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00:00 And we are go for sprint qualifying. Medium tires, as you've already said, so no surprise to anybody there.
00:06 Just to update you from that shot that we saw at the beginning of the show with Sergio Perez,
00:10 all of the work on Perez's car was due to a flaw that they had to change on that Red Bull Crofty.
00:16 We believe that Perez damaged it over a kerb in Free Practice 1,
00:20 so that was just the end of that work being done to Perez's Red Bull,
00:24 changing the flaw in readiness for this qualifying session and for the sprint tomorrow morning.
00:29 Their space on the track before they leave the pit lane.
00:33 Understood.
00:35 Wow. That's so exciting. Let's put even more unknown into it now.
00:40 60% chance of rain, so...
00:43 And that's why, I mean, they need to get out there ASAP to get their lap time in also,
00:47 because if it starts drizzling and the lap time drops a little bit, you're out.
00:51 So, big pressure on. That was a super pace from Norris there.
00:57 Carlos Sainz, meanwhile, in this twisty middle part of the lap.
01:01 That was an ugly hindrance.
01:04 Well, he thinks that should be a penalty for the Haas driver going through Turn 7.
01:12 It's George Russell who's going to get to the line first.
01:15 DRS open, powering down the straight. He puts himself 12th fastest.
01:19 That then puts Joe Guagnou very much on the cusp.
01:22 He's the driver at risk as Lewis Hamilton goes 10th fastest.
01:26 There's only one man here that can deny Joe Guagnou a qualifying 2 appearance in this sprint session.
01:32 It's not Kevin Magnussen. He was ahead of him anyway.
01:34 And that's into the top 9 for Magnussen. And that was a decent lap from him.
01:38 Piastri goes 5th fastest. And it's Esteban Ocon who's making his way to the hairpin now.
01:43 He's the man that we really want to see finishing his lap.
01:47 We're on board with Joe Guagnou, who is not improving on this lap at all.
01:53 It has to be said, Ocon, I think, is going to come into the pits.
01:57 He is. He can't do anything about it. And he's actually making a pit stop.
02:01 So Joe Guagnou gets through by the skin of his teeth.
02:04 - That was... - By Turn 5.
02:08 - Like this morning, basically. - Copy that.
02:11 What I do know is the light is green.
02:14 10 minutes of Sprint Qualifying 2 now to come.
02:19 And right at the head of it, Lando Norris leaving the pit lane as slowly as he possibly dares.
02:26 Fernando Alonso is not in the mood to let Nico Hülkenberg in any time soon.
02:32 Carlos Sainz helping out his Spanish compatriot.
02:36 Daniel Ricciardo and Joe Guagnou almost having a race here.
02:39 No, no, not almost. This is a race.
02:41 There is a race in the pit lane at 5 km/h.
02:45 This is like one of those traffic jams on a motorway where you are not going to let anybody cut the queue
02:50 and get in if they've been steaming down the outside lane.
02:53 Look at this. Look at the fight.
02:55 This is awesome. And you have to be so careful that you don't break your front wing.
02:59 Look how close that is on the left there. Do you see that?
03:01 - You can't even see it from the cockpit. - No, of course not.
03:04 - I wouldn't have thought either. But the thing is... - And at the same time,
03:06 you're not allowed to cross that white line. Look at that.
03:08 - Look at that... - What?
03:11 - Who is it? - That's Daniel Ricciardo.
03:14 Interestingly, they're not thinking now about leaving a gap.
03:18 They're thinking now about getting onto the track.
03:20 And all the while this is happening, Max Verstappen sat in his garage,
03:24 as is Sergio Perez, as is Lewis Hamilton as well.
03:28 Now, are they trusting the weather radar that the rain is not coming for a little bit longer than 5 minutes?
03:33 And will they get caught out if it does come a little bit soon?
03:36 As Joe Guagnou goes ahead of the two Haases and the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll
03:41 and the RB of Daniel Ricciardo. Valtteri Bottas goes 5th fastest,
03:46 as once again, Sauber on their opening laps looking pretty impressive.
03:50 George Russell crosses the line only 8th fastest.
03:54 Did he need another preparation lap? I wonder.
03:56 He was asking the team for it on the radio.
03:58 And Lewis Hamilton goes 7th fastest.
04:00 It'll be Max Verstappen next to cross the line.
