The Uralkali Haas F1 Team will not have both cars on the last row of the grid for the British Grand Prix, after Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin finished the first ever Formula 1 sprint qualifying in eighteenth and nineteenth respectively. The sprint’s only retirement Sergio Pérez will start last.
It was a very lonely sprint qualifying for both Haas drivers who started the sprint on the last row of the grid, the lonely session was however their own fault. On the opening lap at turn three the two Haas’s came too close for comfort, Nikita Mazepin was sent spinning to avoid colliding with Schumacher.
This put the two drivers far apart from each other and eventually too far away from the rest of the field. With Pérez retiring late on it does mean that at least Schumacher won’t be starting from the last row, it will be interesting to see how long the two Haas drivers can keep Pérez behind.
Team Principal Guenther Steiner enjoyed the first ever sprint qualifying and is all for the event to continue in the future.
“For me personally, this was a good experiment – but it’s not about what I think, it’s about what the fans think. If we come to the conclusion that they like it, then I’m all for it. Our day today was nothing exciting – more of the same I would say – but in the end it was something exciting for this weekend as we had a different format for the race weekend. We learnt something, we have something to think about and we keep a bit of excitement going.”
