Verstappen smashes opposition to secure pole position for Austrian Grand Prix

F1 Grand Prix, GP Austria, Red Bull Ring

Having dominated the F1 Spielberg Sprint earlier today, reigning champion Max Verstappen smashed his rivals in qualifying to take a dominant pole position for tomorrow’s Austrian Grand Prix. F1Technical’s pitlane reporter Balazs Szabo reports on the nail-biting main qualifying from Spielberg.

Max Verstappen fractionally beat the McLaren of Lando Norris yesterday, but he managed to find another gear for today’s main qualifying session.

The Dutchman set an eye-watering time of 1m04.314s to secure pole position for his team’s home race. McLaren driver Lando Norris was his closest challenger once again, but the Briton could not get within three tenths of a second to Verstappen, but it was still enough for him to take P2 on the grid.

His team-mate Oscar Piastri looked strong, but he had his best lap time deleted for track limits infringement which means that he will only start from P7 tomorrow.

George Russell confirmed Mercedes’ improving form, securing P3 while his team-mate Lewis Hamilton was only half a tenth slower, but with tiny margins separating the top teams, it was only enough for the seven-time world champion to take P5 for tomorrow.

Ferrari lacked pace once again to challenge for the front row with Carlos Sainz ending up fourth fastest. His team-mate Charles Leclerc was on course to set a strong lap time on his final tour, but made two mistakes which saw him end up only sixth.

Sergio Perez appeared to lack pace to compete with his team-mate or the McLarens, Ferraris and Mercedes, and will only line up in P8 on the grid for tomorrow’s Austrian Grand Prix.

Nico Hulkenberg had another brilliant qualifying session, taking ninth ahead of Alpine rival Esteban Ocon.

Daniel Ricciardo took 11th ahead of Haas driver Kevin Magnussen with Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda set to form the seventh row on the grid.

Fernando Alonso was disheartened yesterday, and Aston Martin continued to struggle for pace in the main qualifying session today. The two-time world champion was the slowest driver in Q2, and will only start from P2 on Sunday, two places ahead of his team-mate Lance Stroll.

Williams had hoped for better fortunes in Austria, but the Grove-based squad is clearly off the pace at the Red Bull Ring. Alexander Albon ended the day in P16 while Logan Sargeant will start from the back row in P19.

It was also a doubly difficult outing for the Kick Sauber duo of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu as they ended up in 18th and 20th respectively.