If at first you don't succeed…

The Friday of a Sprint weekend definitely throws up more talking points than the traditional format. Maybe not from the teams' point of view as they only get sixty minutes of free practice to cram in all the simulations required for the rest of the weekend. But it's definitely more informative for the fans, as the engineers and drivers cannot hide behind the usual obfuscation, talking about different run plans, fuel loads or power unit mapping between themselves and their rivals. But Sprint Qualifying, just like qualifying itself, does not lie: 30 minutes against the clock and the same conditions for everyone. 

And yet the results of this year's two previous Friday qualifying sessions, in Shanghai and Miami were not faithfully replicated in Saturday qualifying to set the grid for the Grand Prix itself. For example, in Shanghai, we had Verstappen, who was only fourth quickest in Sprint Qualifying, go on to secure pole on Saturday afternoon, while Norris went in the opposite direction and Perez improved from sixth to second. In Miami, Ricciardo went from hero to zero, a brilliant fourth on Friday, down to eighteenth on Saturday. Norris went from ninth in Sprint Qualifying to fifth in the main grid decider, setting himself up for the win on Sunday.

This is mainly due to the fact that parc ferme rules have been changed for this year, with the restriction suspended for a period of three hours, from the end of the Sprint Race to the start of qualifying. Therefore, there's some leeway to make changes to the set-up or even to use different aero parts, although it's impossible to evaluate any changes given that the moment you leave the garage at the start of qualifying, parc ferme rules come into force once again. It's an opportunity for those who didn't succeed on Friday to try again on Saturday and therefore have a better race on Sunday. Of course, it's not always technical changes that make the difference, as external forces come into play, as does a driver's confidence levels. This can be enough to make tenths of a second appear as if by magic, or just as easily disappear.

So, after this long explanation, who were the winners and losers today at the Red Bull Ring? Obviously, Verstappen and the two McLaren drivers, who will lead the field away in tomorrow morning's Sprint. Then there's definitely Russell who confirmed Mercedes are returning to form and the Alpine pair, their car miraculously finding a turn of speed since last week in Barcelona, in the top ten again. And what about those who must try again on Saturday afternoon? Two names stand out: Charles Leclerc, unable to set a time in SQ3 when his car's anti-stall left him stranded too long in pit lane and Sergio Perez, only seventh, a whopping 1”322 behind team-mate Verstappen. Well, good luck with that!