that he\u2019s going to leave you space, which is a nice feeling. Like in Turn 1, I knew that he wasn\u2019t going to put me in a wall, which is a bit less sure with some other drivers. That\u2019s a nice feeling and it\u2019s always very clean but hard when I was racing him.\u201d<\/p>\n Speaking about the race as a whole, Bearman felt that achievement was \u201cdefinitely cool\u201d, following his seventh place in Jeddah as a late stand-in for Carlos Sainz at Ferrari.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Lap<\/td>\n Hello, Oscar Piastri won in Baku ahead of Charles Leclerc following another action-packed race full of intrigue and drama. But for the championship rivals Lando Norris and Max Verstappen, it was a mixed weekend, Norris still outscoring the Dutchman who failed to capitalise on his rival’s poor weekend. It means this championship has again narrowed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12185,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,10,23,18],"tags":[2234,137,232,233,234,235,249,250,1995,1996],"class_list":["post-13914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-news-analysis","category-this-grand-prix","category-this-week","tag-2234","tag-analysis","tag-azadliq-square","tag-azerbaijan","tag-azerbaijan-gp","tag-azerbaijan-grand-prix","tag-baku","tag-baku-city-circuit","tag-this-grand-prix","tag-this-week"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13914"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13917,"href":"http:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13914\/revisions\/13917"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.f1vault.co.uk\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Alpine<\/h4>\n
Williams<\/h4>\n
Haas<\/h4>\n
Results Summary<\/h4>\n
\n\n
\n \n Race Pole Position<\/h3>\n<\/td>\n
Charles Leclerc
\nFerrari
\n01:47.365<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n \n Grand Prix Podium<\/h3>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n \n Po<\/h3>\n<\/td>\n
\n Name<\/h3>\n<\/td>\n
\n Nat<\/h3>\n<\/td>\n
\n Team<\/h3>\n<\/td>\n
\n Time<\/h3>\n<\/td>\n
\n Points<\/h3>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n 1<\/td>\n Oscar Piastri<\/td>\n AUS<\/td>\n McLaren \u2013 Mercedes<\/td>\n 01:32:58.007<\/td>\n 25<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 2<\/td>\n Charles Leclerc<\/td>\n MON<\/td>\n Ferrari<\/td>\n +00:10.910<\/td>\n 18<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 3<\/td>\n George Russell<\/td>\n GBR<\/td>\n Mercedes<\/td>\n +00:31.328<\/td>\n 15<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n Fastest<\/p>\n Lando Norris<\/td>\n GBR<\/td>\n McLaren \u2013 Mercedes<\/td>\n 01:45.165<\/td>\n 1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n Championship Standings<\/h4>\n
\n\n
\n \n <\/h6>\n<\/td>\n
\n Drivers\u2019 Championship<\/h6>\n<\/td>\n
\n Constructors Championship<\/h6>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n \n Po<\/h6>\n<\/td>\n
\n Name<\/h6>\n<\/td>\n
\n Points<\/h6>\n<\/td>\n
\n Constructor<\/h6>\n<\/td>\n
\n Points<\/h6>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n 1<\/td>\n Max Verstappen<\/td>\n 313<\/td>\n McLaren \u2013 Mercedes<\/td>\n 476<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 2<\/td>\n Lando Norris<\/td>\n 254<\/td>\n Red Bull \u2013 Honda RBPT<\/td>\n 458<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 3<\/td>\n Charles Leclerc<\/td>\n 235<\/td>\n Ferrari<\/td>\n 425<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 4<\/td>\n Oscar Piastri<\/td>\n 222<\/td>\n Mercedes<\/td>\n 309<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n 5<\/td>\n Carlos Sainz<\/td>\n 184<\/td>\n Aston Martin \u2013 Mercedes<\/td>\n 82<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"