F1 Qualifier at Sprint Weekend: Vettel Disastrous, Mercedes Broken, Ferrari Counterattacked

Because of the sprint, Formula 1 is already qualifying in Austria today.

F1 Qualifier at Sprint Weekend: Vettel Disastrous, Mercedes Broken, Ferrari Counterattacked

Because of the sprint, Formula 1 is already qualifying in Austria today. Mercedes has two broken cars to fix and Sebastian Vettel suffers a debacle while Mick Schumacher continues his upward trend. Pole position goes to Max Verstappen.

Mick Schumacher confirmed his improving form in the unusual Friday qualifying session for the Austrian Grand Prix. On the high-speed course in Spielberg, the 23-year-old finished in the top ten and secured a good starting position for the formula 1 sprint on Saturday (4.30 p.m. / Sky and in the live ticker on ntv.de). In the chaotic last section, Schumacher manages the eighth fastest time of the day. Mercedes provided two red flags in Q3, with Lewis Hamilton losing control of his car in turn eight and hitting the tire wall, before shortly after the restart George Russell suffered the same fate in turn ten.

Max Verstappen (Red Bull) secures pole position in 1:04.984 minutes ahead of the Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc (0.029 seconds) and Carlos Sainz (0.082). The two Scuderia drivers initially undercut the best time set by Verstappen, who is the last of the favorites to set a fast lap and, with his decisive increase, caused the countless orange-clad fans along the route to cheer loudly. For the defending champion and current championship leader, it is the third pole position in a row at Red Bull's home race.

Fourth place goes to Sergio Perez (0.420), who, however, faces a subsequent penalty in the second Red Bull. In the second section, according to the repeats, he crossed the white line on the side of the road on his fastest lap, but this initially went unpunished - a subsequent investigation has been announced, and a penalty transfer appears as a logical consequence.

Fifth is Russell (0.339), followed by Esteban Ocon (Alpine/0.742) ahead of Kevin Magnussen (Haas/0.895), the Dane wins the internal duel at the US racing team. For Haas, reaching Q3 with both cars - Schumacher in eighth is 1.027 seconds behind Verstappen's best time - is a big step forward that now needs to be confirmed in the Sprint and Grand Prix. The top ten are completed by Fernando Alonso (Alpine/ 1.119) and Lewis Hamilton, who failed to set a fast lap in Q3 due to his crash.

For Sebastian Vettel, on the other hand, qualifying is over after the first section. The 35-year-old, who was 17th, initially missed progress by two places and 0.063 seconds - then his fastest time was even completely canceled because he exceeded the "track limits" that were being discussed again and again in Spielberg and left the track with all four wheels. 20th place, last. Teammate Lance Stroll also fails early on, as in the previous week, both Aston Martins get stuck in Q1. The hoped-for upward trend with the significantly modified car is increasingly turning into a downward spiral.

At the Great Britain Grand Prix, Vettel was able to work his way up from 18th on the grid to the points, finishing in ninth place in the race, which was characterized by Guanyu Zhou's unscathed horror accident. "If we're honest, we're slow and it's not like we can plow through the field," says Vettel afterwards on the Sky microphone - the hope of being able to make up a few places in the sprint on Saturday for the Grand Prix on Sunday, seems low. Instead, the lack of progress at Aston Martin is fueling speculation about a career end for the German, who draws attention to the death of bees in Austria with a yellow and black helmet and a shirt printed with "save the bees".

The Austrian Grand Prix is ​​one of four races where Formula 1 has a sprint this season. This is scheduled for 100 kilometers and is scheduled to move to the Saturday date when the qualification usually takes place. This in turn moves to Friday afternoon and thus follows the first training session. The second training session then takes place on Saturday morning, followed by the sprint in the afternoon. The result of qualifying determines the starting grid for the sprint, the result of the sprint is decisive for the grid of the Grand Prix on Sunday.