Track limits played a pivotal role in the outcome of Formula 1’s entertaining 2021 season opener, as with four laps to go Red Bull’s Max Verstappen overtook erstwhile leader Lewis Hamilton at Turn 4 but had to hand the position back to the defending world champion after leaving the track. In qualifying track limit transgressions
Ducati has won the previous two Qatar GPs courtesy of Andrea Dovizioso, but Vinales ended that run after battling his way through the Desmosedicis after a slow start. Poleman Francesco Bagnaia led a Ducati charge off the line, as team-mate Jack Miller, Pramac’s Johann Zarco and his rookie team-mate Jorge Martin from 14th on the
3:16 PM ET Nikita Mazepin apologised to Haas after spinning out three corners into his Formula One debut at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Mazepin spun out without making contact with another driver and hit the wall, ending his race immediately. The Russian driver, who spun several times during practice on Friday and qualifying on Saturday,
The four-time F1 world champion, preparing for his Aston Martin debut after switching from Ferrari over the winter, was knocked out in the first session of qualifying in 18th place ahead of the Bahrain Grand Prix after aborting his final flying lap due to two separate yellow flag incidents. Vettel, who was initially cleared in
The 15-time MotoGP race winner was ousted from his Ducati seat at the end of 2020 and has taken a sabbatical in 2021 having turned down a race seat offer from Aprilia. But, earlier this month, Aprilia announced it would undertake a three-day private test at Jerez on 12-14 April with Dovizioso riding the RS-GP.
Bagnaia smashed the Qatar lap record on Saturday with a 1m52.772s to score his first pole position in the premier class on his debut as a Ducati factory team rider. The Italian’s pace during testing made him one of the favourites for the race, but he doesn’t believe he will be able to copy the
4:09 PM ET Two times world champion Fernando Alonso clarified on Saturday a comment in which he appeared to suggest he was better than Formula One’s leading drivers, saying he had misheard the question. The 39-year-old, who is making a comeback with Renault-owned Alpine and qualified ninth in Bahrain for his first grand prix since
Red Bull’s Verstappen held off both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas to claim the fifth pole position of his career to demonstrate his impressive pace during pre-season testing and practice in Bahrain. Hamilton edged Mercedes team-mate Bottas to take second place, feeling he got the maximum out of his W12 F1 car, as the reigning
The South African will start the opening round of the 2021 season from 19th on the grid as KTM’s struggles at the Losail circuit continue. KTM has been able to start the new year with a new engine, while the base of the bike is not too dissimilar to the RC16 which both Binder and
Sometimes it’s superstition, other times it is for intensely personal reasons – every driver has to have one and where there’s a number there’s a back story. For more F1® videos, visit http://www.Formula1.com Follow F1®: http://www.instagram.com/F1 https://www.facebook.com/Formula1/ Tweets by F1 https://www.twitch.tv/formula1 @f1 #F1
In a stunning show of speed in qualifying, Bagnaia destroyed the lap record at the Losail International Circuit with a 1m52.772s to take his first premier class pole position, beating a trio of Yamaha riders in the process. Fabio Quartararo led the charge for Yamaha to take second place ahead of team-mate Maverick Vinales, with
4:18 PM ET Four-times world champion Sebastian Vettel will appear before Bahrain Grand Prix stewards on Sunday for allegedly failing to respect warning flags in qualifying for his first race with Aston Martin. The summons for not respecting double-yellow flags at turn one capped a frustrating day for the German, who had hoped for a
The four-time F1 champion is making his Aston Martin debut this weekend following his switch from Ferrari over the winter, but endured a frustrating qualifying in Bahrain when he was knocked out in Q1 after having to back off on his final flying lap due to traffic and yellow flags. Vettel had to slow down
The ART Grand Prix driver initially finished second on the road behind race winner Oscar Piastri, although stewards had earlier issued a 10-second time penalty to Lundgaard for contact with Lirim Zendeli that ultimately ended his race. Lundgaard pulled up in the parc ferme to appear on the podium before the timing screen updated the
Mir ended Friday “very pissed off” after missing a place in Q2, with suboptimal track conditions on Saturday in FP3 resigning the defending champion to running in Q1. The Suzuki rider managed to progress into Q2, but could only manage 10th and almost a second slower than poleman Francesco Bagnaia’s Ducati. Explaining his issues, Mir
