All posts tagged: George Russell

Antonelli wins Spanish GP to extend title lead after Norris misfortune

Antonelli wins Spanish GP to extend title lead after Norris misfortune

Welcome to our live coverage for the 2026 Spanish Grand Prix, the first time the race has been held at the all-new, purpose-built street circuit, the Madring. The track has developed a reputation in its short life for being a bit of a tricky one. Some have gone so far as to call it a “car killer”? Is it living up to that reputation? Probably, especially if you look at some of the lower formulae that have run on it.  It has also increasingly become the case for the Formula One cars, too. The first couple of practice sessions on Friday revealed little to worry about. As the drivers began to push, though, from final practice and qualifying, the mistakes and crashes happened. The biggest so far was Oliver Bearman but also a smaller one for Lewis Hamilton.  There will almost certainly be some kind of incident in the race, but whether we see red flags, safety cars and so on remains to be seen. A bigger and perhaps more significant question will be how …

Antonelli ends 60-year wait for home winner after starting 19th at Italian GP

Antonelli ends 60-year wait for home winner after starting 19th at Italian GP

That meant that when Mercedes, McLaren and Ferrari had scrappy sessions, Gasly was there to pick up the pole. It would not have been a surprise had he qualified on the front two rows, though.  It was a disappointment for George Russell, who missed out by just 0.06sec. Still, it could have been better but it could have been worse. Starting on the front row is no bad thing here and it is expected that Mercedes will have a faster race car (and possibly the fastest) than Alpine. With Antonelli starting at the back because of an engine penalty, it gives Russell the chance to eat into Antonelli’s title lead.  What would be a satisfying amount today? Well, if Russell wins and Antonelli fights his way back to fourth, say, that is a 13-point gap, meaning Russell would be 46 points adrift heading into Madrid next week. Still, let’s not forget that Russell will have to take one of these engine penalties soon, too… Source link

Frustrated George Russell fails to make up ground as Lando Norris wins incident-packed Dutch GP

Frustrated George Russell fails to make up ground as Lando Norris wins incident-packed Dutch GP

This was a fitting race with a thrilling finale to end Zandvoort’s six-race stint on the F1 calendar, though home hero Verstappen’s participation ended before he crossed the finish line at the end of the first lap. Exiting the final corner, still damp from a heavy shower 30 minutes before, he put a tyre onto the white lines on the inside. He lost control of his Red Bull, smashing into one barrier at the top of the track before rolling to a standstill, destroyed, at the bottom of it. The race was stopped for more than 30 minutes. As for the championship leader? This was arguably Antonelli’s poorest weekend in recent memory, yet he managed to find a way to finish ahead of Russell for the eighth time in 12 rounds in 2026. That, too, sums up his season. His hopes of a home victory at Monza, though, will be dented by the news that he will take a hefty grid penalty for a power-unit change. “In theory our calculations say that’s the best track …

George Russell king of the sprint and driving with freedom after engagement

George Russell king of the sprint and driving with freedom after engagement

Welcome to our live coverage for the sprint race for the 2026 Dutch Grand Prix, the first race after F1’s summer break. Kimi Antonelli has had a tremendous first part of the season, leading Lewis Hamilton by 50 points and George Russell by 59 after the first 11 rounds. He has taken six wins to Russell’s two, with Hamilton, Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc all racking up a win apiece.  His start to the second part of the season was not the best, however. A messy sprint qualifying session meant he ended down in fifth, more than 0.2sec behind team-mate Russell, who took a much-needed pole.  Some of the damage was self-inflicted, quite literally. In the first session of sprint qualifying he ran wide at the banked turn 12 and into the gravel. The damage to the floor of his car was attempted to be repaired for the rest of the session but left him lacking downforce. A gap of 0.2sec is not enormous but the other issue was that three other cars – Norris, …

Russell takes Dutch GP sprint pole as Antonelli struggles to fifth

Russell takes Dutch GP sprint pole as Antonelli struggles to fifth

Welcome to our live coverage for sprint qualifying for the 2026 Dutch Grand Prix from Zandvoort. This is the last time the race will be on the F1 calendar for the foreseeable future, having been reintroduced in 2021 after a 35-year absence. It will be a shame to see it leave again, but never rule out it coming back, especially with Max Verstappen signing a lengthy contract extension with Red Bull.  What of the competitive action this weekend? As it is a sprint weekend, there is not a lot of preparation time, with just one practice session before sprint qualifying. In that it was a fairly close fight at the top, and it was Kimi Antonelli, the championship leader, who was fastest of all. Behind him was the McLaren of Lando Norris who was 0.121sec adrift then George Russell, who will be looking to kickstart his title campaign here, a further 0.004sec behind him.  Then came the two Ferraris of Lewis Hamilton (0.190sec) and Charles Leclerc (0.289sec) before a fairly significant gap of 0.659sec to …

