#F1 #AustrianGP Qualifying: @RedBullRacing’s @Max33Verstappen storms to 40th-career pole.

Verstappen Austrian GP Pole – Red Bull’s Max Verstappen stormed to his 40^th-career pole position in qualifying for tomorrow’s Austrian GP setting a blitzing effort and ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris who was second and Mercedes’ George Russell who completed the top three.

In Q3, Verstappen was the quickest in the initial Q3 flyers setting a personal best in sector one with two purples in sector two and three to post a 1:04.426 and was 0.361 seconds faster than Norris who had the best opening sector effort as Russell was a further 0.528 seconds off in third.

In the final hot-laps, Verstappen scored a personal best in sector one, was down in the middle sector and set the best sector three to improve his benchmark to a 1:04.314 and ended up 0.404 seconds quicker than Norris as Russell was further 0.526 adrift of the Dutchman in third.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc were fourth and sixth respectively as Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton split the pairing in fifth.

Leclerc suffered a wild moment on his final flying lap suffering a snap of oversteer and running into the gravel at turn six run-off and again through turn nine jumping over the kerbs and skating through the gravel trap.

The other McLaren of Oscar Piastri originally held P3 but lost his effort for exceeding track limits at turn six meaning the Australian will start the Austrian Grand Prix in seventh.

The second Red Bull of Sergio Perez followed in eighth as MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon rounded out the top ten.

In the second qualifying stage, which was topped by Verstappen, RB’s Daniel Ricciardo missed out on a Q3 appearance by a very narrow 0.015 margin to end up 11^th despite a small improvement on his last flyer.

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen followed in 12^th and in-front of Alpine’s Pierre Gasly who took 13^th as the latter got pinged for exceeding track limits at turn six.

RB’s Yuki Tsunoda and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso were the slowest of the Q2 runners qualifying in 14^th and 15^th respectively.

In the opening segment, which was topped by Sainz, a late improvement from Alonso sent the Spaniard to 15^th, knocking out Williams’ Alexander Albon by a slim 0.080 seconds making the Thai-Briton driver the quickest of the Q1 eliminatees in 16^th and in-front of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll who took 17^th.

Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu ended Q1 in 18^th and at the rear respectively as Williams Racing’s Logan Sargeant split the duo in 19^th.

Hamilton is currently under investigations by the stewards for unsafe release along with Hulkenberg who visits the stewards office for failing to follow race director’s instructions.

McLaren are also visiting the stewards to see if the decision could be reversed on Piastri’s final flying lap, which could see the Australian re-instated to third on the grid. Replays showed his left wheels slightly on-track on the exit of turn six.

You can see the full Formula 1 Qatar Airways Austrian Grand Prix 2024 Qualifying Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2024/races/1239/austria/qualifying.html

2024 Austrian GP Qualifying – The Top Three

2024 Austrian GP Pole Position – Max Verstappen, #1, Oracle Red Bull Racing, Honda-RBPT, RB20 – 1:04.314:

“The qualifying went really well. We tried to adjust the car a little bit after the things that we learned this morning and I think it worked well. Of course the track is a bit warmer than yesterday, so it made it a bit tricker to drive, but the car felt a lot better for me today. I could really attack the corners a bit more and every run was on point. It was very enjoyable out there.”

2^nd Place – Lando Norris, #4, McLaren Formula 1 Team-Mercedes, MCL38 – +0.404s:

“I think as much as we could do it today [fight for pole], Max was in a league of his own. Clearly much quicker than what we had so I’m happy. Tricky conditions, found it a bit more difficult than it was yesterday, a lot closer, so more difficult to get the laps in and to perfect the laps but it was good enough and I’ll take it.”

3^rd Place – George Russell, #63, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team, F1 W15 – +0.526s:

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