It has been another Sprint format race weekend in Austin at The Circuit of the Americas this week, where a number of drivers were looking to earn a strong Sprint position after Qualifying for the Grand Prix yesterday provided mixed results.
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The Sprint Shootout was designed to be a quicker qualifying, putting pressure on drivers to deliver their strongest lap in only a few attempts, before undertaking a Sprint race.
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SQ1 – Both Haas’ eliminated and split results for Williams in the Austin Sprint Shootout
Austin offered dry conditions for the drivers for the Sprint Shootout, which resulted in a fastest lap from Max Verstappen in SQ1.
Lewis Hamilton was the first to set a lap time with a 1.36.402, despite having a moment on the hairpin, which held for the first few minutes of the overall 10 minute SQ1.
It wasn’t long until Hamilton’s fastest lap was replaced by a lap from Charles Leclerc, who was a tenth faster than the British driver. Leclerc’s teammate, Carlos Sainz, shortly slotted in behind him in second, pushing Hamilton down to third.
However, it wasn’t long until Max Verstappen delivered a strong lap, consisting of two purple sectors and a green sector, which landed him top of the pack, with a time in the 1.35’s on the medium tyre.
Throughout the session, it seems that McLaren were struggling to find pace on the medium tyre, with Piastri finishing P14.
It was also an important Qualifying for both Aston Martin’s, who were both eliminated from Q1 during the Grand Prix qualifying yesterday. Fortunately, both drivers made it into SQ2.
A surprising result was from Williams’ driver Alex Albon, who in SQ1 placed in third, while his teammate Logan Sargeant was eliminated, finishing in P20.
At the end of SQ1, stewards also reported they were investigating an incident of impeding between George Russell and Charles Leclerc, but so far nothing has been announced on this.
In an interview following SQ1 of the Austin Sprint Shootout, Tsunoda shared his frustrations after he was unable to reach the black and white line before the session time was up, causing his elimination.
Eliminated: Nico Hulkenberg (Haas, P16), Kevin Magnussen (Haas, P17), Valterri Bottas (Alfa Romeo Sauber, P18), Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri, P19) and Logan Sargeant (Williams, P20)
SQ2 – Double trouble for Aston Martin
SQ2 saw a strong early lap put in by Max Verstappen, with a 1.35.181. P2 and P3 were shortly taken up by the pair of Ferrari drivers.
Given the session is short, at only eight minutes, it almost became a one-lap shootout for the drivers, with a number of them only delivering one lap, in the hopes it was enough to keep them up for SQ3.
Sadly, it was not a great SQ2 for the Aston Martin’s with both drivers eliminated. It seems they have not had great pace this weekend, despite attending with floor improvements.
Verstappen did have a second attempt to improve on his fastest lap, but spun at turn nine after riding too deep on to the curb and losing the back end of the car. Despite the spin, he still maintained his fastest lap position.
Eliminated: Daniel Riccardo (AlphaTauri, P11), Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin, P12) Esteban Ocon (Alpine, P13), Lance Stroll (Aston Martin, P14) and Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo Sauber, P15)
SQ3 – Business as Usual in the Austin Sprint Shootout
The top 10 remaining was the same as Q3 in qualifying yesterday, except Alex Albon replaced Esteban Ocon.
Verstappen was the first out in this short five minute session, with a lap in the 1.34’s. The lap started strong with purple in the first sector, but this was shortly replaced by a strong drive from Lando Norris.
Despite his best efforts, Norris was unable to take the stop spot and settled into P2 with a 1.34.639.
The final qualifying session continued to develop, with the drivers attempting to beat Max Verstappen’s time. Nobody was able to beat the three-time world champion, and Max Verstappen finished the session with another Sprint pole.
Max was followed by Charles Leclerc in P2 and Lewis Hamilton in P3, who all finished within a 10th of each other. Sergio Perez was unable to join his fellow Red Bull driver, qualifying in P6.
The surprise of the session was Alex Albon, who qualified in a strong P9.
Despite George Russell finishing in P8, it is still unknown if he will receive a penalty following an investigation.
The final top 10:
Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing, P1)
Charles Leclerc (Ferrari, P2)
Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes, P3)
Lando Norris (McLaren, P4)
Oscar Piastri (McLaren, P5)
Carlos Sainz (Ferrari, P6)
Sergio Perez (Red Bull, P7)
George Russell (Mercedes, P8)
Alex Albon (Williams, P9)
Pierre Gasly (Alpine, P10)
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