It was Sprint Quali time in Spielberg as the Teams and Drivers looked to nail a lap to start as high up as possible for tomorrow’s Sprint!
SQ1
In Sprint Qualifying 1; Daniel Ricciardo, Nico Hulkenberg, Valtteri Bottas, Alex Albon, and Zhou Guanyu were the five slowest drivers. Daniel Ricciardo will be frustrated as he wasn’t too far off making it into SQ2 whilst Nico Hulkenberg had a disappointing day which saw him end up 2 thousandths behind his former teammate. Valtteri Bottas confirmed Kick Sauber are back to being the slowest car whilst Alex Albon had a pretty poor day, but at least he beat Zhou Guanyu! Max Verstappen topped SQ1 by just under a tenth to Mercedes’ George Russell.
SQ2
In Sprint Qualifying 2; Kevin Magnussen, Lance Stroll, Fernando Alonso, Yuki Tsunoda, and Logan Sargeant all failed to make it into the Top 10 shootout. Kevin Magnussen did a good job to get his Haas up into P11 whilst Lance Stroll will be mightily frustrated with P12, even though he managed to out-qualify Fernando Alonso in another difficult day for Aston Martin. Yuki Tsunoda could only manage 14th for Visa Cash App RB whilst Logan Sargeant can be pleased with an SQ2 appearance! It was as you were in SQ2 with Verstappen ahead of Russell!
SQ3
In Sprint Qualifying 3; a 1:04.686 was enough for Max Verstappen to take Sprint Pole! Max looked supreme throughout and it’s going to be tough to stop him for the remainder of the weekend! Lando Norris will start P2 tomorrow after a terrific lap whilst Oscar Piastri managed third in a strong day for McLaren. George Russell will be slightly disappointed with 4th whilst Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton will have to settle for 5th and 6th respectively. Sergio Perez didn’t exactly have a great day as he will start 7th whilst Esteban Ocon headed Pierre Gasly in a good but also frustrating day for Alpine. Charles Leclerc ultimately failed to get a lap in at the end of SQ3 after an unfortunate technical fault.
Starting Grid for the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix Sprint and My Sprint Qualifying Grades
Max Verstappen: 10
Lando Norris: 10
Oscar Piastri: 9
George Russell: 8
Carlos Sainz: 7
Lewis Hamilton: 6
Sergio Perez: 4
Esteban Ocon: 8
Pierre Gasly: 8
Charles Leclerc: -
Kevin Magnussen: 7
Lance Stroll: 4
Fernando Alonso: 3
Yuki Tsunoda: 5
Logan Sargeant: 4
Daniel Ricciardo: 3
Nico Hulkenberg: 2
Valtteri Bottas: 3
Alex Albon: 1
Zhou Guanyu: 1
My Predictions for the 2024 Austrian Sprint
Max Verstappen
Lando Norris
George Russell
Oscar Piastri
Lewis Hamilton