Sprint Shootout Highlights | 2023 Austrian Grand Prix

This is the moment for Joe Guagnou that brought out the yellow flags. The tyres are ready. Wish this out now. It's a gentle spin round. That is Oskar Piastri being impeded. Offensively impeded by the Ferrari. So that was Leclerc on the racing line and that was a slam dunk there, I think. There are some big names down there. Leclerc is pushing on this lap. So he's able to do a prep lap and now he's giving it a full send. Gasly's in the bottom five as well in the Alpine. And then Sainz now launches into a flyer, but he is under big pressure. Both Ferraris are currently in the drop zone. And Charles Leclerc is up on the benchmark time. But plenty are improving out there, including Russell and Ocon. Leclerc to eighth with drivers still on push laps behind. And the entire drop zone is improving on personal best at the moment. Carlos Sainz is the fastest driver of all through the first sector. That's impressive from Sainz to just pump that in having not been on track and gaining information about the grip. Here he comes in the final couple of corners then. Currently bottom with no time on the board. Right up to the edge of track limits. And he's good there on track limits. So Sainz should leap up the times. Hamilton. Hamilton is out. Hamilton is out in the first part. Sainz goes P1 from the back to the front. Lewis Hamilton is not on a flyer here. Stroll's in the drop zone. So is Sargent, but Joe isn't. He's managed to get up to 14th position. Can Stroll improve? Hamilton is 19th at the moment. His own old teammate behind him. And Stroll comes out of the final corner. Personal best. Sector 1. Sector 2. Gets himself to fourth. Gets himself through. And Leclerc finds himself 15th on the bubble. That was absolutely frantic. Charles Leclerc makes it through by one thousandth of a second. What a hydraulic failure. It goes from bad to worse down at Mercedes. Hamilton out in the first part of the shootout. And that is the moment that saw a time that was good enough to make it into SQ2. Scrubbed off the board for Lewis Hamilton. So Hamilton P18. Bottas P19. Sargent is 20th. And Charles Leclerc surviving by the skin of his teeth. Different day, different conditions, different challenge for the Monagas driver who is trying to fight his way through into the final part. And he's only two and a bit tenths up on Albon. He's looking for a finer margin than that. He's looking for a larger margin than that. Two corners to go. There's not big improvements behind him. I think there's been a big bunch of drivers starting the flying laps and they maybe have all slowed each other down. Leclerc twitches through the final corner but keeps it within the track limits. And it's good enough. Up to fourth for Charles Leclerc. Under pressure. Norris goes P5. And now Albon has set an identical time to Hülkenberg. And unbelievably it is going to be a finer margin to make it through or go out as it stands. Hülkenberg set the time first. Hülkenberg has 10th place at the moment. Can Stroll get in the mixes as he comes across the line? He improves. He's in 9th position. Improves his time. Not his position though. Can anyone get themselves out of the drop zone? No. A couple of improvements. Maybe Gasly. Sunoda is out. He comes across the line. And can Gasly find anything as he goes across? No. Improved his time but not his place. Oh! One of his own rear tyres as he was leaving the pit box. There'd be no damage. It looks much more spectacular. But you see they haven't removed that front left. Albon, Gasly, Sunoda de Vries and George Russell who didn't take part are out in SQ2. So it's just Verstappen and Norris out there on new soft tyres. New mediums for Sainz and Hülkenberg going for a different compound at the moment. Then we'll potentially have the chance to change for a new soft due to Thor right at the end of this. Everyone else is on a used soft for now. So Verstappen sets a benchmark and now we're getting down towards the pace of yesterday. 1.04.6. That's just a quarter of a second now away from the fastest he did yesterday. The track grip is clearly coming up again. Verstappen ahead of Perez is the order at the moment. Ocon slots in. Two-third position. What can Lando Norris do? We're on ball with the British driver. Through the final corner of the racetrack. Flat to the floor across the line. Ahead of Perez is time. Another Norris special. It is Verstappen, Norris and Perez. Over the line we go. What can Sainz do? He comes over the line. He goes into fourth on the medium tyre on this first run. End of the lap for Fernando Alonso as we tick down into the final seconds. Alonso cuts the beam. He does move ahead of a Ferrari and a Haas. He's up to P5. What can they do behind? Ocon is now in seventh position. Here comes the second Aston Martin across the line. And Stroll moves to seventh position. So Alonso out-qualifies his teammate in the shootout. Checkered flag is out at the moment. Max Verstappen, fastest of anyone. Sector 1, fastest of anyone. Sector 2. Hülkenberg has gone up to fourth position. Another special lap from him. But this is a mighty performance from Verstappen, who improves his time even further. And it's a 104.4 P1 for Max Verstappen across the line. Yes, I don't think anyone's going to take it away. Sainz comes fifth. Perez makes it a Red Bull 1-2. Manages to get a good time on the board there and gets right up to where he probably could have been yesterday. Leclerc improves to sixth. Only sixth position. Sainz fifth. Looked like he was threatening earlier on. Leclerc sixth. Ferrari's pace melts away. Beaten by a Haas. Beaten by a McLaren as Red Bull lock out the front row for the sprint. But what about Hülkenberg? Fourth in the Haas. His one-lap pace this year is just phenomenal on a medium. On a medium tire. And it has paid dividends for Hülkenberg. Second row start.