The Latest Breaking News from Aston Martin

A 1m17.277s from Leclerc, his second hot lap on soft tyres, handed him a handy advantage over the rest of the field and put him clear of then runner-up Carlos Sainz, who was shuffled down to third by Verstappen's later second soft run.

Fernando Alonso led the pack out of the pits with a large aerodynamic-load measuring device fitted to the front of his Aston Martin and its new front wing, but it was George Russell who initially set the first-place benchmark at 1m30.214s.

Aston Martin came out of the gates flying last year, with Fernando Alonso scoring six podiums across the first eight grands prix in a car that raced better than it qualified. The team then found it harder to keep up the development of its 2023 machine compared to the steeper…

The club racing season began last weekend with the British Racing Sports Car Club kicking proceedings off at Silverstone.

Hulkenberg carried his strong qualifying form from 2023 into the season opener in Bahrain, lining up 10th before falling to 16th in the race owing to a poor launch and damaging his front wing in a Turn 1 collision with Aston Martin racer Lance Stroll.

The new GT55 coupe costs about as much as a Porsche 911 Carrera 4S, while the 577-hp GT63 rings in at $177,050.

The Brazilian-Italian, who has not competed since the conclusion of his title-winning season in the 2022 Formula 2 Championship, will contest the full six-round ELMS in the British team’s LMP2 ORECA-Gibson 07. 

Hulkenberg carried his strong qualifying form from 2023 into the season opener in Bahrain, lining up 10th before falling to 16th in the race owing to a poor launch and damaging his front wing in a Turn 1 collision with Aston Martin racer Lance Stroll.

Deletraz, driving the #40 Acura ARX-06 alongside Jordan Taylor and Colton Herta, applied the pressure with less than six minutes to go on Cadillac Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais, who had a firm hold of the lead for much of the final hour.