Verstappen kicks off record bid with top time at Monza practice

01.09.2023 - 13:21 channelnewsasia.com

MONZA, Italy: Formula One world championship leader Max Verstappen lapped fastest on Friday (Sep 1) in first free practice for an Italian Grand Prix that could secure the Red Bull driver a record 10th win in a row.The Dutch 25-year-old set a best time of one minute 22.657 seconds on a warm but cloudy afternoon at Monza with Ferrari's Carlos Sainz keeping the home crowd happy with a lap only 0.046 seconds slower.Red Bull's Sergio Perez, second in the championship but now 138 points adrift after 13 of 22 races, was third fastest and 0.177 slower than his team mate with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc fourth.Verstappen won at Monza last year, with Leclerc starting on pole, and is in dominant form this season with 11 wins so far.He equalled the nine in a row set in 2013 by now-retired Sebastian Vettel on his way to a fourth successive title with Red Bull.Mercedes George Russell was fifth fastest with Fernando Alonso sixth for Aston Martin and Lando Norris seventh for McLaren.Seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton, with a new contract keeping him at Mercedes until the end of 2025, was eighth on the timesheets with AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda and Williams' Alex Albon completing the top 10.Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes used only the hard tyres during the session.Both of the Ferrari drivers and Russell started the hour-long session with new power units, within their allocation of four for the season.New Zealander Liam Lawson started his second grand prix weekend as replacement for the injured Daniel Ricciardo at Italy-based AlphaTauri and was 13th fastest.Brazilian reserve and F2 champion Felipe Drugovich replaced Lance Stroll at Aston Martin for the session as part of a requirement to give young drivers track time, and was 18th

rowing record track practice Max Verstappen Lewis Hamilton Aston Martin Sebastian Vettel Sergio Perez Fernando Alonso Charles Leclerc Daniel Ricciardo Carlos Sainz Alex Albon Liam Lawson Netherlands Italy Brazil New Zealand

Max Verstappen believes he will be back on top at the Japanese Grand Prix following Red Bull’s off-colour showing in Singapore.

Verstappen’s winning run in F1 is in doubt after qualifying 11th in Singapore with Sainz on pole

SINGAPORE: Max Verstappen’s historic run of 10 Formula One wins in a row looks set to end after he qualified down in 11th place on Saturday for the Singapore Grand Prix. Carlos Sainz Jr. took pole for the race for Ferrari on Sunday ahead of George Russell of Mercedes and the second Ferrari of Charles Leclerc as Verstappen’s Red Bull team had its worst qualifying results of the season. “It’s the best opportunity since the beginning of the season, for sure” for other teams to stop a Red Bull sweep of winning every race in 2023, Leclerc said. Verstappen, the runaway championship leader after his record-breaking 10th straight win at the Italian Grand Prix, was eliminated by .007 seconds in the second session by rookie Liam Lawson of sister team AlphaTauri. Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez was 13th after a spin.

Max Verstappen tells Toto Wolff to focus on Mercedes after snipe at record win

Max Verstappen has told Toto Wolff to focus on his own team after he called the Dutchman’s record winning streak “completely irrelevant” and “for Wikipedia”.