04:03 And I'll be waiting once again, as happened in the first part of qualifying for Verstappen,
04:08 to put nearly half a second between himself and the rest of the pack.
04:11 Well, not half a second, just a tenth on this occasion.
04:14 But what happened last time out? Verstappen went half a second clear,
04:17 then his teammate Sergio Perez went faster.
04:20 And on this occasion, Perez, despite acing the final sector, can only go 3rd fastest.
04:25 - Well, it is going to stay. I mean, George is going to give it a go.
04:29 So let's see if the track's still got it in it or if it's already too wet.
04:34 - There's only 38 milliseconds between Joe Granul and George Russell from their first timed laps.
04:41 - Again, so much pressure on George here.
04:43 Like, you know, with the risk of the drizzle and everything, he needs to just go absolutely all out.
04:48 But it's over. It's over.
04:50 - First part of the lap, and he's nearly 7 tenths down.
04:53 And the rain is coming. - And it's slowing down.
04:56 - Yeah, and it's getting heavier.
04:58 And it's now been declared a wet track as well.
05:01 And that is a big, big shock that George Russell in the Mercedes is out of the second part of Sprint Qualifying,
05:10 along with the two Haases of Magnussen and Hülkenberg, the RB of Ricciardo and the Aston Martin of Lance Strolli.
05:18 - It's Joe Granul, comes out of the garage and takes part in SQ3 at his home Grand Prix.
05:26 - Yeah, so what you're talking about is the battery usage, huh?
05:29 - That you use maximum amount of battery for one lap and then have to recharge afterwards.
05:36 And, yeah, probably it is quite a big difference in lap.
05:41 - Whoa, that is so slippery out there.
05:43 He was just going on throttle a little bit and almost chucked it off.
05:46 - Oh, and into the barrier.
05:47 Charles Leclerc, but he's kept the engine going.
05:50 And it looks like the rear wing is intact as well.
05:54 - And I was just going to say at the end of this chat, we have no idea the grip levels of this track
06:00 with that bitumen paint coating that has been put on there to help grip in the dry.
06:05 But we've no idea what it's like in the wet whatsoever.
06:08 And that, Charles Leclerc, an absolute passenger, as he was sent spinning some 720 degrees and into the barriers.
06:17 - He did hit that tyre wall, I mean, pretty clearly.
06:22 - I think the front wing is broken, is it?
06:24 - We are checking.
06:25 - But it looks like everything is actually OK, huh?
06:30 - I think the front wing might be a little bit damaged.
06:33 I'd be amazed if it's not.
06:34 But it looked like the tyre took more of the contact with the barrier than the front wing did.
06:39 - Could be OK.
06:40 Anyways, if anything, he needs to try and keep going.
06:43 But it looks so slippery out there.
06:45 - This is treacherous.
06:46 Honestly, this is Bambi on ice skates and a young Bambi on ice skates out there at the moment.
06:51 Even in fourth gear there.
06:53 - While they're doing that, Charles Leclerc is into the pits.
06:56 - Off he goes.
06:57 - Max Verstappen goes off at Turn 6, which is where we saw Lando Norris going off on his first laps here.
07:05 And this is a flying lap from the Red Bull.
07:08 Charles Leclerc came in just to give him the once-over, make sure the car's OK, and they've swapped tyres as well.
07:14 They've put a new set of hotter intermediates on that Ferrari,
07:17 because they would have got very cold and wet when he went off into the gravel.
07:20 - Well, these are the sort of conditions, Nico Rosberg, you must have loved driving in.
07:25 - Yes, not so much, actually.
07:27 Not so much.
07:29 - Either way.
07:30 - Because, I mean, it's fine when there's good grip in the wet, but like this, like driving on ice out there.
07:35 And these corners are so hard.
07:37 Did you see that?
07:38 - Yeah.
07:39 - I mean, he was so close to going off there as well and spinning.
07:41 - But the question is, can they go fast enough to keep the heat in the tyres in these conditions?
07:47 Or are they all going to need to come in and make a change of tyres at the end?
07:50 - Yeah, who knows? We'll find out shortly.
07:53 - Sergio Perez has just gone to the top on Provisional Pole by over two seconds.
08:01 That's what happens when you get your tyres warm enough to give you the grip that you want.
08:06 Perez from Piastri, Verstappen, Norris, and now Alonso goes P5 provisionally from Carlos Sainz.
