F1 United States GP live commentary and updates - sprint qualifying
Follow along for Formula 1's sprint qualifying session at the United States Grand Prix
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F1 sprint qualifying coming soon!
And hello again! We've just had the team principals' press conference, and now the decks are clear to look ahead to F1's sprint qualifying session coming up in just under an hour's time.
Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls Team
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images
FP1 recap
McLaren's Lando Norris topped the only practice session ahead of the United States Grand Prix, with Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg splitting Norris from Oscar Piastri.
With Austin's Circuit of the Americas hosting F1's latest sprint weekend, Friday's FP1 was the sole practice session for teams to dial in their cars for sprint qualifying later on Friday. That meant the 60-minute session was jam-packed with action, with all 20 cars out on track early on.
Norris set a 1m33.294s lap that would stay on top until the end of the session, as efforts from Piastri and a last-gasp flyer from Nico Hulkenberg couldn't challenge the Briton's effort.
McLaren's Zak Brown won't be drawn on 'repercussions' for Norris
Yesterday, Lando Norris alluded to 'repercussions' for his first-lap contact with team-mate Oscar Piastri at Singapore - but neither he nor Piastri would explain what they were.
In the team principals' press conference, CEO Zak Brown was not going to elaborate on them either.
Brown on the 'repercussions' for Norris: "That's private business between us. I know everyone's interested to know, but both drivers are in a great place and, you know, we just want to set them up to continue to be able to race each other hard.
"We're racing against nine other teams. I don't think you want to necessarily show your hand on how you go motor racing, so we try and be as transparent as possible, but there's a reason why engineering debriefs are only with teams.
"Otherwise, you start inviting other teams in, so I think that's the best we can do. We try and be as transparent as possible in saying that some action has been taken, so I think that's been very transparent, but at the end of the day, we're at a sporting event, and we can't necessarily tell everyone everything."
Lando Norris, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, McLaren, Zak Brown, McLaren
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Formula 1 via Getty Images
Mayer withdraws from FIA presidential race
Tim Mayer has withdrawn his FIA presidential election bid against incumbent Mohammed Ben Sulayem due to a rule requirement which prevents him from running.
The former FIA steward, who was sacked last November, announced his intention to run for election later this year because he reckoned Ben Sulayem had ‘broken promises’.
But his bid has ground to a halt because any candidate must submit a list of their prospective vice-presidents for sport from each of the FIA’s six global regions.
The world council list, however, only has one from South America which is Brazil’s Fabiana Ecclestone, wife of Bernie, who had previously confirmed her support for Ben Sulayem.
Mekies: Red Bull now has potential to win at the remaining races
After a mixed start to the year, Red Bull has been a rejuvenated force under Laurent Mekies - and the team has now found performance in its RB21 to ensure Max Verstappen has the service needed to win races.
Since the summer break, Verstappen has clinched two wins and two second-place finishes, and has the two McLaren drivers in his sights as he aims to complete his outside shot at the title.
Mekies on Red Bull's gains: "I think that it's fair to say that we think we have enough potential in the car now to to be in the fight on on most tracks going forward.
"Now, it doesn't mean that we will be able to win, but if we do nail everything out of the car, if we extract everything out of the car on a given track, then we think we will be able to fight for the win.
"It doesn't mean that we're able to do that every race weekend. It doesn't mean that we won't get beaten by [Mercedes, McLaren, or Ferrari] on any of the race weekends. But it means that we should be in that group that fights for the win."
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Laurent Mekies, Red Bull Racing Team Principal
Photo by: Zak Mauger / LAT Images via Getty Images
10 minutes to go until sprint qualifying
Not long now until we start deciding the grid for tomorrow's sprint!
Two questions that remain going into the session pertain to Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc; Sainz suffered with a suspected gearbox issue which cost him much of the practice session, while Leclerc was also unable to log anything in the end-of-session hot laps with his own mechanical issues.
They should be good to go, but we'll have to see if they make it out in time - and if they can break out of SQ1.
SQ1 coming up shortly - remember that the drivers are obliged to use medium tyres in both SQ1 and SQ2, then progress to the softs in SQ3. A few teams did their softer-tyre runs at the end of practice with the mediums to get their eye in.
32C out there today - 44C track temperature to contend with.
A heat hazard has been declared by the FIA, so everyone's obliged to run with the extra 5kg of weight, but as it's a dry heat, the drivers might not need the cooling vest.
The pit lane fills up with drivers keen to get their SQ1 sessions going. Hadjar hits the road first, aiming to get a good first run in.
Both Saubers, both Haases, both VCARBs, and Williams are out there, as is Tsunoda.
Hadjar opens with a 1m34.856s, which is immediately beaten by Hulkenberg's 1m34.758s. Tsunoda's third for a brief spell, before Bearman displaces him.
Lawson sets a 1m34.603s to go top for now, as Leclerc's out on track following his limited running in practice.
Sainz, who suffered a similarly truncated session, goes up to second.
It's a 1m34.226s for Hamilton, who now moves to the head of the field. Leclerc only sits 11th after his first lap, which is pushed down to 12th - then 13th - when the McLarens go second and third.
Verstappen then goes to the top with a 1m34.140s, 0.086s ahead of Hamilton.
Antonelli gets up to fifth, as Russell ends up eighth after his opening run.
Bortoleto has a lap deleted as he goes wide at Turn 19, so he's time-less at the moment. Everyone else has a lap on the board.
