Verstappen sprints to pole victory, Alonso stars in the first sprint qualifying

The first ever Formula 1 sprint race ran seventeen laps around a scorching Silverstone on Saturday. The first racing action on a Saturday since Kyalami, South Africa in 1985. The teams were free to choose the tires, as the majority of the drivers started on the medium, but medium Valtteri Bottas, Fernando Alonso, Esteban Ocon and Kimi Raikkonen decided to start on the faster, racy, soft tires.

Max Verstappens Brakes burned when he started from second place on the grid and jumped Lewis Hamilton at the end of the straight line named after him. Then there was incredible fighting between the two championship protagonists, Verstappen and Hamilton, during the first round.

A largely clean first lap, apart from the usual spin Nikita Mazepin. Fernando Alonso Made it on the first lap with some absolutely beautiful races that showed that the old dog still has it to move up six places to fifth. George Russell and Carlos Sainz Jr. came together in a racing accident that had to put Sainz in his place.

On lap seven Sergio Perez spun at Becketts exit as he followed in the dirty air of the cars in front of him. Pérez was able to hobble back onto the track, but with some damage. On the same lap Lando Norris managed to overtake Alonso for fifth place. His McLaren F1 team Teammate Daniel Ricciardo made it to sixth place three laps later in Village.

Pérez turned his car out on the final lap so his team could do some repairs for tomorrow’s race. In the end, Max Verstappen prevailed as the winner of the sprint, took pole position for tomorrow and scored three points in the championship, followed by the two Mercedes behind them.

Very impressive race from Charles Leclerc when he managed to stay off the rear of the McLaren and stay close to the faster ones Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team Bottas’s car in front, who was also on faster tires. The same goes for Russell, who, for once, was able to hold onto a similar position to where he qualified. Sainz was able to find his way back into the top ten impressively and the other Scuderia FerrariTomorrow ‘s will be confident that there will be a great race, provided there are no major problems or accidents. Both Alpine F1 team The drivers will also be delighted with their performances and it looks like a big fight between the midfield teams.

We learned today that tomorrow’s race with just one pit stop will definitely be difficult as the heat on lap 13 caused blisters on the tires. Red Bull Racing appeared to be particularly concerned about tire wear so Mercedes will keep an eye on this on Sunday as well.

We also learned that this format is incredibly exciting as every driver has driven hard and shown their true skills.

TO UPDATE: Penalty after the race for Russell for his first lap tangle with Sainz – he will drop three places on Sunday and start from twelfth instead of ninth.

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