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Pérez Overtakes Leclerc to Win F1 Sprint in Azerbaijan

Red Bull Racing's Mexican driver Sergio Pérez steers his car during the sprint race ahead of the Formula One Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the Baku City Circuit in Baku on April 29, 2023. (AFP)
Red Bull Racing's Mexican driver Sergio Pérez steers his car during the sprint race ahead of the Formula One Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the Baku City Circuit in Baku on April 29, 2023. (AFP)
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Pérez Overtakes Leclerc to Win F1 Sprint in Azerbaijan

Red Bull Racing's Mexican driver Sergio Pérez steers his car during the sprint race ahead of the Formula One Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the Baku City Circuit in Baku on April 29, 2023. (AFP)
Red Bull Racing's Mexican driver Sergio Pérez steers his car during the sprint race ahead of the Formula One Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the Baku City Circuit in Baku on April 29, 2023. (AFP)

Sergio Pérez won the Formula One sprint race in Azerbaijan on Saturday to extend Red Bull's winning start to the season, as his teammate Max Verstappen settled for third in a damaged car behind Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.

Leclerc started on pole — as he will for the main Azerbaijan Grand Prix race on Sunday — but was overtaken by Pérez just before the halfway point of the 17-lap sprint on the long seafront straight. The Mexican driver cruised to the win, which cuts his deficit to leader Verstappen in the standings by two points to 13.

Leclerc held on to second as Verstappen closed in on the final lap to give Ferrari its first podium finish of 2023 following a dismal start to the season. The Red Bull team told Verstappen over the radio he had damage to the car's floor following contact with George Russell early in the race, and a hole was visible in his left sidepod. Verstappen lost third place in the incident, then recovered it at a safety car restart.

Red Bull has won all three Grand Prix races this season, with Verstappen winning the opener in Bahrain and then in Australia, after Pérez came first in Saudi Arabia.

The safety car was called out because Yuki Tsunoda slid into the wall, leaving behind a tire and debris from his AlphaTauri.

American driver Logan Sargeant was withdrawn from the sprint by Williams after the team couldn't repair crash damage in time. He had qualified 15th for the sprint after crashing into a barrier the first session of the shootout.

For the first time, there was a shortened “shootout” qualifying session for the sprint race, in addition to a standard qualifying session Friday for Sunday's Grand Prix. Leclerc qualified on pole for both races despite hitting the wall late in the Saturday “shootout.”

It was the first time that an F1 sprint did not set the grid for the main race. F1 stopped doing that in an attempt to encourage drivers to take more risks for sprint points.

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Red Bull's Verstappen Fastest in Singapore to Claim 50th Career Pole

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands smiles as he speaks after finishing first during the qualifying session ahead of the Singapore Formula One Grand Prix in Singapore, Singapore, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands smiles as he speaks after finishing first during the qualifying session ahead of the Singapore Formula One Grand Prix in Singapore, Singapore, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
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Red Bull's Verstappen Fastest in Singapore to Claim 50th Career Pole

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands smiles as he speaks after finishing first during the qualifying session ahead of the Singapore Formula One Grand Prix in Singapore, Singapore, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen of the Netherlands smiles as he speaks after finishing first during the qualifying session ahead of the Singapore Formula One Grand Prix in Singapore, Singapore, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

Red Bull's Max Verstappen claimed the 50th pole position of his career when he went fastest in qualifying under the lights at the Singapore Grand Prix on Saturday, repeating his heroics from the sprint qualifying session a day earlier.

Verstappen clocked one minute 31.373 seconds at the Marina Bay Street Circuit and will have Ferrari's Charles Leclerc alongside him on the front row, with the Monegasque driver just 0.054 seconds slower than the four-times champion.

Leclerc's team mate Lewis Hamilton was third fastest and championship leader Kimi Antonelli was fourth quickest for Mercedes.

