This is ridiculous! curses Verstappen. Qualifying in Austria was affected by track limits, who took pole position?

The Austrian Grand Prix is the ninth round of this year’s Formula 1 season. And due to the sprint format of the race weekend, qualifying for Sunday’s grand prix took place on Friday afternoon. Who took pole position and what did Friday’s action bring?

The first part of qualifying (Q1)

After just a few opening minutes, the fans at the Red Bull Ring in Austria were already witnessing red flags. The Finnish Alfa Romeo driver Valtteri Bottas spun in Turn 1.

Although the race directors initially resorted to the classic yellow flag, it took Bottas a very long time to get his car back into action. For safety reasons, as Bottas was standing with his car close to the track, the directorate suspended qualifying via red flags.

The FIA also erased many of the drivers’ Q1 times due to track limits being exceeded, so some drivers had to complete more fast laps.

In terms of drivers dropping out, the first part of qualifying didn’t bring any big surprises. Nyck De Vries (AlphaTauri) set the slowest time and will start the Austrian Grand Prix from last position.

Kevin Magnussen (Haas) will take the nineteenth starting slot on Sunday, with Logan Sargeant (Williams) finishing eighteenth, Zhou Kuan-yu seventeenth and Yuki Cunoda (AlphaTauri) sixteenth. These five therefore did not progress to the next qualifying segment and did not fight for better positions for the start of the Austrian GP.

Meanwhile, the Japanese driver lost only 21 thousandths of a second to the last Q2 spot, or Bottas’ fifteenth place. The entire starting field then fit within 8.5 tenths of a second. The first part of qualifying was dominated by the Red Bull cars of Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez.

The third fastest time was set by Lando Norris, who lost only 63 thousandths of a second to the first Verstappen. However, his fastest attempt was wiped out by race directors for exceeding the track limits, but he comfortably advanced to Q2 from sixth place.

Second part of qualifying (Q2)

The track limits also greatly affected the second part of the qualifying. Due to three deleted times in a row, Mexican Pérez did not advance to Q3 and will start the Austrian Grand Prix from 15th place! Oscar Piastri (McLaren) will take the fourteenth starting slot, who was also stripped of his fastest attempt by the race directorate.

Bottas finished 13th, Esteban Ocon 12th and George Russell 11th. These drivers also had their times deleted. Verstappen won the second qualifying segment ahead of Carlos Sainz and Norris.

In addition to Pérez, Verstappen was also upset, despite dominating Q1 and Q2. On team radio, the Dutch driver called the track limits ridiculous.

The third part of qualifying (Q3)

The last qualifying segment was a big battle for the top starting positions for Sunday’s grand prix. Pole position went to Verstappen, who set a time of 1:04.391 at the Red Bull Ring.

The second fastest time was set by Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), who lost only 48 thousandths of a second to the reigning champion. He was followed by his teammate Sainz. The Spanish driver will be joined on the second row by Norris, proving that McLaren’s upgrades are more than promising.

Fifth place went to Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), sixth to Lance Stroll and seventh to Fernando Alonso (both Aston Martin). Nico Hülkenberg (Haas) will start the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday eighth, Pierre Gasly (Alpine) ninth and Alexander Albon in Williams colours rounds out the elite ten.

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