F1 US Grand Prix LIVE: Sprint qualifying schedule and times in Austin

Piastri in P14 with two minutes to go as Sergio Perez puts it together to go P7!

Current bottom-five (16-20): Colapinto, Ocon, Hulkenberg, Bottas, Zhou

This is a quickfire session!

Times tumbling all the time and it’s Lewis Hamilton top, less than a tenth clear of Charles Leclerc in second and Lando Norris in third.

More importantly, the bottom-five (16-20) and heading out as it stands: Ocon, Hulkenberg, Bottas, Zhou, Perez

The Red Bull of Max Verstappen leads us around for the first sprint quali session – 12 minutes and all the cars on medium tyres!

So it’s our first competitive action of the weekend and after a chaotic practice session, it feels like anything could happen in Austin this evening!

Sprint qualifying will follow the same Q1-Q2-Q3 format but the session times will be shorter than traditional qualifying: SQ1 (medium tyres) will be 12 minutes, SQ2 (medium tyres) will be 10 minutes and SQ3 (soft tyres) will be eight minutes.

Who will be on pole for the sprint tomorrow?!

Friday: Free Practice 1 (DONE); sprint qualifying (for Saturday’s sprint race)

Saturday: Sprint race (Top-eight receive points, finish order has no impact on grand prix grid); Grand Prix qualifying

• Sprint qualifying: 10:30pm

• Sprint race: 7pm
• Qualifying: 11pm

1. Max Verstappen – 331 points

2. Lando Norris – 279 points

3. Charles Leclerc – 245 points

4. Oscar Piastri – 237 points

5. Carlos Sainz – 190 points

6. Lewis Hamilton – 174 points

7. George Russell – 155 points

8. Sergio Perez – 144 points

9. Fernando Alonso – 62 points

10. Nico Hulkenberg – 24 points

11. Lance Stroll – 24 points

12. Yuki Tsunoda – 22 points

13. Alex Albon – 12 points

14. Daniel Ricciardo – 12 points

15. Pierre Gasly – 8 points

16. Ollie Bearman – 7 points

17. Kevin Magnussen – 6 points

18. Esteban Ocon – 5 points

19. Franco Colapinto – 4 points

20. Zhou Guanyu – 0 points

21. Logan Sargeant – 0 points

22. Valtteri Bottas – 0 points

The FIA, F1’s governing body, have decided to remove the bonus point available for setting the fastest lap for the 2025 season onwards.

The extra point, given to the driver who sets the fastest lap in Sunday’s grand prix (if he finishes in the top-10), was introduced in 2019.

It often results in drivers pitting late in the race for an extra point, particularly if it doesn’t impact their position in the top-10.

The sprint format continues in Formula 1 this weekend as the US Grand Prix hosts the fourth sprint weekend of the 2024 season.

The sprint was first introduced in 2021 at Silverstone as a way of making more sessions over the course of the weekend competitive, with the target of driving interest in F1. In 2021 and 2022, there were three sprints a year.

2023 saw a new format. The number of sprint races were doubled to six, while Saturday was designed ‘sprint day’ – with a new “sprint shootout” qualifying session determining the grid for the sprint race. In addition, the result of the sprint race had no baring on the grand prix on Sunday.

However, the format has been tweaked again in 2024 and we will see it in action for the fourth time this weekend at the Circuit of the Americas: