Official F1 Journal Formula 1 Friday Round Up - Austria

28/6/2024

The sun was shining on the Red Bull Ring for Friday's sessions. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell were the top cars for most of Free Practice One, but ultimately, Max Verstappen took the Sprint Race pole.

This weekend, several teams brought upgrades to the track. McLaren has a new front suspension upgrade, which they were testing on Oscar Piastri's car in Free Practice One, covered in fluro paint. Mercedes also brought upgrades this weekend, with a new lower beam wing for downforce and lowering drag.

RB is also running two different spec cars with drivers split between upgrades and their old car.

Free Practice 1

Top 10 Results
1) VER 1'05.685
2) PIA +0.276
3) LEC +0.370
4) SAI +0.443
5) HAM +0.569
6) OCO +0.612
7) STR +0.699
8) RUS +0.701
9) TSU +0.894
10) ALO +0.918

Excitement for Mercedes as they topped the timesheet for the majority of Free Practice One running on hard tyres, with the rest of the drivers opting for a mix between medium, hard and soft tyres. Both Williams drivers took a slightly different approach, starting with the medium tyres and changing to the softs. Many teams opt for long stints on the medium tyre, which is interesting because they need medium tyres for sprint qualifying and the race due to the sprint weekend.

Free Practice 1 was briefly red-flagged as Verstappen stopped on the start/finish straight due to a sensor issue. This was quickly rectified, and the session resumed. Verstappen also got back on track fairly quickly after a reset.

This year, after last year's track limits issues, there is now gravel on different areas of the track. This means that if drivers permit a track limit violation, they will be in the gravel, as Norris found out late into the session. These gravel pits seem to be working as a good way of self-policing track limits. We will see what this means in the race and qualifying, though.

Verstappen topped the time sheet with a run on softs in the last few minutes of the session. Most drivers opted to use soft tyres in the last ten minutes, except Hamilton, who stayed on the hard tyres for the duration of the session.

Sprint Race Qualifying

Max Verstappen takes the Sprint Race pole in a thrilling Sprint Qualifying session which had a one lap shootout in SQ3, with Charles Leclerc not setting a time after failing to cross the start/finish line in time to set a lap time.

SQ1

Out in SQ1
16) Daniel Riccardo
17) Nico Hulkenberg
18) Valtteri Bottas
19) Alex Albon
20) Zhou Guanyu

With medium tyres required and only one new set for the SQ1 session, it was a waiting game to see which driver came out onto the track first. As the timer counted from 12 minutes, Lewis Hamilton was the first on-track around two minutes into the session, quickly followed by the rest of the drivers.

Hamilton was the first to record a lap time, which was quickly deleted for track limits at Turn 6. Other drivers quickly joined the track with split strategies across the field, with some choosing to do multiple push laps with cool-down laps in between and others opting to go back into the pits for more fuel.

With Hamilton's deleted lap time, he only managed to reach P11, but it was just enough to put him through to SQ2, finishing in P13. Tsunoda takes a big spin on his final lap but makes it through to SQ2 by 0.024s. He knocks his teammate out with Riccardo in P16.

SQ2

Out In SQ2
11) Kevin Magnussen
12) Lance Stroll
13) Fernando Alonso
14) Yuki Tsunoda
15) Logan Sargeant

With ten minutes on the clock, eight drivers get on track quickly, setting their first laps and returning to the pits. The rest of the drivers opt to stay in the pits until halfway through the session, opting to run a push, double cool, and then push lap in the final moments of the session.

The session had a mix of the top four for every lap, but Verstappen finished ahead.

Logan Sargeant made it through to his second SQ2 of the season, ahead of his teammate, but he could only manage P15 after getting a deleted lap time for track limits on Turn 6 on his final lap. He would have finished in the same place anyway.

SQ3

Starting Top 10
1) Max Verstappen 1'04.686
2) Lando Norris +0.093
3) Oscar Piastri +0.301
4) George Russell +0.368
5) Carlos Sainz +0.440
6) Lewis Hamilton +0.584
7) Sergio Perez +1.322
8) Esteban Ocon +1.415
9) Pierre Gasly +1.938
10) Charles Leclerc No time set

With the mandatory soft tyre compound required for this session but only one set, everyone waited until the last possible moment to come out onto the track. Drivers could use soft tyres, old or new, for this session.

Hamilton and Russell were the first out of the pits with only 2:40 minutes left on the clock. Once both Mercedes were on track, the other drivers quickly followed behind.

Perez, Gasly, and Leclerc were the last to leave the pits, with Leclerc having a problem in the pit lane and having to stop. The last three drivers were racing to the start/finish line, but only two made it through. Leclerc arrived too late to start a lap and took the checkered flag instantly.

With only one flying lap for all ten drivers, as each crossed the line, the order changed, with five different drivers topping the leaderboard. However it was Max Verstappen who came out on top, taking pole for tomorrow's Sprint Race.

Anny Wooldridge
Writer for F1 Journal

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FORMULA 1