Formula 1 LIVE today: The sprint in Austin in the F1 live ticker

R 12/19: Ferrari sets the tone

Verstappen reacted to Norris’ intermediate spurt and left the McLaren behind by 2 seconds. The fastest drivers on the track are the Ferraris freed from Russell. Sainz has just reduced the gap to Norris from 2.2 to 1.8 and is pulling Leclerc with him in the DRS. Further back, Perez finally makes it past Tsunoda, whose counterattack fails in turn 15.

R 10/19: Leclerc vs. Russell

The Mercedes collapses completely. Leclerc repeats what Sainz did in the previous round. Meanwhile, Piastri receives a penalty for the Gasly action. But he’s stuck in a DRS train led by Yuki Tsunoda anyway. Magnussen and Hülkenberg have escaped this and are firmly on course for points.

R 9/19: Russell gets a visit from Ferrari

Norris is now getting into the rhythm and is starting to catch up with Verstappen again. Bad news for Russell who loses the DRS. Sainz is already there. He aggressively sits next to him on the inside of turn 15, leaving no room for Russell on the outside and taking P3. Leclerc immediately takes on the role of putting Russell under pressure. “My left front tire is blown!” reports Russell.

R 7/19: Lawson makes himself unpopular

It’s also round at the back. Lawson closes the door very late on an Alonso attack and then pushes him off the track at the exit of the corner. “Man, the AlphaTauri is such an idiot!” Alonso curses. This allows Ocon to overtake both of them. Before that, Piastri used the crowbar to force his way past Gasly and left him no space. The stewards are investigating.

R 7/19: Russell & Ferrari put pressure on

Verstappen has gained 2 seconds at the front. Norris had to defend against Russell once in the last lap, but Russell wants too much in the quadruple right and almost loses the rear. Then Sainz and Leclerc appear again. A quick look behind it: Magnussen and Hülkenberg have now both established themselves ahead of Tsunoda. Perez is stuck in P10, Piastri has worked his way up to P12.

R 5/19: Sainz finally prevails

Sainz tries again at the end of the long straight. Leclerc survives this attack, but in the tight corners that follow, Sainz squeezes next to him again. Now he has it. Leclerc immediately tries to counterattack at the beginning of the next round. The two have now lost touch with Norris and Russell, who are about to start their own duel at the front.

R 4/19: Leclerc vs. Sainz doesn’t calm down

Leclerc tries to negotiate a truce on the radio: “Let’s see that we get the others.” A lap later, Sainz brakes again in turn 12, but is too fast again and Leclerc slips past the exit again.

R 2/19 – Leclerc was Sainz ab

At the front the field is still very tight together. Verstappen, Norris, Russell – then the Ferrari, but they are now busy with themselves. Sainz keeps clean in the middle sector several times, Leclerc positions himself well and counters successfully. The game continues until the first corner, and Leclerc stays ahead again.

Sprint – START

Verstappen gets away significantly better than Russell, and behind him things start to pile up in the first corner. Leclerc presses, Sainz presses, and Norris beats both of them at the exit! He’s already next to Russell and after turn 2 he’s second! Russell has to fend off further attacks from Leclerc and Sainz throughout the middle section. Behind them are Hamilton, Magnussen and a strong start from Tsunoda, while Hülkenberg has fallen back to P9.

Cars on the grid

Everyone lines up in their starting boxes. It’s about to start.

Sprint: Start of the introductory lap

All drivers rely on the medium tires for the 19 laps. It is 215 meters from the pole to the first braking zone. The first hairpin is not without danger because it offers a tempting amount of space and is also difficult to brake on uphill. Again and again you see drivers who misjudge themselves at the start and competitors turn around.

Will Max Verstappen strike back in the World Cup today?

It would be very good for Red Bull morale if Max Verstappen wins today. That would underline the success of the updates from the last races. Even though Norris was still 52 points behind, the pressure had increased significantly. Verstappen’s last win? The sprint in Austria.

The entire F1 sprint race in Austin in the live ticker

10 more minutes and then it starts. 19 laps of sprint are on the program. You can also follow minute-by-minute commentary as well as the live positions and lap times of all drivers in the session ticker linked below.

F1 in Austin 2024 significantly faster

There is still a small X-factor when it comes to tires: A large part of the route has been resurfaced since last year, including most of the last sector and the middle part of the route. Last year the fastest time in Friday qualifying was 1:34.723, this year it was 1:33.600. This is not just because the new asphalt has more grip – it also has fewer bumps. With just one training session, it is not possible to say with certainty whether tire wear will change.

