Max Verstappen achieved his first pole position of the 2026 Formula 1 season following a dominant qualifying session at Sepang, scene of the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.

The Red Bull driver was fastest in all three qualifying segments after also topping FP1 to take his first pole since the 2025 Abu Dhabi finale with a lap time of one minute, 35.130 seconds at Sepang.

Verstappen will be joined on the front row by Lewis Hamilton on the weekend Malaysia ends its nine-year hiatus from Formula 1 to host the Bahrain Grand Prix due to ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

It comes after the four-time world champion also went fastest in the first runs of Q3, taking the provisional top slot with a time of one minute, 35.250 seconds, 0.308s quicker than teammate Isack Hadjar.

Verstappen was unable to improve in the first two sectors of his second lap, before bouncing back with a purple final sector to go 0.120 seconds faster for his 49th pole in Max’s career.

His final time was 0.298 seconds faster than Hamilton’s one minute, 35.428 seconds for Ferrari, which pushed Hadjar down to third. He will drop five places for an ICE change.

Championship leader Kimi Antonelli endured a struggle by taking fourth, 0.501 seconds off the pace, after entering Q3 already compromised by what happened in Q2.

The Mercedes driver had to push through an extra set of new softs after his first Q2 lap was deleted for track limits at Turn 6, leading to him doing just one lap in the final segment.

Antonelli’s one minute, 35.631 seconds ultimately sees him start third following Hadjar’s penalty, one place above Hamilton’s teammate Charles Leclerc with a time of one minute, 35.666 seconds.

Defending champion Lando Norris was 0.627 seconds off the pace with the sixth-fastest time on a weekend McLaren has struggled for speed, with teammate Oscar Piastri taking seventh-fastest with one minute, 35.762 seconds – though again, both will be promoted one position on the grid.

It was even more of a struggle for Antonelli’s teammate George Russell, who was 0.741 seconds off the pace in eighth, with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto completing the top ten.

Liam Lawson missed out on Q3 by two tenths to take P11 after being pushed into the Q2 elimination zone by Bortoleto right at the end.

The Racing Bulls driver will duly share the sixth row with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, who took his best qualifying result of the season, while P13 went to Williams driver Carlos Sainz.

Sainz will be joined on the seventh row by Alonso’s teammate Lance Stroll in the first double Q2 appearance for Aston Martin, who confirmed both drivers for 2027 season.

Franco Colapinto took P15, but the Alpine driver will start the race at the back due to a 15-place grid penalty. Five for his Baku collision and ten for changing his Mercedes power unit.

Arvid Lindblad took P16 for Racing Bulls, as he is also set for a grid drop, one position above Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg who paid the price for starting Q1 on the mediums.

Haas driver Oliver Bearman will join him on the ninth row in P18 ahead of his outgoing teammate Esteban Ocon in P19. His first Q1 exit since Spa.

Alex Albon’s frustrations continued with P20 for Williams ahead of the usual suspects. Valtteri Bottas in P21, three tenths quicker than Cadillac teammate Sergio Perez.

So fantastic to see Max Verstappen taking pole position. The Red Bull look very competitive at this Sepang circuit. To have his former championship rival Lewis Hamilton in P2 will make the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia an exciting race.

Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, qualifying results:
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford 1:35.130
2 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:35.428
3 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:35.631
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:35.666
5 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1:35.757
6 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes 1:35.762
7 George Russell Mercedes 1:35.871
8 Isack Hadjar Red Bull-Ford 1:35.558*
9 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes 1:37.210
10 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 1:37.673
11 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls-Ford 1:37.023
12 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda 1:37.220
13 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes 1:37.527
14 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda 1:37.566
15 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford No time
16 Nico Hulkenberg Audi 1:37.970
17 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari 1:37.980
18 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari 1:38.233
19 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes 1:38.600
20 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari 1:38.611
21 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari 1:38.933
22 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes No time**
*Five-place grid penalty for power unit changes
**Fifteen-place grid penalty for causing a collision in Baku and power unit changes

George Russell scored his third victory of the 2026 Formula 1 season with a dominant pole-to-flag drive in the Mercedes, resisting the late challenge from Max Verstappen.

The Mercedes driver took pole by a big margin of eight tenths and confirmed the Silver Arrows’ dominance in race performance. George led either side of a pair of mid-race safety cars to score his first win since the Austrian Grand Prix while teammate Kimi Antonelli recovered to P5 from P16.

At the start, Russell made a good start to defend his lead on the short run towards Turn 1, with Oscar Piastri picking off second-starting Charles Leclerc.

Russell started on medium tyres with his rivals on softs, but tyre degradation was not much of a factor on the low-impact street circuit, reducing race strategy to a simple one-stopper.

George quickly broke free of the pack while Oscar and teammate Lando Norris, who had passed Isack Hadjar four fourth, immediately came under pressure from the Red Bulls. Hadjar and Max Verstappen appeared stronger on the straights than the Mercedes-powered papaya cars, who were struggling for traction out of Turn 16, the corner leading onto Baku’s long 2km straight.

After Verstappen cleared Pierre Gasly, Lewis Hamilton, both he and Hadjar made their way past Norris and put pressure on second-placed Piastri, with Hadjar waving his teammate by. But as Verstappen started to go through a graining phase on his medium tyres, his challenge on Piastri was halted, making soft-tyre runner Hadjar impatient about having a go at the McLaren driver instead.