Bottom five with three minutes to go
16. Leclerc
17. Gasly
18. Ocon
19. Colapinto
20. Bortoleto
Traffic in the pitlane, as Ocon has Bortoleto trying to force his way into the queue. Both Haas drivers have the new update on their cars, so would ideally like to mark that with a solid sprint qualifying performance.
There's a few that might struggle to get a lap in, having got caught in the pit lane queuing - Tsunoda believes he won't get to the line in time.
Leclerc gets up to 12th, as there's a whole host of cars who didn't make it - neither Tsunoda, Bortoleto, nor the Haases could cross the line in time.
Albon gets up to seventh, Sainz is up to fourth. Norris does a 1m33.224s to go quickest, as Verstappen splits the McLarens.
Gasly makes a last-gasp exit from the bottom five, displacing Colapinto and Bearman.
"I mean...what?" Tsunoda says, who's very unhappy with the timing of his pit exit. He got blocked by a number of cars, as Lawson held him up as the Kiwi tried to get his own lap in.
'Traffic paradise' would be his usual sentiment.
Eliminated in SQ1
16. Bearman
17. Colapinto
18. Tsunoda
19. Ocon
20. Bortoleto
SQ2 begins!
Next stage: Max Verstappen kicks off as the field waits to get their initial laps in. Alonso and Stroll follow him out of the pit lane and up the hill.
Still quite a few tailbacks in the pit lane - if the drivers want to do two laps in this session, it might have to be a push-cool-push situation.
Verstappen opens with a 1m33.163s, that's a very good lap - quicker than Norris' SQ1 benchmark. The McLarens are about to set their laps.
Sainz gets the best first sector, but the middle is average; he goes third, ahead of Albon.
Piastri goes up to second, but Norris then puts him and Verstappen down a place as he grabs a 1m33.033s time.
The Ferraris, meanwhile, struggle; Leclerc only goes 10th as Hamilton hits ninth.
Hadjar, Lawson, and Hulkenberg leave the pitlane, as they're yet to go out in this session.
Elimination zone with three minutes remaining
11. Stroll
12. Hulkenberg
13. Hadjar
14. Lawson
15. Gasly
Both Williams drivers pit and then go out again - it'll be very difficult to get to the line in time without pushing too hard.
Hadjar gets up to 10th, as Lawson goes wide at Turn 19 - although he doesn't break out of the bottom five.
The Williams duo indeed will not make it to the line. Hulkenberg fires his way up to fifth to dump Hadjar down into 11th.
Leclerc gets a lap good enough for SQ3, which puts Hamilton out - but Hamilton then just about prises Antonelli out of the top 10 by 0.006s.
Eliminated in SQ2
11. Antonelli
12. Hadjar
13. Gasly
14. Stroll
15. Lawson
Lawson indeed had his lap deleted for going off at Turn 19 but, as we said, it wasn't good enough to get through to SQ3 anyway.
Difficult one for Ferrari, proper last-ditch effort to get through.
Drivers competing for sprint pole
Your SQ3 runners are: Norris, Verstappen, Piastri, Russell, Hulkenberg, Sainz, Albon, Leclerc, Alonso, Hamilton.
Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images
SQ3 open for business!
And it's last orders! Eight minutes, one lap on softs, and Russell, Sainz, and Albon are first on track.
Russell opens, but both Williams drivers do a better first sector. That said, the Mercedes driver does a 1m32.888s, and Albon posts a 1m33.099s.
Sainz captures a 1m32.911s, so it's not all in the opening part of the lap.
Now it's the turn of our remaining seven runners. Norris, Verstappen, Piastri, Leclerc, Alonso, Hamilton, and Hulkenberg get the ball rolling.
Replay of Russell snatching a wheel into Turn 1, which explains the deficit in his opening sector.
Hulkenberg smashes in a 1m32.645s to go top! Norris is going reasonably quickly, however.
The Ferraris...aren't. Leclerc goes sixth, as Hamilton goes fourth.
Norris then posts a 1m32.214s to go fastest so far - but let's look out for Verstappen.
And it's a 1m32.143s for Verstappen, who finds 0.071s to go fastest! It's sprint pole for the Red Bull driver, with purple first and third sectors.
He'll join Norris on the front row tomorrow, while Piastri and Hulkenberg line up on the second row.
SQ3 order
1. Verstappen
2. Norris
3. Piastri
4. Hulkenberg
5. Russell
6. Alonso
7. Sainz
8. Hamilton
9. Albon
10. Leclerc
Alonso snuck his Aston Martin into sixth, which is a pretty stellar effort. Russell's decision to go early worked somewhat, although he might feel he should be starting on the second row instead of Hulkenberg.
Sainz shook off the practice issues with his gearbox to get seventh, also a strong effort in that reliveried Williams. I think they should keep it for the rest of the year.
Verstappen expects 'tight' fight with McLarens in US GP sprint
Verstappen on sprint pole: "Yeah it's been a nice qualifying. Tight through all the segments, just tried to put it all together - it's not easy with the soft tyre because you have no reference. I expect it to be tight tomorrow.
"The wind is coming up and down, very gusty, the track is bumpy, so the car can easily step out on you in the high-speed. So you have to leave a bit of margin."
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing
Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images
And that's all from us on the live blog tonight, but there's still plenty more to follow across Autosport and Motorsport.com.
Thanks for joining us, and we'll be back tomorrow with our coverage of the sprint race, and grand prix qualifying later on. Sleep well, and see you tomorrow!
