Two weeks after Lusail weekend, The Formula 1 returns to dabble in fifth of the six planned sprint weekends. Today's qualifying session will establish the starting grid for the sprint which will be held at 00:00 Italian time. Yet another atypical weekend, therefore, for the top flight, which has already established the grid for the Sunday race yesterday. He will succeed Verstappen recovering from disappointment of Friday, and Leclerc to reconfirm pole unexpected?
Max ahead of everyone, Leclerc is close behind
The action starts on twisty Austin road, Texas. The first round of the sprint shootout, as is known, is contested by each driver on medium tyres. It will be like this in the second round too. The two Ferraris started well, immediately chasing Max Verstappen. The pilot of Red Bull he will want revenge after yesterday's very rare mistake. The two Hasses did not do well, both excluded: Hulkenberg he's 16th, Magnussen 17th. Bottas is 18th ahead of Tsunoda and Sargeant. A bipolar Williams, with Albon third and The Ultimate Companion. Of note is the possible penalty for George Russell. The Englishman made an obvious mistake impeding on Leclerc just before the last bend. Ricciardo did very well, passing the cut, placing himself in 15th position - even ahead of his teammate - who had just returned from injury. Hamilton is also at great risk due to a misunderstanding with Tsuonda: the Englishman and the Japanese touched without causing any obvious damage.
Sensational Verstappen: second mistake of the weekend
Yellow rubber again for the second of three rounds of the sprint qualifying. New round but the rhyme is the same. Verstappen immediately puts her in first position and the Ferraris chase. The difference is that now Leclerc has closed the gap. Norris' McLaren doesn't perform badly, the Englishman is fourth halfway through SQ2 despite the MCL60 being less comfortable than in Qatar. Great work at the Mercedes garage, the mechanics put Russell on the track a few minutes before the end of the session. The Englishman had suffered damage to the deflector.
With very little time to go Max made his second mistake of the weekend. The three-time world champion lost his RB19 at the end of the snake. After the 360° the Dutchman returned to the pits, closing the SQ2 in first position despite everything. The five drivers excluded are Ricciardo, Alonso, Ocon, Stroll and Zhou. Big disappointment from Aston Martin. The Mercedes narrowly makes the cut, eighth with Russell and ninth with Hamilton.
Max takes pole in the sprint, Leclerc is second
Max Verstappen is the first to take to the track in SQ3. the limited time will force the riders to go for broke in a single attempt on the soft tyre. Max prints a 1:34.538. Charles Leclerc does his best, but finishes second by just 55 thousandths from the pole man. Third there is a great Hamilton, which makes Mercedes breathe a sigh of relief after an SQ2 on the razor's edge. Norris and Piastri are fourth and fifth. Sainz sixth ahead of Perez, Russell and Albon. Tenth, like his number, is there gasly. The sprint pole, therefore, goes to Max Verstappen, that will try to reconstruct a complex weekend already from tonight's match. Eight points coming to Fanta F1 for Max?
