On Red Bull’s home turf, Dutchman Max Verstappen dominated the first day of the F1 Austrian Grand Prix by being the fastest in free practice, before snatching pole position for the sprint race.
With a car less dominant than in the past two years, the three-time reigning world champion must work harder and harder to push back his rivals, but as in Canada or Spain, he still succeeded at the start of the weekend. ends at the Red Bull Ring.
On Saturday noon, he will start at the head of the sprint race, the third of the season, ahead of the two McLarens of Briton Lando Norris and Australian Oscar Piastri, and will once again be the big favorite.
During a very tactical qualifying session in which the teams tried as much as possible to preserve their tyres in view of a busy programme, Verstappen managed to pull out all the stops in extremis by getting the better of Norris by just 93 thousandths of a second at the very end of Q3.
“I’m very happy to take first place in the sprint qualifying in front of my fans for our home race. Everything went very well today. The car was fun to drive and we found the right ones right away. “It’s a very good start to the weekend,” said the world championship leader.
Ferrari, under pressure after two disappointing weekends in Canada and Spain, did not really get back on track as Spaniard Carlos Sainz took fifth place while Charles Leclerc will only start in 10th position.
Victim of an anti-stall problem when leaving his garage, the Monegasque was unable to complete a fast lap in Q3, which provoked his anger.
“Obviously I’m not happy, but the weekend is still long. I’m going to try to gain a few places during the sprint race and then start from scratch to prepare for the Grand Prix qualifying,” said Leclerc.
– Mercedes confirms –
Mercedes, on the other hand, confirmed its revival by securing fourth and sixth places in qualifying and could join the fight for the podium.
For once, the Mexican Sergio Pérez has reached Q3 and will start in seventh place, ahead of the two Alpines of Frenchmen Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly.
As in Barcelona last weekend, the French team managed to get its two single-seaters into Q3 and seems to be continuing the recovery seen in recent weeks after a catastrophic start to the season.
“The positive is that we performed well and are well placed for the sprint. We still have work to do and things to understand, but it’s nice to be going in the right direction,” Ocon said.
“We managed SQ1 and SQ2 well, showing good speed to reach the following sessions. On the other hand, we clearly did not maximise SQ3. It was complicated and I was not really able to do an attacking lap,” Gasly lamented.
Conversely, Aston Martin is struggling more and more to get into the Top 10. On Saturday, the Canadian Lance Stroll and the Spanish veteran Fernando Alonso will only start in 12th and 13th positions after being overtaken by the modest Haas of the Dane Kevin Magnussen (11th).
The Australian Daniel Ricciardo (Racing Bulls), threatened with losing his drive after recent mediocre performances, only achieved the 16th fastest time, a result which does not help his affairs. He will absolutely have to do better on Saturday during qualifying for the Grand Prix.
nb/dar