Lando Norris cruises to Hungarian Grand Prix victory after Piastri forced to retire

Lando Norris cruises to Hungarian Grand Prix victory after Piastri forced to retire

Lando Norris cashed in on Oscar Piastri’s bizarre collision with a backmarker to win the Hungarian Grand Prix, as Lewis Hamilton lost further ground to Kimi Antonelli in his bid for a record eighth world championship. Norris surrendered the lead to Piastri following a sloppy start from pole position, but he took advantage of his McLaren team-mate tangling with Carlos Sainz – as he attempted to put a lap on the Williams driver midway through the race – to land the first victory of his title defence. Piastri ran off the road after his front-right tyre made contact with the rear-left of Sainz’s Williams, losing him up to two seconds. Norris immediately stopped for tyres and emerged in the net lead. Norris then passed Antonelli on lap 46 before cantering to the chequered flag. Max Verstappen finished second, with Antonelli a place back in third, allowing the Italian teenager to increase his title advantage over Hamilton from 45 points to 50. Hamilton, who will surely be left questioning Ferrari’s strategy after he stopped for tyres …

Lewis Hamilton hit with another penalty in blow to Hungarian GP hopes

Lewis Hamilton hit with another penalty in blow to Hungarian GP hopes

Over the past two seasons the Red Bull cars have had their issues, but Verstappen has generally been able to drive around them. Enough at least to win the 2024 title and push Norris to a final-round decider in 2025 with a strong finish to the season. In 2026, there has been almost nothing to celebrate and frustration after frustration. There is little hope on offer heading into the summer break at the halfway point of a thoroughly trying season. “For me, the whole qualifying session just went awful. We’ve been losing downforce on the car ever since FP3, and that just kept happening through qualifying, too. It’s just completely rubbish,” Verstappen added. “There’s always something else that stops working or breaks down… I don’t know… I’m just fed up with it for now. “They can see something went wrong again with the aero, that we lost downforce again, the car is just totally undriveable. If you take off wing, you get understeer; if you add wing, it just snaps. It’s simply impossible.” Verstappen was …

Antonelli wins Belgian GP to extend championship lead after Russell crash

Antonelli wins Belgian GP to extend championship lead after Russell crash

Welcome to our live coverage for the 2026 Belgian Grand Prix from Spa-Francorchamps. The story of yesterday and in fact the weekend was of everyone trying to dislodge Kimi Antonelli from the top of the timesheets. Spoiler alert if you did not watch qualifying: they failed.  That is not to say the fight wasn’t a half-decent one. Max Verstappen and Red Bull were the closest challengers in the end, demonstrating an element of revival during a tricky season. Whether that will continue during the race is hard to know. Verstappen certainly thought he would have been further down the field without the tremendous tow he received from Isack Hadjar, his Red Bull team-mate, in the final sector.  Lando Norris also pushed Verstappen, though was almost half a second down on Antonelli’s time in the end. Unfortunately he will not be able to take advantage of a start from third place because he takes a 10-place grid penalty. George Russell, who has managed to reduce his Mercedes team-mate’s advantage to just 25 points in the past few rounds, was …

George Russell fighting ‘with one hand behind my back’ as Kimi Antonelli takes Belgium GP pole

George Russell fighting ‘with one hand behind my back’ as Kimi Antonelli takes Belgium GP pole

“But I feel confident head to head, I can achieve it. But when it feels like you’re battling with one hand behind your back, it’s a challenge.” This season, Antonelli has converted 80 per cent of his poles into victories. Russell has four poles, but has only won twice. For Antonelli, this one is another small step on the way to a maiden world championship and represents the latest chapter in a remarkable turnaround following a bruising debut season alongside Russell last year.  Twelve months ago at Spa-Francorchamps, Antonelli put in one of his poorest showings in a troubling passage of the season. In the sprint he qualified last and finished 17th and in the grand prix he ended up 16th, 11 places behind Russell. There are a couple of reasons for Russell to be a little more optimistic. First, he moves up a grid slot because of Norris’s 10-place grid penalty for exceeding the limit of his power unit elements. Secondly, the driver on pole is usually vulnerable to being overtaken on the first …