Austrian GP: Verstappen pips Leclerc to pole, Perez disappoints again

Max Verstappen pipped Charles Leclerc to secure pole position in qualifying at the Austrian Grand Prix.

Despite some track limits violations in earlier segments, the Dutchman produced the perfect Q3 to claim his sixth pole of the season at the Red Bull Ring.

But there was more frustration for teammate Sergio Perez, who will start Sunday’s race from 15th on the grid.

Q1

Valtteri Bottas caused a brief red flag six minutes in after spinning on the exit on Turn 1. After struggling to reach neutral, the Finn recovered his Alfa Romeo back to the pits.

Track limits were a big issue, with Max Verstappen among those to lose lap times during Q1.

The Dutchman would set a legitimate time to finish fastest ahead of Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez.

No big players were at risk of elimination as the late dash to improve began. 

Bottas narrowly secured his place in Q2 at the expense of Yuki Tsunoda in 16th. Zhou Guanyu also missed out by less than 0.1s in 17th in the sister Alfa.

Logan Sargeant was disappointed with 18th in the upgraded Williams, followed by Kevin Magnussen in a lowly 19th for Haas.

The under-pressure Nyck De Vries made it two AlphaTauri’s in the bottom five in 20th.

Q2

Track limits violations continued to dominate in Q2, with the two Red Bulls going fastest but having their lap times deleted.

Perez then had all of his following flying laps deleted as well, leaving the Mexican in 15th and out before Q3 for the fourth straight race.

Esteban Ocon and Oscar Piastri had their final laps deleted for track limits and were knocked out in 12th and 13th respectively.

George Russell was another surprise elimination in 11th for Mercedes with Bottas the other driver in the bottom five in 14th.

The big beneficiary was Alex Albon, who was initially 12th but was promoted back up to P10 and into Q3.

Q3

Verstappen managed to get it right the first time around in Q3 to go fastest by two-tenths from Charles Leclerc in second and Carlos Sainz third in the second Ferrari.

The reigning champion then found another tenth on his second attempt to set the benchmark at 1m04.391s for the rest to chase.

Leclerc came closest finishing just 0.048s behind in second ahead of Sainz in third.

Lando Norris claimed an impressive fourth in the upgraded McLaren, ahead of Lewis Hamilton in fifth.

Lance Stroll was sixth, outqualifying his Aston Martin teammate Fernando Alonso in seventh.

Nico Hulkenberg took P8 with Pierre Gasly and Albon completing the top 10.

Full results from qualifying in Spielberg can be seen below: