Verstappen Takes Pole Position in Austria Sprint Qualifying
Max Verstappen secured pole position in the Austria Sprint Qualifying, marking a strong start to the weekend for Red Bull. The Dutch driver overcame a sensor issue in free practice to top every segment in qualifying, finishing with a time of 1:04.686. Teammate Sergio Perez will start from P7, feeling disappointed after being hindered by Esteban in SQ3.
“I am happy as we started off the day well and the car was in a good window,” Verstappen said. “Of course, there are always areas that we can do better, so we will look at that tonight. Looking to the Sprint race tomorrow, this will give us an early indication of how the pace of the car will be for the race.”
McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri took P2 and P3 respectively, with Norris confident of taking the fight to Verstappen in the Sprint. “P2 for tomorrow’s Sprint is a positive start to the weekend, we’ll keep pushing on from here,” Norris said.
Mercedes’ George Russell took P4, with teammate Lewis Hamilton struggling to P6. “I had a difficult Sprint Qualifying today,” Hamilton said. “Practice went well and the car felt good. I don’t think we had the pace to fight for pole position for the Sprint but we likely had more speed than we showed.”
Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg was eliminated in SQ1, while teammate Kevin Magnussen narrowly missed out on reaching the top-10. Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu struggled, with Bottas taking P18 and Zhou P20.
The Sprint race takes place tomorrow, with the main Qualifying session to follow in the afternoon. Stay tuned for more updates from the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Austria.
Formula 1 Standings:
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull) – 1:04.686
- Lando Norris (McLaren) – 1:04.779
- Oscar Piastri (McLaren) – 1:04.987
- George Russell (Mercedes) – 1:05.054
- Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) – 1:05.270
Formula 1 Calendar:
- July 3-5: Formula 1 Grand Prix of Austria
- July 17-19: Formula 1 Grand Prix of Great Britain
- July 31-Aug 2: Formula 1 Grand Prix of Hungary
Formula 1 Qualifying:
Stay tuned for more updates from the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Austria, including the main Qualifying session tomorrow afternoon. Don’t miss out on the latest news and updates from the world of Formula 1.
🔗 Source