"The margins are very close between us throughout all of qualifying, so of course, very happy to be on pole because this is the one that I wanted," Verstappen said ahead of his 250th race.

"The car has been ⁠pretty strong all ⁠weekend. Of course, I always think that you can be better, but it was enough for pole, so very happy with that."

Verstappen, who won a chaotic sprint in wet conditions earlier on Saturday, topped the timesheets despite gearbox issues in Q2 to claim his second straight pole of the season.

Leclerc had struggled in Q1 and Q2 but found his groove in Q3 to put Ferrari on the front row right at the end of the session.

"I had some weird things going on with the brakes, car pulling a ⁠bit under braking, which is not so nice on a track like here," Reuters quoted Leclerc as saying.

"But then in Q3, the lap was okay. I did some mistakes. I think there was a potential to be on pole today, but Max just did a better job."

With celebrity girlfriend Kim Kardashian watching on from the Ferrari garage, Hamilton topped Q1 and Q2 at a circuit where he has four victories, but the Briton could not reproduce his form in Q3.

"There's a real fine line with our car where it's over the edge or under the limit and finding that sweet spot is very, very difficult," said seven-times world champion Hamilton.

Mercedes driver George Russell, second in the championship, was sixth fastest in Q3 but the Briton is set to start from the back of the grid due to his engine penalty ⁠as he looks to ⁠bridge the 89-point gap to Antonelli.

Drivers struggled under braking in the first session, with Esteban Ocon and Lance Stroll both forced to abandon their laps, but the biggest casualty of Q1 was Verstappen's team mate Isack Hadjar.

The Frenchman complained about an issue with his gearbox before the 22-year-old returned to the garage without setting a lap time, losing his 100% record of qualifying for Q3 this year.

"Nothing Isack could have done. We had a gearbox issue on his car," Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies told Sky Sports.

Verstappen also complained about gearbox issues despite advancing from Q2.

"Insanely, insanely bad shifts," he said. "The downshifts are so bad."

Reigning champion Lando Norris and McLaren team mate Oscar Piastri will line up on the third row after the stewards took no further action following the collision between the two drivers in the sprint.

Alpine's Pierre Gasly will start seventh on the grid followed by the Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson and Arvid Lindblad, and Audi's Nico Hulkenberg completed the top 10.

Sports

Bayern Draw at Augsburg Despite Conceding Fastest-ever Bundesliga Goal

Bayern players react after the German Bundesliga soccer match between FC Augsburg and FC Bayern Munich in Augsburg, Germany, Oct. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
Bayern players react after the German Bundesliga soccer match between FC Augsburg and FC Bayern Munich in Augsburg, Germany, Oct. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
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Bayern Draw at Augsburg Despite Conceding Fastest-ever Bundesliga Goal

Bayern players react after the German Bundesliga soccer match between FC Augsburg and FC Bayern Munich in Augsburg, Germany, Oct. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
Bayern players react after the German Bundesliga soccer match between FC Augsburg and FC Bayern Munich in Augsburg, Germany, Oct. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)

Bayern Munich twice came from behind to draw 2-2 at Augsburg on Saturday after a mistake from Manuel Neuer led to the fastest goal in Bundesliga history.

Neuer handed Augsburg the lead with an early mistake, before two second-half assists from Harry Kane rescued a point in the second half, AFP reported.

Bayern missed the chance to knock Borussia Dortmund off top spot after the draw and remain two points behind the league leaders in second.

Augsburg could not believe their luck after Neuer's howler handed them the lead after just eight seconds.

Having received the ball straight from kick-off, Neuer chipped it directly into the path of Augsburg's Robin Fellhauer, who ran it into the empty net.

The Bundesliga later confirmed the exact timing of the goal at 8.4 seconds, beating the previous record of nine seconds held jointly by Kevin Volland and Karim Bellarabi.

Bayern remained shellshocked for much of the first half and were lucky not to go 2-0 down when Juma Bah missed a sitter on 36 minutes.