Pirelli’s strategy recommendations for the sprint

“We expect the Medium to be the absolute favorite, as it was in 2023,” predicts Pirelli chief engineer Simone Berra for the sprint. Last year only Carlos Sainz risked the soft tire. In the last two years the medium was clearly the best tire in Austin. Accordingly, almost all drivers still have four sets of them up their sleeves. Only Valtteri Bottas has already handed in one of them.

25 minutes until sprint start: pit lane closes

All 19 drivers who are allowed to compete have lined up on the starting grid. As already mentioned, Alex Albon is missing due to a penalty after the setup on the Williams was changed under parc ferme.

30 minutes until sprint start: Pit lane opens

The sprint is quickly approaching. It’s now time to get on the starting grid. Everyone has 5 minutes to get out and join the grid. By the way, the weather is straight out of a picture book. 26 degrees air and 41 degrees track temperature.

The best pictures from F1 Saturday in Austin

Austin, that means tons of fans. And cowboy hats. Maybe a little more American football. Mercedes and Ferrari drivers have already gone to great lengths to throw footballs in the fan zone today. We can’t say anything nicer about it now. In any case, the best pictures of the day can be found in the gallery linked above.

Finally real F1 competitions instead of verbal duels

The sprint should then put the constant teasing between the World Cup opponents Red Bull and McLaren into the background. After McLaren first raised suspicions of fraud against Red Bull in the last few days. And then yesterday Zak Brown Dr. Helmut Marko personally for “tasteless” comments about Lando Norris. We have summarized the entire political games in our Friday video above from the route.

PENALTY: Alex Albon has to go into the box

We actually already had the final starting grid in hand, now the FIA ​​has to change it again. At the last minute, Williams changed the rear wing specification and suspension setup on Alex Albon’s car, breaking parc ferme. This entails a sprint start from the pits. It’s not really surprising: Albon had already asked himself yesterday evening whether the decision he made after FP1 to drive with a very hard suspension setup was really the right one. Since he would only have started from P18 anyway and his chances of scoring points are extremely small, there is no harm in testing a different setup now with a view to qualifying and the race.

Max Verstappen vs. George Russell: The sprint pole comparison

Yesterday it was once again a really close affair in the sprint qualifying. Verstappen and Russell set their lap times in very different ways. One thing is certain: Verstappen is strong in the S-curves at the start of the lap – but Russell didn’t help himself with a small mistake at the exit of the first corner.

Serious sprint disappointment for Oscar Piastri is looming

Speaking of McLaren and Alpine – normally the problem of differentiation should have been solved quickly, after all, the two don’t exactly race against each other. Except when Oscar Piastri slips up. With only 16th place on the grid, he suddenly has to start the sprint in the Alpine environment. Reasons and expectations for today and tomorrow can be found here: Oscar Piastri despairs at the F1 track in Austin: I wanted to be too fast

McAlpine confuses the American media

Anyone who saw the Alpine in its special Indiana Jones paintwork yesterday already suspected that this was bound to happen. The car now looks far too similar to the McLaren with the orange. This makes life difficult for reporters who are less interested in F1. Of all things, the big Wall Street Journal is embarrassing itself today – by putting the Alpine on the front page as “Lando Norris’ McLaren”! Oops. And we’d better not use “McAlpine” and make it even more complicated. Ken McAlpine was a British F1 driver with seven starts in the 1950s. Zero points. So more Alpine than McLaren.

What happened in the sprint qualifying for Lando Norris?

Who is favorite for the F1 sprint today?

The first and biggest question of the day is of course always the favorite question. But we have to remain cautious with her today. Again: With Verstappen, Russell, Leclerc and Norris, there are four different teams in the top four places, and they were only separated by 0.250 seconds in sprint qualifying. And not much can be learned from the long runs from the only training session, as the teams ran very different fuel loads – some focused on the sprint, others on the GP. So for now it means: Anything can happen.

Welcome back to Formula 1 in Austin!

Today we have a packed F1 day ahead of us. In less than two hours the first race of this weekend in the USA will begin, namely the sprint. Who starts in the first four places in the order Red Bull-Mercedes-Ferrari-McLaren. Excitement is guaranteed – and everything is live here.