1690624596What is a sprint race in F1 and how does new qualifying shootout work?On Saturday, instead of what was seen as a generally pointless second practice session on Saturday, a new \u2018sprint shootout\u2019 will take place to form the starting grid for the sprint race later in the day.<\/p>\n
It will follow the same Q1-Q2-Q3 format but the session times will be shorter than traditional qualifying: Q1 will be 12 minutes, Q2 will be 10 minutes and Q3 will be eight minutes.<\/p>\n
NEW SPRINT WEEKEND FORMAT<\/p>\n
Friday: Free Practice 1; qualifying (for Sunday\u2019s Grand Prix)<\/p>\n
Saturday: Sprint qualifying; sprint race (Top-eight receive points, finish order will have no impact on Grand Prix grid)<\/p>\n
Sunday: Grand Prix<\/p>\n
How many points are on offer? <\/p>\n
P1 – Eight points<\/p>\n
P2 – Seven points<\/p>\n
P3 – Six points<\/p>\n
P4 – Five points<\/p>\n
P5 – four points<\/p>\n
P6 – three points<\/p>\n
P7 – two points<\/p>\n
P8 – one point<\/p>\n
Kieran Jackson29 July 2023 10:56<\/p>\n
1690624356Driver Standings ahead of Belgian Grand Prix1) Max Verstappen – 281 points<\/p>\n
2) Sergio Perez – 171 points<\/p>\n
3) Fernando Alonso – 139 points<\/p>\n
4) Lewis Hamilton – 133 points<\/p>\n
5) George Russell – 90 points<\/p>\n
6) Carlos Sainz – 87 points<\/p>\n
7) Charles Leclerc – 80 points<\/p>\n
8) Lando Norris – 60 points<\/p>\n
9) Lance Stroll – 45 points<\/p>\n
10) Esteban Ocon – 31 points<\/p>\n
11) Oscar Piastri – 27 points<\/p>\n
12) Pierre Gasly – 16 points<\/p>\n
13) Alex Albon – 11 points<\/p>\n
14) Nico Hulkenberg – 9 points<\/p>\n
15) Valtteri Bottas – 5 points<\/p>\n
16) Zhou Guanyu – 4 points<\/p>\n
17) Yuki Tsunoda – 2 points<\/p>\n
18) Kevin Magnussen – 2 points<\/p>\n
19) Logan Sargeant – 0 points<\/p>\n
20) Nyck de Vries – 0 points<\/p>\n
21) Daniel Ricciardo – 0 points<\/p>\n
Kieran Jackson29 July 2023 10:52<\/p>\n
1690624056Sprint shootout odds: Fancy a flutter? <\/p>\n
Max Verstappen – 1\/2<\/p>\n
Lando Norris – 7\/1<\/p>\n
Sergio Perez – 11\/1<\/p>\n
Carlos Sainz – 16\/1<\/p>\n
Oscar Piastri – 16\/1<\/p>\n
Lewis Hamilton – 16\/1<\/p>\n
Charles Leclerc – 20\/1<\/p>\n
George Russell – 20\/1<\/p>\n
Fernando Alonso – 25\/1<\/p>\n
Kieran Jackson29 July 2023 10:47<\/p>\n
1690623936Carlos Sainz interview: \u2018All of us at Ferrari expected more \u2013 we haven\u2019t done the best job\u2019Exclusive interview by Kieran Jackson<\/p>\n
Silverstone, 2022. That was the moment a goal within touching distance for so long was finally grasped by Carlos Sainz. Fittingly, his first pole position of his career was duly followed by a first Formula 1 race win, in his 150th grand prix. Ferrari were back among the top contenders and Sainz, this time, was the leading man ahead of his team-mate Charles Leclerc. The Scuderia were a force at the front once more. Or so we thought.<\/p>\n
Despite producing a race-winning car, Ferrari failed to capitalise last year amid strategy and reliability clangers. Red Bull leapfrogged the calamitous prancing horse \u2013 and have not looked back. Now, Ferrari have not won since Austria last year, just a week after Sainz\u2019s inaugural triumph. They are fourth in the Constructors\u2019 Championship at the halfway stage this season. Sainz has not even finished on the podium.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought we\u2019d be fighting for more podiums and wins but unfortunately it\u2019s a very competitive team called Red Bull who are dominating,\u201d Sainz tells The Independent. <\/p>\n
Kieran Jackson29 July 2023 10:45<\/p>\n
1690623636What is the starting grid for Sunday\u2019s grand prix?1) Charles Leclerc<\/p>\n
2) Sergio Perez<\/p>\n
3) Lewis Hamilton<\/p>\n
4) Carlos Sainz<\/p>\n
5) Oscar Piastri<\/p>\n
6) Max Verstappen*<\/p>\n
7) Lando Norris<\/p>\n
8) George Russell<\/p>\n
9) Fernando Alonso<\/p>\n
10) Lance Stroll<\/p>\n
11) Yuki Tsunoda<\/p>\n
12) Pierre Gasly<\/p>\n
13) Pierre Gasly<\/p>\n
14) Valtteri Bottas<\/p>\n
15) Esteban Ocon<\/p>\n
16) Alex Albon<\/p>\n
17) Zhou Guanyu<\/p>\n
18) Logan Sargeant<\/p>\n
19) Daniel Ricciardo<\/p>\n
20) Nico Hulkenberg<\/p>\n
*Max Verstappen receives a five-place grid drop for exceeding his gearbox allocation<\/p>\n
Kieran Jackson29 July 2023 10:40<\/p>\n
1690623336Max Verstappen fastest in Belgian GP qualifying despite X-rated row with race engineerQualifying report<\/p>\n
Verstappen was embroiled in a squabble with Gianpiero Lambiase after he only just made it through to Q3 during a wet-dry session at Spa-Francorchamps.<\/p>\n
But the championship leader regained his composure at the business end of qualifying to demolish the opposition, finishing eight tenths clear of Ferrari\u2019s Charles Leclerc with Sergio Perez third in the other Red Bull. Lewis Hamilton qualified fourth.<\/p>\n
However, Verstappen will only start Sunday\u2019s race from sixth position as he serves a five-place grid drop for exceeding his gearbox allocation.<\/p>\n
Full report below:<\/p>\n
Kieran Jackson29 July 2023 10:35<\/p>\n
1690623192F1 Belgian Grand Prix – sprint shootout Good morning and welcome to The Independent\u2019s live coverage of \u2018sprint day\u2019 at the Belgian Grand Prix! <\/p>\n
It\u2019s the third sprint weekend of the season and for the first time in Formula 1, the legendary Spa-Francorchamps circuit plays host to the intense weekend of action on track. <\/p>\n
Max Verstappen was fastest in Friday\u2019s grand prix qualifying but Charles Leclerc will start on pole for tomorrow\u2019s grand prix as a result of Verstappen\u2019s five-place grid drop. <\/p>\n
But none of that has any bearing on today, when the sprint shootout this morning will decide the order for the sprint race this afternoon! <\/p>\n
The sprint shootout starts at 11am! And it\u2019s once again raining in the Ardennes! <\/p>\n
(Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Kieran Jackson29 July 2023 10:33<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
1690624596What is a sprint race in F1 and how does new qualifying shootout work?On Saturday, instead of what was seen as a generally pointless second practice session on Saturday, a new \u2018sprint shootout\u2019 will take place to form the starting grid for the sprint race later in the day. It will follow the same Q1-Q2-Q3 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2271,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n