00:01So, good lap for Alex Albon, he is P3, Fernando Alonso is in 7th, Stroll went over the line in
00:0812th position, Hülkenberg got himself up to what is 14th at the moment, Gasly is only 13th for Alpine, and
00:15now we've got Magnussen in the drop zone, he's gone, so is Yuki Tsunoda, who got into the second part
00:19of qualifying, Piastri goes over the line, but only 14th fastest, still lap times to come, from Daniel Ricciardo, from
00:26Logan Sargent, and from Valtteri Bottas, Bottas goes,
00:29in the first part of qualifying, he's only 17th fastest, Sargent, at his second home Grand Prix of the year,
00:36ringing the neck of the Williams, but to no effect at all, he's only 19th, can Daniel Ricciardo make it
00:41up, he can, he finds a great lap when it counts, to go over the line, to promote both passes,
00:48at their home race, along with Bottas, and his team mate, and Daniel Ricciardo, who is going to be directly
00:55compared to Yuki Tsunoda, is ahead of him today, he's 15th,
00:59Tsunoda drops out, and Sargent is 20th, what the hell, man, I don't speak Japanese, what did he say, well,
01:10that is right, he definitely speak frustrated racing driver, so, now, that is George Russell, and Charles Leclerc,
01:17and penalty for Mr Russell, thank you, copy,
01:21Charles is downright reasonable, at all times, but, uh, I like that, that's a penalty,
01:27falling at the first hurdle, Hülkenberg, his team mate Magnussen, Bottas, a former winner, of this Grand Prix, and then
01:35Tsunoda, and Logan Sargent,
01:38oh, there's been a moment there, for Max Verstappen, he joined him on board, but the tyres, the tyres tell
01:44a story,
01:46here we go, we are heading to turn 9, okay, well, looks to me, as the car's been bouncing through
01:52the apex, as you get bounced, you get variation in downforce,
01:56and he's just found himself in a window, where he's applying throttle, when the car's saying, hey, I'm not giving
02:01you the downforce,
02:02you see, like, that frequency of the balance, it's kind of, to Sam Collins' point from earlier, that the Red
02:07Bull just really doesn't seem to handle the, tolerate the bumps.
02:11Who is gonna make it, into SQ3, it's a time, good enough for 9th place at the moment, for Esteban
02:16Ocon, still we wait to see, what Alvin, Hamilton, Gasly and Ricciardo can do, 8th fastest,
02:22for Lewis Hamilton, behind his team mate, we're seeing a complete variation, compared to yesterday's performance, they are still on
02:30the medium tyre,
02:30that's Pierre Gasly, lighting up the rear tyres, going ahead of both Mercedes, and demoting his team mate out of
02:37the session, as he does so,
02:39Alex Alvin, 3rd fastest in the first part of this sprint shootout, looking for another performance that takes him into
02:47the top 10,
02:47that's the aim for the tyre driver, as he comes across the line, and he does go to 10th, to
02:52drop down, Fernando Alonso, who is not on a strong lap at this point at all,
02:57Joe will not take part in the final shootout, he is struggling, no time on the board for Daniel Ricciardo,
03:05he is the sole Alfa Tauri in this session,
03:07the 8-time Grand Prix winner, coming to the final corner of the 3.4 miles, the 2nd of the
03:13Americas, and he fights his way to 11th, but it's not enough to get through,
03:17that is a superb performance for Alex Alvin, who was knocked out in Q1 yesterday, to make SQ3 today.
03:25On board the Lance Stroll, coming down to turn 12, and very unusual, something stepped out of the rear axle
03:30there,
03:31it's almost as if the braking by wire just pulled the handbrake on, and then both fronts locked very, I
03:37mean that's a very peculiar incident.
03:40Ricciardo got close, but not close enough, and Alonso Ocon, Stroll in the 2nd Aston Martin, and Joe Guanyu go
03:47out in the 2nd part of the shootout.
03:51And Verstappen in the middle sector, that's a very tidy time.
03:54It is, and Norris in the middle sector, he's less than a tenth down on Verstappen, so I still have
04:00a net ahead right now.
04:02Benchmark set for Max Verstappen, on the soft tyre, is a 1.34.538.
04:09Lando Norris is going to be close here, how much does he risk in the final corners of the lap?
04:13It will be tight, but has it been another phenomenal final sector for Max Verstappen?
04:19It has, there's a tenth of a second between the two.
04:22Here's the man who took the shootout last time we ran the session.
04:25Oscar Piastri, new to this circuit, behind his teammate, behind Max Verstappen, by 3.5 tenths.
04:31But the man on pole yesterday is rapid once again.
04:35Charles Leclerc, who took the shootout in Baku, our first sprint race weekend of the season,
04:40wants to go back-to-back as Pierre Gasly goes into 4th.
04:44You can hear him scrubbing off the speed, staying within the white lines of Turn 19.
04:48Rotate the car through the left-hander at the end.
04:51This will be tight, trying to go past Norris, trying to go past Verstappen,
04:55but he's missed out by half a tenth there, five hundredths of a second.
05:00What about his teammate trying to respond as Albon goes ahead of Pierre Gasly.
05:05A superb lap for a driver in great form.
05:08And looking down the rest of the order, the Mercedes are not turning purple anywhere.
05:13Over the line goes Carlos Sainz to fifth position.
05:16Couldn't get on terms with his teammate.
05:18One tenth of a second separating the top three.
05:21Here comes Sergio Perez across the line.
05:23He goes behind Sainz in the Ferrari, unable to do what his teammate was able to do a few moments
05:28ago.
05:29It's looking quick for the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton across the line.
05:34What an extraordinary situation we've got here.
05:36Four drivers separated by a tenth of a second.
05:40But Hamilton couldn't find a response to Verstappen.
05:43George Russell is going to complete this session to go over the line.
05:47He cuts the beam.
05:48He goes up to eighth position.
05:51And the sprint shootout delivers once again.
05:54For the third time this year, it's Max Verstappen who takes it.
05:58He's the fastest car at the end of the shootout.
06:01And that's P1 as well. Fuel in hand as well. Nice shot.
06:04Yeah, not bad considering the issues, but all good.
06:08Max Verstappen was pushed all the way, but he delivered to make amends for yesterday.
06:12Charles Leclerc on the front row for both races this weekend.
06:16Lewis Hamilton only sixty-nine thousandths of a second away.
06:19P3, Lando Norris putting the top four separated by just, just over a tenth of a second.
06:25Then it was Piastri, Sainz, Perez, Russell.
06:28A great lap from Alexander Alban.
06:30And the lead Alpine is Pierre Gasly.
06:33Daniel Ricciardo missing out by fine margins to make it into the top ten shootout.
06:37And it's Alonso, Ocon, Stroll, Joe Guanyu.
06:40It's Hulkenberg, Magnussen, Bottas, Tsunoda and Sargent who complete the field.
06:45Good.
06:45Fromlong Moots.
06:47With Ad Land Asstown.
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