CHARLES LECLERC WINNER OF INAUGURAL F1 SHOOTOUT

Charles Leclerc has the honor of being the inaugural winner of the first Sprint Shootout in Formula 1 history.

Monégasque beat Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen, despite ending the session in the barriers on his final fast lap, damaging his front wing in the process.

However, the first attempt was enough for the fastest time and starting from the first position in the sprint race which starts at 15:30 CET/MK.

He will be joined on the front row by Sergio Perez, who managed to beat his teammate. Max Verstappen and George Russell will start the sprint from the second row, while Carlos Sainz Jr. and Lewis Hamilton from the third.

The first SQ1 segment in Formula 1 history, the drivers started with the obligatory yellow tires and a full tank of fuel for multiple consecutive laps during the 12-minute session. This meant that the fastest times were recorded in the final seconds.

Charles Leclerc was fastest in SQ1, a session that ended 25 seconds early due to Logan Sargent's collision with the safety barriers, prompting red flags.

Many drivers were on their fastest laps and might not have dropped out, but events dictated the elimination of both Alfa Tauri cars as well as both Alfa Romeo cars. Pierre Gasly had a far from ideal weekend with the Alpine car.

For SQ2, yellow tires were again mandatory, everything was similar to the first segment of the sprint shootout, but this time everyone was able to complete the last fast lap.

This time, Max Verstappen had the fastest time, just ahead of Leclerc. Among the five eliminated, Logan Sargent was already out of the session after the incident in SQ1. The American was flanked by both Haas cars, with Esteban Ocon splitting their two drivers and again Nico Hulkenberg ahead of Kevin Magnussen.

Oscar Piastri was 11th, slightly slower than 10th Lando Norris, who, although he made it into the final segment, could not come out to fight because he did not have a new set of red tires, which were mandatory for the SQ3.

So, in SQ3 the shootout between the fastest 10 drivers took place on the mandatory red tires. They only had 8 minutes available, so everyone opted for a one-out strategy with two fast laps.

First attempt to the max, followed by a cool-down lap and a final fast lap in search of bettering the previous time, but already with once-used tires. Let's mention that for this weekend the red tires are made from Pirelli's softest C5 compound.

Charles Leclerc was the faster of the two Red Bull drivers in the first fast laps. On his second attempt, the Monachian was one of the last to start the lap and in the second sector ended up in the barriers, damaging his front wing.

From this incident, the only loser was Carlos Sainz Jr. who had to back off and had no chance of trying to improve his time.

However, neither Perez nor Verstappen could beat Leclerc's time, but the Mexican bettered his previous time to take second from Max Verstappen.

George Russell was fourth after a brilliant last lap, ahead of Sainz Jr., who had to settle for fifth. Lewis Hamilton was sixth, ahead of Alex Albon.

The Aston Martin cars, again, had problems with the DRS system, which is one of the reasons they were the slowest in SQ3, with Alonso eighth, ahead of Lance Stroll in ninth.

Lando Norris was tenth, unable to participate in the final due to not having a new set of red tires available.