#F1 #AustrianGP Sprint Qualifying: @Max33Verstappen pips @LandoNorris to pole by 0.093s.

Verstappen Austrian Sprint Pole – Red Bull’s Max Verstappen pipped McLaren’s Lando Norris by a very narrow 0.093 seconds to take pole position for tomorrow’s 100km Sprint Race as Oscar Piastri took third in the other MCL38 entry.

In SQ3, the top ten left it late to do just one timed run. Verstappen scored two purple sectors in the first and final sectors to post a 1:04.686 to take his eighth Sprint pole position and was a narrow 0.093 seconds clear of McLaren’s Norris who set a personal best in sectors one and three with a purple in the middle sector as Piastri ended up a further 0.301 adrift of the Dutchman in third.

Mercedes’ George Russell and Sir Lewis Hamilton followed in fourth and sixth respectively as Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz split the pairing in fifth.

The other Red Bull of Sergio Perez wounded up 1.322 off team-mate Verstappen’s pole time to take seventh on the grid alongside Alpine’s Esteban Ocon who took eighth.

The second Alpine A524 entry of Pierre Gasly and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc completed the top ten with the latter unable to set a lap-time after stopping in the pit-lane due to an anti-stall issue, then managed to get going but could not get to the line in-time to begin his flyer.

In the middle segment, which was topped by Verstappen, MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen missed out on a SQ3 appearance by a very narrow 0.049 seconds and starts the Austrian 100km Sprint in 11^th place and in-front of Aston Martin pairing Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso who were 12^th and 13^th respectively.

RB’s Yuki Tsunoda and Williams Racing’s Logan Sargeant were the slowest of the SQ2 runners and will start the Sprint in 14^th and 15^th.

In the opening qualifying stage, which was topped by Verstappen, RB’s Daniel Ricciardo was the quickest of the SQ1 eliminatees in 16^th and missed out on an SQ2 appearance by a very slim 0.024 seconds.

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg followed in 17^th as Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu were 18^th and at the rear respectively whilst Williams’ Alexander Albon sandwiched in-between the C44 entries in 19^th.

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

2024 Austrian GP Sprint Pole Position – Max Verstappen, Oracle Red Bull Racing, Honda-RBPT, RB20 – 1:04.686:

“It’s great to be first here in front of, basically, my home fans, my home Grand Prix, it was a good day so far. It’s really been nice to drive the car, immediately the car was well-balanced and then you make some little adjustments going into the Sprint Quali. Everything has been working really well so a good start to the weekend. Still a lot of things to do but I’m happy with today.”

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