Formula 1

It was a 2024 Monaco Grand Prix to forget for Sergio Pérez.

An opening-lap wreck ended the Red Bull driver's day. It wasn't just him, as Haas drivers Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg were also eliminated from Sunday's race because of the crash.

Magnussen and Perez made contact, which sent the latter into the wall and created a chaotic scene that Hulkenberg was unable to escape. While there was a lengthy suspension for the race on a red flag, none of the three drivers were able to participate upon the reset.

That wasn't the only incident on the opening lap, as Ferrari's Carlos Sainz went off because of a front-left tire puncture. However, he was able to restart in third place given the timing of the red flag for the crash involving Pérez.

What's more, Alpine teammates Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon collided. The latter was unable to continue in the race and ultimately took responsibility:

As for the crash involving Pérez and the Haas drivers, ESPN's Nate Saunders noted there was a bit of controversy in the stewards' decision that there would be no further investigation into the incident.

The decision was notable since Magnussen is just two penalty points away from a one-race ban.

Pérez's elimination was the most important development, as he is in third place in the drivers standings with 107 points. While he is well behind teammate Max Verstappen's 161 points, he entered Sunday's race just six points behind Ferrari's Charles LeClerc for second.

Red Bull also leads the constructor standings over Ferrari by 56 points but may see that gap close without one of its two drivers.

Pérez was coming off an eighth-place finish at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix and crashed out of Sunday's race, so he will be firmly under the spotlight as he looks to bounce back in the Canadian Grand Prix on June 9.

After two long weeks, order has been restored in Formula One.

Max Verstappen returned to the top of the podium, winning the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix and earning his fifth victory of the 2024 season.

Lando Norris, who claimed his first career F1 checkered flag in the Miami Grand Prix, finished in second place, while Charles Leclerc rounded out the podium.

It didn't take long for Verstappen to make it clear at Imola he wasn't going to be runner-up again Sunday. The reigning Formula One champion started from the first position and quickly solidified himself atop the field.

Race fans have seen this story too many times before. Verstappen didn't put together one of his typically dominant performances. Norris consistently stayed within two seconds of the leader and ran hot on his heels.

But Verstappen never faced any serious threat of relinquishing first place. Norris had to settle for closing the gap to less than one second by the time he crossed the finish line.

Verstappen said over the team radio he had to "work hard for that," while Norris lamented an "unlucky" outcome and cited the ground he ceded early into the race. The Miami and Emilia Romagna Grands Prix do at least raise some hope Verstappen could have a challenger for the points title, something that was noticeably missing across the 2023 season.

For Lewis Hamilton, the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was a continuation of his campaign. He wound up in sixth for the second straight race and he's still looking for his first podium finish.

The seven-time F1 champion did earn bragging rights over teammate George Russell.

All eyes are now on Monaco for the centerpiece of the Formula One schedule. Qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix gets underway next Saturday with the race to follow on May 26.

Verstappen has two victories in the last three years in the legendary event. Having regained his winning form, he'll be the heavy favorite to make it three out of four.

Lando Norris was the biggest star during Sunday's Miami Grand Prix, but he was far from the only one at the Miami International Autodrome.

Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Kevin Durant, Jimmy Butler, Joe Burrow and Myles Garrett were among those who watched the McLaren driver become a Formula One race winner for the first time in his career:

The NFL and NBA stars were treated to a shocking result, which is how any race won by someone outside of Red Bull's Max Verstappen can be described in today's Formula One.

While Verstappen won four of the season's first five races and started Sunday's contest in pole position, Norris moved ahead of him thanks in part to a mid-race safety car and never looked back. The Red Bull driver finished in second place, while Ferrari's Charles Leclerc rounded out the podium.

It was a long-awaited result for Norris.

Nate Saunders of ESPN noted he held the record for the most podium finishes without a win with 15 prior to Sunday's result. But that all changed during the first of three Grand Prix events in the United States this season.

And it all changed in front of some of the biggest stars of American sports.

Max Verstappen has had an outstanding start to the 2024 Formula One season, but it was Lando Norris who took home the victory at the Miami Grand Prix on Sunday.

It was the first F1 Grand Prix victory for the 24-year-old Norris, who has been racing since 2019. The win came in dominant fashion as Norris led for much of the second half of the race and cruised to the finish line several seconds ahead of the second-place Verstappen.

After the third Miami Grand Prix, here's a look at the full rundown of Sunday's leaderboard:

1. Lando Norris
2. Max Verstappen
   
3. Charles Leclerc
   
4. Carlos Sainz
   
5. Sergio Pérez
   
6. Lewis Hamilton
   
7. Yuki Tsunoda
   
8. George Russell
   
9. Fernando Alonso
   
10. Esteban Ocon
    
11. Nico Hülkenberg
    
12. Pierre Gasly
    
13. Lance Stroll
    
14. Zhou Guanyu
    
15. Oscar Piastri
    
16. Daniel Ricciardo
    
17. Valtteri Bottas
    
18. Kevin Magnussen
    
19. Alexander Albon
    
20. Logan Sargeant
    

The race was up for groups through the first 20 laps or so, but Norris and Verstappen created some distance from the rest of the group early in the second half of the race.

