Photo: Red Bull Racing
Over the past few years, F1 has become increasingly popular thanks to a series of changes and marketing moves brought into place by Liberty Media. There's constant tweaking in the rule book, too, to keep things as competitive and exciting as possible, thus bringing in more fans, spectators, and sponsors to the sport.
Sprint races have only been around since 2021, and the Sprint Shootout is even more recent than that. It's a shorter form of Qualifying, which establishes the starting grid for the Sprint Race on weekends that have that on their schedule.
Just like regular Qualifying, a knockout system is in place: 15 drivers will go into SQ2, and only 10 of them into SQ3. The weather was anything but ideal for the start of the Sprint Shootout at Spa, and the organizers had to delay the beginning of the session for about half an hour.
Fernando Alonso quickly redeemed that spot, while the Flying Dutchman consolidated his position by improving his earlier lap times. If he hadn't done that, Lewis Hamilton would have taken P1. With Sergio Perez in fifth, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc were once again close to each other in P6 and P7. Both Mclaren drivers were slightly slower than expected, with Piastri landing in P11 and Norris in P13.
While plenty of fans were happy to see Ricciardo advancing to SQ1, some wondered what had happened to Russell lately. He scored only one podium this year and was now in P15 at the end of the first sprint shootout session, inches away from elimination. But that's still a better result than what the bottom five drivers achieved. Alfa Romeo and Haas were out of the game, and so was Yuki Tsunoda.
That spelled disaster for his teammate, Fernando Alonso, who was out of SQ2 before even getting a chance to set a fast lap. Both Wiliams drivers suffered the same fate, while Daniel Ricciardo was at least closer to SQ3. At the top of the list, no surprise whatsoever.
Max Verstappen, in P1, is almost three seconds faster than he was the first time. Lewis Hamilton came in second, while Sergio Perez was third. George Russell barely reached the next step for the second session in a row, but that's still a commendable result.
Everyone was ecstatic to see Oscar Piastri taking control of the Sprint Shootout, and I can't wait to see the 22-year-old scoring his first F1 victory. But Max Verstappen came in at the last moment and claimed Pole Position, denying the young Australian his first moment of glory in the World Championship.
Things are certainly heating up for this second part of the season, and one can only hope that Mclaren's ace drivers can keep being competitive and score a win or two by the end of the season. We'll report back with the Sprint Race results in a bit!
Just like regular Qualifying, a knockout system is in place: 15 drivers will go into SQ2, and only 10 of them into SQ3. The weather was anything but ideal for the start of the Sprint Shootout at Spa, and the organizers had to delay the beginning of the session for about half an hour.
SQ1
With SQ1 ending, Max Verstappen led the scoreboard for Red Bull Racing, having set a fast lap of 1:58.958. Alex Albo came close to a P2 finish for Williams, but several drivers were still about to cross the finish line too.Fernando Alonso quickly redeemed that spot, while the Flying Dutchman consolidated his position by improving his earlier lap times. If he hadn't done that, Lewis Hamilton would have taken P1. With Sergio Perez in fifth, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc were once again close to each other in P6 and P7. Both Mclaren drivers were slightly slower than expected, with Piastri landing in P11 and Norris in P13.
While plenty of fans were happy to see Ricciardo advancing to SQ1, some wondered what had happened to Russell lately. He scored only one podium this year and was now in P15 at the end of the first sprint shootout session, inches away from elimination. But that's still a better result than what the bottom five drivers achieved. Alfa Romeo and Haas were out of the game, and so was Yuki Tsunoda.
SQ2
SQ2 had Aston Martin in a somewhat strange position. Lance Stroll went out on Medium tires, although there were still plenty of wet patches on the track, and everyone else was on Intermediate tires. With 30 seconds left before the end, he lost control of his car and hit the wall, red flagging and effectively ending the session for everyone.That spelled disaster for his teammate, Fernando Alonso, who was out of SQ2 before even getting a chance to set a fast lap. Both Wiliams drivers suffered the same fate, while Daniel Ricciardo was at least closer to SQ3. At the top of the list, no surprise whatsoever.
Max Verstappen, in P1, is almost three seconds faster than he was the first time. Lewis Hamilton came in second, while Sergio Perez was third. George Russell barely reached the next step for the second session in a row, but that's still a commendable result.
SQ3
The track was drying up for SQ3, and most drivers were at least a few seconds faster than in SQ2. With 20 seconds before the end of the session, Sergio Perez jumped into P1 with a 1:50.309 lap time. Gasly dipped below the 1:50 mark and dreamed about starting the Sprint Race from the front of the grid for a few seconds. Carlos Sainz shattered that dream soon after, but the Spaniard would have to settle for P3 by the end of the session.Everyone was ecstatic to see Oscar Piastri taking control of the Sprint Shootout, and I can't wait to see the 22-year-old scoring his first F1 victory. But Max Verstappen came in at the last moment and claimed Pole Position, denying the young Australian his first moment of glory in the World Championship.
Things are certainly heating up for this second part of the season, and one can only hope that Mclaren's ace drivers can keep being competitive and score a win or two by the end of the season. We'll report back with the Sprint Race results in a bit!
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