Max Verstappen got his Red Bull team’s home race off to a perfect start. The Dutchman secured pole position for the sprint race of the Austrian Grand Prix on Friday in Spielberg.
The three-time world champion was 93 thousandths faster than Briton Lando Norris (McLaren) during the decisive phase of qualifying for the third sprint race of the season. Norris’s Australian teammate, Oscar Piastri, and George Russell (Mercedes) will be on the second starting row.
This is the second time this year that Verstappen has started a short-distance event in the lead. In Miami, he took advantage of a perfect starting position to win and in Shanghai, two weeks earlier, he also finished first despite finishing fourth on the grid.
Verstappen has also set the pace in the two races that have taken place so far in Spielberg over around a hundred kilometers, around a third of the distance of a Grand Prix. Two years ago and last season, he took advantage of the best starting position to win.
The Sauber team and its drivers, however, remain at the bottom of the wave. Finnish Valtteri Bottas will start the sprint from 18th place on the grid, while Chinese Zhou Guanyu will start from the back of the grid in 20th position.
/ATS
