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Formula 1 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

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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06:29

As you might expect, Max Verstappen fans are out in force this weekend with orange t-shirts packing out the grandstands. No Austrians in the field remember - although there are two representatives of neighbouring Germany in Sebastian Vettel and Mick Schumacher.

06:27

We've a little over three minutes to go before FP2 gets underway, with air temperatures of 19.4 °C and track temperature at 33.3 °C. There's no chance of rain, according to the FIA's radar.

06:26

As for matters elsewhere, Williams didn't get much of a chance to validate its package of upgrades on Alex Albon's car at Silverstone, but he was an impressive 12th on the grid yesterday. The Anglo-Thai driver reckons the changes have made the car's set-up window narrower, although it's better to drive when it's in the sweet spot: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/albon-peaky-upgraded-williams-f1-car-good-but-harder-to-drive/10335341/

06:23

Of course, that wasn't the only story in Q3, as both Mercedes drivers dramatically crashed out. Lewis Hamilton has been switched to a new chassis today due to the damage inflicted on his W13. Toto Wolff remarked that in the garage last night “it looked really like somebody dropped a Lego car on the floor”. Here's the full story: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/wolff-mercedes-garage-looked-like-a-lego-car-had-been-dropped/10335383/

06:21

Here's the full report from qualifying, in which Sergio Perez had provisionally set the fourth-fastest time - only to be dumped back to 13th on the grid for a track limits breach in Q2 which cost him all of his times from Q3: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-austrian-gp-verstappen-takes-sprint-pole-as-mercedes-pair-crash/10335026/

06:19

If we cast our minds back to the last sprint weekend at Imola, qualifying was wet which jumbled the grid somewhat for the sprint. There, poleman Max Verstappen dropped behind Charles Leclerc at the start before overtaking him for the sprint win. They will again share the front row today, the title rivals split by just 0.029s in qualifying yesterday.

06:17

For the second time in the 2022 F1 season, it's a sprint race weekend - and the first time Austria has hosted a sprint race. But of course it's not the first time we'll have had two races in Austria, after the Red Bull Ring hosted double-header rounds in 2020 and 2021 to aid the world championship's recovery from the pandemic.

06:15

Hello and welcome to Autosport's live coverage of Free Practice 2 from a sunny Red Bull Ring. We've had the Formula 3 race earlier on, and the countdown is on for FP2 in 15 minutes time.

By: autosport.com

Published:

Jul 9, 2022, 10:29 AM