08:13 - And whilst we watch Max Verstappen and his struggles, just behind him going through Turn 12,
08:18 Lando Norris has gone purple-purple for the first two sectors.
08:23 And I think has just gone a little bit wide coming out of Turn 13,
08:28 which might ruin all the good work he's put in in the first couple of sectors.
08:32 Back to Verstappen, who we're watching at the moment, who picked up three poles in Sprint in 2023.
08:40 And his back end wiggling and wobbling coming out the penultimate corner.
08:44 And he goes straight off and into the gravel at the final turn.
08:48 So this lap won't count for Max Verstappen, because he's gone over track limit.
08:52 Fourth fastest, but it won't count.
08:55 So all the pressure back on Verstappen again, going off two in the background.
09:00 Lando Norris, and he goes second fastest.
09:04 Now, did Norris go all four wheels over the white line?
09:07 That'll be important. Sergio Perez extends his advantage out in front.
09:12 So it's Perez, Norris, Piastri, one minute and ten seconds to go here.
09:16 And we're on board with Fernando Alonso.
09:19 Verstappen's lap time has been deleted. Alonso goes fastest now.
09:23 It's provisional pole for Fernando Alonso with less than a minute to go.
09:27 This is incredible. We have no idea who's going to be in the front now.
09:31 We've no idea who's going to be able to stay on the track at this rate.
09:34 Remember, Charles Leclerc started this session by going off into the barriers.
09:39 If he gets this corner right, Charles Leclerc might end this session
09:43 by going straight to the top of the standings.
09:45 And it's third fastest for Charles Leclerc by three and a half tenths.
09:49 So Alonso, Perez, Leclerc, that is the one, two, three.
09:53 If you get to the line before the chequered flag, you can start a final lap.
09:58 But it's looking to me at the moment that the only ones that are going to do that
10:01 are possibly Lewis Hamilton. It'll be this lap for Hamilton,
10:04 and he'll get another chance. And Piastri, who's the next car behind him on the track,
10:09 might have to make this lap count. And he has set two personal bests.
10:14 Meanwhile, Hamilton round that final corner.
10:17 Norris gets a lap time deleted for track limits, as you just saw.
10:20 Hamilton with six poles in a Grand Prix here in Shanghai
10:25 is now on provisional pole for the sprint race on the Saturday.
10:29 And what a lap that was from Lewis Hamilton. Nine tenths clear of Fernando Alonso.
10:34 But behind him, they are queuing up and they are setting personal bests.
10:39 And the first ones across the line will be Oscar Piastri
10:42 to see if he can go back to the top of the standings.
10:44 And he can't. That last sector did for Oscar Piastri there.
10:48 Only fifth fastest. Next across the line will be Max Verstappen,
10:52 who goes second fastest. His one and only lap to count
10:55 in this final part of qualifying. And he's on the front row
10:58 behind Hamilton. Second row. Vekala cites Lando Norris,
11:02 takes provisional pole and snatches it away from Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes.
11:08 What a lap that was from Lando Norris.
11:11 Now, Joe Guanyu is on a personal best at the moment.
11:14 Hamilton has set a personal best for the first sector.
11:18 Norris has had his lap time deleted. Hamilton's back on pole.
11:21 Alonso's back on the second row. Everything happening.
11:25 And you've got to watch the timing screens and what's happening
11:28 on the track at the moment, because one by one,
11:30 a few of them are having their lap times deleted
11:33 for not staying within the white lines. But here's Joe Guanyu.
11:36 If he can stay on the white lines here, he's got a chance
11:40 of moving up from his current grid spot of P10.
11:43 Ah, he just stays where he is. Four seconds off the pace
11:47 for Joe Guanyu. They'll be cheering him nonetheless.
11:50 Valtteri Bottas, his teammate, next across the line.
11:53 The rain looks like it's getting a bit heavier.
11:55 Bottas, 8th fastest, and that is going to leave Lewis Hamilton.
12:00 This man on screen now that we're riding on board with,
12:05 who hasn't been on pole in Formula 1 since Hungary last season,
12:11 starting the sprint campaign in 2024 with a pole position.
12:17 Hamilton to the line as Norris actually goes back to the top.
12:22 They've reinstated his lap. Hamilton was about to celebrate
12:26 pole position, and they have just reinstated Lando Norris' lap.
12:31 So it's not Hamilton on pole for the second time in a sprint.
12:35 It's Lando Norris.
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