Max Verstappen hopes starting on the medium tyre can keep him in contention with Mercedes for the win at the Austrian Grand Prix.
In a year when Red Bull was hoping to finally topple the German manufacturer, the Dutchman finished a massive half a second off the pace in qualifying, a lifetime around the short circuit in Spielberg.
But while the scale of the challenge facing Verstappen appears as steep of some of the Styrian hills, he isn't throwing in the towel just yet.
“I am happy first of all to be P3 but also we have a different starting tyre. It’s going to be interesting," he said. "It’s going to be quite a bit warmer tomorrow so I hope it plays in our advantage.
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"Today, Mercedes was on a different level unfortunately but let’s see what we can do tomorrow.
“Last year we were also a little bit off in qualifying so I expect we’re a bit better in the race.
"Now I am the only one on a different tyre in the top 10 so I am just looking forward to it. We have nothing to lose so I try to make it as difficult as possible for them.”
As for teammate Alex Albon, he had a tricky session, narrowly avoiding an early exit in Q2 and finishing four-tenths behind Verstappen in fifth.
But its a position he'll take after being involved in the fallout from polesitter Valtteri Bottas running wide at Turn 4 at the end of Q3.
"It would have been exciting with Norris otherwise, without the yellow flag for Bottas I would have been closer anyway," he told Sky Sports.
"But I don't think we could have done any better now than fifth place. With a tow, it would have been better, but I am happy with P5 because I thought it could have been worse."