3:59 PM ET Formula One’s rule changes for 2021 were intended to rein in Mercedes, seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton said on Saturday. The Briton was speaking to reporters after Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who has been fastest in testing and every free practice session, took the first pole position of the season in
Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, Alexander Rossi and Pato O’Ward were in action on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, using the push-to-pass system at 1.5-bar to simulate the burst of released energy from a KERS unit. IndyCar will replace the current 2.2-litre twin-turbo V6s with KERS-supplemented 2.4-litre twin-turbo V6s in 2023, with the target being a combined
The AlphaTauri driver let rip with some choice swear words over his team radio during the opening practice session for the Bahrain Grand Prix after being dumped out in to traffic. While his feistiness captured the interest of fans on social media, Tsunoda thinks that he needs to control his emotions better. “I always try to
The third practice session of a MotoGP weekend often features a battle to get into the top 10 on combined times to secure a place in the pole shootout session in qualifying. But the baking hot conditions of the Saturday afternoon session in Qatar meant improvements on the combined order were non-existent. This was good
Miller ended Friday’s running fastest of all after posting a 1m53.387s in the second session, leading a Ducati 1-2 ahead of factory team-mate Francesco Bagnaia. Morbidelli topped FP1 after setting his best effort on a 16-lap-old rear tyre, and was 0.289s off Miller’s time in seventh on the combined order after FP2. Miller admits the
4:01 PM ET McLaren’s Lando Norris was second fastest in second practice for Formula One’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix on Friday and almost as quick in playing down his team’s prospects. “We looked quick today but it’s fairly obvious what’s going to happen tomorrow. It’s going to be kind of the usual front four cars
Following an encouraging pre-season test, Verstappen continued to set the pace for Red Bull by going quickest in both free practice sessions on the opening day of the Bahrain Grand Prix. At the end of FP2, McLaren’s Lando Norris was the Dutch driver’s closest competitor, with the pair split by just 0.095s, while defending F1
Toro Rosso driver Pierre Gasly donned a very special helmet at the Monaco Grand Prix. Jump onboard for Pierre vision, and experience the same sights and sounds as an F1 driver on a lap of Monaco… Toro Rosso’s chanel: https://www.youtube.com/user/ToroRossoOfficial For more F1® videos, visit http://www.Formula1.com Like F1® on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Formula1/ Follow F1® on Twitter:
Hitech Grand Prix driver Vips has been removed from the qualifying results after FIA stewards determined that the undertray fins of car #8 were not in compliance with Article 4.3.13 of the F2 Technical Regulations. Vips, who had been fifth fastest in Saturday’s 30-minute qualifying session, will now start Saturday’s opening race and Sunday’s feature
The former KTM rider, who has joined Honda this season after four years on the Austrian company’s machines, admitted during Qatar pre-season testing that not being able to know the limit of the front end of the Honda was “stressful” and felt he could only do this by crashing. Although he did fall during the test,
4:09 PM ET If you haven’t bought into the hype surrounding the 2021 Formula One season already, now might be the time. 1 Related On the eve of the first qualifying session of the year in Bahrain, Red Bull has emerged as a genuine threat to Mercedes and Max Verstappen appears to be the favourite
Ferrari is aiming to rebound from a dreadful 2020 season in which the Scuderia finished sixth in the constructors’ championship and it has appeared to make good progress during the off-season. Boosted by an improved power unit newcomer Sainz was fourth fastest in Friday’s second practice, using Pirelli’s soft tyres to come within three tenths
The Suzuki rider admitted after pre-season testing that he started the season only “70%” ready having lost a vital day of work on the 2021 GSX-RR chassis to poor weather conditions (with Mir confirming on Friday he is using the 2020 frame). Mir began the day fifth fastest, but faded to outside of the Q2
With an engine development freeze carrying over into the start of 2021 for all but Aprilia and KTM, Yamaha’s power deficit to its rivals – and Ducati in particular – remains substantial. This is accentuated in Qatar owing to Losail’s one kilometre long main straight, with the fastest Ducati clocking 354km/h during Friday practice, while
1:52 PM ET Mercedes boss Toto Wolff is expecting a dog fight with Red Bull at the Bahrain Grand Prix, the opening race of Formula One’s 2021 season. Red Bull appears to be the car to beat at this stage of the season, a reversal of the last seven years of unmatched Mercedes dominance. Max