SPIELBERG, Austria — Max Verstappen once again looked unbeatable against the Austrian team opening.
Formula 1 leader followed win the sprint on Saturday with another dominant performance in qualifying to claim the top spot for the fourth consecutive year at the tournament. Red Bull Ring.
It ended a streak of three consecutive races that were three times defended F1 The champion failed to secure pole position and has dealt a blow to his closest rivals, who were hoping to challenge him at Red Bull’s home track this weekend.
“It’s been a while since we actually won pole. So it’s a great feeling,” said Verstappen. “This is a great statement and hopefully we can show that also tomorrow in the race.”
After qualifying in the final three races was decided by tight margins, this one wasn’t even close.
Verstappen’s final lap in the third qualifying session was beaten McLarenLando Norris was 0.404 seconds clear to take his eighth pole position of the season. Norris’ teammate Oscar Piastri was initially third but had his time erased for narrowly crossing the track, dropping him to seventh and elevating George Russell to eighth. Mercedes car on Tuesday.
Carlos Sainz Jr. of Ferrari And Lewis Hamilton Mercedes has entered the top 5.
Norris goes into the weekend’s race hoping to get closer to Verstappen’s pace after consistently finishing second behind the Dutchman, but may have to lower his expectations after Red Bull showed off his pace. Much better performance than the McLaren throughout the day.
“Max is in a class of his own, obviously much quicker than what we have,” Norris said. “We’re going to need something extra to match the pace of Max and Red Bull. … Usually we’re better in races than we are in qualifying, so we’ll see.
Russell said he was happy with third place after Mercedes used a setup to save their tyres for Sunday’s Grand Prix rather than going all-out in qualifying. But he still held out little hope of challenging for the win unless the two drivers in front got tangled up.
“I’ll sit back and watch (Norris and Verstappen) do their thing and try to hopefully sneak inside, but the reality is they’ve caught us,” said Russell. “The race will probably be behind us, unfortunately.”
Verstappen won the sprint race earlier Saturday ahead of Piastri and Norris to extend his lead in the overall standings to 71 points. The defending champion is looking for his eighth win of the season and fifth in seven years at the Austrian GP.
