Formula One

[Buddahaid]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

Only team for an improvement would be Red Bull then

That would be something to see. Max and Lewis as teammates! What could go wrong?

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Buddahaid

That would be something to see. Max and Lewis as teammates! What could go wrong?

ABSLUTELY EVERYTHING!

[Jimbuna]

Sergio Perez managed to deny Max Verstappen a remarkable victory at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix by taking the chequered flag for himself at the end of an intriguing 50-lap contest on Sunday. The Mexican driver started from pole position and saw his lead stolen by Fernando Alonso on the very first lap but was eventually able to recover and went on to claim the spoils despite a spirited fightback from Verstappen, who climbed 14 positions to cross the line in second place.

It did not take long for Verstappen to make up some early ground as he sliced through the field like a knife through butter, with the safety car period following Lance Stroll's breakdown allowing the Dutchman to climb into fourth place. He made light work of George Russell and Alonso at the restart but was unable to chase down Perez, although he did manage to claim an extra championship point by setting the fastest lap of the race late on.

Meanwhile, it was another difficult race for Lewis Hamilton, who made up two positions to come home in fifth but was never in contention for a podium finish at any point. He was also held up by Mercedes team-mate George Russell for a large chunk of his final stint, with the King's Lynn native refusing to let Hamilton past despite being asked to by his race engineer.

[Jimbuna]

[Jimbuna]

Max Verstappen won a chaotic and controversial Australian Grand Prix that finished under a safety car after a controversial crash-affected restart.

The Red Bull driver led Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton and Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso home to set the podium.

That was despite Alonso being tagged into a spin at a restart with two laps to go and dropped to the back.

Governing body the FIA said the order had to be declared as at the restart for one final lap behind a safety car.

To add to the controversy, Ferrari's Carlos Sainz was given a five-second penalty for causing the decisive crash at the first corner by tagging Alonso's car, dropping him from fourth to 12th and out of the points.

[Jimbuna]

[Buddahaid]

Three red flags with no good reason to have a race start after the second one with two laps to go. Bad choice which set up the mayhem for the third red flag.

[Jimbuna]

Some might say yet more interference from an Australian source.

[ET2SN]

Or an American.
Three red flags has NASCAR written all over it.

[Jimbuna]

Sergio Perez's accomplished victory in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix has confirmed - in his mind at least - that he is a genuine rival to his Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen for the world championship this year.

Not everyone is as convinced as the Mexican - not even his team principal, judging by Christian Horner's comments afterwards - but Perez certainly laid down a marker around the streets of Baku.

"It's a long year ahead," Perez said after shrugging off everything the two-time champion could throw at him and controlling the race around the streets of this city on the shores of the Caspian Sea. "We are in the fight."

It was a highly accomplished performance from Perez. Arguably - even if he was reluctant to say so himself - the best of his six Formula 1 victories.

Perez did, as Horner said, "get a little bit lucky with the safety car" but, once in the lead, he controlled the race. Throughout a tense grand prix, with both drivers pushing to the limit throughout, Verstappen had no answer for him.

[Jimbuna]

[Jimbuna]

Red Bull's Max Verstappen was in a class of his own as he carved through the field to win the Miami Grand Prix from ninth place on the grid.

It was a masterful performance from the world champion, using an off-set tyre strategy to beat team-mate Sergio Perez, who started from pole position.

Verstappen ran a long first stint on hard tyres, pitting 25 laps later than Perez, rejoining a second behind and passing for the lead a lap later.

It was a humiliating defeat for Perez and raised serious questions about his claims to be able to challenge Verstappen for the title this year.

"I just had a clean race and picked the cars off one by one," said Verstappen. "I stayed out really long on the hard tyres and I think that's what made the difference and then a good little battle with Checo at the end.

"Yesterday was of course a bit of a setback but today we kept it calm, kept it clean and for sure winning a race from P9 is very satisfying."

Perez added: "I tried. I gave it my all. We had graining and initial pace wasn't good.

"The medium [tyre] we had initially was poor, more than expected. It really compromised our pace and Max had tremendous pace on the hard and we will analyse what went wrong today because we simply didn't have the pace."

Fernando Alonso continued his superb season for Aston Martin to take his fourth podium finish in five races with an outstanding performance of his own.

George Russell was a strong fourth for Mercedes while Ferrari had a dispiriting afternoon.

Carlos Sainz challenged Alonso in the first stint but earned a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane at his pit stop and then dropped away in the second stint to finish fifth.

Team-mate Charles Leclerc had a race to forget after crashing in qualifying and starting seventh.

He fought a long battle with Haas driver Kevin Magnussen, who drove an outstanding race, before finally getting past with 20 laps to go and taking seventh place behind Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes, which was on the same off-set strategy as Verstappen and passed Leclerc in the closing stages.

[Jimbuna]

[Jimbuna]

Red Bull's Max Verstappen survived a mid-race downpour to win the Monaco Grand Prix from Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso.

Verstappen appeared to be cruising at the front but his race was given added jeopardy by his team delaying his pit stop in an attempt to coincide it with the rain.

And Aston Martin appeared to miss a chance to beat Verstappen by pitting Alonso for a set of dry tyres as the rain was intensifying.

Had Alonso been given treaded tyres, his stop - while Verstappen was still on untreaded slicks - looked as if it might have led to the Spaniard taking the lead.

But Alonso had to stop again for intermediate tyres on the following lap, when Verstappen did the same, and any victory chances were gone.

Verstappen's win, his fourth in six races this year, moves him 39 points clear of team-mate Sergio Perez in the championship.

The Mexican had a nightmare race after starting from the back following his crash in qualifying and finished down in 17th place.

[Jimbuna]