George Russell has gone purple in the first sector as he chases the fastest marker set by Charles Leclerc. The Mercedes driver completes his opening lap and shoots straight to the top of the timesheets with a 1:05.6174. Lewis Hamilton can only manage seventh.

Marc Priestley
Former F1 mechanic on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

That is the beauty of this circuit.

Because it’s such a short lap-time and it’s high speed the differences between lap times are almost nothing.

The two Mercedes are the last cars to put a lap time on the board and both Lewis Hamilton and George Russell are sitting in the drop zone with Lance Stroll, Fernando Alonso and Pierre Gasly.

Soft tyres are bolted on across the field and Charles Leclerc, who missed the chequered flag in SQ3 yesterday, goes quickest with a 1:05.901 from the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

Yuki Tsunoda in his RB is next to cross the line and slots into fourth place.

Last year's qualifying session was ravaged by track limits violations but thanks to the changes made at the Red Bull Ring for this year's event, those penalties have been few and far between so far this weekend.

The Red Bull of Max Verstappen gets us on the board with a 1:06.054 with team-mate Sergio Perez in second and Pierre Gasly's Alpine in third.

The skies have not changed since we went for a short dash around the 4.318km circuit a few hours ago. The conditions for qualifying are warm and toasty, with temperatures reaching 30C and not a drop of rain in the area.

The orange fans in the stands cheer as Max Verstappen leads out the pack on a set of soft tyres.

Q1 is green.

Image source, Getty Images

Did yesterday's sprint qualifying give an indication as to what the starting grid may be for tomorrow's Austrian Grand Prix?

Max Verstappen was at the front of the field but the reigning world champion's advantage over Lando Norris in second was only 0.093 seconds.

Oscar Piastri was also nipping at the Red Bull's wheels, although the Australian driver will have to rummage around to find an extra three tenths if the pole position time was same today.

Maybe you fancy reading a bit more information on the Jos Verstappen-Christian Horner match-up, or maybe you have some thoughts on the sprint weekend format.

BBC F1 correspondent Andrew Benson is here to answer any of your questions, so just send them over to us using this link here

Jennie Gow and the team hear from Lando Norris and ask whether he is now a serious challenger to Max Verstappen.

Plus, they also hear from Christian Horner and discuss whether the fractured relationship between Jos Verstappen and the Red Bull team boss could see Max leave the team before the end of his contract.

Take a listen on BBC Sounds here

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent at the Red Bull Ring

Image source, Getty Images

Max Verstappen says the latest dispute between his father and Red Bull team principal Christian Horner is “not nice” and “could have been avoided”.

Jos Verstappen pulled out of a parade of historic Formula 1 cars planned at the Austrian Grand Prix after he learned Horner had tried to block him from taking part.

Max Verstappen said the row was “not nice. Not for myself, not for my dad, not for Christian, not for the team.

“Of course, you know, you don't want these things to happen.”

Jos Verstappen, who drove in 106 grands prix between 1994 and 2003, had been due to drive a 2012 title-winning Red Bull RB8 car in the parade.

But the 52-year-old decided to withdraw from the event when he learned Horner had approached a number of members of Red Bull senior management and said he did not think it was a good idea for Verstappen to be seen driving one of their cars.

Horner’s objections were over-ruled, but it was decided that images of Verstappen would not be filmed by Red Bull’s cameras or broadcast on any of its channels.

Read the full story here

Max Verstappen has a sprint triumph to savour in the build-up to today's qualifying session but behind the scenes, the Dutchman has also been fielding questions about two high-profile members of camp Red Bull...

Image source, Getty Images

Oscar Piastri passed through the papaya door left open by Lando Norris in the opening exchanges of the 100km race but the Australian driver felt the chance was there to jump into the lead himself.

"I thought at one point I was going to get both of them - but not quite, just lacked a little bit in the second half," Piastri told Sky Sports.

"I think I probably had one opportunity to get past Max when I got into second at the start. I thought there would be more opportunities with DRS but not quite. Just need to find a little bit more.

"Certainly at the start, it was all about trying to stay in the DRS - it's so powerful here, and especially when the tyres are at a good temperature and have good grip at the start, that's where it really makes a big difference. I think we saw at the end that Lando could get into my DRS but the tyres were so hot that it didn't really help that much."

Image source, Getty Images

Lando Norris said before the sprint about how he is still feeling under the weather and when he spoke to Sky Sports post-race, he seemed quite down on his performance.

"Just a bit silly from my side, otherwise it was a good race," Norris said on his battle with Max Verstappen and team-mate Oscar Piastri.

"I think I made the most of some of the opportunities I had. I think if I probably waited one more lap or something, I probably wouldn't have lost any more opportunities. I did half a job, I just didn't finish it off.

"Room for improvement from my side for sure; not to the level that it needs to be, clearly, but it's a silly thing, really, for something that's so obvious. I just didn’t do it.

"Still happy for the team, from our side it's a good day but the rest is for later today and for tomorrow."

Image source, Getty Images

Towards the end of the sprint race, Nico Hulkenberg made a move on the inside of Fernando Alonso's Aston Martin at Turn Three which resulted in the Spaniard going off the circuit and the Haas driver (and the RB of Daniel Ricciardo) gaining places.

Alonso ended his sprint in 16th spot, while German Hulkenberg finished in P14.

The stewards investigated the incident after the session and the verdict is in: Hulkenberg has been given a 10-second time penalty and two penalty points for forcing Alonso off the track.

Image source, Getty Images

If you're just joining us for the first time this weekend and missed the earlier track action, Max Verstappen beat Oscar Piastri to claim another sprint win at the Red Bull Ring.

The three-time world champion was overtaken for the lead by Lando Norris in the early stages but Verstappen was able to pass the McLaren driver soon after before going on to take victory and add another eight points to his championship tally.

Norris' tussle with Verstappen left a gap for team-mate Piastri to swipe second place, a position the Australian defended from Norris until the end, leaving the Briton to finish his sprint race in third.

George Russell, Carlos Sainz, Lewis Hamilton Hamilton, Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez were the other points scorers.

Image source, Getty Images

Hello again, folks. The next sprint weekend takes place in Austin, Texas in October. So it's third practice aplenty on a Saturday from now until then.

Not for the first time in Spielberg, Max Verstappen is the man to beat after the Dutchman secured his 10th career sprint victory this morning.

Qualifying for tomorrow's main race gets under way at 15:00 BST.

Commentary is online-only for this session, so you need to click the 'listen live' tab at the top of this page to tune in.

You can also listen via your smart speaker. Just say "ask BBC Sounds to play Austrian Grand Prix qualifying" and Jennie Gow, Ben Edwards and former F1 mechanic Marc Priestly will take you through the action.

Following the excitement of the sprint race, it's time for teams and drivers to towel off, regroup and refocus, ready for what could be a tantalising fight for pole position at the Red Bull Ring.

Image source, Getty Images

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent at the Red Bull Ring

Image source, Getty Images

Max Verstappen fought off an early onslaught from the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to win the sprint race at the Austrian Grand Prix.

Norris challenged Verstappen hard in the early laps before losing second place to Piastri as the Briton challenged the Red Bull for the lead on lap five.

Norris came back at Piastri in the second part of the race but could not get close enough to mount an attack.

The Australian led Norris in a McLaren two-three ahead of George Russell’s Mercedes.

Russell passed Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari into Turn Four on lap eight but team-mate Lewis Hamilton was not able to follow him through and had to settle for sixth.

Read the full report here