After yesterday’s Qualifying set the grid for the main race on Sunday, the inaugural Sprint Shootout took place to determine who starts where for today’s F1 Sprint.
SQ1
In Sprint Qualifying 1; Zhou Guanyu, Valtteri Bottas, Yuki Tsunoda, Pierre Gasly and Nyck de Vries were the five slowest drivers. For the second successive day, Zhou Guanyu qualified 16th, but he can at least be happy with the fact that he’s lining up ahead of his teammate for today’s sprint. Valtteri Bottas never got a quick lap time on the board whilst Yuki Tsunoda (after a brilliant Qualifying performance yesterday) will almost feel like not even showing up for today’s Sprint race. Pierre Gasly had more issues which resulted in him failing to get a representable time on the board whilst Nyck de Vries continues to really struggle in his Alpha Tauri. Charles Leclerc topped SQ1 ahead of Max Verstappen by well over 4 tenths of a second.
SQ2
In Sprint Qualifying 2; Oscar Piastri, Nico Hulkenberg, Esteban Ocon, Kevin Magnussen and Logan Sargeant all failed to make it into the top 10 shootout. Oscar Piastri will be gutted about not taking part in SQ3 as he was only 32 thousandths behind his teammate Lando Norris. Nico Hulkenberg seemed to get the maximum out of his Haas car whilst Esteban Ocon continued to struggle in his Alpine. Kevin Magnussen just didn’t have the pace to get near his teammate in this session whilst Logan Sargeant was unable to take part after he binned his car in the wall at the end of the first Sprint Quali session. Max Verstappen topped SQ2 this time ahead of Charles Leclerc by under a tenth.
SQ3
In Sprint Qualifying 3, Charles Leclerc set a 1:41.697 to take the first-ever Sprint Shootout Pole. Leclerc hooked up his first lap nicely so it didn’t really matter that he crashed on his final attempt. Sergio Perez can be happy with a front-row start whilst Max Verstappen seemed annoyed at only being P3. George Russell pulled out a stellar final lap to get his Mercedes on the second row ahead of the struggling Ferrari of Carlos Sainz whilst Lewis Hamilton will line up 6th for the Sprint later on today. Alex Albon pulled out an incredible performance to put his Williams into P7 whilst Aston Martin’s DRS issues meant Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll could only manage 8th and 9th respectively. Lando Norris completed the top 10 after not setting a single lap in the final part of the Sprint Shootout due to his lack of tyres.
Starting Grid for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix Sprint and my Sprint Shootout Grades
Charles Leclerc: 10
Sergio Perez: 9
Max Verstappen: 8
George Russell: 8
Carlos Sainz: 6
Lewis Hamilton: 6
Alex Albon: 10
Fernando Alonso: 6
Lance Stroll: 5
Lando Norris: 8
Oscar Piastri: 6
Nico Hulkenberg: 6
Esteban Ocon: 4
Kevin Magnussen: 4
Logan Sargeant: 2
Zhou Guanyu: 3
Valtteri Bottas: 2
Yuki Tsunoda: 2
Pierre Gasly: -
Nyck de Vries: 1
My Predictions for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix Sprint
Charles Leclerc
Max Verstappen
Sergio Perez
George Russell
Lewis Hamilton
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