Max Verstappen back on the grid with P1!

(Motorsport-Total.com) – For the first time since the Formula 1 race weekend in Austria, Max Verstappen is back at the front of the starting grid in the Red Bull: The World Cup leader won the sprint qualifying at the 2024 USA Grand Prix in Austin (all Get the units here in the Formula 1 live ticker!) with 1:32.833 minutes, the best time ahead of George Russell in the Mercedes and Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari. Verstappen’s closest World Championship rival Lando Norris in the McLaren took P4. (Get the complete result here!)

This is probably why Verstappen is “very satisfied” with the result and says: “We had a good day. Sprint qualifying is always quite difficult because you ride medium, medium and then soft. You actually never know how much pressure.” You can. But I’m satisfied. The car worked pretty well all day today.

He will “simply do my best” in the sprint on Saturday. But even more important to him is a good performance in the Grand Prix on Sunday: “Then we get the most points.” And Verstappen currently leads the drivers’ championship with a lead of 52 points over Norris.

How Red Bull assesses sprint qualifying

Red Bull sports director Helmut Marko was partly surprised after the sprint qualifying in Austin when he arrived at Hello TV Questions and answers are available. After the only free practice session, his team was “confident” that they would be “at the forefront of the individual lap”. “But we actually expected Ferrari to be the opponent. “That wasn’t the case,” says Marko.

He speaks of a “very good start” at the USA weekend and sees progress at Red Bull. The technical updates “worked right away, thank God” and brought “a significant additional profit”. But it is still “damn tight” at the top. Expressed in numbers: 0.012 seconds separated Verstappen and Russell in P1 and P2.

On the subject: Result: Sprint qualifying

Overview: Starting grid for the sprint in Austin

Photos: Driving pictures from Austin

Ticker: Paddock live with Ruben Zimmermann

Stream: Analyze live on YouTube on October 19, 2024, 2 a.m

Weather: The current forecast for the 2024 USA Grand Prix

How the decision about P1 was made

Only a few thousandths were decided in Austin, and Mercedes driver Russell was even leading by one and a half tenths of a second until turn 1, according to the analysis F1 pace shows. Verstappen made up for this in the Red Bull until Turn 8 and took the lead by two and a half tenths, only to lose everything again by the end of the back straight at Turn 12.

Russell again built up a small lead of a good six hundredths of a second by turn 15, fell behind by six hundredths at the exit of turn 16, gained half a tenth of a lead again at the exit of turn 18 and lost everything again between the penultimate and the last corner.

Verstappen and Russell quickly came out of the finish corner on equal footing. The slightly better acceleration spoke for Verstappen.

Why was Oscar Piastri eliminated in SQ1?

Oscar Piastri in the McLaren was the most prominent driver who had to give up after SQ1 because he only finished 16th. The reason: a track limit violation in turn 19, the penultimate corner in Austin. Therefore, Piastri fell back to his second best lap, namely 1:34.881 minutes. If he had gotten through his track limits lap, he would have easily continued in seventh place with a time of 1:34.285 minutes.

Alexander Albon in the Williams also made a serious mistake in the final phase of SQ1: He spun out of turn 19 and missed the chance to improve his time. Albon sheepishly said on the radio: “Sorry!” His new teammate Franco Colapinto progressed.

With Sergio Perez in the Red Bull, another driver from the top team was caught in terms of track limits, but in the first attempt at turn 9. Perez rehabilitated himself in the second attempt with P8.

The Sauber drivers Valtteri Bottas and Guanyu Zhou, who finished 19th and 20th despite some Austin updates, had no chance.

The best time in SQ1 went to Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc with mandatory medium tires.

Was there a war with Sergio Perez in SQ2?

Red Bull driver Sergio Perez simply lacked the pace in SQ2: at 1:34.244 minutes he was almost a second slower than his teammate Max Verstappen, and that meant eleventh place – just behind Yuki Tsunoda in the Racing Bulls, who was considered a potential Perez -Successor is traded. Nico Hülkenberg in the Haas also qualified ahead of Perez in the top 10.

I am Hello TVDuring the conversation, Red Bull sports director Helmut Marko said that Perez had said in his defense that he had “no grip”. In any case, Marko gives Perez a homework assignment for the sprint race: “It should be possible [von P11] to get into the points.

Perhaps the biggest surprise in the second session was Franco Colapinto in the Williams in P8.

The stewards assessed a possible hold-up between Franco Colapinto in the Williams and Pierre Gasly in the Alpine as a normal incident and did not initiate an investigation, although Colapinto had complained on the radio: “We almost collided!”

Carlos Sainz secured the best time in SQ2 on mandatory medium tires in a Ferrari.

Where can you watch the Grand Prix in Austin live?

Unfortunately not on free TV in Germany (more on this in our TV overview!). That’s the bad news. The good news is: There is still a live analysis of the highlights and the most important stories of the day on the Formula1.de YouTube channel every evening, this weekend with Kevin Scheuren and Stefan Ehlen – after Friday training and the sprint qualifying on October 19, 2024 at 2 a.m. (or re-live any time thereafter).

By the way: The daily analysis can now be seen live not only on the YouTube but also on the Formula1.de Twitch channel.