#StyrianGP Qualifying Report: @Max33Verstappen clinches pole. #F1

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen claimed pole position in qualifying at the Styrian GP ahead of Mercedes pairing Valtteri Bottas and fellow championship contender Lewis Hamilton.

 

 

Verstappen starts on the front-row alongside Hamilton as Bottas will take a three-grid place penalty for spinning in the pit-lane during FP2, with the trio the only runners in the top 10 that will begin the Grand Prix on the C3 yellow side-walled medium compounds.

 

At the end of the final segment, Verstappen posted two flyers that were good enough for pole, but it was his 1:03.841 effort on his initial run that sealed it.

 

The Dutchman ran at the back of the queue for his final hot-lap, but wound up setting a 1:03.939 in his last run.

 

Bottas improved to second place on his final effort, but the 0.194 difference to Verstappen meant the World Driver’s Championship leader was the only driver to crack the 1:04 bracket.

 

Hamilton unusually had three attempts in Q3 as he took to the circuit almost immediately after the final qualifying stage began, setting a 1:04.208.

 

The Briton came into the pits and then joined in the usual sequence for another two runs, with his second effort – a 1:04.067 – ending up being his best, when he set a purple time in the opening sector, as Verstappen claimed the better two thirds of the lap from his initial flying lap.

 

Hamilton followed Verstappen out of the pits for his last hot-lap and completed a much quicker out-lap where he overtook a heap of cars travelling slowly through the final corners and waiting to begin their efforts.

 

The reigning world champion ended up behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who qualified seventh, and was 0.2 seconds off Verstappen’s initial run time at the end of sector one, which became 0.45 seconds down after the middle third of the tour.

 

Hamilton then caught a snap of oversteer as he ran through turn nine and was sent wide, with his effort invalidated for exceeding track limits even though he posted time over two seconds slower than his best.

 

McLaren’s Lando Norris was fourth and in-front of the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez, with the pairing starting a place higher on the grid following Bottas’ penalty.

 

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly was sixth, with team-mate Yuki Tsunoda qualifying behind Leclerc, but the Japanese driver is currently under investigation from the stewards after allegedly holding up Bottas at turn four at turn four during the Finn’s initial flyer in Q3.

 

Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso finished ninth and ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll who completed the top ten.

 

At the end of the middle segment, Williams Racing’s George Russell wound up 11th and missing out on a Q3 appearance by a narrow 0.007 seconds after a last-gasp improvement from Alonso eliminated the Briton.

 

The other Ferrari of Carlos Sainz lost his best effort in Q2 – the 1:04.711 he set on his final hot-lap in the middle segment – for running wide out of turn nine, but the Spaniard would have remained behind Russell.

 

McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo qualified 13th, in-front of Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, who lost an identical effort to Sainz’ invalidated lap time on his final flyer in Q2, but the four-time world champion had his taken away from running wide at the last corner.

 

Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi progressed into the middle stage, but ended up 15th and at the rear of the Q2 runners.

 

In the initial qualifying segment, Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi and Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon were relegated down the order as other competitors improved on their final hot-laps, with the latter a shock eliminatee despite posting a personal best effort.

 

Alfa Romeo Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen also set a personal best effort on his last flying lap but was knocked out in 18th, the Finn also took an excursion through the turn four gravel trap – the downhill long-right, at the end of the circuit’s third long acceleration zone – at the end of the stints in the midway point of the first qualifying stage.

 

Haas F1 Team’s Mick Schumacher aborted his final flyer after catching a snap of oversteer and going into the run-off area at the exit of turn one, but his previous better effort still kept the German in-front of team-mate Nikita Mazepin, who brought up the rear.

 

You can see the full Formula 1 BWT Grosser Preis Der Steiermark 2021 Qualifying Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1092/austria/qualifying.html

 

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2021 Styrian GP Qualifying – The Top Three

 

 

Pole Position – Max Verstappen, #33, Red Bull Racing-Honda, RB16B, 1:03.841:

“It’s been a very good weekend, the car has been good to drive, super happy to be on pole here at home. It’s a small track, but really hard to get a good lap out of it. I’m sure again tomorrow it will be very tight.”

 

2nd Place – Valtteri Bottas, #77, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, F1 W12 EQ Performance, 1:04.035:

“I would have preferred to start second, in practice I struggled a bit but we found the right direction. With Tsunoda, I lost a couple of tenths there so maybe there was more to come.”

 

3rd Place – Lewis Hamilton, #44, Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, F1 W12 EQ Performance, 1:04.067:

“Well done to Max, they’ve been so fast this weekend. Front row after Valtteri’s penalty – I’ll give it everything I’ve got. They’ve had a quarter of a second on us all weekend, so it will be interesting to see if we can manage it – I don’t think we have the raw pace to overtake them. We’ll be giving it everything. Maybe it rains, who knows.”

 

In the earlier FP3 session, it was Hamilton edging out Verstappen by 0.204 seconds with Mercedes team-mate Bottas third, Perez fourth and Tsunoda rounding out the top five. You can see the full Formula 1 BWT Grosser Preis Der Steiermark 2021 Free Practice 3 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1092/austria/practice-3.html

 

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