(Motorsports news) The sprint at the Austrian GP qualifying session will come first, and then the actual sprint. We’ve already run for an hour today, and then there was a qualifying session for the event on Sunday. There are certain lessons to be learned from the two Friday practice sessions that might be applied to accurately forecast what to anticipate from the 2023 F1 Austrian GP Sprint. 

While F1 has made an effort to provide some variety to the two qualifying procedures, they aren’t all that different. The fact that the cards frequently fall in the same spot adds to this, as we also observed in Baku. The leading candidates will largely remain the same. Max Verstappen will continue to square off against the Ferrari drivers. The middle is the one place where there may be some variation, though. The entire midfield order may change as a result of the closeness of the competition from Alpine to the final team on the grid.

Although Sergio Perez had the speed to keep up with Max Verstappen early in the session, George Russell’s situation appeared to be more difficult because he did not appear to find any rhythm in the car. We might have had a very different starting sequence if it weren’t for the persistent track restrictions becoming a significant issue.

Even George Russell will have one additional night to sift through the data to determine what went wrong with his car on Saturday. Expect the extra day of knowledge and a certain amount of irritation, which will enable these drivers to recover in the way they do it best.

Charles Leclerc was a little hesitant during the 2023 F1 Austrian GP qualifying, and it wasn’t until he gave it everything on the final lap that he gained complete faith in the vehicle. The Ferrari driver performed a similar manoeuvre in Baku as well, but he did win pole position that time. Leclerc now understands that he can battle Max Verstappen even though he was unable to control the pole position in this instance.

Charles Leclerc might present Verstappen with a lot better challenge if he had that understanding in the back of his head. We could be in for a very compelling duel on Saturday if Ferrari demonstrates that it is a competitive enough vehicle during the race.

At some time in the 2023 F1 Austrian GP, rain is predicted to cause trouble. It nearly showed up during qualifying as well. If rain does materialise, things can go apart quickly. Drivers must be on the proper tire at the appropriate moment. They must keep the vehicle on the road, especially when it is within the infamous white lines that have been so problematic this weekend.

We can merely toss the formbook in the garbage if it rains during the 2023 F1 Austrian GP because it will give a chance to many teams and drivers who might not fancy themselves this weekend.

Although the sprint portion of the weekend is meant to be the most thrilling, F1 racing hasn’t really developed that way. We’re going to see this develop into a feature and also look back at previous races. The 2023 F1 Austrian GP sprint may end up being similar to the few sprints that have occasionally been the main event.

There won’t be many changes in positions during the sprint, and the qualifying order might be somewhat predictable. Overall, for the 2023 F1 Austrian GP sprint, the anticipation might not match the on-track activity.
Also read: F1 Austrian GP brings the 2nd Sprint Race of the season