Just as Hadjar was given the green light to start challenging Verstappen, the race was interrupted by a safety car on lap 30 of 51 following a crash by Alex Albon. While holding off Esteban Ocon for a distant P13, the Williams driver locked up his tyres into Turn 5 and hit the TecPro barriers on exit, escaping without any harm.

With every frontrunner yet to make their one and only pitstop, the safety car led to a series of activity in the pits, with Russell retaining his lead from Piastri, Verstappen, Hadjar, Leclerc and Hamilton, while Norris dropped to ninth behind Gasly and Antonelli after going deep into Turn 1.

That mistake affected Norris as all pure chaos broke loose on the Lap 36 restart. While Verstappen picked off Piastri for second, Franco Colapinto locked up his tyres and went into Alpine teammate Gasly, taking Norris out with them as Antonelli narrowly escaped from the mayhem. In the background there was more intra-team contact as Arvid Lindblad punted Liam Lawson into a spin, with the Turn 1 chaos bringing out another safety car.

The entire top ten held station on a much more timid second restart on lap 39, with Russell leading from Verstappen, Piastri, Hadjar and Leclerc. But on the following lap there was more Baku drama for Piastri as he went deep into Turn 1 while defending against Hadjar, throwing away a potential podium finish.

Despite all the chaos, the double safety cars turned what should have been an easy drive for Russell into a nail-biting finish, defending against an aggressive four-time world champion.

But Russell held on in a drag race to the finish to hold off Verstappen, with Hadjar joining the pair on the podium on his return from his wrist injury. Leclerc finished fourth ahead of Antonelli.

As Antonelli predicted before the race, repeating his spectacular Monza comeback win was going to be difficult on the streets of Baku. The championship leader had made his way up to eighth by the time the race was yellow-flagged, and then benefitted from the Turn 1 chaos to overtake Hamilton for fifth position.

Lindblad crossed the finishing line in seventh, although there is an investigation into his contact with Lawson. The Haas duo of Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman finished eighth and ninth, with Carlos Sainz scoring a points in an upgraded Williams.

Both Aston Martin cars again were unable to make it to the finish after the team’s latest horror weekend, while Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas ended the race in the wall on the final lap.

Thanks to his third win of the championship and first since Austria, Russell has gained back 15 points on Antonelli in the championship, now trailing his teammate by 66 points going into next weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix hosted by Malaysia.

Azerbaijan Grand Prix, race results:
1 George Russell Mercedes 1:38:02.143
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford +0.196s
3 Isack Hadjar Red Bull-Ford +10.704s
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +14.136s
5 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +14.512s
6 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +22.382s
7 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford +31.159s
8 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari +31.189s
9 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari +31.929s
10 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes +32.416s
11 Nico Hulkenberg Audi +33.231s
12 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls-Ford +34.013s
13 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi +34.230s
14 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes +36.401s
15 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari +41.400s
Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari DNF
Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes DNF
Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes DNF
Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes DNF
Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes DNF
Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda DNF
Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda DNF

Contrasting fortunes for Mercedes as George Russell will start the Azerbaijan Grand Prix from pole position while his teammate and championship rival Kimi Antonelli was forced out following car damage in Q1.

At the 6km Baku City Circuit, Antonelli clipped the barriers on the inside of the Turn 1 left-hander during Q1, unable to return to the pits in his Mercedes W17 with front-left suspension damage. Antonelli had already set a lap time quick enough to advance to Q2, but was out of qualifying and is set to start P16 at best.

After setting the pace through Thursday’s practice sessions, Russell was able to capitalised fully to take a dominant pole ahead of Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri. This was the Mercedes driver’s fifth pole of the season.

McLaren was an early surprise in Q3 when Piastri and Lando Norris jumped early pacesetter Russell to top the first series of qualifying runs. Off the back of a messy practice sessions, the papayas had yet to string together optimal qualifying laps, with Norris even suspecting something was wrong in his car in Q1.

But Piastri’s one minute, 43.571 seconds lap proved an achievable target for Russell to beat, with the Mercedes driver going half a second faster on his second run to set one minute, 43.037 seconds, which none of his competitors could find an answer for.

On the final run, Russell took yet another five-tenth out of his own benchmark to set a dominant one minute, 42.526 seconds pole lap.

Ferrari employed a different run plan by delaying its first run, which benefitted Leclerc in getting provisional second, and he found another tenth that secured that position on the grid ahead of Piastri, despite being eight tenths behind Russell.

Isack Hadjar celebrated his return from wrist injury with fourth on the grid, while Norris slipped up on his final attempt and settled for fifth ahead of Hamilton. Pierre Gasly took seventh for Alpine as Max Verstappen could only manage eighth having been held up by yellow flags for Lando’s off.

Carlos Sainz made full use of the upgraded Williams FW48 to take ninth, as Franco Colapinto qualified tenth.

Russell topped Q2 with a late one minute, 43.462 seconds effort, two tenths ahead of Verstappen as it promised to set up a tight pole shoot-out.

The battle for the final Q3 positions was as close as it has been all season with Williams now in the hunt, and Sainz able to go ninth and claim a rare Q3 appearance. The dramatic rate of track evolution meant drivers were able to find lap time and peak on their final run. In the final moments of the session, Alpine’s Colapinto snatched P10 away from Haas driver Oliver Bearman, joining his teammate Gasly in the next segment.

Racing Bulls got knocked out in Q2 with Liam Lawson out in P12, followed by Alex Albon and Esteban Ocon. Arvid Lindblad could only get P15 to continue what has been a messy weekend so far for the Racing Bull driver, off the back of an FP2 crash which team principal Alan Permane commenting it was a “rookie enthusiasm”.

