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Austrian GP
F1 Austrian GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP2 & Sprint
Updates for Saturday practice and the sprint race at the Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring
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The sprint race weekend format returns at the Red Bull Ring this weekend.
Max Verstappen will start the sprint race from pole, having seen his lead in the F1 world drivers’ championship trimmed to 34 points in a dramatic British GP last time out, as Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez finished as runner-up to maiden winner Carlos Sainz.
Charles Leclerc lost out in a Ferrari strategy call to drop to fourth place in the Silverstone race, putting him 43 points behind Verstappen in the standings.
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That means a pitlane start at best for Alonso. He had been due to get away from eighth place, so that's a real killer for his sprint hopes.
Alonso is still on the jacks and has the tyre blankets on his car so he duly cannot get away for the formation lap. How odd.
Out of the quartet on the softs, Albon is the highest starter in 11th. So not a great deal of tyre strategy to weigh up for the frontrunners. That's fine, we can enjoy that tomorrow.
Tyre talk: Albon, Stroll, Latifi and Vettel on the softs, everyone else is on the mediums.
Five minutes until lights out, time to get comfortable.
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Gasly's balls make an appearance on the grid so we must be close to the start. Tennis balls, that is, get your minds out of the gutter!
The sprint format remains a risk vs reward event, with points and places up for grabs, but any over zealous attempts could seriously backfire. It adds intrigue to how to make the most of the race weekend.
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The FIA's weather forecasters predict a 0% chance of rain for the sprint, with air temperature up at 21.0c and the track temperature at 34.2c, which is a little warmer than qualifying.
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But that was then, this is now. On paper overtaking is easier at the Red Bull Ring but the all-important tyre wear will be a factor for those gambling on the softs.
In the Imola sprint Perez gained four places to climb to third, while Sainz (who crashed in qualifying) picked up six places to finish fourth. Zhou was the biggest loser in that race as he went off and dropped from 14th to last.
...that's because Perez will start the sprint from 13th due to a post-qualifying penalty for exceeding track limits on his best Q2 lap. He effectively lost nine places.
Due to rain during Imola qualifying the grid was shaken up, which meant the sprint rather re-ordered the runners into a more familiar formation. Perez was one of them, and he has to do it all over again today...
The last time F1 ran its sprint race was back in Imola, when Verstappen was beaten off the line by Leclerc, only for the Red Bull driver to charge back to win as tyre wear played a key role.
The sprint polesitter, Verstappen, is the last out of the pits to show uber-confidence or uber-trepidation. It is probably the first option, as he receives a customary roar from the orange army lining the track.
Lights green
The pitlane is open and the cars are on the way to the grid. The sprint begins at 15:30 BST.
That's right, the F1 sprint race is back for a second time in 2022! A 24-lap fight around the Red Bull Ring to decide the starting order for the grand prix and a handful of points.
Green flag
Good afternoon! Welcome back to the action, ahead of F1 qual- sprint. No, sprint, definitely. Qualifying was yesterday.
We'll take a pause here on the live text blog, but please do join us later on as we build up to the sprint race at 15:30 UK time. However you spend the interlude, we wish you a pleasant afternoon. See you later!
If you missed any of the action in FP2, as Ferrari secured a 1-2 headed by Carlos Sainz, here is the full report from F1 Editor Matt Kew: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-austrian-gp-fp2-report/10335474/
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The omens of history do favour Verstappen too - he's won four of the last six races held at the Red Bull Ring since 2018, including both races last year. His streak was interrupted in 2020, when Bottas and Hamilton won out in the Austrian and Styrian Grands Prix. Leclerc of course came close to victory in 2019, only for Verstappen to muscle past late on. But that robust move taught him a valuable lesson, as Kevin Turner explains here: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/when-leclerc-learned-how-to-beat-verstappen/10334713/
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The sprint begins at 15:30 UK time, where a win for Verstappen would make him the most successful driver in the short history of F1 sprints. He currently has two wins, at Silverstone in 2021 and Imola this year, a tally matched by Bottas who claimed the spoils at Monza and Interlagos last season.
A useful session then for the teams to get a better understanding of their cars and prepare for this afternoon's sprint race, which Max Verstappen will start from pole ahead of Charles Leclerc. No major problems for any of the field, which will give the teams cause for relief.
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Following his promising qualifying, Alex Albon could only manage 16th for Williams, ahead of Daniel Ricciardo's McLaren, the second Haas of Kevin Magnussen, AlphaTauri driver Yuki Tsunoda and Nicholas Latifi (Williams).
Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel took 11th and 13th positions, either side of AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly in 12th, with Zhou Guanyu beating Mick Schumacher to 14th.
George Russell is seventh in his repaired Mercedes ahead of 2020 Austrian GP winner Valtteri Bottas in the Alfa Romeo, while Lewis Hamilton made it out in the final 14 minutes aboard his repaired Mercedes to take ninth ahead of Lando Norris's McLaren.
Max Verstappen is third for Red Bull ahead of Alpine team-mates Fernando Alonso and Esteban Ocon, with Sergio Perez sixth in the second Red Bull.
Checkered flag
The checkered flag is out, FP2 comes to a close at the Red Bull Ring with Carlos Sainz narrowly on top ahead of Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc by 0.050s.
Nobody is posting personal bests at the moment, but that doesn't mean they're not pushing. Vettel runs a little wide exiting the final corner and loses a piece his floor on the savage kerbs there.
After his much-delayed entry to the session on softs, Hamilton has now switched to mediums and logging some laps. He's on course to get into double figures, at least.
Crikey, Leclerc has a big moment at Turn 9 as the rear snaps away from him. That was a save Allison Becker would have been proud of.
The sector times make for interesting reading with no single driver dominant. Sainz is fastest in sector one, Leclerc in sector two and Verstappen in sector three.
Into the final minutes of practice now as teams continue to evaluate tyre degradation ahead of the sprint race this afternoon. Will we see any further improvements in the times?
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His first effort puts him ninth on a 1m09.350s, two spots behind Mercedes team-mate Russell.
He's on soft tyres, and isn't wasting any time in coming back to the pits for checks. The Briton carries on to start a flying lap.
By: autosport.com
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