Max Verstappen has beaten both Ferrari\u2019s by two-hundredths of a second to take pole for the sprint at the Austrian Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver set a 08.984 on his final lap in qualifying to beat his championship rival Charles Leclerc during what became a one-lap shot out at the end of Q3 after both Mercedes crashed in separate rare mistakes at the start of the final part of qualifying.<\/p>\n
Verstappen set his fastest time right at the end of the session, by that point Leclerc was already down on his spilt times and unable to set a purple sector, although he did improve on his own personal best to go just over five hundredths ahead of his teammate Carlos Sainz.<\/p>\n
Verstappen’s lap led to a huge reaction from his Dutch orange army at Spielberg’s Red Bull Ring, while many of the crowd also were cheering Hamilton’s crash. But for the sprint it puts the two title contenders head to head once again, Verstappen, Leclerc and Sainz was spilt by eight-hundredths of a second.<\/p>\n
On the final runs in Q3, both Ferrari\u2019s did manage to improve but it was before the Dutchman completed his final run. Verstappen responded with his fastest time, while \u00a0Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez was fourth going nearly three-hundredths ahead of George Russell.<\/p>\n
Throughout the session, Perez had several warnings for track limits as well as laps deleted, in addition he was noted for running over the white lines at Wurth Kurve and Turn Eight. The Mexican only made it through to Q3 with a last-lap effort despite also going wide.<\/p>\n
Verstappen said, \u201cIt was a very long wait between the two runs. That’s never great once you’re in a rhythm; you want to keep going. In the end it was a really tight qualifying and it’s a really challenging track to get qualifying right. Very happy with pole but I also know tomorrow and Sunday you can get the points.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leclerc added, \u201cI think we are all three very close. On the last lap, I struggled to bring the tyres back [to temperature] after a long time in the pits and Max was just a little bit quicker. I just want to have a clean race. We had five races that were a little bit of a disaster from my side.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perez said, \u201cIt was a tricky day. Already from FP1 things didn’t feel great, bit of understanding needed from our side. I wasn’t able to get into the rhythm but obviously now it’s the sprint, and then a long race ahead, so we have to keep our head down and push forward to try and make some progress for Sunday’s race.\u201d<\/p>\n
The session set the grid for Saturday’s sprint race, the result of which establishes the grid for the main Grand Prix on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Leclerc is forty-three points behind Verstappen in the drivers and is well aware that he needs to close the gap. But the Ferrari driver has lost potential race wins four times in five races through two engine failures and two strategy errors. But Leclerc said only that he wanted a “clean race” after his difficult period.<\/p>\n
Russell the second of the two Mercedes to bring out the red flag, as he tried to improve his time on his second run, he lost the rear at the final corner when the car snapped and that flicked him across the gravel and into the wall. The Englishman is also under investigation for entering the track without permission.<\/p>\n
For both Russell and Lewis Hamilton it was unusual errors and leaves Mercedes with a long night of repairs. They will be hoping they can make up ground in the sprint to start the race higher up.<\/p>\n
Esteban Ocon put his Alpine sixth going nearly a tenth and a half faster than the two Haas\u2019s, with Kevin Magnussen a tenth and a quarter faster than his teammate Mick Schumacher. The second Alpine of Fernando Alonso was ninth nearly a tenth further behind, with Hamilton tenth with a non-reprehensive time.<\/p>\n
Hamilton\u2019s mistake on his second run came when he suffered oversteer at Rauch (Turn Six), he only looked to go marginally wide and suffered when a snap on his third hot lap caused him to lose the rear. While he tried to correct, the car gripped, and the steering lock applied projected him off the road and across the gravel.<\/p>\n
He slammed sideways into the wall to break front- and rear-right corners. To the delight of the Dutch fans, the seven-time champion along with Russell looked to be a credible threat for the front row. At the time he was first, but he would find himself shuffled down the order he had also for the first time this season looked like a threat for pole position.<\/p>\n
He told Sky Sports, \u201cI am incredibly disappointed in myself ultimately and so sorry to the team who worked so hard to put this car together and I never like to bring it back damaged.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hamilton said Mercedes were “fighting for the top three” and that he didn’t have an answer for the crash. He looked good in both his early laps in qualifying, but had no answers for his accident in Q3.<\/p>\n
Pierre Gasly was the fastest of those knocked out in Q2, the Alpha Tauri driver missed out by nine thousandths of a second on a place in the top ten. He went seven thousandths of a second ahead of Esteban Ocon, while Alex Albon used Williams\u2019s upgrades to go twelfth fastest two hundredths behind the Frenchman.<\/p>\n
Yuki Tsunoda routine his final attempt when he went wide at Lauda, which left the Japanese drive fourteenth, half a second behind the Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas. McLaren had a difficult session hampered by brake issues Lando Norris could only go fifteenth, that was despite him running in eighth in Q1.<\/p>\n
Norris believed that despite McLaren\u2019s worst qualifying season believed that he had the pace to get into Q3. He told Sky Sports, \u201cIt’s just been a frustrating day. We should be higher up with this car at the minute, but we are not, so long weekend still to go and got to make up for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daniel Ricciardo was fastest of those knocked out in Q1 as the difficult season for the Australian continues, he was knocked out by Gasly\u2019s improvement at the end of the session. Ricciardo was nearly a quarter of a second ahead of Lance Stroll, the Aston Martin driver looking able to get in Q2.<\/p>\n
However his fastest times were all deleted for track limits at Red Bull Mobile, where he went over the limits several times. His final attempt saw him push too hard this time going wide at Lauda. But he remained ahead of the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll and Guanyu Zhou\u2019s Alfa Romeo, the pair spilt by just over a tenth.<\/p>\n
Like his teammate, Sebastian Vettel had his fastest time deleted for track limits at the same corner, that left the four-time champion eight hundredths behind Nicolas Latifi.<\/p>\n
F1 Today \u2013 Austrian Prixview \u2013 07\/07\/2022<\/a><\/p>\n