Russell also led the way in Q1 after Antonelli elimational, dropping Verstappen at the end of the segment with one minute, 43.615 seconds lap. In the background, Williams comfortably made it through with both of its upgraded cars.

On a high-speed track exposing its power unit deficit, Audi paid the price of progress made by Williams as Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg were both eliminated in P17 and P18. The four cars from Cadillac and Aston Martin were also knocked out, with Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll already facing a back-of-the-grid penalty for Honda power unit changes.

Azerbaijan Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 George Russell Mercedes 1:42.526
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:43.363
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes 1:43.364
4 Isack Hadjar Red Bull-Ford 1:43.500
5 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1:43.672
6 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:43.858
7 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes 1:44.047
8 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford 1:44.081
9 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes 1:44.566
10 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes 1:44.963
11 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari 1:44.775
12 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls-Ford 1:44.860
13 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes 1:45.001
14 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari 1:45.016
15 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford 1:45.106
16 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes No time
17 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 1:45.799
18 Nico Hulkenberg Audi 1:45.920
19 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda 1:46.593
20 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari 1:46.658
21 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda 1:47.337
22 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari 1:48.290

Kimi Antonelli achieved his eighth career Formula 1 victory by winning the first Madring race as Lando Norris was caught out by the virtual safety car.

Norris led from the front after pulling away in the early stages of the race, but he pitted right after a virtual safety car period, which affected him so far back that he lost the victory.

Pirelli predicted a difference between soft and medium tyres at the start, so it was interesting for second-row starters Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton to pick the soft compound, unlike polesitter Norris and Antonelli alongside him.

Hamilton did take a better launch but ran out of space to attack into Turn 1, after which chaos ensued. Both Antonelli and Verstappen cut Turn 2, but while the Mercedes driver handed the lead back to Norris straight away and did so again in the next sequence of corners, his Red Bull counterpart retained the advantage over the Ferrari.

Verstappen argued that he had to take avoiding action due to Hamilton’s driving, but Red Bull was adamant he should make sure to avoid a penalty, so Verstappen let Antonelli – whom he was now leading – and Hamilton by on lap four.

Seconds later, the seven-time world champion started complaining about braking issues. He started losing pace on lap five, went off the track on lap six, and retired after being repeatedly asked to pit.

On lap 10, Norris led Antonelli by five seconds, Verstappen by 11 seconds, Charles Leclerc by 13 seconds and George Russell by 15 seconds. Liam Lawson was a further 15 seconds, leading the ‘midfield’.

Another brake problem, this time for Lance Stroll, took the Aston Martin out of the race on lap 13 and caused a virtual safety car. Antonelli, Verstappen and Russell pitted – despite the latter starting on hard tyres, like Leclerc and Piastri – but Norris and Leclerc stayed out on mediums and hards respectively.

Race leader Norris was called in right when the VSC period ended. He could have stayed out but pitted anyway and, to compound his fate, had a slow tyre change. The McLaren driver emerged back on track in fifth place – 16 seconds down on Leclerc, 14 seconds away from lead pitter Antonelli.

Unsurprisingly, Kimi caught Charles as early as lap 18, but he did not launch an attack and started dropping back on lap 21. “I didn’t touch the wall, but the steering feels weird,” Antonelli told his engineers. By lap 25, he was over three seconds adrift.

Russell, who had started on hards and switched to mediums, made a second pitstop as early as lap 28 of 57 to go back to the white-walled compound. He went on to take fifth away from Lawson with an around-the-outside move on lap 35, but was not convinced by his strategy. “Why did we pit? I think we could have held Norris off,” the Mercedes racer said.

Meanwhile, Antonelli’s gap to Leclerc consistently hovered around three seconds, but by lap 45, the frontrunners grew closer and closer to one another. Antonelli was now right behind Leclerc and Norris was putting pressure on Verstappen for third, with those four drivers within four seconds.

At that stage, it was extremely clear that Ferrari was delaying Leclerc’s single pitstop in the hope of a safety car – virtual or not – but there was none, and he finally pitted on lap 48. Charles was given soft tyres for a nine-lap dash, but emerged in between the top three and fifth-placed Russell.

The end of the race was a three-way contest for victory between Antonelli, Verstappen and Norris. Despite running very close to one another, none of them was able to make anything resembling a move – until the penultimate lap, when the Red Bull driver cut the Turn 5 chicane after encountering traffic and the reigning champion applied some pressure.

Antonelli eventually pulled away to take his eighth victory of the 2026 championship from his Red Bull and McLaren rivals. Leclerc narrowly secured fourth place from Russell despite the new soft tyres on the Ferrari. Lawson took sixth for his third race back at Red Bull.

Pierre Gasly completed a massive 55-lap stint on hard tyres to hold seventh position for the longest time, hoping for a late safety car of the race, but he eventually had to pit under green flag and ended up P12 under the chequered flag.

Gasly’s Alpine teammate Franco Colapinto finished seventh after starting on mediums and switching to hards under the early VSC.

After a qualifying performance he himself described as “pretty shocking”, Oscar Piastri ended up eighth in a race where he sustained front wing damage straight away due to contact with Russell at the start. The McLaren driver never had his teammate’s pace.

Arvid Lindblad and Nico Hulkenberg scored the remaining available points for Racing Bulls and Audi, ahead of Esteban Ocon for Haas. Those three drivers, like Colapinto, pitted under the VSC – showing this was the optimal strategy.

