Contents
04:12 PM
Q1 – Top 10 as it stands
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HAM
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PER
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ALO
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LEC
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RUS
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SAI
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MSC
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ALB
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OCO
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MAG
Drivers in the drop zone: TSU, GAS, RIC, VET, VER
04:11 PM
Q1 – Hamilton goes fastest!
Decent. 0.064s quicker than Perez and on the third lap of his run.
04:10 PM
Q1 – Hamilton got it all wrong at turn three
Which explains some of the deficit. Current order upcoming. Hamilton goes fastest in the first sector on his next lap… he’s 0.070s off after two sectors.
04:09 PM
Q1 – Verstappen begins his first flying lap
Let’s see what he can do…
He goes fastest by 0.046s ahead of his team-mate Perez.
Hamilton then goes ninth, four-tenths slower than Russell and nearly a second off the pace.
04:07 PM
Q1 – Leclerc back into top spot
Sainz had a lap time deleted again? No. But maybe it was a clarification that he had his next lap time deleted rather than the one he was on.
04:06 PM
Q1 – 12 mins remaining
Alonso now quickest, albeit for only a few moments as Kevin Magnussen and then Mick Schumacher beat it!
04:05 PM
Q1 – Sainz has his lap deleted
Track limits at turn 10. So that’s Leclerc fastest again.
04:03 PM
Q1 – Sainz with the current fastest lap time
1:06.363, 0.399s quicker than team-mate Leclerc. Perez pops up into third, but 0.443s behind Sainz. All 20 cars out on track now.
04:01 PM
Q1 – Both McLarens out early
Norris because he broke down in the first 20 minutes of FP1 and Daniel Ricciardo because, well, he probably needs to. Bad weekend at Silverstone last week.
04:00 PM
GREEN LIGHT: Q1 begins
18 minutes. 20 drivers, five go out and 15 through.
03:57 PM
Going to back Alonso for a cracking result today
03:51 PM
10 minutes to go
Predictions? Have to say I am not optimistic that anyone will be able to beat Max Verstappen… that said, Ferrari have often managed to find a way.
03:46 PM
Zhou Guanyu relives F1 horror crash: ‘I feared my car was going to burst into flames with me in it’
Read more here.
03:39 PM
Even more fans hyped up on Red Bull.. or something
03:32 PM
Max Verstappen delivers barbed response to Lewis Hamilton’s praise for Silverstone race
Red Bull driver remarked: ‘I think it’s quite nice that, at 37 years of age, you can still learn how to hit an apex’. Read the full story here.
03:28 PM
The Verstappen mega-fans have been letting these orange flares off since early this morning
03:23 PM
Current constructor standings
Haas had their best ever race weekend with a fourth and fifth a few years ago. Can they deliver this weekend? They have been underdelivering on their ultimate pace but had a double-points finish at Silverstone last weekend.
03:16 PM
Current championship standings: Top 10
03:14 PM
The scenery isn’t too bad here
03:05 PM
First practice classification
02:20 PM
Good afternoon F1 fans
Welcome to our live coverage for qualifying for the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix. In case you had forgotten, this weekend is one of three sprint race weekends, where the format is a little different to the usual Formula One race weekends. Instead of the line-up of three practice sessions followed by qualifying and then the race it’s one practice session, qualifying for the sprint race on Saturday, another practice session, the sprint race and then the grand prix itself on Sunday.
It certainly gives a different feel to the weekend but is it a better one? I think F1 have got it about right, with maybe three, four or five sprint race weekends feeling about right. Certainly this is a track where you can overtake so it has always seemed like a decent idea to do it here. It usually makes the order a little less predictable with a greater likelihood for a mixed up grid on the Sunday. It certainly seemed to help Daniel Ricciardo’s win in Monza last year.
So far we have only had one hour of practice but the order of the session was perhaps what we were expecting, at least at the very top. Championship leader Max Verstappen topped the timesheets with a lap of 1:06.302. Ominously, though, he also completed more laps than anyone else at 34, appearing to run some race simulations towards the end of the session.
Behind Verstappen was Charles Leclerc of Ferrari (0.255s away) and then the lead Mercedes of George Russell, four tenths away. As much as we have had great racing and a close and thrilling finish at the front at Silverstone last weekend, we did not see the true potential of Verstappen due to the bodywork damage he suffered early on in the race. There was a danger – and likelihood – that he would have run away with it. And that, again, is the danger this weekend on a track where he excels.
The championship desperately needs a Ferrari fightback and it got that to some extent at Silverstone last weekend (with Mercedes back in the mix again). It would be a shame if Verstappen ran away with it this weekend. There is at least some chance of jeopardy throughout the field with the format, though. That may save us.