Bayern found the net shortly after the break when Augsburg keeper Finn Dahmen fumbled a brilliant volley from Luis Diaz, but the goal was ruled out for an offside in the build-up.

Ismael Saibari broke Augsburg's resistance a few minutes later, slotting the ball home after an elegant assist from Harry Kane.

Yet the hosts struck back quickly, thanks in part to another off-color moment from Neuer.

After Augsburg unlocked the defense with a long ball forward, Neuer parried Calvin Brackelmann's shot straight at Rodrigo Ribeiro, who smashed the ball under the bar to restore the lead.

Both Diaz and Serge Gnabry had goals ruled out for offside before Kane set up Nathaniel Brown for Bayern's second equalizer ten minutes from time.

There was also drama elsewhere, as Bayer Leverkusen grabbed a rollercoaster 4-3 win in Mainz while Hamburg snatched a late 3-2 win away at Hoffenheim.

Robert Andrich gave Leverkusen the lead with a superb volley after just five minutes, before Patrik Schick doubled the lead with a smart finish four minutes later.

Anthony Caci dragged Mainz back into the game, scoring twice to level the scores before half time.

Second-half goals from Jarell Quansah and Moussa Diaby put Leverkusen back in control, before Benedict Hollerbach grabbed a late third for Mainz.

Yussuf Poulsen bundled in an early opener for Hamburg, before Fisnik Asllani jabbed home an equally scrappy equalizer for Hoffenheim.

Bambase Conte put Hoffenheim in the lead with a brilliant shot from outside the area early in the second half, but a red card for his team mate Bernardo swung the game back into Hamburg's favor.

The visitors had one late equalizer ruled out by VAR before Terem Moffi equalized with an 83rd minute header and Miro Muheim grabbed a stoppage-time winner.

In Saturday's other games, goals from Jeff Chabot and Chris Fuehrich sealed a comfortable 2-0 win for Stuttgart at Paderborn, while Livan Burcu struck late to hand Union Berlin a nervy 1-0 win at home to Elversberg.

Sports

Russian Teen Andreeva Breezes Into China Open Final

Mirra Andreeva, of Russia, returns a ball to Nikola Bartunkova, of the Czech Republic during the semifinals of the women's singles match at the China Open tennis tournament in Beijing, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)
Mirra Andreeva, of Russia, returns a ball to Nikola Bartunkova, of the Czech Republic during the semifinals of the women's singles match at the China Open tennis tournament in Beijing, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)
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Russian Teen Andreeva Breezes Into China Open Final

Mirra Andreeva, of Russia, returns a ball to Nikola Bartunkova, of the Czech Republic during the semifinals of the women's singles match at the China Open tennis tournament in Beijing, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)
Mirra Andreeva, of Russia, returns a ball to Nikola Bartunkova, of the Czech Republic during the semifinals of the women's singles match at the China Open tennis tournament in Beijing, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

Mirra Andreeva breezed into the China Open final on Saturday, brushing aside Nikola Bartunkova 6-2, 6-2, and will play either home hope Zheng Qinwen or Belgium's Elise Mertens for the title.

"I wanted to play aggressive today," said the 19-year-old Russian, ranked five in the world.

Andreeva raced into a 4-0 lead in the first set in Beijing as 34th-ranked Bartunkova double-faulted twice before giving away the fourth game, AFP reported.

The 20-year-old Czech made 20 unforced errors across the 74-minute match and was outplayed by the French Open champion, who sent down 27 winners.

Bartunkova saved the first match point but Andreeva triumphed on the second without much more fuss.

"She's a very tricky opponent to play against... she sometimes manages to hit rockets out of nowhere," Andreeva said.

"I tried to be brave no matter what," she said, adding that she calmed some nerves by playing the card game Uno with her coach before the semi-final.

At four Andreeva is the highest-seeded player left in the tournament after a run of upsets saw the departures of Elena Rybakina, Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff.