Austrian GP Qualifying: Verstappen claims pole position.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen claimed pole position in qualifying at the Austrian GP ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and team-mate Sergio Perez.

Max Verstappen, #33, Red Bull Racing-Honda, RB16B, Qualifying, Formula 1 VTB Grosser Preis Von Osterreich 2021, Red Bull Ring, Spielberg, Styria, Austria. Image credit to Sutton Images. Verstappen Austrian GP Qualifying, 2021 Austrian GP Qualifying.

The Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas trailed in fourth and fifth respectively after they were unable to improve on their final flyers.

As it was at last weekend’s Styrian GP, Verstappen set the pole position time on his initial run in Q3 – a 1:03.720.

He lead the group for the last hot-laps but was down in the first two sectors and despite posting the best final segment of the tour, Verstappen ended fractionally down on his quickest effort.

Norris was second after the initial Q3 stints and held onto to clinch his best Formula 1-career qualifying spot, only 0.048 seconds adrift of Verstappen after setting the quickest time in the opening sector on his final flyer.

Perez moved to third on his last hot-lap, which relegated Hamilton and Bottas down, as neither Silver Arrows driver went quicker on their final attempts.

They were followed by Scuderia AlphaTauri duo Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda who were sixth and seventh respectively, with Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel taking eighth, but the German is currently under investigation from the stewards for impeding Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso at the end of the second qualifying segment.

Williams Racing’s George Russell took and impressive ninth place in his first Q3 qualifying appearance with the Grove-based squad, which got one of it’s entries through to the final qualifying stage for the first time since the 2018 Italian Grand Prix.

Russell only done one tour in Q3, but managed to beat Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll to ninth.

The Ferrari pairing stayed on the C4 medium tyres throughout the middle qualifying stage, but were eliminated by Russell’s final effort, as the Briton progressed through to Q3 on the yellow side-walled rubber along with the Red Bull and Mercedes drivers and Norris.

Carlos Sainz lead Charles Leclerc qualifying in 11th and 12th respectively, with McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo unable to find enough time on his final flyer after swapping from mediums to softs to take 13th.

Alonso wound up 14th after his last Q2 hot-lap was disrupted by encountering a slow-moving Aston Martin of Vettel on the racing line ahead of turn ten as the Alpine A521 approached at high-speed.

Vettel appeared to hit the throttle when Alonso came up behind the Aston Martin, but the damage to the Spaniard’s lap was done and was forced to lift off heading through the quick right-hand corner.

The drivers were warned ahead of the earlier FP3 session not to drive slowly between turns nine and ten by an update from FIA Race Director Michael Masi, with Vettel likely to be hit with a penalty over the incident, which left Alonso furious, who waved angrily at the German after passing him on the main-straight, with Vettel – who did not have enough time to start his final hot-lap in Q2 – waving back an apology to Alonso as they went through turn one.

Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi could not replicate his earlier FP3 pace to qualify 15th on the grid.

In Q1, Russell’s last final improvement to continue his 100% qualifying record of advancing into the second qualifying stage in the 2021 season knocked out the second Alfa Romeo of Kimi Raikkonen, who posted his personal best effort on his final flying lap, but the Finn did not find enough time to go through.

Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon had been at risk of elimination throughout the first qualifying stage and whilst the Frenchman did find time on his final Q1 tour he was demoted down the time-sheets as the others improved at the end and Ocon wound up 17th.

Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi qualified 18th and in-front of Haas F1 Team duo Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin who brought up the rear.

You can see the full Formula 1 VTB Grosser Preis Von Osterreich 2021 Qualifying Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1071/austria/qualifying.html

2021 Austrian GP Qualifying – The Top Three

Max Verstappen, #33, Red Bull Racing-Honda, RB16B, Free Practice 3, Formula 1 VTB Grosser Preis Von Osterreich 2021, Red Bull Ring, Spielberg, Styria, Austria. Image credit to Sutton Images. Verstappen Austrian GP FP3, 2021 Austrian GP FP3. Verstappen Austrian GP Qualifying, 2021 Austrian GP Qualifying.

Austrian GP Pole Position – Max Verstappen, #33, Red Bull Racing-Honda, RB16B, 1:03.720:

“Of course to be twice on pole here is very good, hopefully we can finish it off tomorrow. Softer compounds, it will be tough to manage those in the race, it’s never straightforward so we’ll see.”

2nd Place – Lando Norris, #4, McLaren Racing-Mercedes, MCL35M, 1:03.768:

“I feel epic! Yeah it was cool. Yeah, it’s nice. Probably one of my best laps I’ve done I think.”

3rd Place – Sergio Perez, #11, Red Bull Racing-Honda, RB16B, 1:03.990:

“It’s been a hard weekend, we’ve been chasing a lot the balance. We’ve been chipping away every single run, it didn’t come easy. I believe tomorrow we have a better race car than quali.”

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