2024 Formula 1 Chinese GP
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F1 Chinese GP Live Commentary and Updates – FP1 & Sprint Qualifying
Friday's action from the fifth round of the 2024 Formula 1 season.
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Everyone except the Red Bulls... who now come out having avoided the pushing and shoving at the front.
It is two by two out of the pits but nobody is going quickly because they are all trying to build a gap to the car in front.
This could be chaos. But here we go for Q2.
Everyone has gone to the pitlane exit to get out as soon as the session turns green to avoid this incoming rain.
Q2 will start in three minutes time! Meanwhile, the fans without grandstand cover are putting up umbrellas and putting on rain coats.
F1's weather radar predicts rain in 14 minutes. That'll put out the fire so we are good either way.
The stewards will investigate Sainz, Stroll, Tsunoda, Russell and Hamilton for not following the maximum delta time after the session. This is a regular occurrence post-quali that rarely results in a penalty.
The start of Q2 is delayed as the trackside fire is put out.
Checkered flag
Q1 is over and here's the bottom five: P16 Gasly, P17 Ocon, P18 Albon, P19 Tsunoda, P20 Sargeant.
There's ANOTHER fire on the grass at pretty much the exact same spot as in practice at Turn 5. Incredible.
Russell climbs to 12th fastest to jump up into Q2!
Tsunoda is also out in Q1 - he can only go 18th quickest - as all eyes go to Russell who is currently last!
Albon is also out in Q1 as he stays 17th, joined by team-mate Sargeant in 18th.
Ocon improves but cannot get out of the top five and is stuck in 16th.
Norris splits the Red Bulls at the top to go second despite locking up at the hairpin. Elsewhere Sainz is asking for a penalty for one of the Haas drivers for impeding him.
Less than three minutes to go in Q1 - it goes by quick - and Russell and Tsunoda are definitely the outliers to the pecking order we've seen so far this year.
Stopwatch
And now Perez pops up to the top with a 1m36.110s which is a very impressive lap. Everyone has times on the board so the bottom five are: Albon, Russell, Ocon, Sargeant, Tsunoda.
Stopwatch
Verstappen goes fastest with a 1m36.456s - nearly half a second faster than Alonso who had briefly gone top.
Stopwatch
Leclerc takes over at the top with a 1m36.886s, beating both McLarens, with Norris second and Piastri third. We're still waiting for times from the Red Bulls.
Stopwatch
Hamilton sets the first leading effort of 1m37.239s to go top.
It is also very chilly and windy on the track. That'll make it tricky getting temperature in the tyres in time for the qualifying push lap blasts.
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"Some light drops of rain," Piastri reports on team radio. If it gets heavier, it could be down to these first laps to make it out of Q1.
There's silence for the first 30 seconds before a stampede for the pitlane exit and then everyone comes crawling out of the pitlane to create a gap to the car in front.
Green flag
Here we go... sprint quali Q1 is live!
Photo
Who is ready for sprint qualifying? If you are meant to be going to school or work right now, I'm sure you'll be allowed to be a little late. It is F1 after all...
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24, Esteban Ocon, Alpine A524, Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
There is also a considerable risk of rain for this session - currently at 60% - with a big, dark rain cloud marching towards the track. As if more uncertainty was needed.
As a quick reminder, here's the format for sprint qualifying:
- Q1 is 12 minutes, all drivers on new mediums, 20th-16th eliminated
- Q2 is 10 minutes, all drivers on new mediums, 15th-10th eliminated
- Q3 is eight minutes, all drivers on softs, to set the top 10 order
Due to the weekend format and that red flag, all run plans were mixed up and largely focused on long running, so there wasn't really a representation of what to expect from sprint quali that starts in just over 10 minutes time.
If you missed the only practice session of the weekend, first of all where were you? Never fear, here's a quick recap. Stroll topped a disrupted session that was stalled by a small trackside fire, thought to be caused by a spark from a car lighting up a patch of grass.
Good morning one and all once again! How are we? It is nearly time for sprint race qualifying - not FP2 as it is a sprint weekend!
That's us done for now. We will take a short break and be back to guide you through all the twists and turns that sprint quali has to offer us. We hope to see you then!
Red Bull seems to be neither here nor there for now, but we have seen that change between practice and quali before...
So who will be happy entering the sprint shootout later on? McLaren looks a lot faster than it was expecting, whilst a number of teams focused solely on race pace.
Gasly was the slowest of all in that session and was seemingly on a different run plan to team-mate Ocon. All is not well at Alpine it seems.
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A startling radio message from Gasly to his Alpine team: "Guys this is not acceptable. I haven't learned anything, absolutely nothing."
Practice starts are underway on the starting grid. Better get them nailed... there are at least two this weekend!
The Ferraris may be down in 13th and 14th, but the car looks like it has pace in it.
Norris too is not represented by the timesheets, given his late aborted lap.
Norris too is not represented by the timesheets, given his late aborted lap.
Piastri was second and Verstappen third as only 15 drivers completed laps on the soft tyre.
Mercedes didn't use the tyres at all.
Mercedes didn't use the tyres at all.
Checkered flag
That came as quite a shock at the end there, Stroll just popped to the top from absolutely nowhere!
By: Autosport Staff
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