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F1 live sprint qualifying during the United States Grand Prix weekend

F1 LIVE | Follow Sprint Qualifying during the United States GP weekend

18 October at 21:30
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  • Matt Gretton
  • Editor-in-Chief

The first meaningful session during the United States Grand Prix weekend is about to start. F1 drivers are about to qualify for Saturday's sprint race in Austin at the Circuit of the Americas. Will Red Bull be able to claw back ground on McLaren? Will Lando Norris get the edge over Max Verstappen again? Or will someone surprise from Ferrari or Mercedes? Follow along with the sprint qualifying liveblog.

F1 LIVE | Sprint Qualifying: United States GP weekend

Sprint qualifying

It's the first time Formula 1 has used the sprint format since the Austrian Grand Prix in June. Six rounds remain in the 2024 season, three of which will be sprint weekends. The other two will be held in Brazil and Qatar.

This session will form the grid for the sprint race in Austin. It is a short form of qualifying. It will be split into three parts. SQ1 will last 12 minutes, SQ2 will last 10 minutes and the final session will last just eight minutes. The five slowest drivers will be eliminated after SQ1 and SQ2, leaving just 10 drivers in SQ3. If the session is dry, teams must apply the medium tyres in the first two sessions. Teams are permitted to use soft tyres for SQ3.

A number of upgrades are being added to the cars. A lot of attention will be on Red Bull and Verstappen. In recent weeks, Red Bull has reported positive expectations about these changes. Helmut Marko believes it will give Verstappen the chance to fight for race wins again, while he expects Sergio Perez to be able to fight for a podium place.

After winning the last race by nearly 21 seconds, Norris will also get some upgrades from McLaren. While the Woking-based team lead the Constructors' World Championship by a significant 41 points, the British driver finds himself trailing Verstappen in the Drivers' Championship. Norris has a 52-point gap to bridge and can't waste any more time pursuing the three-time World Champion. There are also some changes to the COTA Circuit.

Toto Wolff said leading up to the weekend that Mercedes will bring their final updates for the current season in Austin, Texas. Moreover, Frederic Vasseur's Ferrari has previously made changes to its cars, but it now hopes to fully understand how those changes work on track in order to maximise its performance.