Among the last seven drivers in the classification, Alexander Albon was the only one to make the most of a cheap pitstop – the others missed out.

Home fans was not pleased by the collision between Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz over P17, which damaged the Aston Martin’s front wing, while the Williams driver received a five-second penalty.

Alonso finished in this exact position, while Sainz was one of four retirements alongside Sergio Perez, Stroll and Hamilton.

So not the most thrilling race at this new track but in terms of the championship, Kimi Antonelli has extended his points lead over his rivals.

Spanish Grand Prix, race results:
1 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:34:23.754
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford +4.351s
3 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes +5.089s
4 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +29.116s
5 George Russell Mercedes +29.829s
6 Liam Lawson Red Bull-Ford +86.746s
7 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes +94.281s
8 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes +95.839s
9 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford +1 lap
10 Nico Hulkenberg Audi +1 lap
11 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari +1 lap
12 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes +1 lap
13 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi +1 lap
14 Yuki Tsunoda Racing Bulls-Ford +1 lap
15 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes +1 lap
16 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari +1 lap
17 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda +2 laps
18 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari +3 laps
Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes DNF
Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari DNF
Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda DNF
Lewis Hamilton Ferrari DNF

The defending Formula 1 world champion Lando Norris achieved his third pole of the season for the Spanish Grand Prix, beating championship points leader Kimi Antonelli on a brand new Madring circuit.

With a final attempt, Norris took a small margin of 0.011 seconds out of Antonelli’s benchmark to defeat Mercedes its fourth consecutive qualifying session.

It was Formula 1’s first-ever qualifying session at Madring, a challenging 5.4km circuit featuring a mixture of street sections and a high-speed purpose-built loop with little runoff areas.

But despite worries qualifying would be derailed by crashes and traffic, the session took place without any issues.

In the deciding Q3 shootout, Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton led the way after the first series of runs with a time of one minute, 32.079 seconds lap, ahead of Mercedes duo Antonelli and George Russell, and his teammate Charles Leclerc.

Red Bull had also shown competitiveness throughout qualifying, with Max Verstappen another contender for pole, but the four time champion slipped up at the end of his first flying lap and settled for fifth ahead of the Papayas.

Heading out first of the frontrunners, Antonelli took over top spot from Hamilton with a time of one minute, 31.835 seconds effort, which most of his rivals did not have an answer for. But Norris did, drifting out of the final corner to set a time of one minute, 31.824 seconds to take pole.

Verstappen was third on a surprisingly competitive outing for Red Bull after the team had struggled earlier in the weekend, with Ferrari duo Hamilton and Leclerc in fourth and fifth. Russell could only manage sixth followed by Oscar Piastri. Liam Lawson, Franco Colapinto and Arvid Lindblad completed the top ten.

Earlier in the session, Russell led the way in Q1, beating teammate Antonelli at the end of the session by 0.056 seconds as he survived a tap with the wall.

Red Bull looked particularly competitive in Q1, with Lawson a close third on softs and Verstappen was fourth on the medium tyres, allowing Max to save a set of softs for later on. Ferrari drivers Hamilton and Leclerc followed the same strategy as they each claimed a top seven position.

It was the usual players at the bottom of the timesheets, with Williams once again on the edge of a Q2 spot. Albon beat teammate and home favourite Carlos Sainz by a tiny margin of 0.005 seconds to go through into Q2 ticket with P16, the Williams driver bouncing back from a tap with the wall in FP3 which forced him to sit out the majority of the session.

Sainz is ahead of his fellow countryman Fernando Alonso, who managed P18 for Aston Martin. Cadillac’s Sergio Perez and Valtteri Bottas finished at the bottom of the twenty cars setting a lap time, with Bottas unable to complete a clean lap after being impeded by Sainz.

Qualifying got underway without Haas driver Oliver Bearman. A “gutted” Bearman suffered a heavy crash at the end of third practice session, as Haas faced an impossible battle to restore the car in time for qualifying.

Lance Stroll was the other driver not to set a lap time on the Madring circuit due to what Aston Martin called a suspected water pressure issue. He is set for a back-of-the-grid penalty anyway for exceeding his Honda power unit allowance for the season.

Spanish Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1:31.824
2 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:31.835
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford 1:31.964
4 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:32.013
5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:32.019
6 George Russell Mercedes 1:32.149
7 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes 1:32.294
8 Liam Lawson Red Bull-Ford 1:32.316
9 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes 1:32.903
10 Arvid Lindblad Red Bull-Ford 1:33.041
11 Nico Hulkenberg Audi 1:33.223
12 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 1:33.388
13 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari 1:33.667
14 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes 1:33.753
15 Yuki Tsunoda Racing Bulls-Ford 1:34.084
16 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes 1:35.532
17 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes 1:35.312
18 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda 1:35.388
19 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari 1:35.913
20 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari 1:38.011
21 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari No time
22 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda No time*
*Grid penalty for changing power unit

Kimi Antonelli came through from the back of the grid to finish first at an exciting Italian Grand Prix. The Mercedes driver had a fun battle with his teammate George Russell, swapping P1 for many laps and in the end taking a popular victory at Monza.

In an action-packed display of battery-led yo-yo racing, Antonelli overcame a grid penalty following a power unit change and a mid-race pitstop to fly through the field and defeat long-time leader Russell, with Max Verstappen defeating McLaren to the final podium position.

