Verstappen the fastest then Leclerc At 5pm Sprint Race qualifying – Corriere.it

16:30 – Qualifying in half an hour

Everything is ready at the Red Bull Ring for qualifying for the Sprint Race on Saturday: today’s format follows the classic one of the fast lap. Three sessions (Q1, Q2 and Q3), the pole will be counted in the official statistics (as opposed to last year) and the positions will determine the starting order of the Sprint Race on Saturday (This is how the mini-race works )

16:26 – The technique: Red Bull uses a kit to breathe better

The Red Bull Ring a demanding circuit for the engines, the home team brought updates to increase the cooling system: Piergiuseppe Donadoni explains how the package works and where the interventions were made. Ferrari instead runs with the same car used at Silverstone.

14:53 – The internal rivalry of Ferrari

Qualifying for the Sprint Race will also be interesting to see the internal duel at Ferrari. Carlos Sainz, after his first career win at Silverstone, wanted to clarify his point of view: We didn’t make the wrong strategy, I won and Ferrari won. A vision opposite to that of Charles Leclerc, who clarified the tensions in a dinner in Monte Carlo with Mattia Binotto.

14:49 – The complete times of the first session

Here are the times of the first free practice session of the Austrian GP

14:35 – Not the usual tests, you had to push right away

With the Sprint Race format and qualifying already at 5pm today, the teams had little time to adjust their set-up or study alternative solutions. Verstappen pushed straight away to be sure to play for the pole that will win the first box of the sprint race on Saturday. How much is the performance of the Mercedes worth? Enough because improvements from Silverstone are important, but Ferrari and Red Bull are still far ahead.

14:31 – Free Practice 1 finished, Verstappen in front of Leclerc

Verstappen was the fastest in the free practice sessions of the Austrian GP: the Dutch finished ahead of Leclerc, the Ferrari driver 255 thousandths of a second behind. an interesting head-to-head with the slightly favored Red Bull. Behind Max are George Russell with Mercedes, Perez, Hamilton, Magnussen. Seventh Carlos Sainz.

14:25 – Verstappen starts very strong

Red Bull expects to be a favorite on the home circuit, thanks to a few features: an efficient turbo, and small aerodynamic improvements. The Dutchman signed the best lap in 1’06”302. Last year he won two races here: he is strong not only on the flying lap but also on the race pace.

2.20 pm – Anti-porpoising legislation slips

The meeting between teams, FIA and F1 ended: among the approved innovations there is the postponement of the porpoising directive. Federal controls on the acceptable level of taxes will start from the Belgian GP at the end of August. They were to be applied starting from the French GP, in two weeks.

14:16 – Trouble for Norris, Bottas will start penalized

The Englishman of McLaren remained on foot, technical trouble for a McLaren that is struggling to find the ideal state of form and very far from the top teams. Valtteri Bottas, on the other hand, will start penalized: he has changed another engine on the Alfa, the fourth power unit. And the confirmation of how Ferrari’s reliability problems are still present, therefore it is necessary to always have fresh parts.

2:07 pm – Few changes to Ferrari

Ferrari took to the track with the same car used at Silverstone, Leclerc expects to be competitive

or. a track he loves, here in 2019 he engages in a nice duel with Verstappen who then wins the race. From that moment – Charles said – I changed the approach to hand-to-hand.

11:25 am – How does it work?

Instead of the second free practice, the qualification for the sprint race starts, which assigns the winner 8 points, the second 7, the third 6, the fourth 5, the fifth 4, the sixth three, the seventh two and the eighth one.

Ore 11:22 – C’ la sprint race

The Austrian one will be the second stage of the world championship in which the Sprint Race will be staged, a 100-kilometer race that will take place on Saturday and which counts as qualifying for the grid for the real Sunday Grand Prix. But that also awards points.