10:10
Mixed driver field
Behind Carlos Sainz, the field of riders was thoroughly mixed up yesterday. Hamilton, Alonso, Norris, Tsunoda, Stroll and Piastri complete the qualifying top 10. So Aston Martin confirms the good early form, while McLaren announces ambitions. On the other hand, the hopeful pilots from Haas dropped back to positions 17 and 18. Now the Americans want to get a better starting position, at least for the sprint.
10:00 a.m
The favourites
Red Bull Racing is still the dominant team in F1 and has already been able to underline its claims in Baku. However, Charles Leclerc pushed ahead of Verstappen and Pérez, causing the first small surprise, especially since his teammate in fourth place lost half a second to Pérez and even eight tenths to Leclerc. Can the Monegasque also transfer the qualifying result to the shootout?
09:50
No time to breathe
So the FIA managed to provide all sessions with excitement. While the 2nd free practice before the sprint was often used for rather uneventful long runs last year, every session is now important. The first and only training creates the basis for the qualifying, the starting row for the race is determined with the qualifying, the shootout decides on the line-up for the sprint and the first points are already collected in the sprint!
09:40
What’s happening today?
During the week, the new Sprint Shootout mode was first approved by the officials. Now everything is going really fast – literally. Because the shootout is a kind of qualifying, with which the starting grid for the later sprint is determined. However, the individual qualification phases only last twelve, ten and eight minutes. This should further increase the chances of surprises. There are also fixed tire rules for this. As long as it doesn’t rain, the mediums are used in Q1 and Q2 and the soft tires are only allowed in Q3.
09:30
Welcome to the Sprint Shootout!
For the first time, Formula 1 competes in a sprint shootout. At 10:30 a.m. the traffic lights will switch to green. We explain the mode and are there live!!