The race started with a bang for the sold-out, tifosi-filled grandstands. As shock polesitter Pierre Gasly held firm against Russell, Lewis Hamilton attempted to pass teammate Charles Leclerc down the inside of the tight Turn 1 chicane, with Leclerc pushing Hamilton wide on exit, costing Lewis six positions as he dropped to ninth.

The incident was noted by race control, but on the end of lap 2 Leclerc suffered a huge crash on the exit of the final Parabolica corner as he fended off McLaren’s Oscar Piastri. Leclerc skated across the gravel and went into the outside wall at high speed, escaping unhurt but bringing out the red flag for lengthy barrier repairs.

Russell had been able to pass Gasly on the front straight earlier on the lap, ensuring the Mercedes driver would take the restart from pole, while Verstappen and Franco Colapinto worked their way up to third and fourth from Piastri.

All drivers were afforded a free tyre change under the red flag, with Verstappen the only frontrunner to pick mediums instead of hards. Following an extra formation lap for Yuki Tsunoda being out of position on the grid, Russell defended the lead from Gasly, while Colapinto passed Verstappen for third. But after Verstappen strike back a trademark move around the outside of the second chicane, Colapinto went off the track in the first Lesmo right-hander, dropping the Alpine driver down to P16.

In the chaos behind the pair, Hamilton moved up to fourth at the expense of Piastri, who was battling teammate Norris and Arvid Lindblad. After a rocket start, Antonelli took advantage of that fight to move up to sixth with a double pass on Norris and Lindblad on the main straight.

On lap 7, Alpine’s hopes of a shock win for Gasly was reduced further when he was passed for second by Verstappen. Three laps later, Gasly also lost third to Hamilton, and he was powerless to keep Piastri and Antonelli behind as Alpine dropped to sixth.

Clearing Gasly quickly was supposed to hand Russell a clear path to victory, but on an day where slipstreaming was key, the Mercedes driver was unable to break away from Verstappen and instead starting coming under pressure from the Red Bull, with the pair trading the lead two more times on lap 12 and 15.

But rather than Russell, Antonelli quickly emerged as the more likely of the two Silver Arrows drivers to take victory despite starting from P19. As the last driver of the three cars, some two seconds behind the leaders, Antonelli had already picked off Hamilton and Piastri in quick succession.

Russell’s battle with Verstappen allowed Antonelli to rapidly close in on the lead battle, snatching second away from the Red Bull driver on lap 16. Antonelli only needed one attempt to pass Russell for the lead, claiming control on lap 18 at Turn 1.

The so-called yo-yo racing, with battery deployment dictating straight-line speeds, continued at a speedy pace, with Russell twice retaking the lead on lap 22 and 23. Suggestions from the pit wall to halt the yo-yo racing and build a gap to Verstappen were met with a grumpy reply from Kimi, but he did comply as he tucked in behind Russell and conserved his medium tyres.

The story of the race changed when Lance Stroll ground to a halt in his Aston Martin, with Antonelli and Verstappen using the virtual safety car to swap from the medium and switch to new tyres. The pair came out in sixth and seventh, just 15 seconds behind Russell, who was nursing his hard tyres to the end.

By lap 37 of 53, Antonelli had worked his way past Hamilton and then Piastri to second place, giving himself 16 laps to close the nine-second gap to his leading teammate while Verstappen followed him through into third.

Antonelli was quick but not initially catching Russell fast enough to close the gap, as George escaped for action for a suspected yellow flag infringement. But Russell’s hard tyres started showing worsening signs of wear towards the end of the race, allowing Antonelli to close the gap by the end of lap 47.

The first clash followed at the start of lap 49, with Russell cutting Turn 2 as he desperately tried to keep Antonelli behind. But Kimi went off as well, drifting through the gravel trap on the outside, allowing George to retain the lead.

Not best pleased by the Turn 1 moment, Antonelli tried again on the following lap but opted for a more straight-forward pass between Lesmo 2 and the Variante Ascari.

The Mercedes driver held onto his hard-fought lead until the finish, winning the Italian Grand Prix at the second time of asking. Russell was a defeated second, with Verstappen joining them on the podium.

Piastri and Norris brought home fourth and fifth for McLaren at the expense of Hamilton, who dropped back on worn medium tyres to finish sixth. From pole, Gasly eventually taking seventh at the finish ahead of Lindblad and Colapinto, with the Racing Bulls car of Tsunoda claiming the final point in tenth on his second weekend as a replacement driver.

In an exciting Monza race, Antonelli is the first Italian winner in 60 years as he increasing his championship lead by seven points, now heading Russell by 66 points into next weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix on the newly-built Madring in Madrid.

Italian Grand Prix, race results:
1 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:51:15.281
2 George Russell Mercedes +3.857s
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford +14.718s
4 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes +19.056s
5 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes +19.253s
6 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +24.655s
7 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes +27.351s
8 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford +45.136s
9 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes +47.353s
10 Yuki Tsunoda Racing Bulls-Ford +58.187s
11 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi +65.187s
12 Nico Hulkenberg Audi +66.187s
13 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes +74.117s
14 Liam Lawson Red Bull-Ford +75.609s
15 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari +78.958s
16 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari +1 lap
17 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes +1 lap
18 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari +1 lap
19 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari +1 lap
Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda DNF
Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda DNF
Charles Leclerc Ferrari DNF

Pierre Gasly takes a surprising pole position for the Italian Grand Prix, edging out George Russell to take the top spot at Monza.

