Highlights for the sprint shootout to determine the starting grid for the sprint race starting about an hour after this gets posted.

As a reminder, the Austrian GP weekend is using the 2023 sprint weekend format, which is different than the 2022 format.

• The sprint shootout sets the grid order for the sprint race. Neither the sprint shootout nor the sprint race has any bearing on Sundays Grand Prix.
• The sprint shootout has a fairly similar format to standard race qualifying, in that there are 3 stages (SQ1, SQ2, and SQ3).
• Each stage is a few minutes shorter than standard qualifying.
• In dry conditions, teams have no choice of tyres. They must run medium/medium/soft for each stage, respectively. But the varied conditions today meant that teams could run their choice of tyre… either wet variants or the dry tyre of their choice when a dry-line emerged.
• Further details on the session format.

Events of note:

• The session was declared wet at the start, giving teams free tyre choice.
• SQ1 sees Hamilton knocked out after getting a lap time deleted for track limits at turn 9, and also getting some traffic on other laps.
• SQ2 sees Russell out without setting a lap time due to hydraulic issues.
• SQ3 finally sees Perez do the thing, he gets a front-row start behind teammates Verstappen.
• More surprise results from Norris and Hulk, 3rd and 4th, respectively.

Detailed session coverage at https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.live-coverage-sprint-shootout-in-austria-2023.73SZKCicaf3iLtKNqkxfh9.html

Post sprint discussion with grid order at https://lemmy.world/post/902437