Verstappen tops Austrian GP F1 qualifying as both Mercedes crash

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen narrowly saw off the two Ferraris in Friday qualifying of Formula 1’s Austrian Grand Prix sprint weekend.

Verstappen beat Leclerc by just 0.029s, after a Q3 session that was twice interrupted by crashes for Mercedes drivers.

Lewis Hamilton was two tenths up on Mercedes team-mate George Russell in both Q1 and Q2 and looking like a potential contender for the front row, but lost the rear through the Turn 7 left-hander, unable to catch his W13 and crunching its front right against the barriers. He had set no competitive time and was therefore last in Q3.

Hamilton is out of the car after going into the barriers at Turn 7#AustrianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/Xx8Yo3IG2f

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 8, 2022

At the time of that particular red flag, with 5m29s left on the clock, Verstappen led Leclerc by just under a tenth – the Monegasque deeply irritated to have encountered none other than Hamilton coming out of the penultimate corner.

When the session resumed, Russell was among the first to head out and himself lost it through the final corner, breaking his rear wing upon contact with the outside barrier.

With the red flag back out, Russell climbed out of his Mercedes and crossed the track to enter the pitlane – this action was immediately placed under investigation by the stewards as an apparent case of “entering the track without permission”.

And now Russell is into the barriers – he's ok

The Mercedes driver spins off at Turn 10

🚩 RED FLAG 🚩#AustrianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/pJxbMuRiBb

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 8, 2022

Russell’s crash meant there were just two and a half minutes on the clock as the leaders headed out for their final attempts, but this was enough for both Verstappen and Leclerc.

The Monegasque trailed Verstappen’s time by two tenths after the first two sectors, but jumped out ahead by a tenth – with Carlos Sainz briefly backing up a provisional Ferrari 1-2, only for Verstappen to respond with a 1m04.984s.

Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Perez was a distant fourth, and there was considerable controversy over his participation in Q3 as he was placed under investigation for potentially cutting Turn 8.

The fact this was announced as a post-session investigation rather than being a straight laptime deletion suggested it may have been missed originally and may have been a lap that secured his participation in Q3, to begin with.

Despite his crash, Russell ended Q3 in fifth behind Perez, followed by Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.

Ocon’s team-mate Fernando Alonso was slower in Q3 than in the previous two segments and had to settle for ninth, with Ocon and he split by the Haas duo of Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher.

Pierre Gasly missed out on a Q3 spot by 0.009s, his Q2 elimination ensured by the Perez improvement, the Frenchman reacting with a disappointed “oughhh” on the radio.

The upgraded Williams FW44 finally got to show off some of its potential in the hands of Alex Albon, elevating him to 12th place and a tenth ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas, who – regardless of where he finishes the sprint – will start Sunday’s race from last place due to engine component changes.

Gasly’s team-mate Yuki Tsunoda had been the quicker AlphaTauri driver in Q1 but had to settle for 14th, his final attempt to make Q3 going awry immediately with a slide through Turn 1.

Potentially hampered by his limited mileage in FP1 – and with an older engine having been fitted to his McLaren – Norris never managed to get a clean lap in Q2, his final attempt unravelling after he had a minor Turn 4 lock-up, caught the gravel at Turn 6 and then had the lap erased anyway due to a track limits infringement.

DRIVERS ELIMINATED IN Q2

Gasly
Albon
Bottas
Tsunoda
Norris 📸#AustrianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/4OV13HlKEL

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 8, 2022

Three tenths behind him in the first segment, Norris’s McLaren team-mate Daniel Ricciardo suffered his first Q1 elimination since the Bahrain opener, placing 16th.

Behind him, it was a third successive double Q1 exit for Aston Martin. Sebastian Vettel looked to have at least pipped team-mate Lance Stroll to 17th with a late lap, but had it deleted for a Turn 1 track limits infringement.

This promoted Stroll to the spot and relegated Vettel to last, behind Alfa Romeo rookie Zhou Guanyu and Nicholas Latifi in the old-spec Williams.

Qualifying Results