The 2020 race winner was extremely fast during all three segments of qualifying and to see Gasly go quickest and take P1 is pure joy for fans of motorsport.

On the scene of his maiden race victory, Alpine driver Pierre Gasly has written another chapter in his Formula 1 career by claiming his first-ever pole.

In a thrilling Q3 shootout, Gasly edged out pre-session favourite George Russell by a mere 0.060 seconds to deny the Mercedes driver a fifth pole of the year and take Alpine to the top of the timesheets.

Russell initially was the quickest with a time of one minute, 21.929 seconds, ahead of Oscar Piastri, Gasly and Charles Leclerc.

With the entire top ten covered by less than two tenths, getting optimal track position to benefit from a slipstream being highly important, with Russell had an advantage thanks to Kimi Antonelli.

Antonelli is set to start on the last row due to an engine penalty, so the championship leader was asked to tow Russell around the 5.8km circuit.

But Gasly played the tow to perfection by grabbing a slipstream from Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, and delivered an outstanding lap to jump Russell.

Piastri and Leclerc were fourth and fifth, followed by Hamilton and Max Verstappen. Antonelli was seventh but will lose that position on the grid, promoting Franco Colapinto to seventh.

Norris was a disappointed ninth after not being able to grab a slipstream from teammate Piastri, who went off in Turn 1. In doing so, Oscar ruined his own lap and left Lando punching a hole in the air by himself. Piastri and Norris had both struggled under brakes in Turn 1, and Piastri is also expected to be investigated for blocking Liam Lawson.

Following post qualifying, the race stewards handed Piastri a three-place grid penalty for impeding Lawson during his flying lap. So Lelcerc is promoted an extra spot on the second row.

Arvid Lindblad qualified P10 and will move up to ninth as a result of Antonelli’s penalty.

The first series of Q2 runs left Ferrari’s Hamilton in the elimation zone, appearing to catch traffic at the wrong time on his run, which left the seven-time world champion with a lot of work to do on his final run.

With Leclerc also under pressure in ninth, neither teammate was in a position to help the each other. Leclerc was unable to improve his lap, but Hamilton did manage to recover half a tenth out of the SF-26, demoting Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto by a tiny 0.001 seconds margin.

Bortoleto was followed out by Oliver Bearman, who used an upgraded Haas car and power unit to take P12. Lawson was eliminated in P13, denying Red Bull a chance to give Verstappen a tow in Q3.

Lawson, who replaces the injured Isack Hadjar for the second consecutive weekend, will join Antonelli at the back of the grid with an engine penalty.

Nico Hulkenberg, Carlos Sainz and Esteban Ocon also exited the session at the end of Q2.

In Q1, which was surprisingly headed by Gasly ahead of Verstappen and Norris, with Racing Bull’s replacement driver Yuki Tsunoda, who stood in for Lawson.

Tsunoda was on the wrong end of the cut-off in P17 after unable to deliver a clean lap, allowing Williams driver Sainz to escape to Q2 by 0.139 seconds.

Sainz’s teammate Alex Albon also played a role by handing the Carlos a crucial tow on the straight while Alex was down in P18.

Cadillac defeated Aston Martin at the bottom of the order, with Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez comfortably ahead of a struggling Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll. Alonso was unable to complete a final run due to a Honda power unit problem.

Aston Martin will not start on the last row of the grid, however, with Lawson and Antonelli following their engine change penalties.

So a surprising and yet welcome news to see Pierre Gasly in pole position. Following the news that the sport’s governing body, the FIA, reinstated the Monaco race result meaning Alpine lost a P3 finish following the hearing from McLaren and Red Bull, it was redemption to have Alpine starting in P1 at Monza.

Italian Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes 1:21.786
2 George Russell Mercedes 1:21.846
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:22.004
4 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:22.011
5 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford 1:22.070
6 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes 1:21.966**
7 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes 1:22.220
8 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1:22.256
9 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford 1:22.286
10 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 1:22.517
11 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari 1:22.756
12 Nico Hulkenberg Audi 1:22.779
13 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes 1:23.453
14 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari 1:23.454
15 Yuki Tsunoda Racing Bulls-Ford 1:23.755
16 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari 1:24.364
17 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari 1:24.595
18 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda 1:25.150
19 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda 1:25.222
20 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:22.093*
21 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes 1:24.356*
22 Liam Lawson Red Bull-Ford 1:22.821*
*Grid penalty following power unit changes
**Three-place grid drop for impeding

Lando Norris achieved his second successive victory following Hungary by taking the chequered flag at the final race at Zandvoort. The defending champion finished the Dutch Grand Prix in P1 ahead of the Mercedes duo of Kimi Antonelli and George Russell.

The McLaren driver crossed the finishing line 11.5 seconds ahead of runner-up Antonelli, whose Mercedes teammate Russell completed the podium.

It came after Norris beat sprint winner Russell for pole ahead of third-placed Antonelli and they all, like the rest of the grid, started on slicks despite rain an hour before lights out.

But the rain was on and off, causing a wet-dry surface, the dangers of which emerged at the end of the opening lap once Norris had a perfect getaway while Antonelli overtook Russell at Turn 1.

That’s because Verstappen dipped a tyre onto the white line on the inside of the final corner, causing the Red Bull driver to spin into the barrier leaving debris on the circuit.

“Yeah that’s it – sorry!,” said the Red Bull driver via team radio, having brought out the red flag just as Gabriel Bortoleto also had a spin at the banking but somehow avoided damage, with Nico Hulkenberg in particular avoiding his Audi teammate in a cloud of smoke.

