12:48 p.m
Hülkenberg strong, but wait and see
Niko Hulkenberg improves on his performance from yesterday and is on the second row next to Lando Norris. But caution is still required here. The stewards are still looking at the incident from the pit lane and a penalty transfer could possibly be pending here afterwards. Either way, the performance of the German in Haas is once again outstanding. In addition, he again beats his teammate Kevin Magnussen, who with tenth place on the grid lags far behind Hülkenberg.
12:46 p.m
End Sprint Shootout
The Sprint Shootout at the Red Bull Ring is over. In addition to a front row purely from the Red Bulls, Lando Norris prevailed against the competition and is now “Best of the Rest”. The McLaren mechanics seem to have done a tremendously good job developing the car in the right direction.
12:44
Max Verstappen’s new best lap
Red Bull Racing
Max Verstappen beats his own lap time again. With a 1:04.440 the Dutchman is and remains undefeated. In the last second, Sergio Perez advances to second place and the front row of the grid. But there are half a second between him and his teammates. What a show of power by Verstappen!
9.
12:42 p.m
Now it matters!
The last minute has come. Who can still improve? Hülkenberg got a fresh medium tire and Sainz is also going back onto the track with the yellow tyre. All ten drivers are at the Red Bull Ring because none of them can feel safe with their time.
7.
12:41
Leclerc stumbles
Charles Leclerc is now also setting his first time and is in fifth place. He doesn’t seem to be coping as well with the cooler temperatures as he did on Friday.
3.
12:39 p.m
Norris strong
Lando Norris, who is one of the few with a fresh red tyre, is on the front row with five minutes remaining. He is currently P2, almost 0.4 seconds behind. Just behind him is Sergio Perez.
12:39 p.m
Max Verstappen’s new best lap
Red Bull Racing
Once again, it is Max Verstappen who immediately takes the lead. With a lap time of 1:04.613, nobody was faster today!
12:36
SQ3 started
Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez have been in the pit lane for over a minute before the final session begins. It was very important to the Red Bulls to be the first to hit the track. Due to the lack of time, nine drivers are immediately on their warm-up lap. Only Leclerc can still be found in the box at the moment.
12:33 p.m
Shocking moment for Hulkenberg
It is gratifying that Niko Hülkenberg made it into the SQ3. The German has been extremely consistent so far. There was still a little moment of shock. In the replay you saw that he had an accident in his pits after the tire change. He drives off and runs over his own tire and briefly takes off. Exactly how this happened is still unclear. Hulkenberg is still further, but the stewards look at the incident again. Haas could possibly be punished afterwards.
12:31
SQ2 ended
SQ2 is over and apart from George Russell, all the big names have made it into the deciding session. Alex Albon just missed out on eleventh place. He is joined by Tsunoda, De Vries and Gasly. In the end, Gasly ran out of time after he had to go to the weigh-in and his time in the pits was a little longer than planned.
10
12:29
New best lap by Carlos Sainz
Ferrari
Now it is Carlos Sainz who takes the lead. But Max Verstappen insisted on beating the lap time by 0.063 seconds and also winning the SQ2.
9.
12:28
Russell stays in the box
That’s it for George Russel! The mechanics don’t get the Mercedes ready in time and so it’s only rank 15 for the sprint race. What a raven-black shootout for the team around Toto Wolf.
8th.
12:27
New best lap by Esteban Ocon
Alpine F1 team
Esteban Ocon sets a new best lap time. In the last sector, Ocon gets everything out of his Alpine and beats the current world champion’s time by 0.020 seconds.
7.
12:25
The chronological order
Verstappen’s time is still unbeaten! But behind that there are some changes. Sergio Perez moves up to second and ousts Carlos Sainz in third. Alonso is currently fourth ahead of Lando Norris. Things are not looking good for Leclerc again. He’s on his out lap right now, but he’s only ranked 12th. He really needs to improve his time.
5.
12:23
Problems at Russell
George Russell’s car appears to be having problems. The Mercedes is still in the pits and the nose has been removed. Cable ties are being used and a short-term solution is being sought. The mechanics have to hurry because there are just under five minutes left on the clock.
4.
12:21
Verstappen with exclamation mark
Max Verstappen starts immediately and doesn’t want to leave anything to chance. With a lap time of 1:05.624 he grabs the early lead ahead of Lando Norris and Esteban Ocon.
12:19
SQ2 has started
It goes on in quick succession and the traffic light for the SQ2 turns green. One more reminder! Now the remaining drivers only have ten minutes for a fast lap. Eleven cars, including Sainz, Verstappen and Hülkenberg, immediately take to the track. It seems as if the rain will now withdraw for the time being.
12:16
Who flies out?
