Formula One, Verstappen also dominates in China

There second day of activity on the track on the circuit of Shanghai ends with one Verstappen’s first victory in a Formula 1 weekend with a sprint format and with the conquest of pole position by the Dutchman for the long race on Sunday 21 April. Started from fourth place after qualifying on Friday April 19thwhen the traffic lights went out (at 5 in the morning Italian time) the RedBull world champion calmly recovers the positions on his world champion colleagues, Fernando Alonso And Lewis Hamiltonand on the poleman Lando Norris (already accompanied off the track and overtaken by his compatriot at the start). Nineteen rounds of intense battlesboth between world champions with the Hamilton-Alonso-Verstappen tussle for the conquest of the first position, both between the Aston Martin of the Asturian, the two Ferraris and Sergio Perez’s Red Bull. TO two laps from the end of the sprint raceIndeed, Carlos Sainzstarting from fifth position, leads a aggressive attack on his world champion compatriot which will culminate in a contact and the Alonso’s retirement (later found guilty of an incorrect maneuver and penalized at the end of the race). Is Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc they take the opportunity to overcome the turmoil, but not without one tight-jawed defense from Cavallino’s Spaniard, a source of disagreements over the radio and post-match between the two teammates. With Alonso forced to retireat the end of the sprint only the top teams score points for the championship: RedBull, Mercedes, Ferrari and McLarenwith Verstappen ahead of Hamilton by 13 seconds; Perez ahead of the now broken Leclerc-Sainz pairThen Norris, Piastri and Russell.

Formula One: Hamilton misses qualifying for Q2

A few hours from end of the sprint racethe green light at the end of the pit lane comes back on, starting the qualifications for the race on Sunday 21 April. The Q1 it starts at 9am Italian time, with immediately heavy traffic on the track. There checkered flag eliminated from the first qualifying round the national hero Guanyou Zhou, Magnussen, Tsunoda, Sargeant and unexpectedly also Sir Lewis Hamiltonwhich has not been missing from Q2 since 2022. The second qualifying round And full of tension for the Italian team from Maranellowith the Spanish driver who loses his rear end ending up in the gravel and causing a red flag. Without rear wing, Sainz However, he manages to return to the pits and, still without time under the flag regime, to get back on track and qualify for Q3. The last qualifying round starts without Stroll, Ricciardo, Ocon, Albon and Gasly, excluded from the competition for ten noble positions on the starting grid. With the pole position already mortgaged by Verstappen (which sets the record time of 1:33.660), the battle behind him is fought until the last lap with Perez who placed behind his teammate three tenths behindfollowed by Alonso, from the McLarens of Norris and Piastri and from the Ferraris of Leclerc and Sainz, in sixth and seventh position.