Category: Motor Sports

• First win of season for Dutchman after long rain delay

• Heartbreak for Russell as power units struggle in weather

Max Verstappen won a chaotic Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia with a dominant drive for Red Bull, his team’s first win of the season, beating the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli into second. The Italian’s teammate and title rival George Russell was forced to retire with five laps to go leaving the British driver’s title hopes shattered and Antonelli within touching distance of the championship.

Lewis Hamilton was third for Ferrari, making a remarkable comeback after a torrid afternoon, starting on the slick rubber tyres in the wet which dropped him as far back as 17th before reviving with a superb drive, including a late pass on Isack Hadjar who finished fifth. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fourth after a race marked by farcical scenes before it was even underway. This season’s engine formula was found sorely wanting the first time it was tested in wet conditions.

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• Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton starts second on the front row

• Kimi Antonelli in fourth, George Russell down in eighth

The wait has been long for Max Verstappen but when the Dutchman finally claimed his first pole position of the year he did it in no little style. Taking the top spot for Red Bull at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, Verstappen was all but untouchable.

However, what was of greatest import for the Formula One world championship was the gulf between the title leader, Kimi Antonelli, and his Mercedes teammate, George Russell. The latter, somewhat floundering in Sepang, is now in danger of losing further points he can ill afford in pursuit of the Italian.

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Title rivals bring upgrades to first Grand Prix in Malaysia since 2017 on a demanding but well liked circuit

While the byzantine nomenclature of this weekend’s “Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia” will have Formula One’s statisticians muttering darkly under their breath for years to come, the import of the sport’s return to the Sepang circuit remains all too straightforward at the sharp end. Complicated only perhaps by a Red Bull resurgence and an enthused Max Verstappen, determined to make his mark on the championship run-in.

The return to Malaysia for its first race since 2017 has been welcomed in F1. It is a much-liked circuit among drivers, albeit the high temperatures and humidity make for an enormous physical challenge.

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• Team principal under scrutiny after underperformance

• ‘Fred is the guy to take this team in the right direction’

Lewis Hamilton has backed his Ferrari team principal, Fred Vasseur, as the best person to lead the team, but believes the leadership structure above and around the Frenchman could be overhauled.

Hamilton was speaking before this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, with the race being held at the Sepang circuit but branded as a replacement for the meeting that was cancelled earlier in the season because of the war in the Middle East. Ferrari go into the race with Vasseur under scrutiny, given the team have been underperforming and with the former Red Bull team principal Christian Horner having stated last week that taking over at Ferrari would be his dream job.

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• Marque reaffirms commitment to Fred Vasseur

• Horner had expressed interest in joining Ferrari

Ferrari have reaffirmed their backing for their team principal, Fred Vasseur, in an effort to end speculation that Christian Horner was being considered as a potential replacement for the Frenchman.

Horner gave an interview in the Times last week in which he stated that leading Ferrari would be his “dream” job and the only one he would consider without having part-ownership of the team. His comments provoked debate that he could replace Vasseur, given the Scuderia’s underperformance this season.

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• Alpine condemn social media abuse of world champion

• Fans of Argentinian driver criticised after Baku incident

Lando Norris has been the victim of a wave of online abuse, having stated that the Alpine driver Franco Colapinto should not be in Formula One, after the Argentinian caused an accident that knocked the defending world champion out of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Saturday.

Such was the level of abuse on social media, which appears to be from fans of Colapinto, his Alpine team were prompted to issue a statement condemning what is only the latest incident in a host of occurrences of fan abuse associated with the Argentinian driver.

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• Briton forced to retire from Azerbaijan GP when eighth

• Colapinto given a grid drop at the next round in Malaysia

Lando Norris has issued a scathing criticism of Franco Colapinto, saying the Alpine driver does not deserve to be in Formula One and should face a ban after taking Norris’s McLaren out of the race.

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix was won by Mercedes’ George Russell but Norris was forced to retire from eighth place after Colapinto caused the accident that all but ended the defending world champion’s title hopes.

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• Briton leads from pole to claim third win of the season

• Russell closes gap on leader Kimi Antonelli, who was fifth

George Russell took a dominant victory from pole to flag at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix to give his world championship hopes a shot in the arm. His Mercedes teammate and title leader Kimi Antonelli delivered a strong comeback to claim fifth from 16th on the grid, but the British driver clawed back 15 points on the Italian.

Russell delivered a drive that was all but flawless, including managing two tense restarts after the safety car was called. He was hounded to the line by Max Verstappen, his margin at the line just one-tenth of a second.

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• Championship leader Antonelli crashes out in Q1

• Mercedes teammate takes pole by 0.837 from Leclerc

Kimi Antonelli was left ruing an uncharacteristic error in qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix which eliminated the championship leader in the first session after he hit a wall in Baku. His Mercedes teammate George Russell claimed pole with a fine lap and will be in a strong position to make up ground in the title chase in Saturday’s race.

Antonelli leads Russell by 81 points in the world championship and has won the last two races but sat disconsolately trackside after only 11 minutes of running on Friday in Baku, when he was a little too eager into the 90-degree left-handed turn one and clipped the barrier.

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• ‘I want to try and win every single race. That’s my goal’

• Briton quickest in practice for Azerbaijan Grand Prix

George Russell has insisted he will keep fighting for the Formula One world championship until it is mathematically gone but while he made an encouraging start to his efforts by going quickest in practice for this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix the makeup of said numbers remains somewhat in limbo.

Russell is 81 points behind his Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli going into the race in Baku which is taking place on Saturday to avoid clashing with Azerbaijan’s national remembrance day. The Italian has eight victories this season including the past two in a row, coming through to win from 19^th on the grid in Monza and then taking the flag in Madrid.

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• ‘I love going to the Middle East,’ says Ferrari driver

• Qatar and Abu Dhabi races could still be cancelled

Lewis Hamilton said he hopes the Formula One season can still end at the two scheduled rounds in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, with the finale still in doubt because of the war in the Middle East.

Formula One is pressing ahead with its original plan, although a contingency is understood to be in place to host a final round in Imola if the volatile situation means both meetings have to be cancelled.

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• Monaco and Bahrain among additional sprint hosts

• 24-race schedule includes returns to Turkey and Portugal

Formula One has announced its calendar for 2027, with an increase in sprint races to 10 events, including at Monaco, and the addition of meetings in Portugal and Turkey.

The season of 24 races will open in Bahrain, while the British grand prix at Silverstone is to take place on the weekend of 2-4 July. All four races in the Middle East are scheduled to take place in their normal slots.

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The Italian was the beneficiary of Lando Norris’s ill luck with a virtual safety car and pit stop

The formation lap is away. It’s a hot day in Madrid, 31 degrees, no shade at all. The track temperature is 54 degrees.

The 57 laps are soon to start, a voyage into the unknown, with the preliminary races throwing up a few questions of what the track will dish out to the drivers.

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• Mercedes principal likens 20-year-old to F1 greats

• ‘No stopping him when a driver and car are one’

Toto Wolff has compared Kimi Antonelli to the greats of Formula One after the Mercedes driver’s remarkable victory at the Italian Grand Prix where he came back to take the flag from 19th place on the grid.

The Mercedes team principal cited the win as similar to some of the best made by seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton and said that Antonelli would likely remember the race as one of the greatest of his career.

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