Carlos Sainz and Fernando Alonso will start fifth and seventh
MADRID, 1 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Dutch driver Max Verstappen (Red Bull) has achieved pole position for the sprint race this Saturday at the Austrian Grand Prix, the ninth round of the Formula 1 World Cup, in a ‘sprint shootout’ that he has dominated without opposition, while the Spanish Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) and Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) will start fifth and seventh, respectively.
The current world champion had no rival in a third round in which he beat his teammate, the Mexican Sergio ‘Checo’ Pérez (Red Bull), by almost five tenths, who will accompany him on the front row of the race grid short. Behind, the British Lando Norris (McLaren) and the German Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) will occupy the second row.
Ferrari will take the two positions in the third row, and Aston Martin will do the same with the two in the fourth, with the two Spaniards winning over their garage mates. The French Esteban Ocon (Alpine) and the Danish Kevin Magnussen (Haas) closed the ‘Top 10’.
Warned by what happened in qualifying on Friday at the Red Bull Ring, where numerous invalidated laps shook up the grid for Sunday’s race, the drivers took to the track knowing that any mistake would be severely penalized.
The overcast sky, with timid drops, threatened the participants, who in the first minutes of SQ1 focused on following the dry lane marked on the Austrian track; most went for the dry compound, while others like Verstappen put on the medium tyres.
Meanwhile, the time sheets moved as the track dried up, Sainz reported problems with the brake distribution system that threatened to prevent him from leaving the pits and setting a decent record; with barely a minute to go in the first round, he risked a single lap and managed to climb to the first position.
His partner Leclerc, on the other hand, was saved by a single thousandth of a fall from the fight, something that did happen to the British Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), who will start eighteenth this afternoon. Also from the back of the grid will start the Chinese Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo), the Australian Oscar Piastri (McLaren), the Finnish Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) and the American Logan Sargeant (Williams).
Verstappen and Sainz continued their fight to set the best time in SQ2, where the Dutchman managed to impose his record ahead of the Spaniard. Leclerc improved his performance, placing fourth behind the Frenchman Esteban Ocon (Alpine), with Alonso seventh.
The problems followed one another for the ‘silver arrows’ after the British George Russell was not able to turn and was also eliminated. Meanwhile, ‘Checo’ Pérez managed to advance to Q3 for the first time in two months, although he did so in eighth position.
A 1:04.613 was worth ‘Mad Max’ to rise to the top as soon as SQ3 began, in which he still improved a few tenths to establish a 1:04.440 that guaranteed him pole position, almost half a second ahead of ‘Czech’ .