In the Sprint Shootout in Miami, the drivers shoot arrows at each other as if they were Tony Montana with his little friend. Who will be left standing at the end?
A new F1 weekend, a new Sprint Shootout. Because yes, just like in China, the Grand Prix weekend in Miami will also be brightened up by a Sprint Race and Sprint Shootout. There are six this year and it is always a bit double. On the one hand, ‘Fridays matter too’. On the other hand, such a Sprint is just not the same as a real Grand Prix.
Maybe Eddie Jordan’s idea isn’t so crazy. He recently proposed making the Sprint races the domain of young or new drivers with less than two years of F1 experience. That way it would still be important for the teams, but the regular drivers could simply focus on quality and racing. At the same time, young dogs would have more opportunities to get into the spotlight and viewers would have the opportunity to see which talents will really make it. Jordan has had worse ideas, we think. But for now we’re still stuck with this format. Allright then. Max back to 1?
SQ1
Leclerc is the first to set a fast time. The Monegasque missed a large part of the practice session due to a spin that may have been the result of a technical problem. In his first fast lap he quickly makes another mistake. On the mediums he goes to a 1:50. That is obviously not fast enough. It must be louder for at least 20 seconds. Zhou and Bottas then set times, but (of course) Stroll and Alonso are even faster. Surprisingly, Stroll is now a tenth faster than his experienced teammate.
Verstappen, Piastri and Perez are all about three tenths faster than Stroll. The differences between them are extremely small. McLaren seems to be doing well this weekend. Although the update on Norris’ car still has to prove itself. Tsunoda is slightly faster than Stroll and settles in P4. The Mercs split the Astons with two. And that is special, because there is just over a tenth between the Astons.
A hairy moment then follows when Bottas simply sends in at the pace of recreational football while Piastri comes charging in for another fast round. The Finn almost hits the Ozzie. That will be a punishment. But the session heats up even faster than the asphalt. Because Magnussen goes to P3.
Ric also moves forward a bit, just like Hulkenberg. Although it doesn’t last for the Germans. However, it is enough, because the usual suspects are falling away again. Gasly, Zhou, Bottas, Sargeant and Albon will not continue. It is the first time that Sargeant is faster than Albon in a Shootout or qualifying. But that is also because Albon cuts a corner on his last lap.
SQ2
Perez goes to a 1:27.865 with more than 340 km/h on the second straight. Ricciardo is only three tenths slower and therefore goes faster than the two Astons. VCARB looks fast at times this weekend. But there finally is Norris. 1:27,597. Will Max Emilian pass under that easily?
No! VER is only fourth. Not only behind Norris, but also behind Perez and Leclerc. At the bottom of the screen we suddenly see a lot of yellow. Apparently the improvement of the track suddenly stopped. Both Mercs smoke a heavy pipe. They become numbers 11 and 12. Ocon, Magnussen and Tsunoda also drop out for SQ3. Hamilton also kissed the wall and is a few hundredths slower than Russell. Not a good day for team silver.
SQ3
The session ticks down to 3.5 minutes on the clock with no action on the track. Quite special because for the first time everyone is now going outside on soft shoes. Hulk is sitting at the front of the train of cars. The McLarens and Ferraris leave it to the last seconds. Perez sets a 1:27.876 which is disappointing because he was faster with the mediums in SQ2. Verstappen is then in purple-purple and goes more than two tenths faster.
But Leclerc sets a faster middle sector. The Monegasque heads towards the finish but falls one tenth short. So he does outwit Perez. Norris then? No, that won’t be it. The Briton lets things slip when it counts and is only ninth.
Ricciardo is doing well. With his new chassis that he received in China, he is finally showing a real sign of life again with P4. Sainz is ‘solidly’ fifth ahead of Piastri. At Aston Martin it is P7 and P8 again, but the fact that Stroll is now faster than Alonso is quite special. Finally, Hulkenberg has performed another heroic act by dragging the Haas into the third session. But the car then turns out to have little use there.
After the finish, Verstappen says ‘lol’ because he did not expect to be first on this lap. But that one round on softs wasn’t really kind to anyone.
VER – LEC – PER – RIC – SAI – PIA – STR – ALO – NOR – HUL
Result F1 Sprint Shootout Miami
- Verstappen – Red Bull
- Leclerc-Ferrari
- Perez – Red Bull
- Ricciardo – VCARB
- Sainz-Ferrari
- Piastri–McLaren
- Stroll – Aston Martin
- Alonso – Aston Martin
- Norris-McLaren
- Hulkenberg – Haas F1
- Russell-Mercedes
- Hamilton-Mercedes
- Ocon – Alpine
- Magnussen – Haas F1
- Tsunoda – VCARB
- Gasly – Alpine
- Zhou–Sauber
- Bottas – Sauber
- Sargeant – Williams
- Albon-Williams
This article Result Sprint Shootout: GP Miami, Ricciardo excels first appeared on Autoblog.nl.
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