Max Verstappen followed up his hard-fought sprint victory with a commanding pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix. On a perfect day in Spielberg, the Formula 1 world champion confidently fended off the attacks of his rivals and further extended his lead in the overall standings. The 26-year-old Dutchman will also start the main race on Sunday (3 p.m./Sky) as the favorite from pole position.
“It worked really well. The car felt very good and every lap was really fun,” said Verstappen after qualifying, which he dominated at all times. The three-time world champion secured the 40th pole of his career in 1:04.314 minutes, a good four tenths of a second ahead of McLaren driver Lando Norris and George Russell in the Mercedes. “Max was in his own league, we simply couldn’t have done more,” said Briton Norris. Teammate Oscar Piastri, who was actually third, had his fastest lap subsequently deleted. The Australian was classified seventh.
Verstappen also wins third sprint of the season
Verstappen had previously prevailed over Piastri and Norris in the short 100-kilometer race, which was particularly exciting at the beginning. Verstappen repeated his triumph from the previous year in Styria and also won the third sprint of the season. He was rewarded with eight World Championship points. Before the eleventh of a total of 24 races of the season, Verstappen, who won the main race in Spielberg last year, is comfortably ahead of Norris in the overall standings with a 70-point lead.
“You could see that they made it difficult for me. We had to work for this victory,” said Verstappen about the attacks by the McLaren drivers in the sprint. Norris, meanwhile, was annoyed that he could not hold on to his brief lead and behaved “like an amateur” at times. “There are things I could have done better. But it was too difficult to get past Max,” said the 24-year-old Briton.
Spectacular maneuvers in the summer heat
The first start had to be aborted because photographers behind the barriers in the first corner posed a safety risk. At the second attempt, three-time champion Verstappen defended his first place, but then quickly had to defend himself against Norris and Piastri. Norris took the lead for a few meters on the fifth lap, but was then caught by Verstappen and Piastri in a hard-fought three-way battle.
In midsummer temperatures of 30 degrees, fans at the Red Bull Ring were treated to spectacular maneuvers before Verstappen was able to pull away and then drove a controlled race to the finish. The German Nico Hülkenberg only finished 19th in his Haas racing car after a penalty and clearly missed out on the points. In qualifying, the Rhinelander finished a respectable ninth.