Austrian Grand Prix: Max Verstappen on pole as both Mercedes crash

2 years ago 23

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Red Bull's Max Verstappen pipped the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc to pole position at the Austrian Grand Prix with his final lap of qualifying.

The world champion's earlier fastest time had been beaten by Leclerc and his team-mate Carlos Sainz with their final laps but Verstappen snatched pole back.

The Dutchman was just 0.029 seconds quicker than Leclerc, with Sainz only 0.082secs off pole in a close session.

Both Mercedes crashed, leaving George Russell fifth and Lewis Hamilton 10th.

Verstappen, who was serenaded by thousands of fans from his home country at his team's home race, looked as if he had missed out as he headed into the final sector of his final lap.

At that point, he was not improving his time, and ahead of him on track Leclerc and Sainz were both doing so, and both slipped ahead of him.

But Verstappen was still pushing, and although he was slower than Leclerc through the final sector, he was quick enough along with his greater straight-line speed in the first sector, to grab pole back.

Red Bull's Sergio Perez completed the front two rows, but is under investigation for exceeding track limits.

The session sets the grid for Saturday's sprint race, the result of which establishes the grid for the main grand prix on Sunday.

There are points for the sprint - eight for the winner down to one for eighth place - and Leclerc really needs to regain some ground on Verstappen in Austria this weekend to revive his title hopes.

The Monegasque is 43 points behind Verstappen after a brutal run for him and Ferrari, in which he has lost potentially winning positions 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.

What happened to Mercedes?

Hamilton had been looking competitive and was in contention for a place mixing it with the Red Bulls and Ferraris after setting third fastest time in the second part of qualifying, less than 0.2secs from pace-setter Leclerc.

But the seven-time champion made a most uncharacteristic mistake, losing control through Turn Seven on his first flying lap in the final part of qualifying.

Hamilton was just a little wide of the apex and he lost the rear. He tried to catch it, but slid across the gravel trap before smashing into the barrier.

The incident brought out the red flag while Hamilton's car was recovered and the barrier repaired.

Russell was the first driver out when the session was restarted, only for him to also make a mistake, this time at Turn 10.

The car snapped sideways as he turned in, and he slid sideways across the run-off and into the barrier. But, unlike Hamilton, he had managed to put a lap in on his first set of tyres, and he held on to fifth place as everyone else scrapped for position in the final two-minute shootout when the session was restarted.

It will mean a long night for Mercedes repairing both cars.

Behind Russell, Alpine's Esteban Ocon was sixth, ahead of the Haas cars of Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher, and Alpine's Fernando Alonso and Hamilton completing the top 10.

In the second half of the grid, there was a notable performance from Alex Albon in the updated Williams in 12th place, while McLaren were struggling.

Daniel Ricciardo was knocked out in the first session in 16th place, again struggling for pace as he has for much of the season.

Team-mate Lando Norris fared little better. The Briton made it into the second part of qualifying, but a brake problem hindered him and he could manage only 15th.