For whom is the shoutout already over? Charles Leclerc, who narrowly missed Max Verstappen yesterday, can take a deep breath. As 15th he just barely made it into the next round. Sergio Perez also slipped back into SQ2 in 14th place. For Logan Sargeant, Valtteri Bottas, Oscar Piastri and Guanyu Zhou, however, it’s over.
12:14
Hamilton is out!
This is the end of the first part of the sprint shootout and towards the end there was a real sensation. The lap times got better and better, so that Lewis Hamilton was passed far. In addition, his last fast lap was a real disaster and the record world champion retires in 19th place.
12:13
New best time by Carlos Sainz in Q1
Ferrari
Carlos Sainz sets a new best time in SQ1 and proves how well he can handle pressure. He sets the fastest lap time and relegates Max Verstappen to second place. Niko Hulkenberg sensationally sets the third best time in SQ 1 and is only 0.361 seconds behind the leader.
12.
12:11
One minute left
One minute remains and as things stand now, Sainz, Zhou, Bottas, Gasly and Leclerc would not be in SQ2. Ocon is the driver who has to tremble at the moment. Who is still pushing forward?
11.
12:10 p.m
Sainz intervenes
Carlos Sainz drives out of the pits again. The lap has to be perfect now because he only has one minute and 45 seconds left for the out lap. After that, he has an attempt to finish in the top 15.
9.
12:09 p.m
New best lap by Sergio Pérez
Red Bull Racing
Sergio Pérez sets a new best lap time. He’s faster than his teammate, who still has the medium tire on. Perez, who still has two new soft tire compounds available, drives the best time with the soft tire. He will do everything to limit the damage today.
7.
12:07 p.m
Split times and track limits
The lap times are getting faster and faster and one thing is already clear: the subject of track limits will continue to concern drivers and teams today. Various times have already been cancelled. Five minutes from the end of the session, Alex Albon is currently leading with a lap time of 1:07.506 ahead of Lando Norris and Fernando Alonso. All three have raised the soft tire.
5.
12:05
Sainz in the box
Ferrari couldn’t fix Sainz’s problem immediately and the Spaniard has to return to the pits without a lap. Let’s hope that they get the brake repaired quickly, because otherwise his Saturday will be over quickly.
12:04
New best lap by Fernando Alonso
Aston Martin F1 Team
Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso sets the first record. But his time does not last long, because Max Verstappen comes flying from behind. But he probably won’t be able to keep his time, because he clearly drifted too far to the outside in said turn ten.
12:03
Pit radio Carlos Sainz
Ferrari
Carlos Sainz immediately gives the feedback to his team that his rear brake is not working properly. Of course you don’t want that in such a short qualifying session.
12:00 p.m
Start sprint shootout
The traffic lights are green, the Sprint Shootout in Spielberg has started. The race directors have classified the race track as wet and the drivers are therefore free to choose their tires. Most drivers go out on the track with intermediates, but one or two soft tires have also been fitted, for example at Lewis Hamilton’s.
11:50
The favourites
The big favorite is again Max Verstappen. He also had two lap times canceled on Friday, but then followed up with exactly the right answer with the fastest lap time in each case. But Charles Leclerc also seems to like the Red Bull Ring. With 0.048 seconds, the Monegasque narrowly missed pole position for Sunday. Lando Norris drives the new McLaren, which has some improvements. The Briton could potentially cause a big surprise if everything falls into place. But Niko Hülkenberg has also been in good form so far.
11:41
The big topic – track limits
A special feature at the Red Bull Ring are the track limits. In particular, a ride out in turn ten is punished heavily, because the drivers not only get the current lap time deleted, but also the time for the next lap, as they gain an advantage for the first sector. In yesterday’s qualifying for the main race, lap times were literally canceled every minute. Sergio Perez was particularly badly hit, as he was unable to complete a qualifying lap in Q2 and will only start the race from 15th place on the grid on Sunday. With today’s time pressure, we can certainly experience similar thrilling and exciting sessions.
11:32
The weather god!
Speaking of rain! The weather could play an important role on today’s race day. After yesterday’s first and only free practice and qualifying it was warm and dry, a lot of rain is forecast for today. The cards could be completely reshuffled because the data collected from yesterday will not help much. It rained all night and even now it’s still drizzling lightly. So it remains exciting to see who will be able to cope best with the new conditions.
11:24
The mode
With the shootout and the sprint, Saturday takes on a whole new meaning. The shootout is a kind of qualifying, with which the starting grid for the subsequent sprint is determined. The time was shortened in all qualifying sessions. In SQ1, the drivers have twelve minutes for a fast lap, in SQ 2 only ten and in the third part only eight minutes. This should further increase the chances of surprises. In addition, the teams are not allowed to freely decide on the choice of tires. As long as it doesn’t rain, the mediums are used in SQ1 and SQ2 and the red tire, i.e. the soft version, is only allowed in SQ3.
11:19
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to the second Sprint Shooutout this season. From 12 o’clock it starts for the drivers!