Austria - Sprint Qualifying

There hasn't been a sprint race in a long, long while and the Austrian Grand Prix weekend came by to remind us just how exciting they can be. A different weekend structure meant that we only saw one practice session. It was during that session that questions were brought up regarding Red Bull's performance as Verstappen's car suddenly stopped on track. The supposed engine issue was quickly fixed and he managed to finish the practice with the quickest time of all. 

Qualifying truly began about two and a half minutes after the clock began ticking down the time as the cars stayed in the pits. Lewis Hamilton was the first driver to begin a flying lap. It did not start off well as he almost immediately put the back of his Mercedes into the gravel. His less-than-perfect time was deleted for exceeding track limits. Verstappen, the undisputed crowd favorite at the Red Bull Ring, quickly found himself at the top of the leaderboard. The first session ended with a brief yellow flag brought out by Yuki Tsunoda whose wheels caught onto the gravel, causing his car to spin. He managed not to hit the barriers and, because of a time he had previously set, was able to move to Q2. This time, it was Ricciardo, Hulkenberg, Bottas, Albon, and Zhou who ended up in the elimination zone. 

The cars drove onto the track much faster in Q2, at least those of the teams who stand higher in the constructors championship. The Alpines, RB, and a Williams waited much longer to put a time on the board. Once again the session ended with Verstappen's Red Bull at the top spot, with other cars only a few tenths of a second behind. Magnussen, Stroll, Alonso, Tsunoda, and Sargeant did not move into Q3. 

In the last session of the day, the cars waited a long time before driving out of the pit lane. Some were cutting it very close. A problem occurred for Ferrari when Leclerc's car stopped in the pit lane. A yellow flag was brought out and although he managed to let the cars behind him pass through, for a few seconds the Monegasque himself was stranded by the pits. He later reported that his engine had stopped. He managed to revive it but it was already too late. Even though he tried his best to get to the start of the track in time, in the end, he missed his cue by two-tenths of a second. His time was not counted which pushed him to the very bottom of the top ten. It was Verstappen who got the sprint pole and the two McLarens who stood on the metaphorical podium with him.

Order of the grid:

1. Max Verstappen

2. Lando Norris

3. Oscar Piastri

4. George Russel

5. Carlos Sainz

6. Lewis Hamilton

7. Sergio Perez

8. Esteban Ocon

9. Pierre Gasly

10. Charles Leclerc

11. Kevin Magnussen

12. Lance Stroll

13. Fernando Alonso

14. Yuki Tsunoda

15. Logan Sargeant

16. Daniel Ricciardo

17. Nico Hulkenberg

18. Valtteri Bottas

19. Alex Albon 

20. Zhou Guanyu