00:00It is Saturday Sprint Day from the streets of Baku.
00:05A brand new format on an already unpredictable weekend in the Azerbaijani capital.
00:10For the first time we have a sprint shootout to set the grid for the sprint race this afternoon.
00:16It is going to be a journey into the unknown.
00:21Perez is only 10th at the moment and is also improving.
00:24There he is in the background of shot. Hamilton goes second so that's looking now much rosier for him.
00:29There are big names tumbling towards the bottom end of this.
00:32You've got to be on it at the end.
00:34De Vries I think is going to be in trouble.
00:35Gasly is going to be out because he's still in the pits and I don't think he'll get anything fired
00:39up in time to go.
00:41So Gasly's horrible weekend will continue. Who on earth is going to join him?
00:44Look at Norris down in 16th.
00:46And the track rubbering in with every lap that they manage.
00:48Signs to 4th ahead of Perez but the two Williams there in 6th and 7th tell you there's lots of
00:54time to be found for those currently in the drop zone.
00:57George Russell over the line and he improves to 5th.
01:00It's improve will go out at the moment for so many in the field.
01:03Norris to 7th.
01:04Everyone on their final laps or about to be on their final laps.
01:07We are almost with exactly the same bottom 5 as we had yesterday.
01:12If Tsunoda can jump up he's the star of yesterday that's down at 18th.
01:16Oh! Into the wall goes the Williams of Logan Sargent.
01:21Tricky corner. Into 15. He's got traffic ahead. Might have distracted him but he's just gone in too deep.
01:27Man, the Ferraris were in the middle of the road.
01:30And that is a red flag. Joe Guanyu, Valtteri Bottas, Yuki Tsunoda, Pierre Gasly and Nick Defries staring at the
01:39exit.
01:39There's no time to build and go round again.
01:43And it's Norris who comes over the line and he does not improve overall.
01:49Now let's see. This is important for Hülkenberg.
01:52Currently 14th. He gets to 11th but he's not going through.
01:55Errolmann, can he take another step forward?
01:57He can! Up to 7th position.
02:00What about Oscar Piastri? Oscar Piastri finds P10 but Stroll has a lap behind.
02:05He has a mighty toe from his teammate as well.
02:08And if the rest of the lap is good and it looks very good for Stroll, he will knock Piastri
02:13out and he does so.
02:14Good teamwork Aston Martin.
02:17Piastri, Hülkenberg, Ocon, Magnussen and Sargent who crashed in SQ1 dropping out of SQ2.
02:26We have Verstappen going nicely in the first sector.
02:29We have Perez going brilliantly in the second part of the track.
02:33And now bringing it to the line. Very, very strong middle sector for Perez.
02:38It's Verstappen to lay the benchmark down, Perez rather, to lay the benchmark down.
02:43And now can Verstappen respond as he has the DRS open?
02:47It would be a mighty effort at the end to do so, he can't.
02:50And it's Perez, the lead Red Bull by 2.5 tenths of a second.
02:54Perez's middle sector was stunning on that lap.
02:57Verstappen was quicker in the first and third, but Checo had a good 4 tenths to his teammate in the
03:02middle part.
03:03Over a flying lap around this racetrack, Charles Leclerc is absolute magic.
03:08And he's looking to try and take another P1 slot in a timed session.
03:13He roars past our camera angle.
03:16He darts to the line.
03:17He finds the time to go to the front of the field.
03:20The Monogas driver has done it once again without the help of a tow.
03:24It's Leclerc now Perez alongside him for the sprint later on as it stands.
03:29And Verstappen in third place.
03:31The position where he started one year ago on his way to winning the Grand Prix.
03:35But this is just to set the order for the sprint.
03:40Verstappen's first sector not good either.
03:42Two tenths off Leclerc.
03:43Perez making some time now in the middle.
03:44Fastest middle of anyone.
03:46Verstappen's first sector not good. There's a yellow.
03:48Oh, Charles Leclerc into the barrier, chasing another P1.
03:53And he finds the wall instead.
03:56Charles Leclerc currently P1.
03:57But we know the straight line speed for Sergio Perez is absolutely enormous.
04:01He's got the fastest middle sector.
04:03Checkered flag out for Perez, who comes over the line, but he can't find an answer.
04:08Hamilton is not able to improve.
04:11It's still a yellow flag.
04:12And can Verstappen find a way past?
04:15Yeah, Verstappen was ahead of Leclerc crucially.
04:17So he still can keep his foot in here, slithering out of the final corner.
04:20Can run it to the line.
04:22He's personal best in the middle sector, but he's still behind the top two.
04:25Leclerc's in the barrier, but he's still got a chance of hanging on to that position.
04:29Verstappen needed a mighty exit from 16 all the way along to the line now.
04:35Let's see if he can move up to the front row at least for the sprint.
04:38Can he displace?
04:39Charles Leclerc?
04:40No!
04:41He improves his time, but he remains in third.
04:44And what an extraordinary situation we have here.
04:46The man who was in the barriers is the man at the top of the timing page.
04:51And it was an oversteer as he turned in.
04:53Lost the grip.
04:54The grip level's just not there today.
04:56He's a second and a half off what he did on the same tyres in yesterday's qualifying.
05:01Sorry for cutters.
05:03He's only got half a front wing, but he's taken the sprint shootout the first time we ran it.
05:09Relentless action all the way through, right to the end.
05:11He was mighty through the sequence of corners yesterday.
05:15That was what made his Grand Prix pole.
05:18His sprint pole today comes via an oversteery moment.
05:21A nudge of the Tech Pro, but it won't matter.
05:24He will head the field for both instances of the five red lights going out in Baku.
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