Norris defended a push from Verstappen to remain the leader, and that attack was the last he would have to fight off as he won comfortably. Norris led by 4.9 seconds with 10 laps to go, and increased that lead to 5.9 seconds heading into the final five laps.

He was flawless in the final laps of the race and held on to get his first Grand Prix win.

Norris started the race in fifth place but quickly climbed the leaderboard and showed pure dominance down the stretch. The win was a long time coming for the British driver and it seems he's on his way to an outstanding career.

Taking down Verstappen, who won nine straight races earlier this year, is no easy task, but Norris did it with ease on Sunday and showed promise for his career ahead.

After Norris finally notched his first Grand Prix win, fans praised the driver for his perseverance over the years.

Norris has been close to his first win but could never take the top spot on the podium until Sunday. Before the Miami Grand Prix, Norris had 110 starts with 15 podium appearances. Now, he finally has his first win.

If you thought New York City traffic was bad enough before, just imagine being stuck behind Lewis Hamilton.

The Formula One star got behind the wheel for a ride down Fifth Avenue in the Big Apple. In addition to briefly speeding down the well-known thoroughfare, he pulled off a few donuts.

Hamilton's appearance was part of a public relations event between Mercedes and WhatsApp, who began an official partnership last November, and coincided with the first event of the Formula One season on American soil.

The first practice session for the Miami Grand Prix is scheduled for Friday with the race getting underway Sunday at 4 p.m. ET.

Hamilton will hope this is the weekend his farewell campaign with Mercedes kicks into gear. The seven-time F1 champion is just ninth in the driver standings and hasn't placed higher than seventh through five races.

For the fourth time in five races this season, Max Verstappen is victorious.

The defending Formula 1 champion was again dominant in Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix, defeating second-place Lando Norris by nearly 14 seconds.

The 2024 season is already shaping up to be a repeat of 2023, as Verstappen has four wins and one retirement through five races. Dating back to last season, he has won 11 of his last 12 races and 21 of his last 23 overall.

"It felt amazing," Verstappen said after the race. "All weekend we were incredibly quick and it was just enjoyable to drive. The car was basically on rails and I could do whatever I wanted to with it. Those kind of weekends are amazing to feel."

Verstappen led the race nearly wire-to-wire, only briefly relinquishing his advantage to take a pit stop.

While his dominance is historic, some are starting to push back Verstappen's reign. Norris, who finished second for the eighth time in his career, said the same driver winning every week could get boring for fans.

"Now, we are seeing more dominance than ever, so it is never going to be the best to watch and the only exciting races have been the ones that Max is not in," Norris told reporters before the race. "Of course it is going be [a turn off for fans] - there is no way you can say it won't be.

"If you see the same driver winning every single time without a fight then of course it does start to become boring and that is obvious. You have got one of the best drivers ever in Formula 1, in one of the most dominant cars and it is a combination that is deadly. If Max wasn't there and you had two Perezs it wouldn't be the case."

As it stands, it doesn't much matter what anyone else thinks. Verstappen is putting together the most dominant run in racing history and is arguably the top athlete in any sport at the moment.

The 26-year-old already holds a 25-point lead over second-place Sergio Pérez in the standings just five races into the season. We're already looking at a repeat of the 2023 campaign, where Verstappen dominated to such a degree that everyone else in the sport is competing for second place.

EA Sports has unveiled the first full trailer for F1 24 featuring reigning three-time Formula One world champion Max Verstappen.

Verstappen is the cover athlete on the Champions Edition version of the game which will be released three days earlier than the original version, which hits shelves on May 31.

Per EA.com, this year's version of the game features EA SPORTS Dynamic Handling that "redefines the feel of the car to produce a realistic and predictable performance across wheel and pad."

Other changes include the use of driver audio samples from actual F1 broadcasts reacting to on-track incidents, a broadcast presentation with cut scenes and changes to Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Lusail International Circuit and Jeddah Corniche Circuit to make them more closely match the real-world tracks.

EA has also revamped career mode to allow players to use their favorite active driver or legends of the sport, including James Hunt and Juan Pablo Montoya in the Champions Edition.

F1 24 is the fourth iteration of the series since it returned to the EA Sports banner in 2021. The standard edition of the game features Lewis Hamilton, Charles LeClerc and Lando Norris on the cover.

The game will be available for the PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and S, and Microsoft Windows.

EA Sports announced Formula One drivers Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris as cover athletes for the upcoming F1 24 video game on Tuesday.