Another standing start followed – after Oliver Bearman suffered an engine issue on the formation lap – much to Lando’s dismay as Kimi squeezed by at Turn 1 for the lead.

That was despite softs on the McLaren compared to mediums for Antonelli, while Russell lost third to hard runner Oscar Piastri at Turn 7.

Russell just did not have the pace, soon being under attack by Charles Leclerc as he reported balance problems, but the tight track allowed him to hold firm before swapping mediums for hards on lap 18.

McLaren responded the previous lap with Piastri, but this backfired as a slow 5.4 seconds tyre change put him behind Russell just as a dominant Antonelli streaked 2.2 seconds clear of Norris out front.

That gap closed to a second once the pit window – where all the frontrunners chose hard tyres except Leclerc on mediums – had passed, yet the reigning champion struggled to gain ground.

The wheel-to-wheel battles were more prevalent lower down. Yuki Tsunoda came out on top in an amazing multi-car fight for the top ten, while Leclerc was constantly on Piastri’s tail.

That battle finally ended on lap 34 when the Ferrari and McLaren went through the opening corners wheel-to-wheel, only for Leclerc to edge by for fourth around the outside of Turn 3.

Unfortunately for Piastri, he was overtaken for fifth at Turn 1 on the following lap by Lewis Hamilton, who quickly closed in on teammate Leclerc.

The seven-time world champion was frustrated by the team orders but they did not arrive and Hamilton sarcastically told his Ferrari team, “great way of wasting time guys, good job!”.

Hamilton eventually moved by, though, once Leclerc had made his second pitstop on lap 43, two laps after the Mercedes duo, and five before Norris came in for another set of hard tyres.

But Ferrari kept Hamilton out, which left him with first on track, yet the battle for the net lead emerged behind as Norris rapidly closed on Antonelli, who complained about his rear Pirellis.

On lap 54 Hamilton, Antonelli and Norris were all within a second and the reigning world champion made a sweeping move on Antonelli around the outside of Turn 1.

It was that same lap that Norris subsequently took the actual lead at Turn 11 from Hamilton, who dropped behind Antonelli at Turn 1 the following lap – just as Esteban Ocon caused a virtual safety car by stopping at Turn 4.

“Are you using me as a guinea pig,” complained Hamilton, wanting to pit, and that he finally did under the VSC by taking softs – same for Antonelli, while Norris and now second-placed Russell stayed out on hard compound.

Norris admitted he was “worried” by that decision and had reasons to be so, as the advantage of the fresher tyre became evident with Antonelli quickly reducing his gap to Russell.

Mercedes eventually told George to let his teammate by with the swap occurring at Turn 1 on lap 65, but this left Russell vulnerable against Hamilton claiming “we’ve lost a double podium”.

But Russell held position, helped by a brief VSC on lap 70 for debris at Turn 5, to take the final podium spot, 4.3 seconds behind Antonelli and 15.8 seconds off Norris who took his second win of the season.

So Hamilton finished fourth, Leclerc took fifth and Piastri was sixth, while Red Bull stand-in Liam Lawson, Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly respectively completed the top ten.

The result has extended Antonelli’s championship advantage, as the the Mercedes driver has a 59-point lead over both Russell and Hamilton in second as we head into Monza next weekend.

Dutch Grand Prix, race results:
1 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 2:4:44.859
2 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +11.536s
3 George Russell Mercedes +15.906s
4 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +16.755s
5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +17.258s
6 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes +32.332s
7 Liam Lawson Red Bull-Ford +79.915s
8 Nico Hulkenberg Audi +1 lap
9 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda +1 lap
10 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes +1 lap
11 Yuki Tsunoda Racing Bulls-Ford +1 lap
12 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford +1 lap
13 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi +1 lap
14 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes +2 laps
15 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari +2 laps
16 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes +2 laps
Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes DNF
Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari DNF
Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari DNF
Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda DNF
Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari DNF
Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford DNF

Lando Norris edged out the Mercedes duo of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli to take pole position for the final Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.

The McLaren driver beat sprint winner Russell by 0.102 seconds to seal a perfect qualifying for McLaren, as the defending champions had topped every session.

It came after Norris, who also topped Q2, had already claimed provisional pole with a lap time of one minute, 11.344 seconds and that was 0.151 seconds faster than Russell with Oscar Piastri two tenths off in third.

Until then, the qualifying session had been held in dry conditions but rain was about to fall down on the seaside track, causing a series of cars to leave the pitlane as quickly as possible for their second laps in Q3.

This did cause some trouble though, as Norris and Russell entered the track at the same time and were seen racing each other on their outlaps with five minutes remaining.

Both finally got rid of each other and Norris was first to cross the finishing line, improving to a time of one minute, 11.163 seconds on his final lap and although Russell also improved his own time, it was only one minute, 11.265 seconds.

They displaced Antonelli who had briefly gone to the top of the timesheet and Russell’s Mercedes teammate was eventually 0.133 seconds off pole with Piastri taking fourth place.

The McLaren driver was 0.142 seconds behind teammate Norris and it will be an all-Ferrari third row with Lewis Hamilton in fifth, 0.331 seconds off, and Charles Leclerc sixth, 0.395 seconds behind pole.

Seventh went to Red Bull’s home hero Max Verstappen, who was 0.455 seconds behind Norris, and he will share the fourth row with temporary teammate Liam Lawson as he is replacing the injured Isack Hadjar.

