Unplayable, literally unplayable. Victorious poleman in the morning sprint race, Max Verstappen (Red Bull) set the best time in qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix on Saturday afternoon. And by far: the Dutchman relegated Lando Norris (McLaren) to four tenths to sign his fourth pole in a row at the Red Bull Ring. Esteban Ocon (Alpine) ranked tenth.
Verstappen is in the momentum. Winner of the sprint with more than four seconds in advance, he repeated the feat three hours later by giving a lesson in speed to his little buddies. His RB20 on rails, the Dutchman continued to bring down the times, the last of the session in 1’04″314, to get back to the fast lap exercise. Indeed, he had not signed a pole since Imola, beaten successively by Charles Leclerc (Monaco), George Russell (Canada) and Norris (Spain).
Despite a first sector lit in purple, the latter remained powerless at Spielberg, on Red Bull land. We are therefore heading towards a new battle between Verstappen and Norris on Sunday. Will the Briton be efficient enough to worry a completely confident Dutchman over the long stints? That remains to be seen…
Mercedes gains confidence
Behind the Austrian team and McLaren, Mercedes continues to assert itself as the third force of the moment. The Silver Arrows took the lead over Ferrari, which they dominated again in qualifying. The two teams share the second and third rows. However, beware of a possible sanction concerning Lewis Hamilton. The Briton was guilty of a dangerous exit from his garage, taking a hose and a speed lift. The commissioners had to give their verdict after qualifying. They were quicker to penalize track exits. Improving on his last run, Piastri expected to start from third place.
But the Australian was caught by the patrol for “track-limits” at turn 6 and will ultimately have to settle for seventh place ahead of the (very) disappointing Sergio Pérez (Red Bull), the astonishing Nico Hülkenberg (Haas) and Esteban Ocon (Alpine). The Norman driver satisfied his boss Bruno Famin, who hoped to see a French single-seater in the top 10. His garage neighbor Pierre Gasly also saw his last Q2 time canceled. It was in any case insufficient to ensure a passage to Q3. He will start from thirteenth row behind Daniel Ricciardo (Racing Bulls) and Kevin Magnussen (Haas).
 takes pole position ahead of Lando Norris and George Russell (Mercedes)){kind=link}