It was revealed that Verstappen will be featured on the Champions Edition cover, while Hamilton, Leclerc and Norris will share the Standard Edition cover:

F1 24 is the 23rd Formula One video game overall since the video game series' inception in 2000, and the fourth since EA Sports re-acquired the rights in 2021.

Verstappen's choice as the lone cover athlete for the Champions Edition comes as little surprise given his dominance of the sport in recent years.

The 26-year-old has won three consecutive F1 points titles, and he is atop the standings again this season with three wins in four races thus far.

With another points title this year, Verstappen will become only the fifth driver to win four or more championships in their career.

One of the drivers to have already accomplished that feat is Hamilton, who won four straight points titles from 2017 to 2020.

Hamilton, 39, holds most major F1 career records, including race wins (103), poles (104) and podium finishes (197).

While Hamilton has not won a race since the 2021 season, there is excitement surrounding his future since he is set to join Ferrari for the 2025 season after finishing his final year with Mercedes in 2024.

The 26-year-old Leclerc has been on the precipice of breaking out and winning a points title for quite some time, as he has finished eighth or better in the standings in each of the past five seasons.

A five-time race winner, Leclerc finished a career-best second in the standings in 2022, and he is third so far this season.

Norris, 24, has yet to win an F1 race, but it is likely only a matter of time for the Brit, who has never finished worse than 11 in the points standings since 2019.

He is fifth in the standings this season after matching his career-best finish of sixth last year, and Norris has finished eighth or better in every race so far this season.

EA Sports announced that F1 24 is available for pre-order, and it will officially release for PC, PlayStation and Xbox consoles on May 31.

Max Verstappen's dominant reign atop Formula 1 isn't ending anytime soon.

The defending F1 champion scored his third win in four races in Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix, defeating Sergio Pérez by more than 12 seconds.

The race was delayed by more than 30 minutes after Alex Albon and Daniel Ricciardo crashed on the first lap, and Verstappen said his car's ability to handle to restart propelled him to the win.

"It was very nice. The critical bit was the start to stay ahead and after that the car got better and better for me throughout the race, I don't know if it had to do with the clouds coming in," Verstappen told reporters.

"Everything went well—pit stops, strategy. It couldn't have been any better. The last race was a little hiccup the last race but very happy we are here back on top. Great fans and in front of Honda as well, it's fantastic to win here."

Verstappen was coming off a shocking retirement in last month's Australian Grand Prix, which snapped a nine-race winning streak that dated back to the 2023 season. He's already established a 13-point lead in the standings through four races this year, with Pérez, his Red Bull teammate, trailing behind.

Barring some unforeseen change, Verstappen should continue his dominant run atop the sport and earn his fourth straight F1 championship. If he pulls off a fourth straight title, he would become the fifth driver in F1 history to achieve the feat and just the sixth with four championships overall.

Lewis Hamilton, whose era of dominance preceded Verstappen's, continues to struggle in his final season with Mercedes. He finished ninth in Sunday's race and does not have a single finish better than seventh four races into the 2024 season.

Another Max Verstappen winning streak is over at the hands of Carlos Sainz.

Sainz captured the checkered flag Sunday in the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne.

The 29-year-old was in a jovial mood after his victory, joking about his impending free agency in 2025 with Lewis Hamilton due to join the Ferrari team.

It was quite the turnaround for Sainz, who had only recently recovered from appendicitis.

Verstappen closed the 2023 season on a seven-race winning streak. He carried that form into 2024 by taking the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. However, the reigning F1 champion ran into the one thing Sunday that can stop Max Verstappen: himself.

His car experienced a mechanical failure just four laps in and he was forced to retire.

Given his general dominance on the track, a lot of fans welcomed the fact somebody else was going to win for once.

Verstappen wasn't the only major star to get a DNF. Engine failure ended Hamilton's day after he completed just 15 laps.

That move to Ferrari probably can't come soon enough for the seven-time F1 champion. Following a disappointing 2023 season with Mercedes, he has finished seventh, ninth and 18th to start 2024.

Seeing Ferrari drivers claim two spots on the podium at least offered Hamilton a glimpse into what next year could bring.

It was a tough day for Mercedes all around with George Russell crashing out on the final lap as he was battling with Fernando Alonso for sixth place.

Formula 1 stewards assessed a 20-second penalty to Alonso, which dropped him from sixth to eighth. They cited his "potentially dangerous" driving thanks to a brake test that led to Russell's wreck.

For the Mercedes team, Alonso's penalty didn't change the outcome for Russell. Team principal Toto Wolff said the double DNF was "tough to take, super tough."

"And I would be lying if I could say I feel positive about the situation and optimistic," he told reporters. "But you just need to overcome the nagging, negative thoughts and say, 'We will turn this around.'

"But today it feels very, very brutal."

Team Mercedes along with Verstappen will have some time to stew on their underwhelming finishes from the weekend. Drivers will get another week off before the Japanese Grand Prix gets underway at Suzuka International Racing Course.