The current triple world champion Max Verstappen (Red Bull) achieved the ‘pole position’ of the Austrian Grand Prix of Formula 1 after having achieved the best time this Saturday in the qualifying session.
A few hours after winning the sprint race, the Dutchman easily outpaced the British Lando Norris (McLaren) and George Russell (Mercedes), which will put him in first place in the Grand Prix race on Sunday.
This is Verstappen’s 40th pole position in his successful career and his eighth in eleven races this season, which shows his clear dominance. In the last three Grand Prix, however, he had not managed to start in the leading position.
The Spanish Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) will start from fourth position, ahead of the British seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), who had a scare when he narrowly avoided an accident.
Australian Oscar Piastri (McLaren), who had set the third fastest time, will have to be content with seventh position on the starting grid after his best time was invalidated for going off track limits.
The ‘Top 10’ of the day was completed with the Mexican Sergio Pérez (Red Bull), the German Nico Hülkenberg (Haas) and the Frenchman Esteban Ocon (Alpine).
Aston Martin was once again disappointing. They only managed to finish fifteenth in qualifying with Spaniard Fernando Alonso, while Canadian Lance Stroll finished seventeenth.
Australian Daniel Ricciardo (Racing Bulls), who could soon lose his driving position due to his disappointing performance, posted the eleventh fastest time, ahead of his Japanese teammate Yuki Tsunoda (14th).
For once, the teams were very close to each other in the first part of qualifying (Q1), with the twenty cars within a margin of just eight-tenths of a second – something that had never happened before in the history of Formula 1.
This fact must be put into perspective since the Red Bull Ring is the circuit where the time invested in each lap is the shortest of all of the season.
Verstappen also dominated in the morning
The Dutchman won the Austrian Grand Prix sprint early, ahead of the two McLarens of Piastri and Norris.
Verstappen won after 23 laps at the Red Bull Ring circuit. With this victory, he has won all three short races contested this year.
After starting from pole position, Verstappen was overtaken by his rivals in the first laps, but the Dutchman responded quickly by recovering the first position that he did not leave until the end.
Source: Ambito
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