Red Bull had a strong Saturday as Verstappen led a front row lockout in the Sprint Shootout, followed by a 1-2 in the Sprint race.
SQ1
There was a large amount of track evolution throughout SQ1, which meant many drivers could be at risk of being eliminated by drivers still on fast laps. For example Leclerc put in a lap initially good enough for 8th, though by the time everyone had finished, he narrowly avoided elimination in 15th, just 1 thousandth faster than Zhou Guanyu. By comparison, the other Ferrari of Carlos Sainz was able to top the session with his one lap.
There was an incident between Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc, where the McLaren had been impeded at turn 9 by the Ferrari ahead of him. As a result, Leclerc was handed a 3 place penalty for the Sprint.
Lewis Hamilton struggled to find suitable track position to get a great lap in, though he had extended track limits on a lap that would have been good enough, deleting said lap and knocking him out in SQ1. However there did appear to be a small incident with Max Verstappen, where the Red Bull had overtaken Hamilton at the start of his flying lap, impeding him in the process. Verstappen would receive no penalty following on from this.
Eliminated
16. Zhou Guanyu – Alfa Romeo +0.001
17. Oscar Piastri – McLaren +0.045
18. Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes +0.221
19. Valtteri Bottas – Alfa Romeo +0.230
20. Logan Sargeant – Williams +0.365
SQ2
Leclerc found himself on the bubble once again, though ended up pretty safe, going 4th fastest in the session. Behind, Albon narrowly failed to mirror his performance in qualifying yesterday and was knocked out in 11th, whilst Gasly was only able to achieve 13th fastest, whilst his teammate was 3rd.
Russell had reported at the end of SQ1 that he was suffering a hydraulics issue with his car. This meant that, though they tried to fix the issue, Mercedes’ morning went from bad to worse as Russell would have to start from 15th.
There was a bizarre situation in the pitlane as the Haas pit crew failed to take away Nico Hulkenberg’s front left tyre as he left the pit box, causing his car to bounce in the air. Fortunately for them, there was no damage done to the car.
Eliminated
11. Alex Albon – Williams +0.061
12. Pierre Gasly – Alpine +0.269
13. Yuki Tsunoda – Alpha Tauri +0.278
14. Nyck de Vries – Alpha Tauri +0.502
15. George Russell – Mercedes +NO TIME
SQ3
Verstappen was once again class of the field as he topped the Sprint Shootout with a 1:04.440. Sergio Perez was able to join him on the front row, though was just under 5 tenths slower than his teammate.
Lando Norris continues his fine one lap form this weekend, qualifying in third place. Nico Hulkenberg would join him on the second row, continuing his run of strong qualifying performances this season.
Sprint Shootout Results
1. Max Verstappen – Red Bull 1:04.440
2. Sergio Perez – Red Bull +0.493
3. Lando Norris – McLaren +0.570
4. Nico Hulkenberg – Haas +0.644
5. Carlos Sainz – Ferrari +0.696
6. Charles Leclerc – Ferrari +0.805 (3 place grid penalty)
7. Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin +0.818
8. Lance Stroll – Aston Martin +0.907
9. Esteban Ocon – Alpine +0.926
10. Kevin Magnussen – Haas +1.472
Sprint Race
Light rain before the race began meant that the sprint would begin in intermediate conditions. This had many drivers fighting over position at most corners in the opening laps as they tried to find the optimal line through the track.
One driver who was able to start incredibly well in these conditions was Nico Hulkenberg. When Verstappen went deep into turn 3 and pushed his teammate wide, it was Hulkenberg who found his way through to gain 2nd position behind the Dutchman. He was even able to gain on Perez behind, as the Haas looks to excel in wetter conditions.
Someone who had gone the opposite direction to Hulkenberg was Lando Norris. Despite qualifying third, he positioned his car poorly at turn 3, which resulted in him being overtaken by the likes of Sainz, Stroll, Alonso and Albon.
As the laps went on, Hulkenberg’s advantage began to disappear, and was ultimately overtaken by Perez on lap 12. Sainz would then overtake him just one lap later, and then looked vulnerable with both Aston Martins chasing him down.
Around the same time there was a great battle between Ocon, Norris and Leclerc. Norris appeared the fastest of the three, practically pushing Leclerc through the corners at times, though the Monegasque was himself looking to fly past Ocon, who was pulling off a strong defence. Leclerc would go wide at the final corner, opening up the space for Norris to sail by.
By this point it appeared that the drack could be dry enough for slick tyres, and Russell would be the first make this gamble at the end of lap 15. This appeared to be the right decision as numerous drivers would follow suit in the next couple of laps, including Lewis Hamilton, Alex Albon and Nico Hulkenberg.
However there was a very limited window as to when drivers could afford to pit, as the laps flew by quickly. Those who hadn’t committed to the dries would find themselves trying to hold onto their position whilst being multiple seconds a lap slower. Gasly had stayed out, but tumbled down the order and ended up in 14th. Norris also stayed out, and would only lose out on points on the last lap.
There was variety in how successful the move onto dry tyres ended up being for everyone. It worked out for Hulkenberg, who worked his way up to 6th, when he might have lost more places had he stayed on intermediates. Russell also made it work, getting himself up into 8th place, and only missing out on 7th by less than a hundredth of a second. However for Alex Albon it did not work out at all, who had been 7th before pitting, but finished down in 13th.
