First practice on Friday morning had to be red flagged after a fire erupted on the grass on the inside of Turn 7 at the Shanghai International Circuit.The same section later caught fire at the end of the first session of sprint qualifying, which led to the start of SQ2Continue Reading
Hamilton was one of the standout performers of a wet final qualifying segment on Friday afternoon, taking second behind McLaren’s Lando Norris.The seven-time world champion said his car “came alive” in the wet, but he’s realistic about its potential if Saturday morning’s sprint is held in dry conditions.”It was prettyContinue Reading
Having claimed every pole position so far in the 2024 F1 season, Verstappen looked strong favourite again after topping Q2 of sprint qualifying in the dry.But as rain fell at the Shanghai International Circuit it produced a major unknown given no driver had any wet running at a track F1Continue Reading
Rain made the already slippery Shanghai surface even more treacherous and Friday afternoon’s final segment of sprint qualifying was peppered with incidents, with world champion Max Verstappen going off twice and Charles Leclerc tapping the wall with his front wing.McLaren driver Norris bagged sprint pole, but not before his lapContinue Reading
Norris had his penultimate timed lap deleted for track limits at Turn 16, but his 1m57.940s follow-up ultimately proved unbeatable during a wet and slippery final part of sprint qualifying – which yielded multiple mistakes across the field.This lap was initially chalked off for track limits as well, suspected toContinue Reading
After every F1 qualifying session, Autosport publishes each team’s qualifying record in terms of team-mate duels.This record is based exclusively on qualifying results so that grid penalties don’t alter the statistics.When a driver can’t put in a representative lap time due to a technical issue or an incident, this willContinue Reading
The French manufacturer has admitted surprise at the BoP for its Le Mans Hypercar, now known as the 9X8 2024, which will hit the track 31kg heavier and with 10kW (13bhp) less power than its predecessor did at the Qatar WEC season-opener in March.The increase in minimum weight and theContinue Reading
While teams are often reluctant to introduce major development packages for sprint race weekends, because of limited track running, it does not prevent them seeking gains in other ways.And interestingly, in the team submissions lodged with the FIA for this weekend’s race in Shanghai, three outfits have made revisions toContinue Reading
The French manufacturer has fast-tracked an upgraded floor for this weekend’s round in Shanghai aimed at bringing more performance after its difficult start to the year. It will be used by Esteban Ocon exclusively this time out, before both drivers have it for the next race in Miami.But interestingly, the revisedContinue Reading
The Canadian intervened in the end-of-session series of soft tyre laps to leapfrog Oscar Piastri’s effort moments before the chequered flag, which nobody else had enough time to beat.His surprise appearance at the top of the timesheets rather defined the atypical order locked in at the close of the session,Continue Reading