MAX DOMINANT POLE, NORRIS WITH SENSATIONAL LAP

Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen took his second Red Bull Ring pole position in a week with a dominant performance in qualifying for Formula 1’s Austrian Grand Prix.

However, despite topping every segment of the hour–long session he was push closer in the final top 10 shootout by Lando Norris who claimed the first front-row start of his F1 career just four hundredths of a second behind the championship leader.

Sergio Pérez took third place for Red Bull as Lewis Hamilton qualified fourth.

In Q1 Verstappen went out earlier than usual and with his first flying lap he jumped to the top of the order. Hamilton wasn’t far behind the Dutchman on track and when he crossed the line he slotted into second place, six hundredths of a second ahead of team-mate Bottas.

Pérez, meanwhile, found his way to sixth place, however, as rivals crossed the line he dropped to eighth place and while Verstappen would stay in the garage for the final runs, Pérez had to go again.

In the end of though, the Mexican didn’t need to the boost of an extra flyer and as McLaren’s Lando Norris finished second behind Verstappen and ahead of Alpine’s Fernando Alonso, Pérez backed out of his final flyer as other failed to make significant gains he settled for his opening lap time and P8.

Eliminated at the end of the first segment were Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen in P16 ahead of Alpine’s Esteban Ocon, Williams’ Nicholas Latifi and the Haas cars of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin.

In the second segment Pérez was first out on track, on medium tyres, and the Mexican gave the remaining drivers in the field a target of 1:04.554 to aim at. Verstappen then headed out on mediums and immediately jumped to the top of the timesheet. Hamilton then took second but was soon eclipsed by McLaren’s Lando Norris and Pérez who went for a second attempt.

In the final runs, Verstappen went quicker again hold top spot, while Hamilton rose again to take P2 over three tenths down on the Red Bull. Bottas took third place ahead of Pierre Gasly and Lando Norris and Pérez settled for P6 thanks to his second run time.

Fernando Alonso though appeared to be blocked by seventh placed Sebastian Vettel and the stewards quickly announced that they would investigate the incident after the session. George Russell did make it through, however, taking Williams into Q3 for the first time this season.

It meant that both Ferraris failed to make it through, with Carlos Sainz being eliminated in P11 ahead of team-mate Charles Leclerc, McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, Alonso and Alfa Romeo’s Antonio Giovinazzi.

In the first runs of the top-10 shootout Verstappen once again set blistering pace to open his Q3. McLaren’s Lando Norris also showed good pace to take P2 just over two tenths of a second behind the Dutchman, with Hamilton in third place almost three tenths off Verstappen. Pérez, though, found himself in P5 after the first runs, a little under two tenths of a second behind Bottas.

The Mexican would need to find good gains in the final runs and when the final runs began he was third in the queue out of the pit lane, behind Norris.

Verstappen was at the head of the pack and though the Red Bull driver tried to find more time on his final run he couldn’t make an improvement. Aided by a tow from the championship leader Norris found more time but the Briton couldn’t quite match Verstappen's opening time and the Red Bull driver’s opening lap was good enough to claim the team’s 67th pole position.

Pérez also benefited from a tow, this time from Norris, and the Mexican found the pace he needed to leapfrog both Mercedes drivers, taking P3 ahead of Hamilton and Bottas.

Behind the Mercedes drivers Pierre Gasly took sixth for AlphaTauri ahead of team-mate Yuki Tsunoda. Vettel finished eighth but will face investigation, while Russell qualified in P9 ahead of Stroll.

2021 AUSTRIAN GRAND PRIX - QUALIFYING
P.	DRIVER	TEAM	TIME	GAP
1.	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	1:03.720
2.	Lando Norris	McLaren	1:03.768	+ 0.048
3.	Sergio Pérez	Red Bull	1:03.990	+ 0.270
4.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG	1:04.014	+ 0.294
5.	Valtteri Bottas	Mercedes AMG	1:04.049	+ 0.329
6.	Pierre Gasly	AlphaTauri	1:04.107	+ 0.387
7.	Yuki Tsunoda	AlphaTauri	1:04.273	+ 0.553
8.	Sebastian Vettel*	Aston Martin	1:04.570	+ 0.850
9.	George Russell	Williams	1:04.591	+ 0.871
10.	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	1:04.618	+ 0.898
* 3 grid places penalty for impending Alonso Q2 Fastest Time: Max Verstappen - 1:03.927
11.	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Ferrari	1:04.559	+ 0.632
12.	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:04.600	+ 0.673
13.	Daniel Ricciard	McLaren	1:04.719	+ 0.792
14.	Fernando Alonso	Alpine	1:04.856	+ 0.929
15.	Antonio Giovinazzi	Alfa Romeo	1:05.083	+ 1.156
Q1 Fastest Time: Max Verstappen - 1:04.249
16.	Kimi Räikkönen	Alfa Romeo	1:05.009	+ 0.760
17.	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	1:05.051	+ 0.802
18.	Nicholas Latifi	Williams	1:05.195	+ 0.946
19.	Mick Schumacher	Haas	1:05.427	+ 1.178
20.	Nikita Mazepin	Haas	1:05.951	+ 1.702
107% time: 1:08.746
HYBRID ERA - RED BULL RING 2014 Felipe Massa - Вилијамс - 1:08.759 2015 Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes AMG - 1:08.455 2016 Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes AMG - 1:07.922 2017 Valtteri Bottas - Mercedes AMG - 1:04.251 2018 Valtteri Bottas - Mercedes AMG - 1:03.130 2019 Charles Leclerc - Ferrari - 1:03.003 2020 Valtteri Bottas - Mercedes AMG - 1:02.939 2020 STYRIAN GRAND PRIX Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes AMG - 1:19.273 2021 STYRIAN GRAND PRIX Max Verstappen - Red Bull - 1:03.841 2021 Max Verstappen - Red Bull - 1:03.720
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