Austin - Sprint Qualifying

After a second longer break of the season, Formula One is back, touching down in Austin for the second USA-based Grand Prix of the year. The weekend was eagerly awaited by all the fans who managed to build up quite a hunger for the thrill of the sport. It was also awaited because of the new face behind the wheel of one of the VCARBs, Liam Lawson. How will he fare against the talented Yuki Tsunoda? 

As they will be for the remaining races, from the very start of the session the eyes of everyone were directed at the two teams locked in a fight for both championships: Red Bull and McLaren. If there was one thing that the hour-long practice session showed, it was that exceeding track limits might become a problem during the Gand Prix weekend and Perez was the first one to be reminded of it as his first lap time was deleted for that exact crime. He wasn't the only one who saw his lap time dropped, Piastri drove out of bounds at lap 19, which turned out to be quite a costly mistake. Since the incident happened during his second quick lap, he did not achieve a time fast enough for the top fifteen and did not move through to the next session. Ocon, Bottas, Zhou, and surprisingly Albon joined him in the bottom five. The Williams' driver ended his day early because of a spin which ruined his timed attempt. 

SQ2 began with Hamilton questioning Mercedes's decision to send him out at the very beginning of the session. He needn't have worried as both the silver arrows started the session off strong. The Ferraris were also doing quite well. The same couldn't be said about Red Bull and McLaren. With only two minutes to go, Verstappen found himself in second, Norris in sixth, and Perez all the way down in tenth. While the two championship contenders moved on to the next session, Perez was eliminated by a quick lap from a man eager to take over his Red Bull seat, Yuki Tsunoda. Alonso, Lawson, Gasly, and Stroll made up the rest of the elimination zone. 

The last session of the day was also the first during which the drivers bolted on soft tires. Once again the Mercedes were sent out on track almost immediately, in a strategy that allowed Russel to get a great lap which put him comfortably in first. Hamilton, in turn, struggled with his car and did not set a satisfying time. With the session having a run time of less than ten minutes, everyone's task was quickly boiled down to catching up to Russel. In the end, only one driver, Max Verstappen, managed to do so. 

Orderd of the grid:

1. Max Verstappen

2. George Russel

3. Charles Leclerc

4. Lando Norris

5. Carlos Sainz

6. Nico Hulkenberg

7. Lewis Hamilton

8. Kevin Magnussen

9. Yuki Tsunoda

10. Franco Colapinto

11. Sergio Perez

12. Pierre Gasly

13. Lance Stroll

14. Fernando Alonso

15. Liam Lawson

16. Oscar Piastri

17. Esteban Ocon

18. Alex Albon

19. Valtteri Bottas

20. Zhou Guanyu