Gabriel Bortoleto qualified ninth for Audi and Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad rounded out the top ten on the day he achieved his fifth, straight Q3 appearance.

Pierre Gasly was just a tenth away from Q3 as he took P11 for Alpine and will share the sixth row with former teammate and Racing Bulls stand-in Yuki Tsunoda upon his Formula 1 return.

A late improvement from Nico Hulkenberg means P13, meaning Gasly’s teammate Franco Colapinto dropped to P14 ahead of Haas driver Esteban Ocon in P15.

Rounding out the Q2 drop zone was Alex Albon, whose teammate Carlos Sainz suffered a second, consecutive Q1 exit as he took P17 on the weekend he has signed a Williams contract extension.

It was an encouraging result for Aston Martin, who confirmed the step forward it has made with its upgraded engine and chassis despite drivability issues in the sprint sessions.

Fernando Alonso took P18 with teammate Lance Stroll in P19, while Bearman’s fears that Haas had regressed to becoming the ‘second worst team’ came true as he qualified P20.

That was ahead of only newcomer Cadillac, which was a second off Q2 and 1.7 seconds behind Piastri’s Q1 benchmark with Valtteri Bottas taking P21 and Sergio Perez last in P22.

So congratulations to Lando Norris with pole. As overtaking is tricky thanks to the narrow, old school circuit at Zandvoort, the McLaren is looking good and it will be interesting if Norris can achieve another race victory following Hungary last month.

Dutch Grand Prix, qualifying results:
1 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 1:11.163
2 George Russell Mercedes 1:11.265
3 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:11.296
4 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes 1:11.305
5 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:11.494
6 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:11.558
7 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford 1:11.618
8 Liam Lawson Red Bull-Ford 1:11.733
9 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 1:12.079
10 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford 1:12.185
11 Pierre Gasly Alpine-Mercedes 1:12.616
12 Yuki Tsunoda Racing Bulls-Ford 1:12.627
13 Nico Hulkenberg Audi 1:12.797
14 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes 1:12.800
15 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari 1:13.137
16 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes 1:13.182
17 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes 1:13.574
18 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda 1:13.650
19 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda 1:13.818
20 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari 1:13.826
21 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari 1:14.371
22 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari 1:14.600

George Russell won a lights-to-flag sprint at Zandvoort with Charles Leclerc providing the only highlight with an overtake on Lando Norris to take second position in a processional 24-lap race.

It came after Russell grabbed sprint pole after profiting from floor damage for his teammate Kimi Antonelli, who lost “25 points” of downforce due to an off at the penultimate corner in SQ1.

That left the championship leader fifth on the grid behind a front row of Russell and Norris, with Leclerc and teammate Oscar Piastri respectively lining up third and fourth.

At lights out, Russell enjoyed a solid getaway from Norris, but Antonelli immediately gained a position with a move around the outside of Piastri at Turn 1.

The Mercedes driver applied pressure on Leclerc, who started on soft tyres compared to the rest on medium tyres, but as expected overtaking proved difficult.

The opening laps were rather static around the tight seaside Zandvoort circuit, but the evenly-matched drivers still remained within touching distance of each other as they preserved their tyres.

On lap 10 Mercedes allowed Russell to push harder and the leader quickly moved clear of a now vulnerable Norris by two seconds.

“I’ve got no rear,” reported the defending world champion, who could not keep his eyes off the Ferrari and Mercedes in his mirrors.

It resulted in Leclerc finally making his overtake down the inside of Norris at Turn 1 on lap 18 – which was the only highlight in this sprint race – the Ferrari quickly pulled ahead, the McLaren still had to defend from Antonelli.

But once again at Zandvoort, staying within a second of the car in front is one thing, yet overtaking is another, and all Norris really needed to do was keep it within the track limits.

That he did, so Norris managed to hold on to third behind winner Russell, who crossed the line 1.4 seconds ahead of Leclerc – the Ferrari driver taking his third sprint podium of 2026.

Antonelli finished in fourth, 0.4 seconds off Norris, with an extra 4.6 seconds to fifth-placed Piastri who had Red Bull’s Max Verstappen just 0.3 seconds behind in sixth in front of his home crowd.

Lewis Hamilton took seventh, with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly completing the points positions in eighth.

Well done George Russell with his third sprint race win. Hopefully this will kickstart his championship fightback to his young teammate in the second half of the season.

Dutch Grand Prix, sprint race results:
1 George Russell Mercedes 30:25.318
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +1.360s
3 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes +5.196s
4 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +5.581s
5 Oscar Piastri McLaren-Mercedes +10.185s
6 Max Verstappen Red Bull-Ford +10.529s
7 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +12.188s
8 Pierre Gasly Alpine +42.510s
9 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi +44.437s
10 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls-Ford +44.971s
11 Liam Lawson Red Bull-Ford +47.471s
12 Franco Colapinto Alpine-Mercedes +54.466s
13 Yuki Tsunoda Racing Bulls-Ford +56.483s
14 Esteban Ocon Haas-Ferrari +66.098s
15 Oliver Bearman Haas-Ferrari +66.588s
16 Alexander Albon Williams-Mercedes +74.632s
17 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Honda +74.650s
18 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin-Honda +75.284s
19 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari +1 lap
20 Carlos Sainz Williams-Mercedes +1 lap
21 Sergio Perez Cadillac-Ferrari +2 laps
22 Nico Hulkenberg Audi +17 laps