Max Verstappen takes Pole Position in the Formula 1 Sprint of the Austrian GP, in front of full stands since Friday and with fans already warming up. The Dutchman with his Red Bull beats Lando Norris by 93 thousandths. A qualifying session conditioned by the absurd strategy of all the teams: to avoid giving the slipstream, the drivers were sent in with only three minutes to go, so everyone only made one attempt. Everyone except Charles Leclerc, because the Ferrari stopped when exiting the pit lane and the seconds it took the driver to restart it were fatal. The Monegasque did not set a time and will have to start tenth, fifth row. Instead, Lando Norris will start second with his McLaren, an ideal position to try to chip away at Verstappen’s certainties. The second row will be opened by Oscar Piastri with the McLaren ahead of George Russell’s Mercedes. The third row sees Carlos Sainz fifth with the Ferrari and Lewis Hamilton sixth with the Mercedes. Fourth row for the other Red Bull of Sergio Perez ahead of the Alpine of Esteban Ocon. The fifth row sees Pierre Gasly next to the Ferrari of Leclerc.
The drivers who placed outside the Top10
The first of those eliminated in Q2 was Kevin Magnussen with Haas by just 50 thousandths and will therefore open the sixth row. The sixth row will be closed by Lance Stroll with Aston Martin, who places himself ahead of his teammate. Fernando Alonso, in fact, continues with his bad moment in Formula 1 and tomorrow will start thirteenth. Seventh row that will be closed by Yuki Tsunoda with Racing Bulls, who seemed to be in difficulty today. An excellent Logan Sargeant will start in fifteenth position tomorrow in the Sprint race with his Williams.
In Q1 the first of the eliminated was Daniel Ricciardo with Racing Bulls, the Formula 1 news of this week certainly did not help him and tomorrow he will start sixteenth. The penultimate row will see Nico Hulkenberg start seventeenth with Haas, ahead of the Kick Sauber of Valteri Bottas. The last row is for the surprise Alexander Albon, who with his Williams does not go beyond nineteenth place. The Thai for the first time this season loses the comparison with his teammate Sargeant. Guanyu Zhou with Kick Sauber will start in last place tomorrow on the Sprint grid.
Formula 1 starting grid in the Austrian GP Sprintrace
Photo: FORMULA1 social profile
