Austrian GP: Second and Third Row Start After Close Sprint Qualifying

The 11th round of the 2024 Formula 1 season takes the Team to Austria, where the third Sprint Weekend of the season is being held.

The Team is continuing its incremental development push of recent weeks in Spielberg. A new beam wing was in action in FP1. Reducing the beam wing element camber reduces load both locally and on the floor, resulting in less downforce and drag.

As usual, all drivers had to make do with a set of Medium tyres in the first two segments of Sprint Qualifying. The Soft tyres were only allowed to be used in SQ3.

George only needed one run in SQ1 and safely made it into SQ2 in second place. Lewis' first lap time was cancelled because of track limits at T6, but with his second run he qualified for SQ2.

Lewis completed two runs in SQ2, but his time from the first attempt was enough to progress to SQ3. George didn't go out again and made it safely into SQ3 in second place.

Our drivers were the first to go on the decisive run in SQ3. Lewis set the first fastest time, which was then edged by George. In the end, George was three and a half tenths behind pole-sitter Max Verstappen, while Lewis was just under six tenths off P1. Both drivers lost time in Turn 7, where they had high-speed understeer.

George and Lewis will start the third F1 Sprint of the year from P4 and P6 respectively. The Sprint Race will start at 12:00 local time (11:00 UK time) on Saturday and run over a distance of 24 laps.

George Russell

The Soft tyre felt very good, and my lap felt strong. I was therefore a little surprised at the gap to P1, but I likely pushed too hard on the out lap. That potentially took a little of the peak grip away from the tyre. From in the car, it felt like the best lap of the session, so that is probably the explanation for why we dropped a little bit further back.

P4 is still a decent place to be starting for the Sprint tomorrow. We are in the fight for the podium. Our focus is of course on Qualifying and the Grand Prix, but this is just another validation that we are on the right track and in the mix near the front.

Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

We had a solid FP1. Both cars managed a good amount of long run work, and, on the Hard tyre, we were looking similar to Barcelona in terms of competitiveness. Sprint Qualifying was quite straightforward although in SQ3 we were first out on track. It was important not to risk missing the flag but that does make it difficult to get the benefit of the track evolution. We hoped for a bit better than P4 and P6 but our performance on the Soft compound wasn't strong enough to challenge for better. Lewis picked up some floor damage and wasn't happy with his laps. George felt that he needed to a bit more high-speed grip to go faster, so we are looking at how to make a few improvements overnight.

Our aim is to score decent points in the Sprint tomorrow morning, but it's also useful as long run preparation ahead of Sunday's race. We've also got the opportunity to tweak the car for main Qualifying after the Sprint. We know where we need to improve so hopefully, we can make a bit of ground up and start a little closer to the front for the race on Sunday.

2024 Austrian GP: Sprint Quali Result

2024 Austrian GP: FP1 Result